Answer Question
The Fluenz system really works!
I finished Italian 1-3 in 3 months, just 6 days before our long-planned trip to Italy. I admit I likely coasted due to my prior knowledge of French and Spanish at Level B2 and B2+, respectively, so the whole gender and article thing was second nature, not to mention a great deal of similarity in word roots. That said, with the exposure to grammar that Fluenz provides (and others don't) I was able to use the language right away and -- the acid test for me -- to have most people address me in Italian in return even though my clothes obviously mark me as an American. I also found that I was able to learn and incorporate vocabulary easily, just as I would in English, because I wasn't just memorizing phrases, I was actually using the knowledge to form questions as I would in English or Spanish. I mimicked the accents of the Fluenz proctors when I pronounced the exercises, so you can take it to the bank that if you sound like Vanessa and Sonia, etc. in the courses, people will understand you.
My questions -- 1. Why does the Fluenz course place a space when writing words ending in an apostrophe -- l', all', nell', dov', etc. -- when written Italian doesn't include the space, and 2. Is the reason the Fluenz accents are understood all over Italy Italian because the Italian language, for all intents and purposes, is spoken only in Italy so all agree on what "good" Italian sounds like? After all, while Spanish is spoken by over 300 million people, only 40 million or so live in Spain, and Mexicans sound very different from the Castellano you hear in Spain.
My questions -- 1. Why does the Fluenz course place a space when writing words ending in an apostrophe -- l', all', nell', dov', etc. -- when written Italian doesn't include the space, and 2. Is the reason the Fluenz accents are understood all over Italy Italian because the Italian language, for all intents and purposes, is spoken only in Italy so all agree on what "good" Italian sounds like? After all, while Spanish is spoken by over 300 million people, only 40 million or so live in Spain, and Mexicans sound very different from the Castellano you hear in Spain.