Learning another language

[HibbyDave]

Hi all, can anyone recommend a person that can help me learning Italian?

Started off using Duolingo but would prefer a real person to chat with.

If this wrong forum please feel free to move.

[Mibbes Aye]

Hi all, can anyone recommend a person that can help me learning Italian?

Started off using Duolingo but would prefer a real person to chat with.

If this wrong forum please feel free to move.

I suspect this is the wrong forum but we are learning a different language using Listen And Learn and they have been great. The personal tutor is through Skype but pre-Covid we had lessons at her home.

One of her strong recommendations was to do anything else to complement the lessons - TV, Radio, books, magazines, apps, whatever - it all builds up.

Listen and Learn are London-based but have tutors around the U.K. The universities are another option as they offer virtual classes in evenings and for something like Italian there will probably be a lot of demand.

[kaimendhibs]

I really reccomend PIMSLEURS if its conversational. Outstanding. Im 57 and in a year have a more than decent grasp of Turkish.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[kaimendhibs]

https://livefluent.com/pimsleur-italian-full-review-unique-features/

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[Peevemor]

It's easy now to watch films etc. in whatever language with subtitles in another - Italian/English, English/Italian or even Italian/Italian. Every little helps.

[number9dream]

It's easy now to watch films etc. in whatever language with subtitles in another - Italian/English, English/Italian or even Italian/Italian. Every little helps.

Just make sure it's not Gomorrah. I have an Italian friend who can't follow the Naples gangster dialect without the subtitles.

Buona fortuna...

[pollution]

I am trying to understand Spanish with a view to moving there. I say understand rather than learn as I think it is really important

to be accustomed to good, well spoken Spanish, or any language first.

I always have the Spanish equivalent of BBC 1 on in the background RTVE.es is the website. Don't concentrate, just let it flow.

Not much use to you I know but try and find the equivalent in Italy although I was blocked when I looked.

Even have the Italian national radio channel on in the background. There was a thread on somewhere on Hibs.net about foreign radio stations.

It is very important who you learn from as inevitably that person will have some sort of accent.

I used to teach children in Rome conversational English. One day I asked them to identify a red bus in English and they said the Italian version as in ' puss '.

Their previous teacher was from Liverpool !

[et_hibby]

Another handy thing in addition to what others have posted is a plug-in available on Netflix (assuming you have it) if you watch on Google Chrome on the PC. It’s called LLN (language learning for Netflix) and enables you to watch with 2 sets of subtitles (I.e. in addition to switching the audio track to your language of choice).

[HibbyDave]

Thanks for ideas!! Please keep them coming.

I’m still early stage learner but progressing not too badly. I speak a little French and I’m surprised how many words are very similar.

[Speedy]

Thanks for ideas!! Please keep them coming.

I’m still early stage learner but progressing not too badly. I speak a little French and I’m surprised how many words are very similar.

You can get language exchange groups, where people teach each other a language, meet someone for an hour and chat for half an hour in English and half an hour in Italian.

[stage2]

My Mrs is fluent- lived in Milan for 15 years.
Daily , shes listening to RadioDJ , which livestreams on youtube daily from 10am- keeps her current.
The advantage s are the Djs are just talking about whatevers current in the world , so its faily easy to follow , triggerwords and all that.
Shes away having a look for a couple of podcasts for you/ how much Italian do you have?

[stage2]

Radiodeejay

[gaz1875]

It's easy now to watch films etc. in whatever language with subtitles in another - Italian/English, English/Italian or even Italian/Italian. Every little helps.

Unless it's Alba :faf:

[Aritch]

I live in Italy but due to covid restrictions I've had to study more online than I anticipated.

I'd recommend using italki. It's a website with professional and community teachers (depending on the level of expertise, experience etc.)

You can shop around a lot to find someone you like and there are a lot of great, cheap teachers on the platform.

[cabbageandribs1875]

Me sorprende que este hilo todavía esté en el foro principal.


