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Italian - 1000 Hours | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Oasis88 Senior Member Australia Joined 5704 days ago 160 posts - 187 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 89 of 152 19 February 2011 at 11:11am | IP Logged | |||||
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I've been reading Harry Potter. I spent a lot of time reading the first 12 chapters by looking up every unknown word and figuring out every new phrase and grammatical construction that I came across. Recently, I've just been reading it without worrying about the unknown words. It's good to see that my understanding of the plot is very high as the words that I'm missing out on are not that important. As for my conversation, I think it went okay. It's hard to describe exactly what I was able to do but I'll try. At the beginning of was having a 1 on 1 conversation about things we were doing (we were cooking) and I managed that fine. Of course, we went through all the usual stuff such as why are you travelling, where are you from, how many children do you have, pass me the eggs, etc. All of that I managed to understand quite well. As the night progressed it became more and more difficult as the conversation moved to more difficult topics (politics, history, etc). At times I would understand very little and at other times next to nothing. I feel as though I have I know have a strong ear for the language (whatever that means) yet have a limited vocabulary which is limiting my understanding. At times I'd sit there and nod without understanding anything... I felt as though I could make out all the words, it's just that my brain couldn't attach meaning to enough of them to make sense of it overall. My ability to express myself was poor given that I've only spent a couple of hours developing this skill. Because of this I'm not too worried. Thankfully the couple were extremely patient and helpful. Thanks for the offer. Do you have any other Italian ebooks which might be useful? I've got a chapter or 2 before moving on to something else. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| magictom123 Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5592 days ago 272 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French | Message 90 of 152 19 February 2011 at 12:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
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' felt as though I could make out all the words, it's just
that my brain couldn't attach meaning to enough of them to make sense of it overall. ' This is how I feel quite a lot when watching television. It's like having all the pieces of a jigsaw but them being jumbled up so you can't see the picture. I do have a about 4-5 ebooks sent to me from an Italian contact. He said that they are popular books in Italy from a well known author. I've only skimmed through the first page or two a while back so can't really comment on what they're like but if you're interested, maybe PM me your email address and I could send them on. Congratulations on the conversation practise, it seems as if you did pretty well considering the wide range of topics you appear to have covered. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Oasis88 Senior Member Australia Joined 5704 days ago 160 posts - 187 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 91 of 152 20 February 2011 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Woot. Mini milestone. I added you to Skype! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Oasis88 Senior Member Australia Joined 5704 days ago 160 posts - 187 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 92 of 152 24 February 2011 at 11:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I was pleased to find that I had a rather pleasant Spanish conversation yesterday. There was less Italian interference than I thought. As for Italian I'm now listening to the SBS Italian newscast everyday and am enjoying it immensely - even if I don't understand every word. Also, I only have 2 chapters left of Harry Potter which I'll probably get around to finishing this weekend. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Oasis88 Senior Member Australia Joined 5704 days ago 160 posts - 187 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 93 of 152 27 February 2011 at 11:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Got in some conversation practice. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Oasis88 Senior Member Australia Joined 5704 days ago 160 posts - 187 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 94 of 152 01 March 2011 at 11:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Slow and steady wins the race. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| 2_Journey Newbie United States Joined 5023 days ago 32 posts - 33 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 95 of 152 02 March 2011 at 4:18am | IP Logged | |||||
Hi Oasis88! I have a love of grammar and time management too. I'm interested to hear more about your study method related to grammar. Did you, in essence, transcribe a grammar textbook? Or did you learn as you went, and then summarized as you went. I've just starting to learn Spanish, and I know I want to start with grammar because I know I need a strong grammatical foundation to build on if I'm going to get anywhere with the language. But I'm still trying to figure out the best way to start studying. I'd love to hear any tips you may have. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Oasis88 Senior Member Australia Joined 5704 days ago 160 posts - 187 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Italian | Message 96 of 152 02 March 2011 at 11:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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When I studied Spanish I used a fantastic grammar book called School Spanish Course by John Pride. Each evening I would sit down with a new chapter in the book and read it a few times. After that I would write it all out, including the chapter story, grammar instructions and vocabulary lists word for word. I'd then move on to the grammar exercises and write the questions and answers out in full. This Spanish book was rather big and it took me about 80-100 hours. When I first studied Italian I did the same thing with Ultimate Italian. The book was a little shorter and more brief so it didn't take as long (40 hours). The grammar book would serve as my main method at the beginning of my studies. On top of this I would go through all of the other learning material that you can get your hands on such as Assimil, Michael Thomas and Pimsleur. After doing all of this it'd be hard not to have a strong foundation in the language. After about 150 hours of learning you should be able to start reading some real books with a decent accuracy. When I start on my next language I'll be doing the exact same thing - the base for my study will always be a thick grammar book with good reviews. Welcome to the forum. You'll find a lot of useful information here. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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