It occured to me after having written about how I started this project that I’ve gotten a bit off track. I finished the food lessons in the FSI program and started a lesson on shopping for clothes, but I’m not planning on buying clothes. Here is where you can really get bogged down in language learning. Without a clear focus there is just too much to become distracted by. To know a language as well as a native speaker takes 5 to 10 years living in the country and using the language. For the rest of us, it is best to make some choices. I used to tell my students, “ There are 500,000 words in the English language. College educated native speakers know about 40,000 -50,000. Where do you want to start?” So faced with a long list of clothing terms, I decided to go back and find a more relevant vocabulary source for my culinary objectives. Cucina Italiana is a delightful site that includes pages in both English and Italian. The English is a little funky so I’m guessing the Italian is authentic. The vocabulary section includes cooking terms with pictures and detailed explanations in English, and an extensive list of fish and meat, also with pictures. There are recipes in both English and Italian, although the layout is not the easiest to follow. I’m quite excited and have already started entering terms into ANKI and deciphering my first recipe written in Italian.