There’s a lot of rubbish on the Internet about how to learn Italian, or any foreign language.
I certainly don’t want to add more.
But there’s also plenty of good advice, if you know where to look.
Most of the best originates from serious, credible sources, such as university departments.
For instance, while researching this article I came across lots of interesting stuff about what makes a successful language learner.
One word that cropped up often was “strategies”.
Do you have the right strategies to learn Italian?
There are lots of good “ways” to approach learning a foreign language. Researchers call them “strategies”.
Which strategy or strategies are right for you will depend a lot on your situation, your objectives, and your motivation.
What is NOT likely to work well is to try studying a foreign language the way you may have studied other, different things in the past. And to do only what you always did, no matter what.
Languages are complicated, and there are a lot of different things you have to learn to do (speaking, listening, reading, writing, pronunciation, conjugating verbs, choosing the right word, etc.)
One UK university advises students to self-evaluate, and consider what they could do to be more successful at learning foreign languages:
Which language learning strategies do you already use (look at the checklist below)?
Which of the learning strategies below could you add to your own repertoire of learning strategies?
Can you identify some of your own strengths and weaknesses in language learning?
Which activities below do you think you do well; which don’t you do enough of?
How could you organise the time you have for language learning in a more productive way?(src: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/cls/resources/key.html )
They offer a checklist of strategies that students could consider using:
(Click here to visit their website and use the checklist for yourself!)
The secret is…
The secret is, to always be open to new ways of learning, especially when circumstances change or when your existing ways of learning Italian are not bringing the results you expected.
In short, don’t just focus on WHAT you are studying. For optimum results, pay attention to the WAY you learn, too.
Over to you
Which strategies do you employ to help you learn Italian? Leave a comment on this article.
P.S. You haven’t forgotten that the 20% discount offer on Italian courses in Bologna has only five more days to run, have you??
Ruth Stephens says
Ciao John! Grazie per i comment e mi dispiace di non aver risposto prima. Visito questo sito solo circa una volta la settimana e ieri non potevo trovare un modo di rispondere – non sono molto brava con i computer! Spero che non hai perduto speranza ma che continui di visitare il sito. Mi chiedo se altri come te stesso hanno il problema di sapere quando usare di, a, o nessuno dei due, come nella frase scorsa (di o a visitare). Forse Daniel potrebbe illuminarci .
John Thomson says
Ciao Ruth
non c’è di che!
c’e bello sentire da te
sono sicuro che Daniel spieghera come e dove inviare le risposte e i commenti
abbi pure un buon natale e un felice nuovo anno
John
Daniel I have already posted a question on the subject of how and where to post replies / comments but I have forgotten to which of your articles I replied.
Daniel says
Guys, when we had a forum, nobody used it (John was the honorable exception).
It’s not out of the question that we could reintroduce a (small) discussion space, but in the mean time, the simplest way for you to interact is to comment on the most recent post, even if what you want to say is “off topic”.
At least that way, you’re all looking at the same place.
You’ll find the most recent post on the homepage, about mid way down, where it says “Latest Articles about Learning Italian”.
To comment, click the article title. What you see on the home page is just an extract.
When you arrive at the full article, you should see a comments box at the bottom.
By all means, use the latest article as a temporary discussion space. Anyone who has previously had a comment approved gets their subsequent comments published automatically, so you don’t need to wait for me to check your text.
If you don’t see the comments box at the bottom of the article, scroll right down as far as you can go.
If you STILL don’t see it, try reloading the page in your browswer. Some browsers seem to load the article, but not the comments, maybe to save time or bandwidth. Clicking refresh usually does the job.
Hope that helps.
And if there are lively discussions going on, well then I’ll be happy to reinstate a forum…
John Thomson says
O.K. Daniel here we go
1 you have no idea how near I was to saying “arrivederci” I even looked up the word for “give up” “arrendersi” , fortunately Ruth replied and you replied to Ruth and I so here I am again
2 I fully understand why you got rid of the forums, it requires a huge effort on your part to maintain them and your teachers have to scan them to answer any queries, grammar or otherwise. Members were simply not using them, or rather they may have enjoyed reading them but not adding comments or replies, very disheartening
3 why are there not more posts? Possible reasons
1 not interested in that particular topic
2 does not think anyone would be interested in what you have to say
3 general apathy
4 shy frightened of appearing foolish
5 finds the whole process of posting too complicated
4 what is a ‘thread’ ? basically it is a comment or query with replies attached, this keeps them all grouped together, if you want to add to the discussion click REPLY, type in the box and then click SUBMIT . If you want to be e-mailed to tell you if other replies have been submitted check the box below your comment box
5 have a go at the present time
1 go to home page
2 log in (otherwise you cannot submit)
3 click “LEARNING ITALIAN” a list of Daniel’s Articles appear
4 the first is “do you have the right strategies to learn Italian” at present there are 3 comments
reply 1 Ruth Stephens Dec 16 9,33
reply 2 John Thomson Dec 17 10.01
reply 3 Daniel Dec 17 10.10
6 this text I have written is a reply to reply 3 and it will be reply 4
7 if you want to comment submit a reply to the last reply
8 reading all of the above it looks very complicated but it reallu is not
9 I love Daniel’s site I love all the staff but I think we are at risk of losing the site as it is now
10 maybe when Daniel has replied to reply 97 he will give us one area specifically for queries and another for chit chat IT IS UP TO US
I am sure I have forgotten something Sorry if I have
John Thomson
John Thomson says
Fantastic Ruth, we have a thread going, but I am retired ( ho ottanta anni) so I have plenty of time to visit the site and post comments / replies. I am sure Daniel would be upset as I would if you felt under any pressure to post, the whole thing is meant to be fun.
I am a retired Doctor so I love succinct lists.We live in Ormskirk in the North of England, I was born in Scotland. I live with my lovely wife Jennifer and our handsome little dog called Sam. Jennifer and I do a lot of Italian cooking and I attend an Italian class at our local U3A.
I have sadly forgotten where you are from Ruth.
Here is one of my lists
1 for the time being we will use the article “DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT STRATEGIES TO LEARN ITALIAN” to post our replies
2 if you reply to the last reply (sounds Irish) it keeps the thread in sequence, though it does not really matter
3 I know that Daniel reads our comments and he will be chipping in I am sure, if there is a good enough response. Maybe if a definite query say about grammar is posted i.e. requiring an answer, Daniel could arrange for one of the teachers to respond
4 apart from housekeeping type stuff like this I am going to try, like you Ruth to write in Italian, Non ho paura delle errori di pui after all communicating in La bella lingua is the name of the game
5 I think some of the ‘regulars’ are maybe not able to ‘see’ the posts we will have to wait and see
list finished !
Ruth I am so glad you posted, but please remember there is no problem if you can’t as long as you are enjoying the site
Saluti, complimenti auguri or whatever is the best thing to say
O.K. that is a question for Daniel, how should we end iur replies ?
John
Ruth Stephens says
Whew, I am so relieved that you saw my post just as you were about to arrendersi, John! I would have done so myself if you had. Which means, Daniel , that I’m afraid I wouldn’t have had the same motivation to keep reading your posts either. Anyway, I appreciate your efforts above, Daniel and John; I’m sure it will help if I get stuck again. I do wonder what happened to all the other ‘regulars’ who used to seem so enthusiastic. Maybe they just got bored with the whole thing or maybe they have better things to do.
But I will try to do my bit to keep the thing alive and, from now on, in Italian. Though I probably won’t have much time until 1 Jan. So until then, Buon Natale .
Ruth