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Immersion Question | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Matt314 Newbie United States musicartplus.blogspo Joined 4818 days ago 9 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 1 of 5 26 March 2011 at 5:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi, I'm new here.
My question is What's the best way to immerse myself in Italian? I can't travel to Italy any time soon (although I hope to next year) and even if I could, it would only be for a week or two. While I want to study abroad in College, I want to achieve at least basic fluency before then, and hopefully without an accent. I have 3 years to do so, so I think it's an achievable goal. My only problem is I'm not sure what the best way to immerse myself is. I have a few Italian books, but I' not at a level where I can read them. What do you guys use? Also, do you guys skype with eachother in your target language? If so, do you have a schedule or is it more an individual thing? Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elsu Newbie Germany Joined 4821 days ago 4 posts - 6 votes Speaks: German* | Message 2 of 5 26 March 2011 at 3:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would suggest that you simply register at some site that specializes in tandem language learning. I've been using http://www.language-exchanges.org.
Well at least for me it's an individual thing. The girl I'm talking to is in Japan so the time difference (she's 8 hours head) is something that dictates when we talk. She wakes up a bit earlier, and I go to sleep a bit later. Another thing you could try is to watch Italian shows and listen to Italian music. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5632 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 3 of 5 26 March 2011 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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Check out: Radio 24: Theres live broadcasts and tons of podcasts: http://www.radio24.ilsole24ore.com/ RAI: They dont make the TV offerings on the website available outside Italy except for news but you can stream the radio stations live and theres a bunch of podcasts: http://www.rai.it/ iTunes: if you set your country to Italy you'll find a ton of podcasts Netflix: theres a fair amount of Italian movies on Netflix, some available for streaming. Most seem to be either cheesy horror movies (Giallo films) or soft-core porn but there are some highly rated offerings. I've found that it really does help to immerse your brain with audio from the target language, even passively. You'll find yourself noticing patterns and getting used to hearing the language and when you hear things you've learned while actively studying it reinforces them. With an inexpensive mp3 player you can listen while shopping, jogging, waiting in line, etc. For just reading you can read news in Italian using Google's and Yahoo's news aggregation: http://it.notizie.yahoo.com/ http://news.google.it If you use Chrome as your browser you can have it translate the page and still see the source language text when you mouse-over a paragraph. Or just use Google translate. "Khatzumoto" became proficient enough in Japanese through his own "do-it-yourself" immersion method to get hired in Japan as a software developer. He explains on his website: http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/about 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| SnowManR1 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5312 days ago 53 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 4 of 5 07 April 2011 at 3:09am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey man
I have a similar situation to yours & perhaps I can help you fill in those small cracks of time with Italian immersion. By reading your post I would say you're a high school student & may even have a part time job & time can be quite precious, well here's a bit of my situation. I work full time (8hrs daily) and I'm a full time senior at a university in the city studying Computer Science. So you can imagine that spare time is quite a rare thing. However I am a member of this forum, have read the entire AJATT website and here is what I do to remain in an Italian immersion environment. TV & Movies: Since all Italian movies are region 2 DVD's I bought a region free DVD player ($45) from www.world-import.com to watch all my movies in Italian. I buy the DVD's from www.ibs.it, which is an awesome website to buy all your favorite movies in Italian. I may add though that buying your favorite movies all over again can be a nuisance, but just remember that they're also coded in English and therefore contain the original as well as Italian and US versions do not. Also you may want to buy a TV series like Smallville, Sopranos, Family Guy, etc, because watching the same movie will drive you mad, but various TV episodes will last longer and will be more dynamic. If you want TV you'll need a device from the Cable/Satellite Company that will pick up television broadcasted from Italy, but that's a monthly burden and could get expensive. Plus I barely have time for movies, so TV is out of the question. Note: Make sure the DVD player whether regular or Blu-Ray doesn't require a PAL to NTSC converter. Most of them have this built in, but if not a PAL to NTSC from the same website goes for $100. So be sure to find one that does this without the use of a converter. Radio & MP3's: There