The Moment Italian Stops Feeling Like a Foreign Language

When does it stop feeling like a foreign language? When does it stop being a foreign language? It happens when you have a system, when you start to move freely within the system, when you stop looking at the language as an object to be manipulated and start moving through it as a vehicle. But how? How do you do this? I know it sounds silly, but one thing that can help is to memorize simple phrases, to practice speaking about simple things, to react to simple questions.

Practice voicing your thoughts in the present simple tense without needing to pause or switch to English. The system is a physical system, so sound is crucial to its integration. Start to feel the intonation of the language without needing to think about it. Start to notice how Italian sounds a little slower, a little more predictable. When you can do that, you can start to feel like you are in control. The language starts to feel like a part of you and not something you need to work on.

At this point you still make mistakes, but they don’t paralyze you. At this point you are not making so many mistakes that you feel like you need to correct them before you proceed. At this point you feel good enough to just roll with it. At this point you can think in the language a little bit, and that is the most important thing.

The last is the simplest. When does Italian stop being a foreign language? When you have finally learned it, and learning is what we have been talking about all along. When you have a system. When you have practiced that system.

When you are not using memorized phrases and concepts to communicate, but you are navigating Italian like it is your own.