Sion

Ein weisser Fleck auf meiner Landkarte ist weg! Yay!! Ich weiss jetzt wie die französische Schweiz aussieht! Ist zwar echt weit von hier (dreieinhalb Stunden Fahrt), aber auch total schön.

Wir sind von Bellinzona nach Italien von Italien in die Deutschschweiz und von der Deutschschweiz in die französische Schweiz gefahren. Das bedeutet, in einer Stadt alle Schilder auf Italienisch, dann Grenze, immer noch Italienisch, dann Grenze, Deutsch und dann das krasseste-- von einem Ort zum nächsten ohne natürliche Barrieren oder Grenzen waren alle Schilder französisch!! Stell dir mal vor, du fährst in den Nachbarort in dem gleichen Land und da sprechen alle komplett französisch! Einen Moment steht da auf der Autobahn "Ausfahrt" und im nächsten Moment "Sortie". Und diese drei Sprachen alle so nah beieinander!!!

Sion ist total süss mit lauter kleinen Bistrots und Cafès und vielen vielen Weinbergen. Es gibt auch diese beiden Burgen oben auf den Bergen, da war es ziemlich windig und das Gässchen, das da hochführte hiess "Tout vent". (Ich hoffe ich hab's richtig geschrieben!) Ich kann Französisch jetzt viel besser verstehen, weil es so ähnlich ist wie Italienisch.

600 parole

Ho imparato o ripetuto questo weekend con l'aiuto di memomo. Quasi tutti sono in cassetto 3. Adesso diventa già più difficile. Tante parole so passivamente ma non attivamente.

Tra un po' devo partire per insegnare la prima volta all'ospedale. Sono un po' nervosa.

Memomo

No, I'm not talking about my cat "Momo." This morning I found something on the web: A great vocabulary trainer. I can hear you all say, "... a vocabulary trainer?!!"
"Yes, it's a vocabulary trainer."
"What's so great about that?"
"It is great because it works and it's free and it offers a lot of languages."
"What do I need that for?"
"You need it if you're trying to learn a foreign language. And I know that some of my friends are learning foreign languages and therefore I decided to write a post about it."
"Ah, ok. And what's so great about it?"
"It is great because it doesn't make you repeat vocabulary that you already know five times. It works with Leitners Karteikartensystem but you don't have to go out anymore and buy those little cards. And what I love about it is that when you know a word but you misspell it, it remains in the same box as it was instead of going back. They explain it all on their site: Memomo."

Delitto di mezza estate

Sto leggendo "Delitto di mezza estate" di Henning Mankell e mi piace tanto questo autore svedese. Naturalmente non leggo i suoi libri come ognuno altro. Leggo e cerco di capire un po' dalla cultura svedese. Mi intressano ancora tanto queste piccole differenze. In questo modo sono anch'io un commissario che spera di trovare evidenze. E ora leggo anche per imparare l'italiano. Ho trovato che legere tanto in una lingua straniera ti aiuta tantissimo. Non ti rendi neanche conto quanto impari quando leggi ma poco dopo quando parli ti vengono tutte queste esspressione che hai letto. E non hai neanche bisogno di studiarle. Poi, scrivo le parole che davvero non capisco (neanche dal contesto) sulle schedine e dopo imparo. Mi meraviglia ancora come sono simile l'italiano e l'inglese. L'italiano mi sembra un inglese con la grammatica tedesca e una cantilena piu' bella. Pero' davvero è contrario, prima c'era l'italiano e dopo l'inglese... e solo perchè le ho studiato sbagliato. Si deve davvero studiare prima la lingua piu' vecchia...

Che cosa hai fatto quest'anno

I just listened to "So this is Christmas" trying to find another Italian Christmas song. If your remember it goes on "and what have you done?" I spontaneously said, "I have learned a new language." And suddenly I felt so happy that I had the courage to really go ahead and do this. And it is true, I have only now begun to read in Italian and finally understand enough to also watch TV in Italian. Che belloooooo!!! Three months and I'm already able to do this!! I do absolute-ssimissimo enjoy this moment.

I also volunteered at unihockey today selling beverages. We (Ticino) lost the game, however, it was all the fault of the Svizzera German referee who gave a red card to one of our players. Everybody was really upset. Hands were flying, faces red, voices elevated, eyes flashing, swear words everywhere. Oh, how I liked that!! Finally there I was with other people who get really upset... yes, it is true, in Germany I have sometimes felt that people didn't have feelings or didn't express them and then in the US everything seemed so artificial because everybody was always happy, fine, and everything was fun as if there weren't negative emotions, too. Daiiiiii! But Italian is a linguage that was quasi made to express emotions, l'amore but also anger and sadness. And that's what I like and what makes me feel so nooooooooormal here. But back to the linguage.

Do you remember how you felt when you were able to read your very first book? I feel just like that. I am halfway through my first Italian book and when I went to read Nico's blog today I remembered when I was at my desk in Muenster and first went to his website the Italian was all Greek to me. But I'm getting it!!! In città I listen to other people talk and I know what they are saying to each other!! Don't laugh, you never know how much it matters unless you can't do it any more. But here I am once again at the door with the key in my hand realizing it fits and behind the door is all the beauty and magic of another culture. And I have to say this is all I wanted for Christmas this year...