Buondì.
Sunday 29th September 2024 is the final day of the 2024 Autumn Sale at our online lessons store, NativeSpeakerTeachers.com.
Until then you can use the coupon code below to save 20% on the online lessons you’ll need to improve your Italian in the coming months:
2024-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off
Use it here: one-to-one lessons
It never ceases to amaze me how many people wait until the end of a promotion, the final day, or even the final hours.
If you, too, have been putting this off, this is another reminder (this marketing stuff has to get done, to keep people in their jobs and to pay the bills.)
However, it’ll be what you DO in Italian in the coming year that’ll make the difference to your learning, not what you spend between now and when the promotion ends, on Sunday 29th September 2024.
This time several years ago (I’m reusing this text for the umpeenth time) Chris wrote me a lovely, long email describing her journey with Italian (she was finally weaning herself off Duolingo, she told me…)
So of course, I had to write back:
The thing that made a difference to me was realising the gulf between ‘studying’ and learning – they’re absolutely not synonyms, and it’s quite possible for one to happen without the other. I can study if I have to, but I enjoy the learning process more when it’s the result of immersing myself in media or actually interacting with people.
As regards listening, I tell people this but they don’t believe me – it’s not about ‘understanding’! The opposite, in fact.
If you focus on the meaning, your range of sources is hugely restricted, as you can only work with highly-simplified materials. Whereas if you just DO it, without worrying if you understand or not, as the total number of hours of listening mount up, ‘understanding’ just sort of creeps up on you.
Not everything, obviously, but familiarity with the media helps – listen, for example, to our news website as suggested here and, given enough time (a year is reasonable), you really WILL notice a huge difference.
I’m currently alternating live radio in Swedish, Turkish, French and Spanish, perhaps thirty minutes a day of each, and the amazing thing is, once it becomes routine, the brain just adjusts. I’d never have believed it if I hadn’t watched it happening to myself.
This is RTVE.es ‘Todas las noticias en Radio 5’, next it’s ‘France.info’ on the virus and nothing but the virus, then TRT FM’s evening phone-in and light music program, and finally the news headlines in Swedish.
Put the hours in and the magic will just happen. Once you figure that out, messing about with DL just seems like a waste of time, except in the first few months, perhaps.
People are different, of course. You have to find your own way. But there’s no denying, it takes LOTS OF TIME to master a foreign language.
Practise, practise and more practise is required, which means finding material that interests you sufficiently that you can keep using it, week after week, month after month. Duo gets that bit right, at least.
Check out our ebooks catalog to find reading/listening material for students at all levels, from beginners to the most advanced!
And for those who can afford it, why not treat yourself to some one-to-one practice, online with a native-speaker Italian teacher?
Coupon code 2024-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off is good to save you 20% on the online lesson prices (it’s not valid in the ebooks store, sorry), until midnight on Sunday 29th September 2024.
After that, from Monday 30th, things at the club will be back to normal, with just the one article a week, each Wednesday.
Plus, of course, the thrice-weekly EasyItalianNews.com bulletins on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
A domani.
P.S. (For the ‘will definitely get around to doing this’ people)
The coupon code for the online lessons promotion is: 2024-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off
Use it here: NativeSpeakerTeachers.com
What if you write to us on Monday 30th September asking for the 20% discount?
We’ll shrug.
Heartlessly.
Sorry, no can do, we’ll explain.
The offer is finished – O.V.E.R.
It ended at midnight on Sunday 29th September 2024.
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