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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 1 of 75 22 January 2009 at 11:43pm | IP Logged |
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Well, I figured I would take advantage of the journaling feature of this site. I
figure I could use some perspective on my study habits. Feedback and encouragement is greatly appreciated. I started maybe a month ago dabbling in a copy of Rossetta Stone multi-language I borrowed from a friend of a friend. I eventually found this site and was really inspired by its members. So I've spent a fair amount of time researching and acquiring different tools. As this is my first attempt at self-instruction I figured I would try a variety of methods and see what works for me. I've managed to get access to the following: Rosetta Stone Italian Michel Thomas Beginners Italian, Language Builder, Vocabulary (I'm on CD 5 of Beginners) Pimsleur Italian 1 I like Michel for his personal touch and simplification of grammatical concepts. I like Pimsleur as background audio while I do chores, go shopping etc. Seems good for pronunciation and burning sounds into your mind. It's expensive but I got it from my local library for free, yay! The main thing I find lacking in these is text. I did manage to get transcripts of Michel though. Rossetta Stone is a great flashcard type app. Expensive but I can borrow for free. I've learned a fair amount of vocabulary from it. To supplement I picked up the following books: Rick Steve's Italian Phrasebook & Dictionary Essential Italian Grammar The Big Green Book of Italian Verbs I want to get a pocket dictionary and a vocab book as well. I am also going to check the following methods as I really want to do something of a L-R method. I feel I do better when I have text to tie to sounds: Assimil Italian with Ease LingQ.com I'm listening to a lot of Italian on the internet: radio, podcasts, video. Rai.it is great as is Radio 24. I listen to it at work. I also started watching an Italian movie on Netflix. Sadly, the Italian movies on Netflix don't seem to have Italian subtitles. I find I can understand newscasts really well but the small talk in the movie was difficult. I really enjoy listening to Italian in action like this. It's exciting when I hear words I learned in a lesson and being able to make more and more sense of things. Any feedback or encouragement would be great. Edit: For historical reasons I wanted to include the following: I picked up the Michel Thomas course on 2008-01-05. I probably started dabbling in Italian with Rosetta Stone about a week or two before that. Edited by ChiaBrain on 27 February 2009 at 4:15am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 2 of 75 26 January 2009 at 12:07am | IP Logged |
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I finished Unit 3 of Level 1 Rosetta Stone Italian. It was kinda fun to pick that back
up again. I went through some of the audio and text of Berlitz phrasebook/CD combo. It's kind of boring but useful for travel situations. I scanned through "Essential Italian Grammar" and the Big Green Verb Book to familiarize myself with their layout and structure. I finished CD 5 and half of 6 of Michel Thomas Beginners Italian. I love the way he simplifies grammar and his use of mnemonics. Afterwards I went over the transcripts and looked up the verb tenses covered in my grammar book. I find having text to relate to the lesson helps. I also did some Pimsleur but I don't remember where I'm at with that. I can hear those voices in my head clearly after having them drilled in. It's been 3 weeks since I picked up the Michel Thomas course and before that I was doing Rosetta Stone so I've been studying about a month? It has been rather casual and haphazard though. That's why I started this journal. I definitely have my ups and downs but I do feel like I am making progress. I wonder if I could study French or Hindi at the same time. On the one hand I am curious but on the other I want to stick with Italian to make more progress. I have Assimil on the way and now I am curious about Colloquial as a member mentioned it uses somewhat of a L-R method. I also want to do more on the LingQ site. I feel kinda scattered using all these methods but at this point in my language "career" I feel I want to experiment with different methods. I wonder if I could handle studying French and/or Hindi along with Italian. I actually did some Rosetta Stone Hindi and was able to recognize a word in a Bollywood flic. Edited by ChiaBrain on 26 January 2009 at 12:13am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 3 of 75 27 January 2009 at 1:40am | IP Logged |
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Listened to Radio 24 (Italian internet radio) for a good 2 to 3 hours at work.
Listened to CD 6 of Michel Thomas Beginner Italian while I did an hour long walk. I think I like Pimsleur better to listen to while doing other things. This may be because I am at the beginning levels, but I also think that the repetitiveness and lack of a need to pause the recording make it such. For Michel Thomas I like to have the transcript and my "Essential Italian Grammar" book to look up the verb conjugations he is imparting. I just feel like I need text to relate to it. A few times I was able to see my error clearly when I saw it in text. That said, I definitely love how he demystifies the grammar, relates it to English and provides mnemonics. Reminds me of the professor I had private lessons in French and Spanish with. I plan to use the review CDs more. I listened to some of the review of CD 6 and it seemed like exactly what I needed. If i didn't give the right answer I could look up the verb conjugation to reinforce it more. It's definitely seems to work better than constantly pausing and rewinding out of fear that I am missing something. My Assimil arrived today. I scanned through the book to get an idea of the layout and content. Should prove interesting. My plan is to continue doing Pimsleur, Michel Thomas and Rosetta Stone then eventually picking up Assimil. All along with any fun native media on the side (TV, Radio, Movies, etc.). I'm hoping I can find some cool stories with text and audio in Italian and a translation in English. Enough for today, Ciao! Edited by ChiaBrain on 27 January 2009 at 1:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 4 of 75 01 February 2009 at 11:19am | IP Logged |
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I think I need to post in this log daily. I was hesitant to as I didn't want to
