Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

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acorngalaxy
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Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

Postby acorngalaxy » Fri Jul 30, 2021 3:02 pm

Hey! I have a C1 level in Spanish, A2-B1 in Italian, A1 in Portuguese (just started learning recently). I’m learning all 3 languages actively (I know, r/llj stuff but I have sufficient time and energy to commit. I monitor (and make sure) there is progress in all 3 as well.

With regards to Italian, I feel like I’m stuck in a dilemma. I love how the language sounds and the music, and why not, maybe the culture as well.

However, I feel like something is missing. I’m not really feeling the motivation to continue further.

When starting my language learning journey with Spanish, I had no idea what to do, and no end goal in mind. I just wanted to learn. As time went on, I started to somewhat develop a goal- to understand native media (i.e. TV programming, news, documentaries, may or may not include movies/series).

This is where my problem with Italian lies. I have 0 interest in Italian media. I don’t mean to sound offensive, it’s just my personal opinion, but every piece of content that I read or watch bores me. It’s 99.9% politics, covid and laws. The debates can drag on for weeks ( Green Pass, I’m looking at you.) As a result, I’m “forced” to turn to more international topics (eg. US v China, Tech) during my study routine. The only programs I find interesting are gameshows as I can get little cultural insights from the questions and challenges posed. (But overall, nah, I don’t really like Italian TV).

Series and movies could be great, but that’s one of the end goals- to enjoy them with minimal subs/ pauses(you get what I mean)- not effective as raw learning material imo.

YouTube? Talking heads comprise much of the content. The only channel that I find remotely interesting is RickDuFer.

Podcasts? Not really interested in them and besides they’re only useful in the high int- low advanced stage.

But hey, Italian music’s great, no problems there. I LOVE it.

With Spanish, I have never felt limited. In fact, I don’t even have enough time to read/watch all I want. Almost everything published/uploaded is very interesting to me. The same goes even with Portuguese. Even within the first few days, I felt overwhelmed (in a good way) with the content presented. (And I have barely scratched the surface- just visited Globonews’ website and watched maybe 1 or 2 Youtube channels).

Recently, I stumbled across a couple of French songs and I have fallen in love with the language. Did a quick check on a couple of French TV sites, as well as Youtube. Yep, more than sufficient content that interests me.

Thus, should I “abandon” Italian and start learning French instead? The temptation is there but it’s such a pity because I feel like I can actually excel in this language given enough time because I have noticed myself making gradual and steady progress through writing and conversation practise with a tutor. One example- using more complex connectors and words correctly in both oral and written speech). Not to say I can’t do it with French of course.
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Re: Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

Postby dampingwire » Fri Jul 30, 2021 7:21 pm

acorngalaxy wrote:This is where my problem with Italian lies. I have 0 interest in Italian media. I don’t mean to sound offensive, it’s just my personal opinion, but every piece of content that I read or watch bores me. It’s 99.9% politics, covid and laws.


There's lots of really poor Italian TV, but then there's lots of really poor UK TV too.

acorngalaxy wrote:The only programs I find interesting are gameshows as I can get little cultural insights from the questions and challenges posed.


Gameshows and comedy can be a rich source of "the language as it's actually used". You have to be prepared to watch stuff that you wouldn't watch in your native language though (unless you like gameshows and so on).

acorngalaxy wrote:Thus, should I “abandon” Italian and start learning French instead?


Do you need to abandon Italian or just search for more interesting content? What would you watch (what do you watch) in your native language and can you find something similar on Italian TV or or youtube?

Whether you should start on French or not feels like a separate question. Would you reach the same lack of interest in media after a year or two? Perhaps not as you seem to be fine with Spanish media. The last time I checked on my satellite channels, there were dozens of mainstream Italian channels. Admittedly the two parliamentary ones are only useful if you can't get to sleep, but there is (to my mind) a wide variety of channels and a wide spectrum of material. There is, of course, plenty of dross there, but the trick is to find the stuff that you like and ignore the dross. (Same as UK TV, which is why I don't watch that much of it :-))
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Re: Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

Postby Xenops » Fri Jul 30, 2021 7:39 pm

Unless you need Italian for something, why continue it if you're just not interested? There's no shame in liking other languages more than others. That's what makes people individuals--we have our own preferences, and that's okay.

