My Italian isn’t great. I work at it, but it is far from fluent. I can hold a basic conversation, and with a mixture of Italian, gestures, stock phases like “I am looking for something that can …” or “What is this called?”, I get by. I want to get better. But like anything you want to improve, it takes time and effort.
Now I have a few friends in Italy that do not understand English. Why should they? I try to keep in contact by email or postcard. The great thing about having somebody that writes to you and to whom you write is that it forces you to work on your Italian. Keeping the discipline of study can be hard and a note from a friend can act as a timely reminder.
When I get an email or postcard in Italian I have time to translate, check grammar, get to grips with colloquial phases, compose my reply. All of this takes time and effort, but it helps me to learn the language and it is worth it to stay in touch.
This website is a great help, wordreference.com. I like it because you not only get the translation, different meanings of the word, but you also get useful phrases. I find that remembering a phrase is easier than remembering a single word. So if you haven’t already sent an Italian buddy a Christmas card, and your Italian is not a good as you would like it to be, use wordreference.com to help you write an email, a postcard or New Year’s card.
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