:hmmm:

[CloudSquall]

I've used Italki.com for private lessons, it definitely helps speed up the process to get to a decent conversational level.

[Cat Stanton]

I've used Italki.com for private lessons, it definitely helps speed up the process to get to a decent conversational level.

This. Or indeed just (obviously) Google Italian lessons and check reviews. You can Google them for wherever you are (Edinburgh?) but one of the - very few, if not the only - advantages of the current crappy situation is that they all now seem set up to do lessons over zoom. I've been doing something similar during lockdown and it's worked well. Good luck with it.

[HibbyDave]

Me sorprende que este hilo todavía esté en el foro principal.


:hmmm:

Sono un principante grazie!

[greenhenry]

Sono un principante grazie!

Lol queste parole di cabbageandribs1875 non erano l'italiano!

Language transfer is as good as Pimsleur and it's free https://www.languagetransfer.org/

https://lingbe.com/ is really useful too.

I find that adding a few different strategies together is really effective - e.g. Duolingo for reading and writing, Language Transfer or similar for speaking and Netflix and the radio (RAI for Italian) for listening. I don't like Language Learning for Netflix, I prefer to put on the Italian subtitles (closed captions) and see how much I can follow. Curon is good if you like horror.

The real key to language learning is consistency. Do 15 mins of Duolingo and a Language Transfer lesson every day and you'll progress fast.

In boc'al lupo, non hai paura di fare errori :wink:

[worcesterhibby]

Thanks all, very useful thread.

[et_hibby]

Thanks all, very useful thread.
De nada, hombre! :flag:

[Greenbeard]

I live in Italy but due to covid restrictions I've had to study more online than I anticipated.

I'd recommend using italki. It's a website with professional and community teachers (depending on the level of expertise, experience etc.)

You can shop around a lot to find someone you like and there are a lot of great, cheap teachers on the platform.
When I was more committed to trying to improve my very basic Italian a few years ago I looked online, but failed to find, an Italian news programme (radio or tv) which is aimed at children, like the Italian equivalent of John Craven's Newsround of old, so you get a broad mix of learning but easier language to follow and at a reasonable pace. Any suggestions?

[Hibrandenburg]

Three tips:

Vocabulary, vocabulary and vocabulary. I bought books of yellow sticky labels and covered every single thing in my house with them. I'd written the German word and article on each label and only removed them from the item when I'd mastered them.

Learning a language is like a rolling snowball, the more vocabulary you understand the more and quicker you pick things up. Once you have a decent range of vocabulary then listening to the language will help everything else fall into place.

[Pagan Hibernia]

Three tips:

Vocabulary, vocabulary and vocabulary. I bought books of yellow sticky labels and covered every single thing in my house with them. I'd written the German word and article on each label and only removed them from the item when I'd mastered them.

Learning a language is like a rolling snowball, the more vocabulary you understand the more and quicker you pick things up. Once you have a decent range of vocabulary then listening to the language will help everything else fall into place.

very good idea mate. Can’t believe I hadn’t considered this.

[greenhenry]

When I was more committed to trying to improve my very basic Italian a few years ago I looked online, but failed to find, an Italian news programme (radio or tv) which is aimed at children, like the Italian equivalent of John Craven's Newsround of old, so you get a broad mix of learning but easier language to follow and at a reasonable pace. Any suggestions?


Not exactly what you asked for, but you might like this:

https://www.newsinslowitalian.com/

[Greenbeard]

Not exactly what you asked for, but you might like this:

https://www.newsinslowitalian.com/

Lo provarro grazie

[Greenbeard]

Not exactly what you asked for, but you might like this:

https://www.newsinslowitalian.com/
Looks like an excellent learning tool. It rings a bell and I think I did suss it out a few years back but it looks much improved with variable speed and the 5 sec rewind button. $20/month sub though. So I will save it for an intensive month or two of learning immediately prior to next Italian holiday, whenever that might be!

[Cat Stanton]

Lo provarro grazie

cough - proverò - cough.

