How learning a language is connecting Julia to Giulia

The older Julia got, the more she wondered about her mysterious maternal grandmother.

Her Italian nonna had met a New Zealand soldier, married him and moved to the other side of the world, causing friction with her family.

Sadly, Giulia had died when Julia was four years old.

And the occasional letters from Italy stopped.

Although named after her nonna, Julia knew nearly nothing about her namesake as Giulia had shared very little with her children about her early life.

Maybe due to homesickness? Could that have weakened Giulia’s heart, leading to her early death?

Over time, Julia became ever more curious about her roots.

She mulled and mused:

What had Giulia’s childhood been like?
How many siblings had she had?
For how long had she gone to school?
What had she enjoyed doing?
Did she prefer cooking or sewing?

So many questions. No one to ask.

The language connection

One day whilst reading another Elena Ferrante book in English, Julia had her aha moment: obviously she had to learn Italian!

Surely knowing the language would help her feel more connected to her nonna and her heritage!

That’s when we met.

Julia had never learnt a language before and was sceptical if it was even possible at her age.

But she followed the action plan we set up together based on 4 simple steps: motivation, objectives, regular, enjoyable.

Julia joined face-to-face classes. She worked her way through apps and a course book. She did the 5-minute tasks I suggested and had online speaking sessions with a tutor.

Her commitment paid off. She surprised herself with the fun she was having and the progress she was making.

Nine months later sitting in an Italian restaurant, Julia decided to use the small inheritance from her mother to travel to Italy to immerse herself in the language and indulge herself in the food.

She found a language school in Bologna – a northern city that’s renowned for its culinary tradition – where she’ll spend the mornings in the classroom learning the language and the afternoons in the kitchen learning cooking.

And living in a homestay means Julia will be communicating in Italian while participating in family life.

Very exciting, a bit daunting.

After the course, Julia plans to travel to her nonna’s hometown.

When she gets there, will she have the courage to contact the possible cousin she’s found on Facebook?

Julia left last week on her adventure. I can’t wait to hear how it goes.

Need a hand to set up and stick to your DIY language project too? I can help.

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