For the past three weeks, I've been listening and speaking along with Pimsleur Italian lessons. I listen to it every morning on the way to take my son to school. Sometimes I'm not sure I learned a lesson well enough, so I repeat it the following day. It's not a bad way to learn (we'll review a few different language learning methods in a later post). One of the great things about Pimsleur is that it starts you out with words and phrases that will help you get around a bit if you visit a country that speaks the language you are learning.
A few years ago, I was doing Pimsleur Japanese, and it was made very clear how humble and modest the Japanese are in their conversations. They are polite; conversation topics started out with family and work and many different ways to be polite through modesty -- talking them up while talking yourself down. It's like constantly bowing through speech. It's actually a very nice change from the way people typically talk here in America, where you never know if the next person you talk to will be polite, outspoken, shy, rude, etc.
But these Italian lessons so far are very much centered around food, eating, drinking, getting to restaurants and hotels, and asking others to come along in a big social day out with food, wine, and beer. Not that I'm being stereotypical; that's just the way Pimsleur seems to show it. It makes for some really amusing conversations!
For example: Today I finished Lesson 9 (introducing hours of the day). The last 10 minutes of this lesson, where you are made to act out a conversation between two people, is HILARIOUS. I swear, I was cracking up. A guy keeps asking a girl to drink with him, and not picking up that she definitely doesnt want to. Maybe its funnier in Italian, and when you don't know what he is going to say next. But anyways, it went like this:
GUY: Would you like to drink something with me Miss?
Girl: Not Miss... Mrs.
GUY: Sorry, Mrs... But would you like to drink something with me?
Girl: No thank you.
GUY: Not now?
Girl: And not later.
GUY: But at 1 o'clock, okay?
Girl: It's not okay with me!
GUY: ...at 2 o'clock?
Girl: No thanks--I don't want to.
GUY: Later, at 8 o'clock?
Girl: No thank you.
GUY: Or at 9 o'clock?
Girl: Certainly not!
GUY: Tell me, at what time? At what time would you like to drink something with me?
Girl: No, I do NOT want to drink something with you!
GUY: Ah, I understand now.
Girl: Great, you understand now!
GUY: Yes. You don't want to drink something with me.
...But you would like to eat something with me. [Note: I felt like I could literally SEE her facepalm here.] At the restaurant. At 8 o'clock, or at 9 o'clock?
Girl: Not at 1 o'clock, and not at 2 o'clock. Not at 8 o'clock, and not at 9 o'clock.
GUY: At what time?
Girl: You don't understand, sir.
GUY: What don't I understand?
Girl: You don't understand Italian, sir.
It's especially funny because in a previous lesson, a guy asked a girl to have a drink with him, and she said yes. So he asked what she wanted to drink. She says some wine, and then he asks "Would you like to drink some beer?" (Ummm no, I just said wine?) She says sure anyways. He asks where she wants to get that drink, and he says, "At the restaurant?" But she replies, "No, at your place." She knows he has a blatant disregard for her wants and yet she still goes home with him.
These lessons are so amusing. Definitely keeps me entertained, and wanting to do more. Good job, Pimsleur! Haha :)
