Italian study group

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
garyb
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Italian study group

Postby garyb » Fri Jan 08, 2016 2:52 pm

Ciao a tutti,

In the pre-TAC discussion I said I'd be up for starting an Italian study group/thread and a few people expressed interest (Cavesa, rdearman, Spoonary, Serpent). The idea is an informal group for sharing ideas, resources, tips, experiences, and anything else related to learning Italian. People post about a lot of good language-specific resources and media, but it can be hard to find them again because some are in personal logs, some are in advice threads, some are in the Film/Book clubs, etc. It would be nice to have one thread for them all.

I personally have no interest in starting a formal TAC team or doing any kind of regular challenges, but if anyone else is then they're very welcome to propose them.

My current idea is to just have this thread, and use the second post as a collection for resources. To start off with, I'll put in the ones from the TAC team I led a couple of years ago on HTLAL and a few others I've been finding useful lately.

If you're interested or have ideas then let me know! Or just feel free to introduce yourselves, in English and/or Italian.
Last edited by garyb on Fri Jan 08, 2016 2:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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garyb
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Re: Italian study group

Postby garyb » Fri Jan 08, 2016 2:52 pm

Italian Resources

Do you have any favourite sites or other resources for learning Italian or for finding things to read or watch? If so then please let me know and I'll add them to the list!

Recommended courses

Michel Thomas Italian: a popular course that teaches the basic structures of the language. A good way to get started, especially if you like to learn grammar and structure first.
Assimil Italian with Ease: a forum favourite; Assimil courses are based on dialogues along with explanations and reviews. This course takes you to a level where you can manage conversations and enjoy some native materials.
Any recommendations for other courses, or for grammar books?

Websites for learning and study

WordReference Italian/English: Dictionary and verb conjugations. More complete than any paper dictionary.
Corriere dictionanary: Italian-only dictionary.
Pons Dictionary (Italian <-> English/German/Polish/Slovenian)
Italian grammar explanations
Accademia della Crusca: An institution that regulates how correct Italian should be written and spoken, similar to the Real Academia Española, Académie française, etc. If you have a doubt about a particular grammar aspect, the Accademia is the most distinguished source you can check out. Grammar aside, the website is filled with articles about the Italian language, its history, word etymology and much more.
Treccani: A great dictionary as well as grammar and cultural information.
Transparent Languages Italian Blog: A blog aimed at learners with a lot of interesting content about Italian culture, in a mix of English and Italian.
Al Dente podcast: Great podcast for intermediate learners, the speech is quite slow and clear yet it's not too simplified and the topics are varied. Includes transcripts.
Radio Arlecchino: Podcast series on grammar and culture.
A1-B2 Italian courses on the RAI website.
LyricsTraining: Learn and practise using music lyrics, and discover popular music. Many Italian songs.
Reddit Italian Immersion links: More links to learning resources.

News and politics

La Corriere della Sera: Probably the most well-known Italian newspaper.
La Repubblica: Popular newspaper, although I find it a bit sensationalist. If you fancy reading some articles about murders or the Mafia or Berlusconi.
Linkiesta: Another news site which is considered higher quality. A lot of politics and culture.
Quattro Gatti: Interesting presentations about societal and political issues in Italy.
La Gazzetta dello Sport: Sports news.

