I'm currently reading the latest novel by Dan Brown—Inferno. I just want to get it over with and find out what all the fuss is about. It features Florence, Italy! My review of that novel is coming up soon.
And speaking of Italy, my friend's sister once stayed at a hotel in Piemonte in Turin and was happily pleased to see books. Now there's one reason to pack and just leave for Italy—some of their hotels have books for their guests! I can imagine locking myself in the hotel room and just whiling away the hours reading.
In case you didn't know, I'm taking up a language class in Italian. A lot of my friends ask, "Why Italian? Isn't Italian spoken only in, ummmm, Italy?" Well, true that. But Italian is such a language that's very pleasing to the ears, yes? Besides, a foreign language will surely come in handy one day, I hope.
I read somewhere that one of the most effective ways to learn a foreign language is to read books written in that language. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it, just as long as you get familiar with all the words. So the next time I'm in a bookstore, I might as well get a novel written in Italian. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to read Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy in Italian!
(All photos are courtesy of my friend's sister, Socorro Manguiat. Thank you!)
And speaking of Italy, my friend's sister once stayed at a hotel in Piemonte in Turin and was happily pleased to see books. Now there's one reason to pack and just leave for Italy—some of their hotels have books for their guests! I can imagine locking myself in the hotel room and just whiling away the hours reading.
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| Graphic novels, which apparently have very scary content. |
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| Life of Pi! And Harry Potter! In Italian! I die. |
I read somewhere that one of the most effective ways to learn a foreign language is to read books written in that language. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it, just as long as you get familiar with all the words. So the next time I'm in a bookstore, I might as well get a novel written in Italian. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to read Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy in Italian!
(All photos are courtesy of my friend's sister, Socorro Manguiat. Thank you!)
4 comments:
Little top on getting books in Italian - get children's books - as in picture books. Brilliant way to get the flow of the language in story form - I'm kicking myself for not taking advantage of wonderful kid's bookshops in Jerusalem for my Hebrew - doh! Then work your way up - think back to learning to read originally, and moving from picture books to chapter books and so on - same thing in the new language.
Enjoy!!
Oh, why didn't I think of picture books! Thanks for the tip, Kaz!
Wow, Peter, Italian is really a nice language to learn! Hope you don't mind me asking, where do you study Italian? What school?
Hi, Gem! At Societa Dante Alighieri in Makati. It's in the same building as the Italian embassy.
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