Had my first Italian lesson yesterday with a tutor. It's going to be a long battle for me to get this language down. I haven't attempted to study anything since college - I had completely forgotten what homework was until she handed over a bunch of papers for me to complete by Saturday.
Something I learned that I thought was interesting. In Italian, similar to English, a word can sound almost exactly like another word, but have a totally different meaning. Like "sette". "Sette" is seven in Italian. But what about "sete"? The only difference in the pronunciation is how hard you hit the "t" in the word. Hard t = seven. Soft t = thirst. Hopefully there are no major insults matched with common words or else I'm sure to accidentally say it.
Another thing I learned is not to say "ciao" until someone says it to you. It is a very informal greeting and most always you should use "buongiorno" instead, just to be safe. I'm sure the list of cultural no-no's will go on as I continue with these lessons - 8 total in all.
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