Hello I am interested in learning Italian but I’m not really sure of the most important parts of grammar to look at this stage. I have a very basic level in Spanish and I’m aware that there are things like conjugation, different tenses and gender etc but I’m not sure of what is the most important right now to build a strong foundation if anyone could give me some advice to get started :)
Currently I live in a European country but I’m not sure if that’s really an important factor. I really love the sound of French and I think it looks really beautiful when it’s written. I also really like French music and French seems to play a large role in Sociology which is a subject I really love. The French grammar also seems a little easier than Portugese but mabye I am wrong. I like Portugese in a different way because it seems very vibrant to me and I adore Bossa Nova and other Brazilian artists they also have some good TV shows and they seem to have a very large presence online, particularly in gaming culture which I enjoy. However, my main concern is listening. Even in my native language (English) when others are talking to me sometimes the sounds ‘mush together’ in my head and I have to ask people to repeat themselves but it’s not all the time I would say around 85% of the time I can understand normally but I have to really listen and take my time with what people are saying. When I watch TV I usually have the subtitles on because of this so I’m thinking mabye it would be better to learn the language that tends to have the clearest speech?? Or mabye it won’t affect it as much as I think as they will both have strange sounds ( I have been told I’m really good at replicating accents and regional dialects)
I have been trying to learn Spanish for the past few months as I love music and tv shows from Latin American countries such as Mexico and Colombia but due to reasons related to OCD I am struggling with the different dialects as consuming media from different countries, particularly Spain or Argentina, feels ‘incorrect’ and it is really starting to hinder my progress because I’m scared that I will become confused and unable to speak or understand properly. I understand that there every language within a country has its own accents and dialects depending on the region but are there any alternative languages that tend to have a standard or general form in the media that may help to eliminate or lessen this problem. Any advice would be appreciated.
I have just completed my first year of AS levels and initially I picked Health and Social Care, Sociology and Tourism as I had planned to go into nursing following AS levels and they seemed relevant for the course but after gaining months of work experience in healthcare over the past year I have came to the realisation that I absolutely do not want to work in any sort of healthcare oriented job and that the A levels I picked have limited my options although my predicted grades were AAB in my subjects. I am now looking to Law and Accountancy as options but I’m unsure whether my subject choices would make it almost impossible to get into accounting. Any advice would be appreciated.
Edit: A - Sociology, A - HSC, B - Tourism ( My teacher did say I was only a few points off the A)
Any advice would be appreciated :) Recently I have been trying to dedicate myself to learn a certain language but because my brain pretty much runs on novelty I can spend hours and hours playing a video game in the language and translating and finding out the meanings or the lyrics of songs and I do have quite good pattern recognition but when I try to learn grammar concepts like conjugation and different verb endings using flashcards and tables I can’t even find the will to go over them but I’m afraid that relying on translating will leave me with really gaps on my knowledge, especially for the irregular verbs. Does anyone have any advice on learning grammar a more academic or textbook way without it seeming like a huge chore???
I’m not really sure why I’m writing this I think it would be good for someone to relate to my experiences or mabye give some advice.
I wouldn’t necessarily call my parents alcoholics , they usually had a bottle of wine each around 5 or 6 nights in the week. However on many occasions when my mom was stressed with work or there had been conflict in the family the drinking would increase a lot, particularly my mother and I have distinct memories of my mom punching my dad in the head so hard he fell down, getting drunk in the morning and drunkenly storming into my room and breaking my toys and and swearing at me and calling me horrible names, driving the car at dangerous speeds and zigzagging on the roads, slapping me in the face with things like hairbrushes etc (this was worst when I was the ages of 5 - 9 when my parents were in bad conflict every day ). But i also really dreaded going on holiday with them because I knew something really bad would happen and it felt far more unsafe because I would be trapped in a foreign country while they were threatening to kill each other. Even when not drinking my mom would get really angry at the simplest of things e.g taking me to a restaurant and telling me to order her a drink and nothing else then blowing up and saying that I’m an inconsiderate bitch that hates her and she would scream and drive home at an insane speed. When my parents have even a glass of wine I feel my stomach drop and I feel the need to count thier drinks and be hyper aware of what I say. But apart from this I feel like they are really good parents e.g nice food in the house, clean laundry, day trips etc.
Honestly I don’t really know what to do with this information other than leaving it here on Reddit :(
I need help with making a decision on which language to learn. At the minute I am thinking of moving to work in Ticino Switzerland eventually and I would need a B2 or C1 in Italian however this would not be for another 4 years or so. The issue is I can’t learn both at the same time but I prefer the Spanish language overall and the media that Spanish speaking countries produce which may affect me learning Italian. Should I learn Italian for now because it will be beneficial or learn Spanish for now and it will be easier to learn Italian later. For context also I will be visiting Spain in a few months and Italy next year.
For example if I was a UK nurse who enjoys travelling in Europe which languages could give the most edge in being employed in other countries?