At the beginning of the semester we were tasked with creating a video commentary discussing ourselves and our interest. In this video my speaking skills are very poor, and I often struggle with pronouncing words in Spanish as opposed to Italian. I use very simple sentences that are almost exclusively in the present time period, such as, “mi piace guardare un film e uscire con i miei amici.” I do however use one sentence that is in the passato, which is, “abbiamo guardato Step Brothers…” though you can see a clear lack of confidence when I say it, as I have to pause and think about how to formulate the sentence. Now I can say these things in full confidence without having to think twice about what verb needs to come before the passato as well as using sentences that are not entirely made up of present vocabulary. 

 

Later in the semester there was a reading comprehension worksheet that we had to complete that I remember gave me so much trouble when I sat down to complete it. There were numerous words in the reading that I did not understand as well as struggling with what the questions were asking. Looking back on this exercise now, I can do a one-time read through and understand 99% of what is being said, as well as the questions that they are asking me. I can also see that the sentences that are used are very simple and do not have much complexity, though at the time it was extremely challenging for me. 

 

One month after this reading comprehension, we had our 2^ndjournal of the semester in which we had to use l’imperfetto to describe ourselves as children; how we were in school, vacations we may have taken, etc. Looking at this, I can see that I was starting to develop a better grasp on some of the vocabulary that we had been learning, as well as becoming comfortable with speaking about past experiences. I was having some problems with spelling that I do still struggle with, though my overall content was satisfactory. 

 

Lastly, delving into the cultural project that I completed with Jonathon Kuo, I learned very much about the overall Italian Industry and the ambiance that it has. Whether that was learning about the extremely rich and stable automotive industry that has a focus on extreme quality over quantity or the classical renaissance when Italy was the hub of forward thinking with leaders like Leonardo Da Vinci. It was clear that Italy is a country that is very focused on luxury and a deep appreciation for quality over all else. 

 

Looking back on all of these assignments I can see that I have accomplished almost all of what I had hoped to at the beginning of the semester, whether that be to no longer pronounce words in Spanish as opposed to Italian, garner a deeper understanding of Italian culture, or simply becoming more comfortable in listening to and having conversations in Italian. Though moving forward in my Italian studies, I wish to take this learning a step further and gain an understanding of the language in which I am not having to translate every sentence that I want to say in my head before saying, but rather be able to formulate as I am going, and have it come out smooth and grammatically correct. I expect that during my time in Italian 203 I will begin to move closer to that goal as I believe that the class is more focused on real Italian interaction as opposed to book learning, so I feel that my goal will be accomplished.