Michi

Who is Michi?

Michi is an Italian girl, she’s sixteen and she attends liceo linguistico. She has been studying English since she was in primary school and, since she went to high school, she’s been studying also German and Spanish. She likes English and German the most, but she thinks she’s better at Spanish because it’s similar to Italian, so easier to speak and comprehend.

How movies can improve your English

Michi thinks that english grammar is obviously easier than the italian one, but she has some problems with learning new vocabularies, typical expressions and with the pronunciation. She suggests to watch movies in English: in her experience she found it very useful to improve her skills and to solve her problems with the language. At first she added the subtitles (“in English of course!”) and then she took notes of the words she didn’t know in order to look for the meanings: everyday she learned something new. To improve her pronunciation she tried to repeat after the character had spoken, in this way she also learned the different accents and she became more fluent. Michi still uses this method but without subtitles!

Full immersion is the best way to learn a language

At school we study english grammar and culture, but is that really important to learn a language? From Michi’s point of view, the best way to speak a foreign language is a full immersion in its country; you don’t have to remember by heart all the grammar rules or all the kings and queens that had governed that country before going there. Once you’re abroad and you’re living with new and foreign people, you have to speak only their language and day by day you will discover new expressions and, with their help, you will speak fluently and will make fewer mistakes. Obviously you will visit many places and will try some typical dishes, so you will also learn something about their culture, that is important for personal knowledge. The more languages you study, the more new languages you can learn! Michi is studying three different languages, is it difficult? She doesn’t mind learning three foreign languages, because in her opinion once you have found your own strategies and methods to memorize grammar rules and pronunciation, you will say “well, you know what? Let’s study another one!”. In her experience, you have to approach with positivity and good will to study a new language; being self-confident while you’re learning a language is essential to keep studying it, because you can’t expect yourself to know everything in one month but you have keep making efforts and, of course, you have to accept your mistakes. The satisfaction of speaking a language fluently will bring you to challenge yourself with another one.

Italian expressions in English? Impossible!

About a year ago a friend of Michi hosted a Scottish girl named Hannah. An afternoon Michi and Hannah met (“what an embarrassment! I wish I had said nothing!”). Michi was very curious of Scotland and started asking questions about the country, food, traditions, people and landscapes. Hannah answered all her questions, but she had interest in discovering something new about Italy too, so she asked about south Italy because she had never been there. Michi went with her family to Sicily and wanted to talk about it. Michi told me that her problem is to express concepts in foreign languages, so when it came to tell a funny story of miss-understanding, typical of Italian language and its dialects, she didn’t know how to explain it! She started to sweat, to laugh, to stutter and the funny moment was over!