Answers
Jan 12, 2012 - 04:50 AM
This may sound a bit ambitious but I believe you will benefit a lot from constant and targeted READING of italian materials (novels etc) even if at a very very basic level. the key is to program you brain in the target language! And then DO NOT GIVE UP but persevere on a consistent basis. You will have a pleasant surprise when one day everything starts to fall into place and you are able, unconsciously, to form sentences with increasing ease and comfort:)))). Let's see what your comments in this blog will be 6 months from now on this issue!!
Jan 18, 2012 - 07:18 PM
Thanks for the feedback. I listen to the podcasts daily and I also watch Italian movies through netflix. I download podcasts from an Italian service which offer daily segments of Italian news radio (http://feeds.feedburner.com/italian) and I just listen to that while I'm working on other things. I've also scoured used book stores for childrens Italian books but haven't been able to find any. If you have suggestions on where to get basic Italian reading books, that'd be really helpful. I haven't had any luck. Also one more podcast that I've found helpful is called learnitalianpod.com. They read something in Italian (a letter for example) and then translate it in English. It's repeated over and over and at different paces. Some of you who are higher in the levels may really like this. :)