The Beginnings of my DIY Italian Phrasebook

I had an idea the other day to make myself a phrasebook to help me study Italian. I bought a cheap journal* (make sure it mostly lays flat when opened to the middle if you want to try this, I opened several before I found one that I liked the feel of) then came home home and looked it up to see if others have had the same idea. I did find a few websites that described how to make one and what to include, but I have yet to see ANY pictures, lame! So I took a few of mine for others of you out there, just in case you want to try.

The number one reason I wanted to do this is because physically writing things down helps me memorize them. Number two, I get to include full sections of things that would be absolutely ridiculous if they were found in a store bought phrasebook, like chicken keeping, gardening, baking, hiking, etc. I want to include my hobbies and things that specifically pertain to me so that I can go find videos on youtube, or blogs that are in Italian and on that subject and learn with what interests me.

First off, I found THIS, is gives a great simple overview of things to include and a way to organize it (that, if you are like me, you can ignore ;) ) but still, I now know the basics of the things I'll include in my book.Then I went HERE and found the list for useful phrases in Italian. This is actually the first section I did.

I got all my supplies together (isn't that the cutest coffee cup?) and worked my way right down the list on omniglot.com. But first I should say that I know myself well enough to know that I always forget that I wanted to add something super important to the beginning so I left several pages blank.

Eventually I will put in a table of contents in the front, probably color coded with the corresponding color drawn on the edge of the pages of that section.

Well, that's it for now, it's a work in progress and I plan on putting things in as I learn them so it may never really be finished, but hopefully it's be a useful tool for me. I'll make more posts about it as it develops so eventually there will be a fuller picture of what it really is.

* I thought about just using a cheap, yet totally functional, composition notebook, but decided that a journal this size would fit well in my purse so I can study in my down time when we are out and about. Likewise, there are some tiny journals available if you want something that will fit in your pocket, but since they are so small you might need to use one whole notebook for every 2-3 sections that you'd have in a larger notebook, but that's totally fine and completely up to you! :)