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just finishing a 2 week hols in the bologna area, did tuscany last year, i think its a country id be happy to keep visiting and hopefully retire to.
ive made a start on the language and can have very (very) basic conversations. my bro can speak the lingo and has lent me a set of 4 linguaphone books (with audio) which im slowly working my way through.
i get the feeling tho that once back home, ill just forget what ive learnt and have to start again at some point (its happened once already).
ive been pointed in the direction of the yabla website which seems good, but is around a tenner per month sub which i dont feel is worth it to me.
i struggle with all the many types of pronouns (mi, ti, la, le, gli etc), where to put them, the conjugations of all the verbs in different tenses, i just feel if i dont keep speaking it, itll be too difficult to pick up where i left off.
any advice? recommended websites, books, youtube videos maybe? techniques of learning?
thanks
best technique is practice. I run a french night in a local pub once a month where we sit and chat in french, we even get native french speakers coming along to keep up their own language skills. MIght be worth seeing if there's a similar group close to you, or even setting one up
I found Duolingo good for practising. I found it fun and you can do a little bit anywhere on your phone.
Toppet
Just keep practising everyday, use different resources and don't get frustrated. It takes many years
Bonnet de douche, Rodney!
FWIW, I'd suggest you definitely try some lessons. Duolingo, Michel Thomas and podcasts/ radio shows are good for 'keeping your ear in', and keeping phrases front of mind. But for genuine learning, not much beats a weekly lesson for a couple of months.
You may be able to find someone on gumtree or similar; could do it via Skype to make it easier. After a couple of months you'll find you have a much better understanding of the framework of the language, and duolingo etc can help keep you fresh in your mind.
Local FE college does Italian lessons - might be worth checking out for the lessons but also to meet others interested in learning Italian which could give you a start to the kind of Italian night nbt mentioned above. In fact, make it a proper Italian night with food and drink as well.
As an aside, I've been in Pozallo, southern Sicily recently. It's a nice place and there are some excellent property deals just now but there's also an Autostrade being built to service the Malta ferry so expect prices to rocket in 2-3 years
Forget the books and find some Italians who live local to you and take them out for a coffee a couple of times a week and get them to only speak Italian. Mate of mine learned in a matter of months by having lunch at work with an Italian colleague a few times a week and buying Italian newspapers and books. Problem with academic learning is that it’s too perfect and when a real Italian speaks to you with their local dialect and slang you won’t have a clue imagine learning the ‘queens english’ from an audio course then rocking up in Liverpool expecting to have a chin wag with a local. I can’t understand scoucers and half my family are scoucers but only generally see them a couple of times a year. I’ve got no chance.
Luckily I work with quite a few Southern Europeans and as a consequence am picking up a fair amount of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
You could try this though...
Found I learnt a surprising amount from this when driving to work and back
With you 100% OP. I would love to retire there.
As dmorts said, I just bought a CD from Amazon and listened to it on the commute to work.
thanks for the advice.
ive installed the duolingo app on my phone and also dropping into my bro's yabla account to watch a few vids. im finding a combination of those vids plus my books (which has good grammar explanations) to be a good mix.
ive also applied for a beginners course at the local college, but dont know the hours yet, so not sure ill be able to attend.
cheers
“Rome wasn’t built in a day. But perhaps it would have been if Italians didn’t talk with their hands so much”
Italian is ace! I have spent maybe 3 and a half months there in the last couple of years and can get by, sort of. Immersion is key, plus they are all super helpful in my experience - if you ask them how to say something they will explain really well and get the pronunciation right for you. This is not anywhere touristy mind.
Sadx - try an internet radio station too. I watch spanish tv, a lot of uk programs are sold to spain, dubbed in Spanish and subtitled in English. I like 24hrs in a and e, the Dr Christian show, stuff that's interesting and you can learn the language. You may need the sat box to pick them up.
Make learning fun
I remember hearing this funny story in the late 90s...
well so far ive used the duolingo app most. got it on my phone and pc, and its very easy just to open up and do a few exercises when im waiting around for anything..... also very repetitive which i didnt like at first (yaawwwwn, just get on with it and move to something more difficult!) but i guess the more you keep typing and looking at things, new words and phrases tend to stick.