And so it begins.

When I returned home from work on Friday night, what did I find on my doorstep? That's right, my brand new copy of Rossetta Stone: Italian Level 1.

I was pretty excited.

So excited, in fact, that I spent my Friday night starting the lessons. (I am such a nerd).

I have to say I was totally terrified to be starting a new language. However, I took a deep breath and dove in.

It was kinda fun.

It is difficult to describe the experience, but I'll try. The first thing that was different about this experience as compared with my classes in school was that there was no English. All of the "translations" that occur are pictures. So you don't associate a word in Italian with a word in English, but instead with the Italian word's meaning. It is a subtle difference, but one I found amazingly helpful.

I was also impressed with the great blending of listening, speaking, reading and writing. I always always have struggled with speaking a foreign language. I felt as if I was insulting a whole culture by my mis-pronunciation and poor grammer. (dramatic much?) But I was speaking simple words and phrases right from the beginning.

The best moment of the night was when I spoke my first sentence without repeating what the instructor had said. The computer read descriptions of three photographs, then it was my turn to describe the last photo. My first thought was, 'I can't do that, I've just started!' Then, oddly enough, I did it.

I literally threw my fist in the air.

I made great progress Friday night. I ended up quitting for the evening when the program asked me to spell some of my new vocabulary words. It didn't go well. There are some elements of dyslexia that can't be solved in a day.

I am excited by how much I was able to learn in one day, and I'm looking forward to going back to try more soon.

~Claire Out.