Hi my name is Sara Mason and I am in the process of moving to Milan at present. I''m British and currently based in London but moving to Milan to set up an italian office for a company called Pagoo (internet software). I spent quite a lot of time in Milan last year doing business but moving there permanently will be a totally different kettle of fish I''m sure. My italian is almost non existant so learning the language is a major priority for me - I''d welcome anyone contacting me to share there experiences and any recommendations re: language lesson groups. ciao Sara

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" Sara I am an expat in Italy. I knew absolutly no Italian when I arrived here. The 1st year I tried to speak as little as possible because of fright of making mistakes. I then realized how helpful the Italians are. They are willing to help you not laugh at you. After the 1st year even though I realized that I had to try I talked very little since I had made no friends. I was taking lessons a couple of times a week but the lessons were teaching me perfect grammer however if you do not know the words no matter how much you study grammer it will not help you communicate. I finally stopped lessons and forced my self out to talk and listen. I think I have improved much more then having the lessons 3 X a week. (all grammer) The first thing I would do if I had to do this over again is that I would try to talk not worrying what others are thinking and second of all find a school that doesn''t teach only grammatical and expect you to be able to speak from that and try to communicate as muchas possible from the beginnig. My husband took lessons for a very short time. He is by far better than me ,His grammer was far from perfect but he understands all as well as everyone understands him because he is forced around it everyday and through the past year his grammer has improved it was much easier for him to improve on his grammar after he knew how to communicate. His grammer was never terrible but he worked on improving the grammer more after he was able to communicate. I was afraid to talk because I would try to speak perfect grammer. It took a lot longer to try to talk. Good Luck Debbie "

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" Hello, It''s great hearing that you learned the language much quicker by exposing yourself to the people within your surroundings, instead relying on the lessons you were taking three times a week. I also can''t stand the method that most educational institutions here in American have chosen to teach the Italian language. Your courage has inspired me to further look into the possibilities of finding employment as a Menswear Designer in Milan; thank you for sharing your victory. Now, I can overcome one of the fears I''ve had about leaving abroad. Shiloh PS: I would greatly appreciate your advice on how one can look into finding employment within the design industry in Milano; thank you. "

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" Hi Debbie Thanks for your reply. I guess I am in a fortunate postion that I have some italian friends, don''t take any nonsense and just throw me in at the deep end - go on you go and order the coffee!! Nevertheless I know its going to be difficult and time consuming. regards Sara "

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" I took several years of college Italian, but the language has really sunken in since I began listening to Andrea Bocelli, opera and classical music. From there, I have made my own method of studying, but basically am finding that in songs, everyday conversational Italian is spoken. It has also lead me to a love of the opera. As I read this site, I agree, that courses keep you stuck in a grammar-lock and you are afraid to just make conversation. This has really freed me to try, and when I listen to Andrea who is now trying to speak English, I realize that grammar is probably the last thing to polish. Anything that one does, whether sports, music, instruments, etc., is best done when the unconscious mind just goes ahead and performs. But as soon as we think about it, we get stuck in semantics. Best wishes. "

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