Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4999 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 9 of 13 20 December 2014 at 6:30pm | IP Logged |
Well, what helped me a lot in my Spanish beginnings was to listen a lot. That
differenciated the languages in my head sufficiently and made a clear distinction between
my French habits and the newer Spanish ones. I'm sure you'll get over your obstacles
soon.
Yes, the classical music is great. But there is a lot in the modern music as well, there
are many more and varied artists than the usual stereotype of overly sweet disco.
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Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3903 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes Speaks: French
| Message 10 of 13 21 December 2014 at 6:28am | IP Logged |
Oh I understand that there is likely a good deal of modern music that is good, it is just that since I am a classical musician that is where my main interest in music lies, thank you for the suggestions.
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Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4999 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 11 of 13 21 December 2014 at 11:43am | IP Logged |
Sure, in that case you've absolutely chosen the best language for you in the world :-)
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Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4042 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German
| Message 12 of 13 21 December 2014 at 4:39pm | IP Logged |
Your knowledge of French and Spanish will most definitely be helpful in your attempts to communicate in Italian. Depending on what your goals are and how much time you can devote to preparing yourself, you might wish to consider the following "tourist speak" resources listed below. They will NOT take you to the conversational level. However, they would help you express your basic needs at a functional/survival level and, hopefully, help you be understood by your interlocators.
DLI Italian Headstart
The course has fairly limited goals and introduces some military ranks that you can simply ignore. However, it does have ample exercise material and it's freely available on the FSI-Language-Courses website: FSI Italian Headstart
Routledge Colloquial Italian
Some reviewers are rather harsh when it comes to the Routledge Colloquial series, partly because of the limited scope of the material and partly because the native speakers speak quite quickly. To my mind, they misunderstand the goals of these courses, which are to help the visitor achieve a very basic functional/transactional level of the target language. Routledge Colloquial Italian 1. If you choose this option, be sure to acquire the PACK as the book and CDs are of little value when used separately.
Linguaphone PDQ Italian
This is something of a phrase book masquerading as a language course. It is VERY BASIC, but it meets the most essential communication goals of a traveller. Don't bother buying the printed version with the CDs as this isn't a keeper. Rather, order the PDF and MP3 download, go through the exercises and try to ignore the CHEERY voice-over and chinzty Italian music. Linguaphone PDQ Italian.
Enjoy your trip!
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Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3903 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes Speaks: French
| Message 13 of 13 21 December 2014 at 8:10pm | IP Logged |
Eventually I'd love to be able to actually understand the Italian operas without subtitles, but for now I just want the basics, enough to ask for important things, and understand the replies. In my experience conversational language is usually the easiest of goals. Being fluent is very much harder. While I'm there I figure I'll use my time on the buses and what not to learn as much as I don't already know. Thanks again to all the suggestions.
Edited by Tyrion101 on 21 December 2014 at 8:11pm
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