TV, film, video, radio, books

RAI: The site of Italy's main TV and radio network. Lots of shows and radio programmes and podcasts on all sorts of subjects, although some of the TV shows can only be watched from Italy.
Mediaset: Another big TV network, and you can find episodes of many popular shows of questionable quality on here, such as Camera Café (comedy with short episodes), Striscia La Notizia (news/satire), I Cesaroni (family comedy/drama), Uomini e Donne (reality)...
Discussion of Italian TV detective/mystery shows; US users can watch them through MHz Networks.
Learn Italian with Lucrezia (YouTube): Learner-oriented channel with a mix of lessons and "vlog" content. Enjoyable and useful for all levels.
Sgrammaticando (YouTube): Lots of videos on Italian expressions and figures of speech, and she also does vlogs where she talks about all sorts of subjects.
The Pills (YouTube): Comedy series. Quite challenging, with Roman accents, and it's very popular in Italy.
The Jackall (YouTube): Various comedy videos and series; especially famous for film spoofs.
Scottecs (YouTube): Absurd comedy cartoons.
Let's Play videos on YouTube: play-through videos, great resource if you're into gaming, with lots of spontaneous speech.
Radio Italia: Radio station that plays only Italian music (unlike the RAI stations etc. which play lots of English-language music) but also has talk.
Radio Kiss Kiss Italia: Another station that plays only Italian music, but this time it's all music and no talk, and the music is a bit more mainstream and less varied.
Radio DeeJay: Radio station, the programmes are a bit more varied than those on the RAI stations.
Tune In Radio Italy: To listen to Italian radio stations by region. Might be useful if you wanted to train your ear to the accent spoken in a particular part of the country. They also offer a free and paid app for smartphone and tablet. Paid app allows you to record radio to listen to offline.
Book recommendations for intermediate students and Advice on a first book in Italian.
More recommendations for YouTube channels, TV shows, radio/podcasts, etc. would be great!

Social media

Insegreto: a site particularly popular with teenagers where people anonymously post their secrets. Not one for the faint-hearted, but it's a goldmine for everyday language and slang, particularly sexual slang, and I also learnt a lot of the passato remoto from it...
Il Coinquilino di Merda (Facebook page): Funny stories of flat-sharing experiences; another good one for everyday language. There's also a whole bunch of similar pages, such as "Il Ragazzo di Merda".
Anyone know any other good social media pages to follow?
Last edited by garyb on Wed Jan 13, 2016 12:31 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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sillygoose1
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Re: Italian study group

Postby sillygoose1 » Fri Jan 08, 2016 6:37 pm

Sounds great, I'm in.

Like you, I have no more interest in TAC teams but a more informal group like this would be perfect for me. Here's some stuff:

Youtube:

theShow - Two Italian pranksters messing with people all over Italy. Milano, Napoli, Toscana, just about everywhere. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYZ3uw ... rAywLeQSlQ

Relative - Two more Italian dudes who do pranks and other fun stuff - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMUgLj ... 8XB5Wag3mQ


TV:

Tutto puo succedere - Italian remake of "Parenthood" - http://www.tuttopuosuccedere.rai.it/dl/ ... 79634.html

E' arrivata la felicita' - A mix between "Modern Family" and "Tutti pazzi per amore" - http://www.èarrivatalafelicità.rai.it/d ... 805b5.html

Il paradiso delle signore - Italian adaptation of Emile Zola's novel "Au bonheur des dames" - http://www.ilparadisodellesignore.rai.i ... 5992c.html

Boss in incognito - Italian version of "Undercover boss"

1992 - Political drama set in the early 90s


Books:

Giorgio Faletti - Io uccido - Thriller/noir about some dude who calls up a guy and lets him know who he's going to kill in order to get rid of evil


Movies:

Come non detto - Comedy about young Roman trying to hide his sexuality while his male lover from Spain wants to visit

La Mafia uccide solo d'estate - Comedy about Sicily and the mafia

La Leggenda di Al, John, e Jack - Comedy about Italian mafiosi in New York

Il principe abusivo - Comedy about a broke guy who falls in love with a princess



I have a lot more if anyone is interested in something specific.
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Re: Italian study group

Postby Spoonary » Fri Jan 08, 2016 7:32 pm

Eccomi! Anzitutto vorrei ringraziarti, Gary, per aver creato questo gruppo. Secondo me ci mancava una presenza italiana in questa parte del forum.

