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Italian in one year

  Tags: Italian
 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center Post Reply
11 messages over 2 pages: 1
eyðimörk
Triglot
Senior Member
France
goo.gl/aT4FY7
Joined 3900 days ago

490 posts - 1158 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English, French
Studies: Breton, Italian

 
 Message 9 of 11
24 December 2014 at 9:18pm | IP Logged 
emk wrote:
Why native media? Well, I've seen quite a few people mix native media with Assimil, and the results have generally been pretty impressive. The problem with beginner courses is that they encourage you to remain in a comfortable, simplified version of the real language, and that many people wait too long before striking out on their own. To progress quickly, you need to deal with the real, undiluted language relative early in the process.

Seconded.

I may be a bit crazy (or suffering from convert's zeal) in this regard, but I think that native media, as soon as possible, is the way to go if we may be as bold as to even imply that there is one true way in language learning (which there really isn't).

Why?

Well, I am only going on my (flawed) experience.

I learned English, as a second language, 100% through native media and interaction (you'll need 10-15 years of unemployment followed by 2-3 years of immersion to replicate it, though). Even when my English wasn't very good, I was always comfortable expressing myself around natives (except for the very first time, but I was 9 years old, a very shy child, and alone with a native speaker, so I think we'll all forgive me for the moment of terror).

I learned French as a third language, entirely through classes in school. Every week for five years, I excelled in French. One teacher seriously told a friend of mine, when she couldn't conjugate her homework verbs: "Why aren't you more like eyðimörk?" (only time I've stormed out of a classroom). Then I was tutored privately every week for yet another year to ensure that I didn't just lose all that French. Five years of classes plus one year of tutoring... result: I couldn't handle native media, and I was proud to be able to handle "tourist French" for my parents. Moving to France, I've been terrified every step of the way, I've felt paralysed by my errors, massive input of native media took a long time...

I studied Breton for two months before starting with translated literature. Two months later, I was chatting with natives online about topics relevant to the language and mutual interests. I've never been scared of native media, there has never been a huge insurmountable gap between media and me, and I've never been felt that terrified or paralysed by my errors. Do I feel stupid when someone has to repeat themselves because they don't speak the "media dialect" and I failed to understand something simple? Yes, but it's not the end of the world like it was with French, and like with English, I felt part of the community instantly.

Using only classes builds a lot of emotional barriers in my experience.
3 persons have voted this message useful



stevesayskanpai
Diglot
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4291 days ago

16 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: Italian

 
 Message 10 of 11
27 December 2014 at 5:55pm | IP Logged 
Quick question - does anyone have access to an Assimil Italian Anki deck? I'd far rather
use a pre-existing deck if there's one out there ...
1 person has voted this message useful



Tyrion101
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3714 days ago

153 posts - 174 votes 
Speaks: French

 
 Message 11 of 11
29 December 2014 at 8:28pm | IP Logged 
My passion as far as languages go, are the Asian ones(With the exception of French and Russian), and after having dabbled in a couple, coming back to the European ones, makes it seem like a breeze. My suggestion, what works for me, is podcasts, or online radio that you are interested in (for reinforcement), also since it is Italian, I always suggest Italian operas. The radio I listen to most often is talk radio, or political talk, as the talk seems to be the most varied, and you learn the most amount of words. Ignore the fact that you may disagree with whoever is speaking (when you get that far) and remember that it is a different culture, and that your primary reason for listening is for new words. I hope this helps.


1 person has voted this message useful



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