It’s been just over a year since I was so excited (see“Prego” post) about learning Italian. But the enthusiasm didn’t quite last and the tools didn’t quite do it for us. So we tried another approach: an immersive intensive in-person language class.

An immersive language course means that teachers are teaching the classes using only the language that the student doesn’t know yet. Foreign Service and Peace Corps people may do that, but me? Get real: I’m a 78 ½ year old who never did well learning languages in school, which was decades ago when her mind was still in tiptop shape.

Even so, I gave it a go. After all, the language was la bella italiana and the classes were taught in Florence. We had a view of the Duomo from our apartment window. Too bad that we hardly had time to look at it because our four weeks there were crammed with six-hour classes five days a week. After the last class ended at 3 pm, we went on long walking tours around the city, all narrated, of course, in Italian.

It quickly became evident that not only did I catch only 30% of what the teachers were saying (and this was a beginner course!), but I also apparently knew nothing about grammar in general, in any language. Toddlers don’t need a grammar background to learn their native language because it comes along with the vocabulary they are swimming in. But the rules of grammatical structure are pretty much necessary for adults who are learning a second language. It was a tool I turned out not to have, and it was a shock to me, who likes to imagine she knows things.

Grammar did me in—I knew nothing about things like indirect object pronouns, past participles, future imperfects or the various and many ways of conveying the tense of a verb. I wasn’t even entirely sure what the tense of a verb referred to. English grammar apparently wasn’t included in my elementary school curriculum. I checked with my brother, who was a couple years behind me in the same schools, and he said it wasn’t taught to him either. Cursive writing, yes; basic grammar, no.

Still, we four-week residents of Florence had to eat. And there we were in Italy, surrounded by wonderful food, terrific street markets, outdoor wine bars, tiny family-run restaurants. No complaints there. We quickly found our favorite places near our apartment. It didn’t take long to become friendly regulars with several servers and bartenders. We alternated our evenings out with cooking and eating the fabulous veggies and cheeses and meats we bought in the markets.

The jury may be out on whether or not learning a foreign language is one way to stave off dementia, but will I continue to dabble in Italian but at a more reasonable pace with more realistic expectations? assolutamente sì, lo farò.