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Things I'm doing while waiting for Italian 4 and 5....
So I am trying to keep learning while waiting for the next levels. Based on the recommendation of another poster in this forum, I decided to transcribe some of the podcast monologues, then memorize them and practice saying them out loud. This has helped a lot with listening comprehension as well as fluency. But I wanted to pass on what helped while transcribing. I listen to the podcast with my iPhone and type what I hear into my Notes app on the iPad. Before doing that, I went into settings and added an Italian keyboard. Now when I type, it comes up with suggestions or corrections if I'm close enough. I've even changed my entire iPad system over to Italian and changed the clock to 24 hour so I can get used to that.
The other thing I'm doing is reading "Easy Reader" italian books. This is a tedious process, but helpful. Even if I don't know all the words or grammar, I am still getting the gist and figuring things out in terms of sentence structure and syntax. I keep a note pad nearby and write down the words I don't know but look up with my translation app (Ita-Eng Free is great, it has a section on verb conjugations).
Also I am listening to Italian radio every chance I get. Once in a while I get a phrase here and there, or the gist (listen on Saturday and all you will hear is "partita di calcio"!).
What is everyone else doing while waiting so patiently?
The other thing I'm doing is reading "Easy Reader" italian books. This is a tedious process, but helpful. Even if I don't know all the words or grammar, I am still getting the gist and figuring things out in terms of sentence structure and syntax. I keep a note pad nearby and write down the words I don't know but look up with my translation app (Ita-Eng Free is great, it has a section on verb conjugations).
Also I am listening to Italian radio every chance I get. Once in a while I get a phrase here and there, or the gist (listen on Saturday and all you will hear is "partita di calcio"!).
What is everyone else doing while waiting so patiently?