Non ho nessun piano in particolare per quanto riguarda lo studio dell’italiano quest’anno ma sono sicura che ne dedicherò più tempo di quanto dovrei. ;)

Vedo che c’è già un elenco notevole di risorse, complementi. :D Io ci aggiungerei una cosina però, il sito di Treccani. Una professoressa di italiano all’università me l’ha consigliato. La parte più importante del sito è il dizionario, ma ci sono anche molte informazioni sulla lingua e la cultura italiane.
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garyb
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Re: Italian study group

Postby garyb » Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:28 am

Good to see some interest, and thanks for the suggestions. Most of the ones in sillygoose's post are new to me, and I'm particularly keen to check out the YouTube channels. Spoonary, I'm impressed by your written Italian, and Treccani looks like a good resource.

Now, to use this thread for my selfish ends, with the hope that it might also benefit others: as I already mentioned in my log, I'm personally looking for resources that have a lot of spontaneous conversational speech (so natural speaking, as opposed to acting). TV shows, YouTube channels, radio shows or podcasts, etc. That said, films/series/books that have a lot of everyday dialogue are always useful too. Again, the videos from sillygooses's post should be good for that. I suppose reality TV and talk shows would be ideal but I'm not sure if I'm willing to sink that low; the non-fiction TV I've seen seems to either be low-brow stuff like that or very intellectual political discussion, not much in between.
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Re: Italian study group

Postby Serpent » Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:14 pm

general recs: radio arlecchino, lyricstraining, gazzetta dello sport :D
i've watched some tacco12... si nasce on mediaset, it's a fashion show. better than reality shows at least :D
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Spoonary
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Re: Italian study group

Postby Spoonary » Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:54 pm

Thanks Gary. It took me a while to write that post (and edit a couple of silly mistakes I noticed afterwards) so don't be fooled :P

I wish I could offer you some recommendations about Youtube content but the little I watch in Italian is either scripted and edited or just one person talking about books, which is, in itself, limited in scope (and often edited so much that it may as well be scripted).
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garyb
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Re: Italian study group

Postby garyb » Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:59 pm

Thanks to everyone so far, I've added a few of the suggestions to the resources post. I'm reluctant to add particular books and films as it would either get quite big or just end up as a random selection of what a few people have liked, but it's great to have them mentioned in the thread.

Videos about books could be useful. An important speaking skill is explaining a story/event/etc. and giving your thoughts on it, so watching others do so must help. It's that same grey area as the vlogs like Lucrezia and Sgrammaticando that tend to be semi-scripted and edited.

Cooking shows might be an option... they're popular and I could learn a thing or two about recipes as well as filling in vocabulary gaps. They tend to have plenty unscripted conversation as well as the explanations, at least the ones I've seen that have guests or contestants.
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Re: Italian study group

Postby ddich » Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:34 pm

Just to add a couple..

First one is just a link to a site with a bunch of links, but it's well worth checking out (although you might've already visited the site). Some of them have already been mentioned here, but there's plenty new ones, and most of them ones I've checked out have been quite good.

Second is one of those "let's play" Youtube channels

If interested in the above, especially "The last of us" and "Until dawn" are worth watching. Lots of talking in the games, he keeps subtitles on and talks a lot himself, and ofc all the comments tend to be in Italian as well. In "Until dawn" there's the added fun of watching him jump at various things happening in the game (although I can only laugh at them because I'm not playing the game myself...)
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garyb
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Re: Italian study group

Postby garyb » Wed Jan 13, 2016 12:24 pm

ddich wrote:Just to add a couple..

First one is just a link to a site with a bunch of links, but it's well worth checking out (although you might've already visited the site). Some of them have already been mentioned here, but there's plenty new ones, and most of them ones I've checked out have been quite good.

Second is one of those "let's play" Youtube channels


Thanks for the links! There's some good stuff on the Reddit page, especially the discussions about movies. Radio Deejay is also a good mention, as it tends to have more variety than the RAI stations. I'm not into gaming myself but Let's Play videos seem like a great resource for those who are, as they're full of spontaneous speech. I'll update the resources post. I'll also add the Al Dente podcast, an awesome resources for intermediate learners that I had forgotten about.
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