Self Improvement ---Learning Italian

April 6, 2012

I joined this ship with a clear goal of improving my ability to speak multiple languages. That goal has gone mostly unrealized. To get a conviction of First Degree Murder you generally must show Means, Opportunity, and Motive. The same appears to be true with learning a language. You must have both the means and opportunity to do so and you must be motivated to pursue the available path.

The Means are definitely in place. With co-workers from 72 different nations, there are an abundance of languages being spoken. For at least half of the crew English is not a primary language. So, if you want to start learning a language, there are plenty of ‘means’ available. In addition, we have four Rosetta Stone laptops in our crew library. When I arrived they were loaded with only English and Spanish. In March, I ordered Italian and French to be added and the software arrived at the end of April. So, the means are now available in this well crafted form, as well.

Technically speaking the Opportunity is there. If you want to use Rosetta Stone, Pages, our crew library, is open 24 hours a day. Your fellow crewmates are also available at least that often. (I swear some work more than 24 hours a day, despite the fact that you may feel that is impossible.) By law within a 24 hour period we must have at least ten hours to ourselves. By Collective Bargaining Agreement, we try to cap work hours in the neighborhood of 10-11/day. So there are hours of opportunity to complete this task.

Finally, there is a Motive. The ability to speak to other crew members in their own language is attractive. As we are now in our European season there are also an increasing number of guests for whom this would be a convenience, as well. And since the Captain is Greek, learning a few words in Greek wouldn’t hurt either!

But Motive does not always translate into Motivation. The main barrier is tired people. When you have been working 10+ hours every day of the week for months on end you generally aren’t signing up for additional tasks to accomplish. The most convenient path of course would be to use the Rosetta Stone software. But since this is on a corporate license it can only be installed on Celebrity laptops. If I could have it on mine, I would be happy to sit in my room in the evenings and study for 30 minutes every day. However, the need to walk down to Pages and sit at a computer after working in an office for most of the day is not my idea of fun. With English being the official language of the company, it is very comfortable for an English speaking person to not require themselves to extend beyond his or her lexicon. But I still wanted to expand my skills.

Here’s where my friend Giorgia enters the picture. Giorgia signed on as a Shore Excursions representative about a month after I arrived and I got to know her spirited personality as she attended all the required courses for new hires. She is only one of two Italians currently working on the ship. Fortunately, though, since she is a ‘scarce commodity’ many crew members started approaching her and asked her to teach them Italian. So she came to me as the T&D Manager and asked if I would help her setup a class. Over 20 people expressed interest, but then the typical barriers appeared. Everyone cannot attend at the same hours. Housekeepers want the class late in the evening. Restaurant workers want it mid-afternoon. Bar workers prefer mornings. Shorex staff, like Giorgia, can only deliver the class at night on Sea Days. The net result is that only five students have shown up for the class. The benefit for those that showed up, however, was much more personal attention from someone who has a natural gift to be a teacher.

Just as we began to gain traction, however, we reached Europe. With a port virtually every day Giorgia’s time is now scarce. Still I maintain my set of notes carefully typed up. She always works to engage me in my limited Italian. And somehow, with that little toehold into the world of a new language, sitting at a Rosetta Stone laptop no longer seems that bad.

And the adventure continues . . .