Giving Up a Language or Pushing Through?

[Hunter's Moon]

I took two years of Italian in high school and attempted to self-educate Italian myself, but it fell by the wayside. My teachers never required memorization of the verb tenses, etc., so my skills are pretty weak.

 

I don't want to give up what little I did learn, but at the same time, Italian is not relevant to my life at this time.

 

If anything, Greek and Spanish are much more relevant. I live in a majority Hispanic area, and I attend a Greek parish.

 

Italian and Spanish are close enough where I feel I could use a lot of my already acquired skills. But I still feel like I am giving up.

 

What say The Hive?

[Rosie_0801]

What would Ester Maria say?  :Angel_anim:

 

:P

 

 

(I say, if it is a hobby, do what you like. That's what hobbies are supposed to be for.)

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Where's Ester Maria anyway???

 

OP  > I would say to feel free to switch. The language you can use in every day life will be learned more easily and will stick more. Go ahead. You have my blessings.

[mom2bee]

What was your original intent in learning Italian? Are you giving up something more or is it 'just' Italian.

Do you have the time and resources to learn Italian but lack the motivation?

If you have resources and time but just lack motivation for Italian, then I would perhaps give myself a 30 day trial at where I commit to work for 45 minutes everyday on Italian and see how I feel on day 31, after having put in the work, do I feel that the ends are justified by the means? Can I watch a movie, read a book, follow a conversation or do anything that I would, ideally like to do in the language?

 

I say that learning a language that you enjoy for personal satisfaction isn't a "waste" but if you are dreading it, don't enjoy it, lack motivation and don't feel that it was worth the 1350 minutes and 30 days of my effort, then quit and find something you won't dread, do enjoy and have plenty of motivation for.

 

 

[EmilyGF]

Learn what you can use. If you ever need Italian, you'll find that what you learned will come back quickly, in the right environment.

 

If I lived in CA, where I was raised, my kids would be learning Spanish because they would have support everywhere (bilingual bathroom signs about handwashing laws, for example). I have a couple-hundred word Spanish vocabulary just from street names. It seems silly to not use useful things like that.

 

Emily

[Hunter's Moon]

I apologize for not coming back to this sooner. I forget to check "My Content". 

 

Italian was a language that I signed up to take in High School when I was in the 8th grade. I thought it seemed like a really cool choice, but beyond that, I didn't give much thought to the usefulness. 

 

The Italian that I do know has been a great transition into Spanish, as many roots and grammar rules are similar. 

 

I believe you are right, Emily that if I ever needed to learn Italian, it would come to me quicker than someone just starting out with no background at all. 

 

I don't have many Italian resources. For a bit I was working on translating children's books online, with the help of an italian dictionary and grammar book. I was trying to focus on context when it came to tenses. I do believe the motivation is no longer there because there is nobody with whom I can converse with in Italian.

 

I appreciate the thoughts!