Get those lessons quickly..

[Greenbeard]

cough - proverò - cough.

Get those lessons quickly..
Certo. Ama no very good witha ma tenses. I'll give them more tense shun.

[FilipinoHibs]

Rosetta Stone is a good app with lots of pronunciation work and builds up well. Using for Tagalog (Philippine's national language) which is far removed from European languages.

[Hibbyradge]

I didn't want to start another thread so I've dragged this one up.

Has anyone tried Babel or any of the other language apps?

I'm interested in learning French although Spanish might be more useful and I was wondering if these products are effective or if I should look elsewhere.

[nonshinyfinish]

I didn't want to start another thread so I've dragged this one up.

Has anyone tried Babel or any of the other language apps?

I'm interested in learning French although Spanish might be more useful and I was wondering if these products are effective or if I should look elsewhere.

My experience with Duolingo (I believe Babbel is fairly similar) is that it's a useful supplement to learning/improving a language, but not enough on its own. I found that it helped me pick and reinforce lots of vocabulary, but did very little to help me structure sentences and understand grammar. I used it for German, which has fairly complex grammar where different cases change the articles and spellings/endings of words – Duolingo would teach you the right article/ending combination for a given example, but didn't really help with why that was the case, so I'd struggle to apply it to a new example. I'm not sure if this is worse in German vs French/Spanish.

IMO the best thing you can do (assuming going to live in France/Spain isn't an option) is get private lessons over Zoom or Skype or whatever – I did this during lockdown and made much faster progress than any other approach I've tried (group classes, working through books, Duolingo etc). The foundations I established in about 25 lessons allowed me to go back language books and make better progress on the higher level books. It's expensive though.

(BTW how did this thread survive so long on the main board?)

[marinello59]

I was looking for something to help me with everyday practical conversations abroad. Duolingo I found to be pretty poor. Babell was much better and I took out a subscription with them. It served my needs well though obviously I had to put a fair bit of effort in.

[hibsbollah]

I use Reverso context for translations. Frantastique and coffee break French I’ve used in the past, up to a certain level it’s free but usually you need to pay something to really get serious about it.

[OstKurve Hibs]

Just make sure it's not Gomorrah. I have an Italian friend who can't follow the Naples gangster dialect without the subtitles.

Buona fortuna...

It's not gangster dialect, it's the version of italian they speak in the campania region where naples is situated.
I think it's pretty different from normal italian, much like the dialect of german spoken in bavaria. Normal german speakers struggle to understand it in spoken or written form.

[Green Man]

I started using Duolingo earlier this year to prepare for a trip to Berlin. It gave me enough to understand basic signs and little things like ordering and asking for the bill in restaurants. I’ve kept it up, and also started listening to the coffee break German podcast - I know they do a French one as well, think there might be Spanish too - and that has given me a much better understanding of the grammar aspect (the different cases in German are weird, and I’m still trying to get my head round them).

[Hibrandenburg]

I started using Duolingo earlier this year to prepare for a trip to Berlin. It gave me enough to understand basic signs and little things like ordering and asking for the bill in restaurants. I’ve kept it up, and also started listening to the coffee break German podcast - I know they do a French one as well, think there might be Spanish too - and that has given me a much better understanding of the grammar aspect (the different cases in German are weird, and I’m still trying to get my head round them).

Den Mann hat der Hund gebissen.

Or

Der Mann hat den Hund gebissen.

German grammar is a minefield.

[Keith_M]

Den Mann hat der Hund gebissen.

Or

Der Mann hat den Hund gebissen.

German grammar is a minefield.



:faf:

[SickBoy32]

Resurrecting this thread just to ask if anyone on here has any experience of 'in-person' language classes in Edinburgh?

Have found a few on google around the city with decent reviews but was looking to see if anyone had any personal experience of these?

Lots of great tips in this thread - but I'm keen for this to be face to face, to primarily target speaking (have been on Duolingo for years but feel need to try something more effective)

Many thanks