[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.

 

[papachris]

Since emigrating 3 years ago I have been learning Estonian. The courses are provided by the government for free for people like myself. Workbooks provided but the classes are in zoom, so learning from home.
I wonder how many other countries actually encourage their immigrants to integrate into the new country like this.

 

[albionalex]

italki - Best language learning app with certificated tutors

Discover a world of languages with italki. Learn over 150 languages including English, Spanish, French, Chinese, etc. with professional online tutors.

www.italki.com

I have used several different tutors for Spanish on this site.

My main tip for learning a new language is you really need to commit. Practice, practice, practice!

 

[Seagull58]

Since emigrating 3 years ago I have been learning Estonian. The courses are provided by the government for free for people like myself. Workbooks provided but the classes are in zoom, so learning from home.
I wonder how many other countries actually encourage their immigrants to integrate into the new country like this.

The Portuguese government offers, free of charge, both 6 weeks full-time and other part-time options.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Using Duolingo for Italian as well.

Do it every day.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

If it were German, I'd recommend this bloke

Here’s my recommendation.

 

[papachris]

The Portuguese government offers, free of charge, both 6 weeks full-time and other part-time options.

That's good. It both protects their culture and language and helps newbies settle in and be part of society

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

John McGinn practicing his German

 

[MJsGhost]

My 4 yr old daughter has been using Duolingo to learn Spanish for a few months now. Sadly all she can say is the word "please".





That's poor for four isn't it?

 

[Justice]

When I see bi lingual kids at like the age of seven with dual nationality parents I always think how do they learn so quickly.

 

[Gwylan]

I'm using Duolingo a lot at the moment to brush up on my German but I agree with the posters who have downvoted it - it's pretty decent for revision (I used to speak German quite well but have forgotten a lot of it) but I wouldn't recommend it for learning a language from scratch.

There are plenty of resources online these days. I don't know if it's still the case but there used to be site where you language swap: someone who wants to learn English talks to you in English and you talk to them in their language. It's quite a good approach .... but you probably need to know some of the language in the first place.

 

[Binney on acid]

Think I need a learn Italian app on my iPhone. I don't want to get locked into a lengthy, expensive contract. I don't expect anything for nothing. Repetition might be tedious, but It may help basic Italian to percolate through my addled brain. Please can anyone recommend a decent app. I don't want to be asking for things in English, and want to avoid being dependent upon google translate.

 

[The Mole]

I used to use Duolingo but got fed up with the way the tried to monetise everything and only let you learn the way they wanted you to.
since then I’ve been using LingQ which is far more flexible and uses real podcasts

 

[Seagull58]

Think I need a learn Italian app on my iPhone. I don't want to get locked into a lengthy, expensive contract. I don't expect anything for nothing. Repetition might be tedious, but It may help basic Italian to percolate through my addled brain. Please can anyone recommend a decent app. I don't want to be asking for things in English, and want to avoid being dependent upon google translate.

I like Memrise. For on the fly translation use DeepL. It's free and better than Google translate.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Think I need a learn Italian app on my iPhone. I don't want to get locked into a lengthy, expensive contract. I don't expect anything for nothing. Repetition might be tedious, but It may help basic Italian to percolate through my addled brain. Please can anyone recommend a decent app. I don't want to be asking for things in English, and want to avoid being dependent upon google translate.

Have you considered evening classes as an alternative? Might help more of the language 'stick' seeing as how you'd be engaged in more natural conversation in a group setting

Adult Evening Language Courses

We offer a range of adult education courses in Arabic - Mandarin - French - German - Italian - Japanese - Polish - Portuguese - Russian - Spanish - Swedish

www.bhasvic.ac.uk

 

[Binney on acid]

Have you considered evening classes as an alternative? Might help more of the language 'stick' seeing as how you'd be engaged in more natural conversation in a group setting

Adult Evening Language Courses

We offer a range of adult education courses in Arabic - Mandarin - French - German - Italian - Japanese - Polish - Portuguese - Russian - Spanish - Swedish

www.bhasvic.ac.uk

I thought about it, but I live in Shoreham. The walk between getting off the 700 and the college is not to be recommended in a monsoon, and we seem to be getting them quite often. There's nothing on offer around here. I really need something on my phone, whilst I'm travelling between Shoreham and Brighton three times a week, to play table tennis.