clutter it but I now I find myself trying to remember what I did the last few days. I'll go backwards... Jan 30 - Fri Listened to Radio 24 for probably only 30 min and listened to 15 min of Michel Thomas Beginners CD 7. Had to stay till very late at work for data conversion. Jan 29 - Thu Listened to Pimsleur 1B during a morning walk. I think it was lesson 17 Listened to some Italian radio at work. Maybe an hour or two. Jan 28 - Wed I can't remember what I did. Most likely I listened to some internet radio for a couple of hours at work. Using CD 7 of MT Beginners Italian (with the pause button) I find I get annoyed having to wait for the other two to struggle. I hear that the students in the German and French courses are better. I also know a lot of the grammar from studying Spanish grammar. I do like the review CDs though. Pimsleur I still like better for when I'm out and about. The pauses in the audio make it so you don't have to use the pause button. I'm eager to start on Assimil and LingQ at this point as I want all Italian audio and text to go with it. I also feel I want to focus more on understanding it so I can take in more content. I find I agree much with Steve Kaufmann as far as what works for me. I'm feeling burnt out today. Doubtless because I've spent far too much time in front of the computer both at work and at home and I'm missing some sleep. I'm wondering if I should start a Hindi log. I re-watched a lot of Salaam-e-Ishq the past couple of days. Not sure where I want to go with Hindi but when I watch Bollywood stuff it makes me interested. Edited by ChiaBrain on 01 February 2009 at 12:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 5 of 75 01 February 2009 at 3:14pm | IP Logged |
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Morning
I finished CD 7 of Michel Thomas Beginner Italian while walking using the pause button. It Wasn't so bad. I also listened to the first 5 Assimil lessons and found I could understand like 90% to 95% of what was said and able to figure out the rest by context. It will be interesting to listen to it again with text to make that connection and to be able to research those words. Evening Did some of Michel Thomas CD8. I think I'm going to finish this CD using the review CDs instead. He goes over everything in them minus the annoying students. I also listened to some of Pimsleur 1, lesson 16. I am really leaning towards using Assimil, LingQ and Rosetta Stone as at this point as I prefer not to hear any English. Edited by ChiaBrain on 02 February 2009 at 12:57am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 6 of 75 02 February 2009 at 11:30pm | IP Logged |
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Did:
lesson 18 of Pimsleur 1 (thats on 1B) while shopping today. I actually finished 19 as well but feel like I should re-do it again. Played around with LingQ for about 20 min before bed to check out further. It has great potential. Kinda like an on-line version of Assimil. New Plans: I am going to get the Assimil Italian for Spanish speakers book. I think it will work to keep my Spanish and Italian separate and help me use my Spanish which feels rusty at times (even though it is native to me). I also find it interesting to see the similarities and differences. I will use the English one till it gets here. On Stress: I got a massage today which helped with the stress from work. It's helped tremendously. Fixed the spasm in my neck. Being less stressed helps with language learning for sure. I have to find a way where I can work far less and travel far more. I mean, I don't need fancy stuff, I really don't. OK, enough blathering for this evening. Edited by ChiaBrain on 03 February 2009 at 7:07am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 7 of 75 04 February 2009 at 11:50pm | IP Logged |
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Rosetta Stone Level 1: Finished Unit 4
I do feel like I pick up a lot of vocabulary from RS and the interactivity keeps me focused. I like that there is Italian text with the audio and no English. Michel Thomas Beginner: Completed MT Beginner using the review CDs. Not sure I want to do the advanced course. I may just use the advanced course review CDs and the Language Builder ones as I can borrow them. Pimsleur 1B: Got up to lesson 22 somehow. I did 21 at lunch and 22 walking this evening. I think I might redo but it seems so slow. Berlitz Phrasebook & CD: Listened to some of the CD driving to and at work. Helpful stuff but pretty basic. I am starting to think I should just ditch MT and Pimsleur and stick to Assimil, Rosetta Stone and LingQ. I much prefer target language text with the audio. I also prefer no English audio and more native speakers. LiveMocha seemed to have some promise also. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 8 of 75 05 February 2009 at 10:56pm | IP Logged |
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Rosetta Stone Level 1: Finished Unit 5.
Learned a couple false friends of Spanish: "Salire" (to climb) "Tirare" (to pull) "Salir" in Spanish is "to exit" or "to go out" which is "Uscire" in Italian. "Tirar" in Spanish is "to throw" which is "gettare" in Italian. Now my brain is discombobulated and I cant remember the word for "pull in Spanish and I look it up on Babelfish and Google Translate and it says "Tirar"?!? I'll ask my mom (ha!) Berlitz Phrasebook: Listened at lunch for maybe 15 minutes. I'll have to bring the book with me so i can see the text. A lot of it could be communicated with single words (innocente! avvocato!) especially knowing Spanish, a but I figure it would give me confidence to have some useful phrases for travel. Pimsleur 1B: At lunch: Did lesson 22 and previewed. Apparently gasoline is refered to as "benzina". "Benzine" in English apparently refers to "petroleum ether" in English. Not sure how closely these are related or if they're the same. I'm really more a software person than a hardware one (ha!) Assimil: Listened to lessons one through five at lunch. They are short and I understand them. Went over the text and translation for lessons one and two and even entered the text for lesson one into LinQ. LinQ could be a great tool for this as I can use it to directly look up words and save them to a list for flash cards. Apparently the "free" account on LingQ only gives you 300 "LingQs" but $10/mo for unlimited is cheap enough. It's not like I'm spending it on booze and whores (not that theres anything wrong with that, really). Internet Radio: I'm guesstimating that I listened to Radio 24 for 2 hours at work. Heard some new words. Can't remember what they were right now but I love it when that happens. (The spell-checker actually accepted "guesstimating") Man... I get language wanderlust but whenever I hear Italian it's like I fall back in love. So familiar yet different and more beautiful than my Spanish. Edited by ChiaBrain on 05 February 2009 at 11:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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