In 2019 I travelled to my grandfather's village of Salice (Messina) with virtually zero comprehension of Italian and although it was a lovely visit, the language gap made it tricky!
Going back to some photos from that trip taken in Catania and surrounding area, I notice text that I doubt I would have understood at the time despite some similarity to English...
I went home and played around with Duolingo which did help me build up some basic vocabulary but upon my return to Italy 5 years later I had very little confidence speaking after using that app as my only teacher! Now, after a year of minimal practice I am beginning my language learning journey anew...
I've picked out two different online programs and will aim to make better progress in the year ahead. As of Dec. 1, 2025, I started with a small but steady daily commitment... and will do my best to stick with it (and get better at posting on this blog too!)
Looking forward to improving from simple words like this...
to MORE of this...
I can pick out some of those above right now but hoping to deepen that understanding!
Of course after getting a handle on Italian then learning some Sicilian will be the next challenge!
I can't tell for sure but in realizing how few words I recognize above I'm guessing that it is mostly [all?] Sicilian?!
OK time for me to switch tasks and get back into language learning... Ciao for now!
[had to severely crop this graffitti pic due to (thankfully) googling a new learned offensive word ;)]
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