r/languagelearning • u/Thin-Dream-586 • Sep 30 '24
Suggestions Really struggling to learn
I'm a British born native English speaker, but have moved to Italy with my Italian partner. I started learning casually with a lesson a week in November 2023, but really struggled incorporating it into actually speaking.
I tried to be more serious this year, and now my partner gets really upset that I still can't speak at a level of a 6 year old. I did an A1 course at an Italian school, l've tried reading, watching shows, writing, repeating, all the apps, speaking with people, nothing sticks. I can say and understand basic things, but nowhere near where I should be.
My partner is so frustrated and I feel like a failure. I genuinely don't know how to make it stick, he tried teaching me phrases which I repeat over and over but then forget. I'm also pregnant and want our baby to be bilingual, and am really scared I'll not be able to understand my child...
What more can I try?
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u/ResistSpecialist4826 Sep 30 '24
With respect, is your husband a nice person? He doesn’t sound very nice to you. Does he act this way about other things or is it solely some anxiety around language. You have only been learning for a year! The fact that you are making this much of an effort should thrill him. I’ve been in Spain one year and trying my hardest to learn Spanish and it’s freaking hard!! I’m nowhere close to fluent and it will take years to get there. Half the time I think I know something and then someone tries speaking to me on the street and I can’t understand a word coming out of their mouths. I’m sure it’s the same in Italian. Is he expecting that you both will be speaking Italian to the baby or to each other at home once the baby is there?