Italian

When I was working at the bookstore, I had a few Italian books, such as Dover's Essential Italian Grammar. But my interest in Italian was first seriously peaked when I cam across Mandelbaum's translation of Inferno with the Italian and English on facing pages. Should I ever have one of those strokes that leave you able only to mutter a few useless phrases of inexplicable origin, one of mine will surely be "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita..."

I played with Dante for a while, enjoying picking through the Italian and checking back with Mandelbaum when my French was insufficient for following along. And then I let it drop for a while.

My next brush with Italian came after reading Foucault's Pendulum by Eco. I loved the book and reread it more than once. I even wrote a paper on the trial of the Templars as part of my French history studies. And then, one day, I found it: Il Pendolo di Foucault. This necessitated the purchase of a good Italian dictionary and more.

My significant other has a graduate minor in Italian - her major was also French - and is a great lover of opera. As a result, I get to toss out the Italian phrase here and there. And I read bits of it by use of my Spanish and French. I've also used the Pimsleur starter course, and the Michel Thomas course which impressed me more. In picking out languages I wanted to know, Italian was a logical choice for the relative ease of acquisition for such a beautiful language. Though my goal is more to enjoy the opera than to move to Italy and open a business.