Ellie's Italian Log

[EllieJoONM]

This log will document my attempt to learn Italian.

First, a bit about me. I'm currently a student at university in England, studying a subject completely unrelated to languages (veterinary medicine, for those who are interested). I enjoyed languages at school, studying French, German, and Latin for five years, but I didn't seem to learn anything very useful in regards to actually communicating with native speakers, and I've since forgotten almost everything that I had learned.

I started learning Italian around three months ago, because my family and I were going to Italy for the first time and I thought it would be useful if someone spoke at least some of the language. We've since been to Italy, but I am really enjoying learning Italian and think I will continue until I reach around B2 level, when I plan to start learning another language. At the moment I would say my level is around A2.

Materials I've used so far include:

1. Michel Thomas - This was the first course I used and I found it very helpful at getting me speaking and thinking in Italian. I completed the Foundation course and started with the Advanced course, but by that point I was getting a little annoyed with the two students on the tape and decided to start something new. It also wasn't very helpful at increasing my vocabulary.
2. Duolingo/Memrise - I was using these two websites to expand my vocabulary but I've now switched to Anki, as I can put in the words that I want to learn rather than relying on someone else's course.
3. Colloquial Italian - I've completed this book and enjoyed it, although it did gloss over quite a lot of the grammar points. I looked at Colloquial Italian 2 but, again, felt like a change.
4. Teach Yourself Improve Your Italian - I've just started using this book and I'm enjoying it so far, although despite being marketed for those who already know a bit of Italian, it is covering a lot of stuff I've already learned. But consolidation can only be a good thing, so I'm planning to continue with it.
5. Assimil Italian - I started Assimil following recommendations on here. I'm not sure how helpful it will be (I'm only on lesson 10), but I'll stick with it and see where it gets me.
6. iTalki - I've had a couple of sessions with community tutors and have one coming up with a professional tutor, as I wanted to see the difference between the two. I feel like my Italian learning process has been a bit unstructured so far, so I'm hoping that a professional tutor will be able to help me with that. I also post all of my writing efforts on iTalki to be corrected, which has been very helpful.
7. Via della Grammatica - I've just started using this to improve my knowledge of Italian grammar.

[iguanamon]

Welcome to the forum, Ellie!

[EllieJoONM]

Thank you very much, iguanamon! If it's alright, can I ask you how you add what languages you are learning to the sidebar? I can't seem to find it in my User Control Panel.

[rdearman]

Thank you very much, iguanamon! If it's alright, can I ask you how you add what languages you are learning to the sidebar? I can't seem to find it in my User Control Panel.

If you post one more time you'll become a fully registered user and then it will allow you to change languages in sidebar. It is an anti-spam bot requirement.

è molto interessante per me quando un'altra persone cominciare una "log" per italiano. ho risorse molto per la lingua italiano. Devo trovo per voi.

[EllieJoONM]

If you post one more time you'll become a fully registered user and then it will allow you to change languages in sidebar. It is an anti-spam bot requirement.

è molto interessante per me quando un'altra persone cominciare una "log" per italiano. ho risorse molto per la lingua italiano. Devo trovo per voi.

Ah, grazie mille rdearman! Da quanto tempo studia italiano? Se potrebbe trovare le risorse, sarebbe molto apprezzato.

[rdearman]

OK, some Italian resources for you.

Books / Audio Books:
http://www.liberliber.it/online/opere/libri/argomento/epub/
http://www.ibs.it/ebook/hme/hmepge.asp
http://www.letteraturaitaliana.net/opere/c.htm
http://ercoleguidi.altervista.org/
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/languages/it
https://librivox.org/search?primary_key=4&search_category=language&search_page=1&search_form=get_results

Dictionary:
http://www.garzantilinguistica.it/

Newspapers:
http://www.repubblica.it/
http://espresso.repubblica.it/

Radio / TV (streaming):
http://www.italiansinfonia.com/stations.htm
http://wwitv.com/television/104.htm

Podcasts:
http://www.learnitalianpod.com/category/5-minutes-a-day/
http://www.dimensionesuonodue.it/?/home
http://podcasthall.forumcommunity.net/
http://www.italianoinfamiglia.it/default.asp
List on this forum of other Italian podcasts:
http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1241


Misc:
http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfareindex03.htm
http://tutorino.ca/italian-links/
http://www.uninettuno.tv/

Free Language Courses:
http://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/italian.html
http://www.italianoinfamiglia.it/corso.asp

Other useful programs you might like are:

ANKI a free flashcard program
http://ankisrs.net/

Hopefully you'll find something interesting in all that.

[rdearman]

If you post one more time you'll become a fully registered user and then it will allow you to change languages in sidebar. It is an anti-spam bot requirement.

è molto interessante per me quando un'altra persone cominciare una "log" per italiano. ho risorse molto per la lingua italiano. Devo trovo per voi.

Ah, grazie mille rdearman! Da quanto tempo studia italiano? Se potrebbe trovare le risorse, sarebbe molto apprezzato.

Studio per molto tempo, ma il mio italiano è molto scarso. Perchè io pratico parlare alla gente, per me scrivere è difficile respondare rapidamente in italiano. studio per... 6-7 anni, ma non è seriamente. recentemente studio francese & cinese. Per me la lettura di libri italiani ha aiutato molto.

You should try the super challenge next year if it is on.

[EllieJoONM]

Thank you so much, these resources look very helpful. What is the Super challenge? I've not heard of it before. Best of luck with your language studies!

[rdearman]

The Super Challenge is to read 100 books and watch 100 films in your target language in a certain time. Normally this runs between May of one year and December of the next. The current challenge ends this year on 31st of December. It is really difficult! But it will up your level like nothing else will. I've manage 100 films in Italian & French, but haven't done so well with books.

http://www.languagechallenge.surrealix. ... =RRDearman

You can still sign up, and try to do as many as you can, or you could wait until May. But it might be worth doing as many as you can before the clock runs out on this years challenge. It really will improve your vocabulary and listening comprehension. If you are going to do it, I recommend you start watching Inspector Montalbano on BBC iPlayer.

[EllieJoONM]

Wow, that sounds difficult! I have just started reading books in my target language, but it's very slow-going. I will check out Inspector Montalbano