I have been fascinated by languages, especially the romance languages but never really learned much more than rudimentary Italian, a little French, and a smattering of Spanish. Portuguese, while beautiful, is Greek to me. I have wanted to become more proficient in Italian, but my only source is the internet.
So I have been watching lots of YouTube videos in Italian. Some channels are specifically for learning the language. There are groups of YouTube Channels with different instructors using the same teaching methods for different languages.
What has surprised me recently is that I am actually beginning to understand the language at least in part, without English subtitles or trying to do translation in my head. Of course I don't understand every word but if I select Italian subtitles I can see the words and it all makes sense. Even without the Italian subtitles I now get more than just "the gist" of a conversation or monologue. But the missing part is "speaking the language."
Today I was watching a very interesting young Italian language expert on "Podcast Italiano" with Davide.
But allow me to digress...the thing about the internet and YouTube in particular is that one can easily fall into a "rabbit hole" and come out in a place one had no intention of visiting.
And so it happened that suddenly I was watching a video of a young, very cute Portuguese language instructor named Leo.
Leo also appears in more than one of Davide's Podcast Italiano and he speaks fluent Italian.
I have loved Portuguese, particularly Brazilian Portuguese, since being mesmerized by Bossa Nova music years ago. Portuguese is not an easy language. They seem to have no consistent use of either vowels or consonants. But I know I would learn Portuguese if Leo was my instructor.
