Diagnosed with Severe Cultural Deficiency – Prescription: 7+1 Culture Drops

(Knock knock)

-Come in.

-Hello, doctor.

-Hello … oh, it’s you. Please take a seat. It’s been a while since I last saw you, hasn’t it?

-You’re right, doctor. It has.

-Wait a minute, let me take a better look at you. But … but what’s the matter? You look like death warmed up!

-Do I?

-Oh, right. I’m terribly sorry, that came out the wrong way. Um, I meant to say that you look quite raddled and feeble. That’s not like you at all.

-Well, the truth is, doc,  I’ve been feeling under the weather lately and this is why I’m here today. I haven’t got the foggiest idea what’s wrong with me these days.

-OK, let me examine you first. That will give us a clue.

(A few minutes later.)

How to Immerse Yourself in a Language: My Italian Summer (outside of Italy)

Every single article you read, every single video you watch, titled “How to Learn a Language Faster”, suggests that you should immerse yourself in the target language.

This is hands down the greatest piece of advice you can get (one I often gave my former students, too), but how does one actually go about it? How does one effectively immerse themselves in a foreign language in the high hopes of fast progress?

Well, hopefully, my experience both as an English teacher and as a learner of Italian will answer these questions for you.

The Benefits of Self-Study: Why I’m Learning Italian by Myself

Self-study is the word

First things first, let me be clear about something: when I say that I’m learning Italian by myself, I mean that I am actually teaching myself Italian with no help whatsoever. I have never taken up courses in any brick-and-mortar language schools; I don’t attend any group classes nor am I having one-to-one lessons; I don’t have a private tutor; I don’t live in Italy or an Italian-speaking environment; and finally, I have absolutely no ties with Italy (well, my mother claims that my grand-grand-mother spoke Italian fluently, but hey… none of her descendants did, so that doesn’t count, okay?).

I’m learning Italian on my own because I can!

By now you must have stumbled upon my profile or the About section, so you most probably already know that

Welcome

First blog post, huh?

I can already feel the pressure to produce an extraordinary piece of writing, something that in the most supernatural way would immediately make your flickering screen glow brighter emanating a warm, yellowish light to each and every corner of the room you’re in – kind of like the movie scenes in which the lucky pirate opens a treasure chest full of gold and precious gems.

I’m sure that one would expect the very-first post on a brand-new blog to be attention-grabbing, fascinating, woven with unparalleled wit and humour, or illuminating and at the same time empowering you to solve all the mysteries of Life… but I’m afraid that