Learn Italian - Amy S.

At first blush learning a language in just 100 days might seem, well, a bit optimistic. But isn't that the point - to be optimistic - and to reach for the stars; to try new things you never before believed were possible, plausible, or practical - and then to do them - in 100 days - because you are focused, determined, and vigilant. I believe so.

However, just in case you are the type of person that needs hard core facts and figures to go along with a healthy dose of "what if" optimism and focus, Amorey Gethin and Erik V. Gunnemark can provide just such facts. In their book "The Art and Science of Learning Languages" these scientists state that it is realistic to learn a language well enough to "speak tolerably well and understand at least slow speech" in 2 - 3 months [between 60 and 90 days]. According to Gethin, if an individual is willing to spend roughly 12 hours a week in the study of a language then it is feasible to learn that language in a relatively short period of time.

With that said, there is the old saying by Heber J. Grant which encouragingly states: "that which you persist in doing becomes easy to do - not that the nature of the thing has changed, but your power and ability to do has increased." Furthermore, there is a law, defined by Eugene Czernaiwski, a linguistics professor in Moscow - called appropriately "Czernaiwski's Law - that states: "When learning a new language one can in principle learn it in half the time that was needed [to learn] the language... that one last learnt." So learn Italian, then French, the German, and then whatever. Once you start who knows where you end.

So to all you Italian speaking participants in the "next 100 days" challenge, I say "Che cosa farete nei 100 giorni prossimi?" Translation: What will you do in the next 100 days?