linguistics [ling-gwis-tiks]
the science of language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and historical linguistics
Synonyms include: language

I bought this Italian-phrase-a-day calendar and so far I’ve learned how to say the following:

Buon anno nuovo! – Happy New Year!
Che bella festa! – What a great party!
Come stai oggi? – How are you today?
and…
Ho bevuto troppo spumante. – I drank too much champagne.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

I’ve forgot how great it feels to learn a new language. As geeky as this sounds, one of the things I looked forward to in high school was taking a Spanish class. I grew up speaking and listening to English and Tagalog so to be able to communicate in a whole new language (or attempt to anyway) just seemed really…well…cool.

I have to admit that I got through Spanish mostly because I could understand Tagalog. I had never been so appreciative of Spain’s influence on the Philippines until I got to Spanish class. And with just 3 years of high school Spanish in tow, Italian became a fun language to learn as well. I swear every language is derived from Latin!!

I still can’t believe listening to a 90-minute Italian cd a few times got us through 2 weeks in Italy! “Buongiorno, grazie, prego and si” sure got us far! Hahahaha! Granted, mostly everyone there can speak and understand English, it was fun to try to speak Italian anyway. Hats off to our Italian friends for being so patient with us. Grazie amici!

Ok, back to work! Until next time…arrivederci! Adios! Ok bye!!!