I'm leaving for Rome in two weeks so today, I decided it would be prudent to learn Italian. Yes, I realize this is like starting a flossing routine on the day before going to the dentist; nobody will be fooled. But I should clarify that I'm not starting entirely from scratch. Before my last trip, I purchased the Rosetta Stone language learning software and I made a pretty decent go of working through the lessons. They did prove helpful and upon my return I vowed to continue, figuring that by now, I'd be prepared to engage in witty repartee with the locals while sipping my morning espresso. Sadly, my Rosetta Stone CDs are buried at the bottom of my 'to do' pile.
Nonetheless, I gamely downloaded “Fodor's Italian for Travelers,” and fired it up on my iPod during my morning run. Things started out easily enough with simple words and phrases I actually remembered from before. But the lesson quickly moved into phrases that conjure up travel scenarios I'd prefer not to contemplate. These include “my room key doesn't work,” “please return my passport” and “where is the lost luggage counter?” (This last contains a word that sounds suspiciously like 'jettison'). What's worse, these phrases seem unduly complicated. So, I'm skipping over them on the theory that if I don't know them, I won't need them. Besides, even if I master them now, I'm pretty sure they would be obliterated by my rising panic over being locked out of my room with no clothes and no identification.
Thankfully, other critical phrases are straightforward, such as “Where is an ATM?" (Dove e un bancomat?) and “I would like ice cream” (Vorrei gelato). And I've worked this one out all on my own: Vorrei il vino rosso per favore. Salut!
Salut! :-)
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