Well, we're picking up where we left off: an appreciation of all things Italian while living in the mountains of Virginia, sixty-miles west of Washington DC.
We post regularly at the Imaginary Italian facebook page- follow us there to see what we're finding online as well as to get alerts to when we update this blog. Grazie!
We're both learning Italian through the Duolingo program. I've used several teach yourself systems- Living Language, Rosetta Stone and others- and I've found Duolingo the most accessible. It's like an affordable version of Rosetta Stone and the gamification of learning provides a enjoyable diversion after a busy day.
Thanks to the magic of the internet, we're able to supplement our learning through multiple sources- radio, television, and news pages.
We listen to Radio Classica Bresciana (listen live here), because one nice thing about classical music: Mozart and Grieg are Mozart and Grieg in English and Italian.
I watch lot of cooking shows on TV Libera, out of Pistoia, which has become my imaginary home away from home. With the live feed, here, I watch a variety of entertainment shows, as well as TG. (It's to my shame it took me... well, longer than it should have to realize TG meant Telegiornale -television/newspaper. I mean, it was obvious it was the news...). I'll be looking at the individual shows on TVL I follow in later posts, because there are a few, as well as programming from other sources.
My go to for learning news page is... Vanity Fair. Yes, like the magazine. I'm not too proud to admit it's easier to follow for many things than regular news.
Seriously. Look:
Quattro su sei. Angelina Jolie, 43 anni, è arrivata – a sorpresa – alla premiere di Dumboin compagnia dei figli più piccoli: Zahara Marley, 14, Shiloh Nouvel, 12, e i gemelli Vivienne Marcheline e Knox Léon, 10 anni. E i cinque, a giudicare da queste foto, devono essersi divertiti un bel po’. L’attrice ha sempre detto di lasciare i suoi figli liberi, anche di indossare ciò che vogliono: così eccoli mescolare abiti da sera (per Zahara) a felpe e scarpe da ginnastica. E questo vale anche per gli altri (Maddox e Pax): «Sono sei persone forti, riflessive e ognuno ha la sua personalità ben precisa, sono molto fiera di loro», ha rivelato la star di recente.
I read with the comprehension of a six year old, but I can see that Angelia Jolie is at the premiere of Dumbo with her children. Start with that understanding I can start to break the sentences down. Learnin'!
We'll be looking at books that we're reading as well, either memoirs of people that have moved to Italy or Italian novels in translation. And most importantly, COOKBOOKS!
Food is a universal language and we're going to become fluent in Italian.
Join us!
(Image snagged from TVL's facebook page)
