Some guidance for learning Italian as an Intermediate

[Xmmm]

I'll tell you what I did.

1. Finish Duolingo (you're finishing Assimil instead, that's fine)

2. News in Slow Italian for at least 50 hours, maybe 100 hours. Keep doing it until you don't need the 'slow' audio track and you're starting off with the almost native speed track and understandng most of it. It really doesn't take that long.

3. Netflix. Switch the audio to Italian and turn on Italian subtitles. If you don't understand a scene, repeat it. If you still don't understand, watch it a third time switching either the audio or the subtitles to English. You won't understand much at first, but after 500 hours your comprehension will be 70%+.

4. Once the TV is going really well, pick up a book. It needs to be an easy book, and a translation of something you've already read in English. I started with Harry Potter, which is probably not the best choice because it's actually not easy -- but I knew the story and it was available. My comprehension was 50% and I read very slowly. It gets better, but the first 5 books were a grind.

5. Join a super challenge. Read 5000 pages and watch 9000 minutes of TV.

[DaveAgain]

I am trying to focus my efforts on reading and listening, which is what is recommended by Steven Krashen for language learning. Anyway, I feel as though I will soon be losing the structure of the Assimil course and I could use some help formulating a plan of sorts in terms of materials , and what has been effective for others. (BTW I would guess that I am at a B1 level). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I read several out of copyright books as parallel texts with audio.

1. Pick a text with audio - I used librivox.org .
2. Have target language text in one browser window,
3. have native language text in a 2nd browser window.
4. read along with the audio, a paragraph/sentence at a time, pause the audio, and look at both texts to be clear on the meaning.

I think I did that with 3 or 4 books.

I also read some graded readers from the library, and a few Enid Blyton translations.

I also started watching something every day. Cartoons, short documentaries, then a sitcom. If I could have found a daily soap I might have watched that. (You don't need to understand all the speech, but you need to like the program enough to stick with it. If you hate the programme your brain won't try to understand it.)

[StringerBell]

Has anyone used the Italiano Automatico written materials? He has an audiobook and a separate course as well. Curious if anyone has tried them...

Unfortunately, I haven't used Alberto's course (Italiano Automatico) but if I were to start over learning Italian, I would without hesitation. I know that he recently just revamped the whole thing, and it looks really good. He doesn't teach grammar or use artificial scripted dialogues like most course books. He's a big fan of comprehensible input and he's tried to make his stuff as comprehensible as possible (there are translations available in English, Portuguese and Spanish). Based on everything else he's produced (youtube videos and podcasts) and the samples I've seen of his course makes me think it's an extremely well-thought out and quality resource (this is just my opinion, I'm not trying to convince you to buy it).

I'd also recommend checking out Italy Made Easy (I will add it to that list of resources). It's a site created by Manu, who was a university Italian teacher but recently quit to become a full time youtube Italian teacher. He's got a lot of free videos which run from beginner-level stuff to more "advanced" where he films short videos while he describes what he's doing or seeing in Italian (making a coffee with a moka, cooking stuffed peppers, walking around a national park or his office, etc...). He also has a very useful 8 part video series on how to use "piacere" among other things (like expressions). He recently created something called the Italian Academy. When I looked into it, it was ridiculously cheap (like $40/year) and included support from native Italian speakers and lessons and a whole bunch of other fun things. Had this been around when I was first starting, I definitely would have done it. His website has a ton of useful (and free) lessons.

My recommendation is to make some kind of routine or structure for yourself now that you're done with Assimil, whether it's using the Italiano Automatico course or something else. I found that being an independent learner means finding ways to keep myself accountable and being consistent. My personal rules for this past year have been to spend time everyday with Italian and to only do things I enjoy (not force myself to study grammar or doing anything boring). You could decide on a daily or weekly goal for how much time you want to spend with Italian, or you could decide what kinds of activities you want to do during certain times (like listen to podcasts while commuting to work, reading during your lunch hour, etc...). It doesn't really matter what you do as long as you're enjoying yourself and you're consistent.

[zKing]

The Italiano Automatico channel on YouTube is wonderful and I highly recommend it. I've never used his paid products, so I can't comment on them. But I listened to his channel a LOT to get to an OK conversational level in Italian (which sadly has rusted quite a bit the last 2-3 years)

Generally speaking, IMO once you've gone through one Assimil/MT/any-other-course, you should spread your wings and try to fly (and yes, you will face plant a lot at first):

1. Get on iTalki (or something similar) and start attempting to have real conversations with native speakers as much as possible. There is a core of any language that needs to automatically fall out of your mouth when called for. Nothing will give you that skill like trying to speak over and over. It will be painful and you will feel foolish at first (and really a good bit of time after that), but such is life. If you want to be able to speak, you must attempt to speak. A lot.

2. If you have the means, get a Kindle, load it with an Italian pop-up dictionary and read Italian books. If going head first into real "by natives for natives" material scares you, there are a ton of "reader" and bilingual books to choose from.

3. Pure volume of comprehensible input wins (for listening/reading). Italiano Automatico, as one example, has like 300 dual subtitle videos 3-10mins long, just go for it. Don't over think it. Just make sure you at least kind-of-understand, are paying careful attention and do it a lot. It is slow going no matter what you do, there is no magic bullet... just do it consistently for a LOT of hours. To put it simply: when you hear "cane" and find out (from a pop-up dictionary, L1 subs, from context, or ??) that it means "dog" --- and do this like 100 times in different contexts, your automatic brain will at some point just hand you the meaning the instant you hear it. This is purely a matter of time on task.

4. As a corollary to #3, make sure whatever you do is 'fun enough' for you not to quit. If Italiano Automatico bores you, find some other big pile of Italian that you can at least kind-of-understand and you enjoy at some level. You don't win anything for 'completing' a course, podcast, or other bit of language learning material. If you start to feel bored or burned out, change things up pronto. There are million different ways to the top of the mountain, you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Just my $0.02.

[ASEAN]

PodClub http://www.podclub.ch/fr/ has Italian podcasts with transcripts. The podcasts are listed under "Nos Emmisions" and each sentence is highlighted when spoken. PodClub also has podcasts in Swiss German, German, English, Spanish, and French.