Answers
Aug 06, 2011 - 07:42 AM
Dana,
Great information. I'm currently on lesson 3 of Level 3. Here are some things that really have worked for me. I should say that the method that works best for me is to simultaneously tackle multiple methods, including Fluenz (which still acts as my Anchor method). In this way, when I learn the same phrase or principal in these various methods, they tend to rienforce one another.
1. Check out the podcasts at Italianpod.com. The concept is great; an American who speaks Italian and a native Italian host a series of podcasts at various language levels; they present a simple funny dialog and then explain it. There's an unscripted fresh feel to the give and take between the hosts, so it's fun in addition to being very educational. There are over 150 different dialogs at various levels (Newbie, elementary, intermediate, upper intermediate). They can all be downloaded to your iPod for a monthly fee. The only drawback is that they stopped making new dialogs and have stopped answering questions on the website (I suppose because it wasn't enough of a moneymaker), but you have full access to the remaining dialogs.
2. Yabla (italian.yabla.com) is a great website if you want to hear native Italian speakers talking in everyday Italian at a normal pace. Very challenging, but a very innovative concept for a website. They have a neat function that allows you to play snippets of the dialog over and over again for reinforcement. And it comes with sub-titles. It's a steal for $9.95 a month. Highly recommended.
3. Being the goal-oriented nerd that I am, I meticulously track the time I spend teaching myself Italian by using an excel spreadsheet. The goal is an average of 1 hour per day. I find that tracking it this way makes me want to achieve that hour-a-day goal. So far, I'm into my third month and it's working. The big goal here is to finish about 300-350 hours of self study before taking a capstone Italian language course in Italy next May.
4. Oh, one more thing. I find The Big Green Book of Italian Verbs to be extremely helpful.
Buona Fortuna,
Gerry
Great information. I'm currently on lesson 3 of Level 3. Here are some things that really have worked for me. I should say that the method that works best for me is to simultaneously tackle multiple methods, including Fluenz (which still acts as my Anchor method). In this way, when I learn the same phrase or principal in these various methods, they tend to rienforce one another.
1. Check out the podcasts at Italianpod.com. The concept is great; an American who speaks Italian and a native Italian host a series of podcasts at various language levels; they present a simple funny dialog and then explain it. There's an unscripted fresh feel to the give and take between the hosts, so it's fun in addition to being very educational. There are over 150 different dialogs at various levels (Newbie, elementary, intermediate, upper intermediate). They can all be downloaded to your iPod for a monthly fee. The only drawback is that they stopped making new dialogs and have stopped answering questions on the website (I suppose because it wasn't enough of a moneymaker), but you have full access to the remaining dialogs.
2. Yabla (italian.yabla.com) is a great website if you want to hear native Italian speakers talking in everyday Italian at a normal pace. Very challenging, but a very innovative concept for a website. They have a neat function that allows you to play snippets of the dialog over and over again for reinforcement. And it comes with sub-titles. It's a steal for $9.95 a month. Highly recommended.
3. Being the goal-oriented nerd that I am, I meticulously track the time I spend teaching myself Italian by using an excel spreadsheet. The goal is an average of 1 hour per day. I find that tracking it this way makes me want to achieve that hour-a-day goal. So far, I'm into my third month and it's working. The big goal here is to finish about 300-350 hours of self study before taking a capstone Italian language course in Italy next May.
4. Oh, one more thing. I find The Big Green Book of Italian Verbs to be extremely helpful.
Buona Fortuna,
Gerry
Aug 06, 2011 - 12:21 PM
Great post. Thanks. On the Grammar resource book: Soluzioni, who is the author of this book? My search for it has produced several results. Please narrow this down to a specific book. Thanks.
Aug 06, 2011 - 08:35 PM
Dana, one reference that I've found helpful is: Mastering Italian Grammar", by Breatrice Rovere-Fenati. It is a Barron's book, but is laid out well and has a lot of useful examples.
Aug 11, 2011 - 06:01 PM
Soluzioni by Denise DeRome
Sep 04, 2011 - 09:18 PM
I like http://italian.yabla.com
Jan 18, 2012 - 07:21 PM
Ciao, I just read your comment and googled "Easy Italian Reader". It looks a bit advanced as I'm still in Italian 1 but I love it! It's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. Great suggestion and thanks!! :)