As Pigro as a Pig

Now what was that Italian word for 'lazy,' again? Oh, yes, pigro. I've decided that I'm much more pigro than I have been ready to admit these days.  In fact, I feel totally inundated in pigrizia lately, so much so that I feel it is impeding my progress in learning Italian.  Indolenza is not a pretty sight to see.   Non va bene.  




I've been going right along, self-congratulating myself for listening to one half-hour session of Pimsleur's beginning Italian every morning, watching 'Zorro' in Italian, and doing about an hour of grammar.  Not a very ambitious schedule--especially for someone who no longer works or has a family to support.  It's going to take a long time for me to get my Italian to even a high beginner level, so I'm going to need to shift into high gear soon now.  There I go.  Pigro, pigro, pigro.  Anyway, I've jacked up my Pimsleur listening to a full hour (1/2 in AM and another in PM) and should probably will (d'accordo, will!) extend it to one full hour in the AM and another in the afternoon.  The time has come for commitment--impegno.  

And then there;s reading.  One reason my vocabulary in French has remained reasonably large is because I've occasionally read a novel, story, or browsed the online edition of Le Monde.  Because I'm still in the beginning stages of acquiring Italian, it's hard to get excited about reading something in Italian, because I have to constantly refer to the dictionary.  The solution would be to seek out simple dialogues and reading matter.  Easier said than done.  One resource that has helped with this is a book called Read and Think in Italian.  It offers many short pieces, the majority of which are about the geography, history, and culture of Italy.  It has a running glossary of difficult words with their meanings in a column on the side of each page.  This saves a lot of interruptions to look the word up, thus making the reading more enjoyable.  The book is part of a series in several languages.

Well perhaps I must get to work.  In a few days no one will dare call me pigro.  Though they might call me unilingual.  :)


Più tardi.  A domani.