 

[cheshunt seagull]

I've been using Babbel to attempt to learn Spanish for about 6 months but I am really discouraged by my lack of progress. Maybe it's because learning languages is more difficult as you get older but I am considering trying something else.

 

[Bakero]

I've been using Babbel to attempt to learn Spanish for about 6 months but I am really discouraged by my lack of progress. Maybe it's because learning languages is more difficult as you get older but I am considering trying something else.

This website is good: https://www.spanishdict.com/

Aside from the dictionary, it has interactive grammar lessons and other resources. YouTube is good too. I like Español con Juan (I actually used his podcast, which will probably be a bit advanced for you right now, but he has lots of YouTube content too) https://youtube.com/@espanolconjuan?si=3uL50jkgcWKN-mIM

 

[abc]

In my professional opinion as a language teacher, Duolingo is a bit rubbish*. It's useful for picking up vocab but I doubt it'll teach you to speak. So use it by all means but supplement with other resources.

First thing to do is learn the rules of pronunciation. Italian is a phonetic language so every word is pronounced as it's written. Once you know the rules, it's fairly straightforward. The most important thing to remember is every vowel is enunciated. You know how in English we put the emphasis on certain syllables and other vowels get squashed? (eg. information: think about how the o sounds). Well, they don't do that. This also means the rhythm is very different to English, as I'm sure you know. This is because Italian is syllable-timed (this means each syllable takes about the same amount of time) whereas English is stress-timed (meaning stressed (emphasised) syllables occur at regular intervals and the others get squashed to fit the rhythm). Hope that makes sense. Imagine it like this: English = da da da DA, da da da DA, da da da DA and Italian = DA DA DA DA DA DA DA. You might feel like you're puting on a cod Italian accent but you've just got to go for it.

Before I moved to Italy, I read this book and found it very useful. Unlocking Italian by Paul Noble Just a fiver for the kindle edition so highly recommended. It's by no means comprehensive but like a cheat code to give you the basics to navigate everyday situations. Once you've got these structures, you'll be able to adapt them to new vocab that you learn.

On top of that, you need lots of listening practice. Youtube has an abundance of resources. I can't remember which channels I used though, I'm afraid. Here's one to get you going though: Look for a good podcast too.

Dual readers (stories with one page in English, the other in Italian) are also really useful. Loads on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=dual+readers+italian+beginner&i=digital-text&crid=V3YOKFOGK246&sprefix=dual+readers+italian+beginner,digital-text,110&ref=nb_sb_noss Look for ones aimed at Beginner/elementary (A1/A2 level). Ones with dialogues are particularly useful.

The BBC has some good resources too https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/

Buona fortuna!



*Duolingo disclaimer: I haven't used it in years fo it may have improved.

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

 

[Gwylan]

Have you considered evening classes as an alternative? Might help more of the language 'stick' seeing as how you'd be engaged in more natural conversation in a group setting

Adult Evening Language Courses

We offer a range of adult education courses in Arabic - Mandarin - French - German - Italian - Japanese - Polish - Portuguese - Russian - Spanish - Swedish

www.bhasvic.ac.uk

That link doesn't work - leads to Page Not Found

Evening classes are a good idea though. You get used to speaking the language and if you're asked a question, you have to react in real time. I started German evening classes hardly knowing a word of German and within a few years, I was able to spend time in Germany, chatting to people at parties, going to the cinema etc. You'll really speed up your learning

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

That link doesn't work - leads to Page Not Found

Evening classes are a good idea though. You get used to speaking the language and if you're asked a question, you have to react in real time. I started German evening classes hardly knowing a word of German and within a few years, I was able to spend time in Germany, chatting to people at parties, going to the cinema etc. You'll really speed up your learning

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