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Italian Immersion | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Antisrcen Newbie Canada Joined 4419 days ago 10 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 12 13 April 2012 at 11:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm planning on going to Italy for about one year (48 weeks) to take a language course at
Scuola Leonardo Da Vinci. I plan on dedicating myself fully towards learning Italian during this time and not going half-way. My question is how long it would take to reach C1. I've never attempted to learn a foreign language before. It could be a few months before I leave for Italy, so in the mean time I've been trying to put together some sort of method to get to at least A2 before I even start the course. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| GRagazzo Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4772 days ago 115 posts - 168 votes  Speaks: Italian, English* Studies: Spanish, Swedish, French | Message 2 of 12 14 April 2012 at 12:11am | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't know about C1 but you could definitely get very advanced. Especially if you make
friends from the local towns and insist on speaking Italian with them. If you really try I don't see why you can't get to C1 though. BTW I'm super jealous of you I totally wish I could do this. good luck! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5343 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 12 14 April 2012 at 3:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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I can't speak about C1, because I'm still nowhere near it. :-) And yes, I really envy
you for such a wonderful opportunity. If you start studying in the United States, you could make it pretty far with a course like Assimil (or FSI, or whatever works best for you). That, a few books, and some language exchange with Skype could potentially get you in the neighborhood of A2 or maybe even B1, depending on your study hours. In other words, you'd already be somewhere between survival Italian and basic independence. And really, once you can talk and understand, then you can immerse yourself in Italian, and make tons of progress. I've been immersed in French part time for two months now, and it's fun. (Well, OK, it's also frustrating and exhausting, but that passes.) The trick, as always, is to rack up those hours, and avoid English as much as you can. The more you have no choice but to use your Italian, the faster you'll improve. Once you reach B1 or so, you can do all sorts of cool stuff: Read many books with a dictionary, understand what people are saying to you (or at least ask them for clarification), express yourself on familiar subjects, and travel without using much English. And this, in turn, makes it easier to get more input. Scroll down to the bottom of this page and check out the self-assessment PDF. There's a lot of great skills under B1 and B2. So even before you reach C1, you'll be able to do all sorts of useful things with your Italian. Have a great time! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6408 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 4 of 12 14 April 2012 at 10:50am | IP Logged | |||||
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I recommend starting Italian asap! The better you are when you come there, the better you'll be a year later.
Imo it's also better to attend classes only some of the time. Contact with native speakers is also extremely useful. There must be various classes throughout the year so why not sign up for various, including some specific ones (colloquial? business? dialects? culture? learning through movies?). Say, you get used to the place for a week; then you start attending classes for like 2 months. Then you take a break, interact with natives, have fun and join another class now that you know better what your strengths and weaknesses are. All classes inevitably have their advantages and disadvantages so attend various to balance it out. After 6-8 months you may well be able to join a class IN the language where you can learn about other things, not just the language. Edited by Serpent on 14 April 2012 at 10:50am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5202 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 5 of 12 14 April 2012 at 11:24am | IP Logged | |||||
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Sounds like a fantastic opportunity! Immersion learning programs aren't guaranteed to get you to C1 but
if the goal is C1 within a year, done right it's the best way. First off what's your living situation with the program? If they have an option to live with a host family that's by far the best. Or would you be in a dorm with other students (potentially other anglophones)? If so you have to monitor this situation to make sure you don't get sucked into spending all of your non class time using English. If you're free to find your own housing, try for Italian roommates or maybe a room for service situation (like an au pair or assisting an elderly person). Definitely study up before you go since the biggest strength of immersion is your opportunity to practice the language which is what is going to get you to C1. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4833 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 12 14 April 2012 at 12:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Definitely learn as much as you can before you go. I mean really push yourself and
don't fall into the trap of thinking you'll just learn it all in Italy. I met a guy in Spain the other week who had just finished a month of full time Spanish classes in Valencia. The classes where aimed at raw beginners. The thing is that he didn't seem confident in even carrying out simple tasks like ordering food, booking taxis etc. I think that if you can get as close as possible to B1 before your trip, then you will get a lot more out of it than if you go as a beginner. You will be able to have fun in the language and make (patient) Italian friends. I bet after a year in Italy, you will feel like anotheryear will really let you take advantage of all the Italian you have learnt. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5577 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 7 of 12 14 April 2012 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I can't say how long it would take to reach C1, as the time it takes you to reach any
level is dependent on so many different factors - how much you study, how quickly you learn, how you learn, how confident you are in your own abilities, how willing you are to give it a go regardless of potentially looking a fool... the list goes on. As many people have said before me, the more you know before you get there, the more you will be able to learn and profit from the whole experience while you're there. If you have mostly internalised the basic structures and vocabulary of Italian to the point of being able to use them before you get there, then any time you spend covering that ground during course time can be considered useful revision, which is never a bad thing anyway. Do not fall into the trap of hanging around with other anglophones - and if you do spend a lot of time with them, encourage them to speak Italian. Push yourself; do not be afraid to try out stuff you think you'll screw up. Language learning is all about pushing yourself and experimentation. In bocca al lupo! Jack 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Antisrcen Newbie Canada Joined 4419 days ago 10 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English* | Message 8 of 12 14 April 2012 at 10:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yeah I'll definitely live with a host family, that seems like the best option.
I'm from Canada, so I'll probably need a student visa.. I'm don't think I'd be allowed to stop going to class (though I'm really not sure how that works). Also, the school I'm going to has a few other classes (gastronomy, wine, culture, art, etc.) so that'll keep me busy. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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