are many Italian radio stations online, so it's really just a matter of finding one that suits you. I usually use this radio station www.lattemiele.com, because it was recommended by a girl I know from Naples. I use iTunes and sample MP3's that match my personality to make sure I enjoy the music before I buy it. Sadly the rock genre is bleak, but if you dig deep you can find bands that are really close like Ligabue or Lacuna Coil. Either way just make sure the iPod settings are in Italian and remove all English speaking music from the device. I only use music when doing activities that make even passive listening difficult such as working out, mowing, etc. In all other instances I prefer podcasts. Literature: I buy all my books from www.ibs.it, which has your favorite English works in Italian. However just be sure the books you're buying are the Italian versions and not written in English. This is great for also reading native material or using books you own as parallel texts, but use caution. I'm religious and therefore use the Italian and English written Bible's as parallel texts, which is extremely organized and precise. To buy a parallel book of 1,600 pages would be outrageous, but only costs me around $40. Language Materials: I researched the Italian major at my university and they were using a textbook called "Ciao!" 6th addition for beginner-intermediate and another for the advanced, but I can't remember the title. They have now switched to "Prego!" 7th addition, which is the equivalent to "Ciao!" and you, can find them on www.amazon.com. I recommend using the textbook as your foundation and supplement it with some awesome sources from either www.languagequest.com or www.barronseduc.com. Note: I use Assimil Italian with Ease from Language Quest and bought these from Barrons: 501 Italian Verbs, Italian-English Dictionary, Complete Grammar Review, Idioms, Slang and Colloquial Expressions, Vocabulary, etc. All these materials used in conjunction with the Textbook and you'll be basic fluent within 600 hours. Flash Card Database: This is the most important part of this entire post. Download a Flash Card Database and designate time for input and fill that thing to the brim. I use "SuperMemo", but there are many others that work just as well. I'm currently inputting my entire Ciao! Textbook along with Assimil and the rest of the books I own. Quantity with the material is vital and it will take time inputting the information, but do this while passively listening to podcasts or music and it will fly right by. Allot time to actively study, then switch to imputing, working out, watching movies or whatever and before you realize it Italian is in your face everywhere you turn. If I input for hours I end up dreaming in Italian, which can be pretty cool. Language Audio Books: I prefer Pimsleur over Michel Thomas, but I have the entire collection of both being Pimsleur I, II, III, IV and Michel Thomas Introduction, Language Builder, Vocabulary I, II, III and Advanced I, II, II. They are different methods, but each is an excellent way of building speech without the use of a teacher. If you use these tools try to accomplish 1 lesson (30 minutes) a day and it will help maintain pronunciation. Tutors/Teachers/Language Partners: If you want to use the tools I recommend www.italki.com for language partners, but please be sure to pick someone with an intermediate to advanced knowledge in English or it may be difficult to understand one another. I currently do neither of these because of time issues, but I plan on hiring a tutor to practice my speaking skills with 1 hour a week. This website www.language-school-teachers.com may be helpful in finding a teacher or tutor, but I prefer to self study. Podcasts: Do a basic search on Google and there will be dozens to choose from. I use iTunes and download the free SBS Italian News Podcasts based in Melbourne Australia, which will cover all types of issues and introduce you to new vocabulary daily. Social Events and Friends: I use www.meetup.com to search for any language group within the area that meets up to practice the language or celebrate the culture and there holidays. It's an excellent way to meet natives to practice with or just people with similar interests. Free Time: Have this when at work or at school. The time away gives you a chance to relax and focus on something else, which will prevent burnout. Enjoy it while it's available and it will help make work and school life feel less like crap and more like a retreat. Please excuse the length of this post and mine it for whatever seems beneficial to you and if you follow a regiment similar to this or whatever crazy way you make it, by 3 years you'll be in a whole new level of Italian that you can't even comprehend from where you're at now and that's a wonderful thing. E-Mail me if you have any questions SnowManR1@aol.com. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4954 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 5 of 5 07 April 2011 at 3:59am | IP Logged | ||
It's been a while since I watched anything on RAI.tv, but I used to religiously watch "Orgoglio" from the US. I just tried it and am still able to watch it from the US with no problem. The Silverlight plugin is needed though. I've not tried any other shows, but if I can watch that show, other shows should be available too. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful |
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