The Progression of my Lessons

There is no doubt that the Italian language is a beautiful one. The people are expressive and the words with their many syllables are tongue twisting but unique. The language consists of 21 letters, very similar to the American alphabet without the following letters: k, v, w, x, j, although these letters are used in foreign words, like the car BWV. Here are a few long words, ammininstrazione, riorganizzaaione, metalmaccanici, contingentamenti, confidenzialmente; I get a headache and sound like a 5 year old when I try to sounds out all the syllables as I attempt to pronounce these words. My teacher keeps telling me to be patient and take things slowly.
My main problems with the language are their grammatical rules. In American English, we read things almost always left to right; in Italian it is a bit different.

A few examples: I am using direct translations of every single word.
Io do una mela a Marco. =I gave an apple to Marco. No problems here.
Io do una mela a lui. =I gave an apple to him. Very logical.
Io la(replaces apple) do a lui(replaces Marco).=I it gave to him, huh? Really this means I gave it to him. But to form this phrase, you have to change the order of how the words are placed in the sentence.
OR
Io gliela(replaces him and it) do.= I to him it give, really that means I gave it to him. This really confuses me.

Everyday I read a bit and write a bit and speak a bit. It is hard and I should not expect to learn the language so quickly, I know all this. I understand much more now but have to think forever before I can really speak correctly. Mostly this is because I am doing a lot of mental translating which my teacher wants me to avoid. Exasperated I tell him it is impossible at this point not to do any translating. Ugh!!

Yesterday for the first two hours, we went over indirect pronouns over and over until I understood them thoroughly; still I cannot guarantee I will remember to use them when necessary. Another problem I with the grammar is their use of double negatives such as; I don’t know nobody and I don’t want nothing. Hmmm…. I don’t think I’ll be saying such things anytime soon.