[Travel] Learning a foreign language in the comfort of your own home.

[Binney on acid]

Can anyone on NSC recommend an online course that will help me to learn very basic Italian ?
My girlfriend and I are going on holiday to Sicily next June, and I want to be able to master the basics.
Me attempting to communicate in Italian will probably be a humiliating experience, but I’m up for it.

 

[Bakero]

I am flirting with duolingo (spanish) and realise I need to have proper one to one lessons. I can google various teachers in my area but how do you pick one? Everyone of course says they have a special approach and are the best! Would appreciate your thoughts as a language teacher. Thanks

Do any of them mention qualifications and experience? Do they give any details on the method? Any testimonials from past students? Do they have social media presence?

Would you consider online classes? That way you've got an almost unlimited pool to choose from.

 

[Ali_rrr]

What I will say, unless you actually practice it outside your home you'll have no chance of learning the language. You need to make mistakes and not be embarrassed about it or you'll never learn properly.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I clicked on it just now to check and it opened just fine for me. What gives?

Link works for me, if it makes you feel any better.

Now I just need to find a way to get from Darlo to BHASVIC and back for the evening lessons.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

One of the biggest things IMO is learning all of the noise surrounding the important parts of a conversation. The "Sort of like", "ya know", "yeahhh anyway". Those bits make up so much of regular conversation and your brain taking time to process them means you miss what's actually being said.

Filter out the noise. Understand the context of the conversation and it's MUCH easier to learn.

 

[Bakero]

One of the biggest things IMO is learning all of the noise surrounding the important parts of a conversation. The "Sort of like", "ya know", "yeahhh anyway". Those bits make up so much of regular conversation and your brain taking time to process them means you miss what's actually being said.

Filter out the noise. Understand the context of the conversation and it's MUCH easier to learn.

Good advice. Also worth learning these phrases to sound more natural.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

One of the biggest things IMO is learning all of the noise surrounding the important parts of a conversation. The "Sort of like", "ya know", "yeahhh anyway". Those bits make up so much of regular conversation and your brain taking time to process them means you miss what's actually being said.

Filter out the noise. Understand the context of the conversation and it's MUCH easier to learn.

My eldest sister learnt French as an adult (well, she'd done it to at least GCSE, maybe A-level, but there was then a decent break before she started learning again through evening classes etc.)

From what she's told me, apart from all the learning to listen properly and how people actually speak in normal conversation and all that, at some point you have to accept that you'll have to start talking in front of people and might make an absolute tit of yourself.

I reckon at least 75% of the responses I get when I try and speak French to people are "pardon?"

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

My eldest sister learnt French as an adult (well, she'd done it to at least GCSE, maybe A-level, but there was then a decent break before she started learning again through evening classes etc.)

From what she's told me, apart from all the learning to listen properly and how people actually speak in normal conversation and all that, at some point you have to accept that you'll have to start talking in front of people and might make an absolute tit of yourself.

I reckon at least 75% of the responses I get when I try and speak French to people are "pardon?"

Another great tip is to learn how to say "I don't know how to say it in French/Spanish etc" or "what's it called in French?". Then say the english word. slowly. Depending on where you are obviously it'll be met with a much friendlier response.

Learn how to describe things too so you can describe the thing that you don't know how to say.