Ask HN: Recommendations on Learning Italian

[asimpletune]

Hi HN, thanks for reading this.

I'm in Italy now and really need to learn the language fast. I had a lot of success in Mexico learning Spanish, but I had a lot of help from an online course called "Spanish with Paul".

This course in Spanish just put me on a very fast track to learning because of the order that it presented information, where you essentially start speaking right away, and you're constantly being drilled with more and more complicated sentences, as you introduce new grammar.

This was a system that worked extremely well for me, but unfortunately I have not found anything similar for Italian - like a good blend being comprehensive AND practical. There are many courses that are kind of gimmicky, which is fine and I appreciate them, but I'm really looking for something that I can spend 2-3 hours a day in focused study/practice that also lets me start building upon the daily practice I get from just living here.

I was planning on basically building my own version of the course I mentioned above, "Spanish with Paul", by essentially just translating the same concepts over, however very early on I encountered concepts that don't exist in Spanish at all, for very simply constructs. E.g.:

eng: I want \ esp: quiero \ ita: voglio \

(ok, simple)

eng: I want it \ esp: lo quiero \ ita: lo voglio \

(So far so good, perfectly smooth sailing)

eng: I need \ esp: necesito \ ita: ho bisogno \

(Ok, this 'ho' is acting like 'haber' in Spanish... I know this, not the end of the world...)

eng: I need it \ esp: lo necesito \ ita: ne ho bisogno \

(wtf... then I look up 'ne' and I am introduced at step 0. to the world of Italian pronouns and my face melts)

I'm sure it's just a temporary road block and in the future if I read a similar post to this I'll have great advice, but for the time being I'm in that awkward phase where I really feel like I'm wasting time by not doing focused studying because I'm chasing various rabbit holes.

So, something a little more curated would be great, and maybe I could eventually make that "course" I was talking about. Any help, would be very appreciated. My secret weapon with learning Spanish was really just studying a lot and practicing, and not wasting time doing other stuff.

Thank you!

[vanusa]

My secret weapon with learning Spanish was really just studying a lot and practicing, and not wasting time doing other stuff.

That's the secret weapon for learning just about any language, actually. That, and this thing known as "taste" (for good works of literature, film and music to break down and compare against translations, word by word).

Beyond that I would drill down into https://www.reddit.com/r/italianlearning/ (and the general language learning reddits) where you'll find way more informed opinion than you'll find here.

[Garvey]

https://www.michelthomas.com/learn-italian/#michel-thomas-it...

Check out some of the promos and make your own decision, but I highly recommend the above.

[luana]

italianoautomatico.com

[oriettaxx]

nice :)

You know about "false friends" in Italian and Spanish: you can easily think to words means the same, while they do not, example:

* spanish: aceite, sounds like italian:aceto but in italian it's:olio while the italian for aceite is: vinagre

* another: largo largo lungo ancho

* ... https://plida.it/documenti/spagnolo.pdf

for this reason I think Spanish is tricking you a bit while you may think it is helping: it happens to me with Italian/Portuguese/Spanish

My advice is:

* the golden rule: find an Italian girlfriend/boyfriend :) :) best if they cannot speak English (pretty easy in Italy, must say) and spanish.

* forget about translating, practice a lot by spending as much time as possible talking with Italians: I know it is pretty hard now due to Covid, but just ask them to talk about politics... and you'll have hours of conversation

* arrive to the point you talk Italian in your dreams (much easier then you may think, esp. if you respect the above two rules :)

* forget about mobile phone/app, have a paper notebook and write new words/sentences: ask your friend to tell you new works every day. (well, I also record sentence, too, but then I do not listen much I must say)

* many says it does not work, but for me it does: movies! so movies in Italian: choose a masterpiece and watch it many many times: Fellini's Amarcord, La Dolce Vita, even 8 1/2 if you skip the intellectual/Movie-criticts talks... or even some very light ones like Fantozzi.

If, due to codiv, you cannot meet people, pay somebody for skype calls: many great people, esp. in the South, have no jobs but have huge culture and passion for teaching, so just pay per hour for their help and guidance; you may post a request in https://dantealighieri.net/forum (not used that much, but a lot of Italian teachers for foreigner are still reaching notifications from it).

Keep in mind that if you are in an average big town, in the centre north, you can join for free or about 30€ per semester (yes!) Italian school classrooms for foreigners: my experience is that teachers there a lovely: very passionate and curious, really very helful and committed.

http://www.venetoimmigrazione.it/it/imparare-italiano?p_p_id...

I am sure you are like me, not much interested in football, because if you are then that could help.

all the best: be nice with Italians, but be also strong on your ideas and have no fear to say what you think to let them wake up :) remember, as in many other countries, they are allowed to talk bad about their country, but foreigners cannot ahhaahah

ciao!