Personally I got to a solid intermediate level in Spanish, but I had no drive to continue it--so I quit. My time is too short to spend it on a language I don't love. I'd rather spend time on languages I do love, like Japanese. I honestly can't wait until I can communicate more freely in the language. I don't have that drive with Spanish at all.

So yes, I say jump into French. ;)
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Re: Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

Postby Le Baron » Fri Jul 30, 2021 8:12 pm

Why not just drop Italian and carry on with extra space to excel with Portuguese? Is there a reason to fill up space with French?

French can be trickier as a 'romance language' for people coming from a Spanish/Italian perspective. That's not a reason to not learn it, but an observation.

Regarding the media content French is also saturated with political talk, plus pseudo-philosophical stuff, because quite a few people in the 'quality' French media fancy themselves as Jean Baudrillard :lol:. Not that I have anything against the real Jean Baudrillard.
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Re: Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

Postby gsbod » Fri Jul 30, 2021 8:50 pm

I'd treat the two decisions separately, rather than trying to weigh up French versus Italian, you just need to decide whether it's worth your while continuing with Italian, and then decide whether or not you have time for French at the moment.

With any language, if you don't find a real connection to it somewhere along the line, you will probably find yourself getting stuck somewhere at the intermediate level. The nature of the connection is entirely subjective and personal, although you'll need to get good enough at the language in the first place to start engaging with it properly (i.e. outside the confines of your textbooks and tutorials) to find whether that connection exists for you or not.

If Italian news isn't giving you what you need, that's absolutely fine. You say you love Italian music, is this maybe where you can find a hook?
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Re: Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Fri Jul 30, 2021 8:55 pm

Can you find a dubbed series you do enjoy to get you ready to watch native series? You don’t have to watch the news forever.
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Re: Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

Postby lusan » Mon Aug 02, 2021 5:01 pm

Lawyer&Mom wrote:Can you find a dubbed series you do enjoy to get you ready to watch native series? You don’t have to watch the news forever.


Working with Italian for the last 7 months.

Dubbed series! Yes, yes,.... they are so worthy. I have watched 5 1/2 seasons of Grymm, and I had a great time. It does wonder to understanding the language without boring us. I am looking forward to other Netflix Italy. Many many films and serials to watch.
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Re: Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

Postby einzelne » Tue Aug 03, 2021 2:50 am

Working with dubbed series is a reasonable approach, provided that you want to watch original TV series afterwards (but it looks like you're not into that).

Sadly, the golden days of Italian cinema are over but if you enjoy watching classical movies Italian cinema is one of the best. Italian literature is also very reach. Italian classical and academic music is certainly worth exploring, if you're into it, of course. For certain fields in the humanities, Italian is almost a must, since they managed to build a reach archive of secondary literature (classics and the history of philosophy come to mind first).

But if you're more into Spanish and Portuguese culture, no need to force-feed yourself with Italian and desperately search for interesting content. Since you already have one Roman language under your belt, it is totally fine to stop working on your Italian and just... starting enjoying it! Listen to the music, find the lyrics for the songs you like, translate them for yourself. I think B1 is more than enough to enjoy pop music. You built a strong language core and Spanish (and later Portuguese) will work as an invisible scaffolding for both your Italian grammar and vocabulary.
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Re: Should I continue learning Italian (low motivation but gradual and noticeable progress or start learning French?

Postby Gordafarin2 » Tue Aug 03, 2021 8:46 am

I definitely wouldn't start another new language when you've just started with Portuguese. I know you're getting a substantial 'discount' with all your other romance languages, but two languages at beginner stages at the same time just isn't a great idea (unless you urgently need them both at the same time).

If it were me, I might study Italian a little longer until you feel more solidly in the 'B1' level (and thus less likely to forget the fundamentals), and then take a break from it. Use that time to make some huge gains with Portuguese, and then when you're more intermediate with that you can decide whether to pick up something new or return to Italian - absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? :D You'll either feel the pull to go back to Italian, or you won't. And you might find that 'conversational Italian for travelling and to appreciate music' is a sufficient level for you.

There's good advice in this thread about drumming up interest in Italian if you want to continue with it, but time is precious and the world's languages are many! I think if you're already wanting to pick up another language having just started Portuguese, you either enjoy the beginning stages of learning the best, or you want to get a sample of as many languages as you can. I'm similar - but I've also had to be honest with myself, and know that this means I'm never going to get most of my languages to C-levels.
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