Day 52 - on learning Italian - the funny way

Remember the times when we were kids and cable TV first appeared in Romania? There was a time after '90, when all the kids were crazy about watching cartoons on Italia 1 or Rai Uno or something like that. All the kids at my school were idolizing these cartoons and, with a curiosity that was specific to their age, were learning Italian from them, and loving it. Well, I was a bit different. I spent a lifetime hating the Italian language until a few months ago. I've always said it's the ugliest and most useless language on Earth, and that "Spanish is waaaay cooler".
This changed at a certain point this January when English seemed not to be enough anymore for communicating with my one and only perfect guide. It's amazing how much Internet changes our way of learning things. For the first months, I was keeping Google Translate open at ALL times, and almost every sentence I got or wrote on chat was going to GT for verification. But soon this wasn't enough because as the conversations went more and more complicated, GT was making more and more (obvious) mistakes. Then I discovered that if I only translated the words I didn't know, I could actually guess the meaning of the phrase. And then, for safety, at the end of the day, all conversations (which are archived in the chat history) went for a double check and I often discovered that, although at the time of the conversation I had thought we were talking about a certain thing, in reality we were talking about something else.
It may seem easy to learn a language that is 70% similar to yours, but... try to do this in English. On Google Translate, I had to use Italian/English or English/Italian for all the words/phrases/sentences, because the probability of receiving mistakes was lower than for Italian/Romanian or Romanian/Italian. Later, when I started asking my beloved about grammar rules and all kinds of rules, I had to ask them in English and received the explanations, of course, in English. Which turned everything into a more complicated story.
I have to admit, though, that I have the kindest and most patient teacher that can exist. And I am surprised of how can anyone be so patient not only to explain you the rules over and over again but also to correct each and every mistake you make.
Italian movies (with no subtitles, of course) and books in Italian also had a very important role in my instruction process, and still have it. I did not understand a great lot of movies when I first watched them, but I noticed, over time, that this improved significantly. I even watched the same movie (Benvenuti al Sud - totally recommend it, you will die laughing) the second time after a few months and noticed that I could actually understand every single word. Ok, except the parts when they speak in Napoletan dialect which is a whole different story.
The first real satisfaction about this language was when I first had the courage to actually speak it with Italians, other than my beloved and his family. I was a bit ashamed to do this in the beginning, but they actually understood me, and, most important... didn't laugh.
I am now exploring the fascinating world of accents and dialects. Because yes, the "official" Italian only exists in books. In reality, each region has its dialect, and each province has its accent. From what I understood, dialects were the ones that "official" Italian emerged from. And, in theory, people from each region should be able to "officially" speak the "official" Italian, and also be able to speak the regional dialect, let's say, at home. In reality, this does not always happen. I understood that there are still some people who speak ONLY the dialect (especially if they are from the countryside).
Because I learned Italian from a Milanese, and because I spoke it mostly with Milanese people, I like to think I have a Milanese accent. I admit it sounds funny and forced for now, but I'm working on it. I think the Milanese way of speaking is the one that is closest to the "official" Italian. I am, though, intrigued by the Roman accent, but I never get the chance to actually practice it with anyone, as I don't know any Romans.
I "secretly" fantasize of visiting Napoli, which is mostly because I want to hear  people speaking in Napoletan dialect which is the funniest thing on earth. You can swear that not even the "normal" Italian speakers will ever understand it.
As a proof, check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOYQ0I6VLus

So, to conclude this all, I am more than anxious to continue the journey into the depths of this fascinating language. There's still a lot to discover and I will enjoy every second of it.

Con un SACCO d'amore :D
La Reina Rana