Here’s the the last of our series of C1 (advanced) level Italian listening practice activities.
It has an interesting title (L’amore ai tempi di internet), so has to be worth a few minutes of your time, even if your level in Italian isn’t advanced, yet.
Listen a couple of times, without looking at the transcript, and just see what you can pick out. Even if that’s just a few words… The more you listen, the better you’ll get!
Then, when your patience (or self-esteem) is finally exhausted, scroll down and listen again, but this time with the transcript to help you.
You’ll find that a lot easier!
(Anyone reading this in an e-mail or on a mobile device probably won’t see the audio plug-in needed to hear the recording. Click here to view this page on our website.)
Transcript
8. L’AMORE AI TEMPI DI INTERNET
Trovare l’anima gemella non è facile. Siamo circa sei miliardi nel mondo e tutti quanti abbiamo il sogno di trovare una persona speciale con cui condividere esperienze e momenti preziosi.
Ma come si fa a trovare la persona giusta? La risposta più ovvia che si suole dare a questa domanda è che non bisogna cercare, perché gli incontri sono casuali e una volta incontrata la persona giusta, sicuramente ce ne accorgeremmo.
Se son rose fioriranno, insomma. Tuttavia la pratica è ben più complessa della teoria.
Infatti pur trovando la persona giusta, non è detto che questa ci ricambi.
In più molte persone sono timide e hanno paura a farsi avanti per paura di un rifiuto.
E poi, quali certezze abbiamo che sia davvero l’uomo o la donna dei nostri sogni?
Negli anni novanta molte persone si rivolgevano a delle agenzie matrimoniali per trovare qualcuno che condividesse i propri interessi e gusti.
Infatti l’agenzia faceva un lavoro di ricerca tra i suoi clienti per cercare di far conoscere persone che avessero molte cose in comune.
Al giorno d’oggi le agenzie matrimoniali sono andate in pensione.
A sostituirle ci sono i siti di incontri on-line. Questi siti garantiscono, attraverso l’uso di algoritmi, di trovare la persona con la più alta percentuale di affinità possibile, di modo che l’unione tra due persone non potrà che essere felice.
Infatti, quando ci iscriviamo su questi siti, ci chiedono di compilare un questionario, in cui ci domandano quali sono i nostri interessi e i nostri gusti.
Tuttavia possono esserci anche dei lati negativi. Infatti non è detto che due persone si innamoreranno, pur avendo molte cose in comune.
Infine, molti ritengono che affidarsi ad un computer tolga spontaneità ai rapporti, privando le persone della gioia di incontrare la persona giusta per caso.
P.S.
I’m debating what to post next… Obviously, it’ll be something incredibly useful, and free!
But what?
The options are:
- more listening, but this time, something much easier!
- the C2 series (8 super-advanced tracks with transcripts.) It’s ready, but are you??
- a sneak preview of one of our new simplified Italian readers. Fantastic original stories designed for learners at different levels…
What’s it to be?
To vote, click here to visit our site and leave a comment on this article!
Nina Rault says
Personally what I would really like is more listening, could be as complicated grammatically as you like, but spoken just a little more slowly. This would give my brain time to put all the ideas together as the speaker goes along. I don’t think this would be unrealistic because, in a real situation, people usually speak more slowly to foreigners. What do you think?
Daniel says
I’d say it’s very rare that people are able to speak more slowly to foreigners, without sounding like an idiot… As a teacher trainer, many years ago, it was one of the things that educated people learning to be language teachers found difficult.
Basically, if you’re listening to ‘authentic’ Italian spoken with the full range of grammatical and lexical complexity, you need to expect it to be fairly ‘full on’.
Of course, you always have the option to choose material designed for a lower level, which will probably be a bit slower.
Sorry!
Nina Rault says
It’s not so difficult. Listen to any good orator and you’ll appreciate what I mean. The present Pope is relatively easy to understand for that reason. Or, go on YouTube and listen to some of Mussolini’s speeches. It’s not a question of saying each word or group of words more slowly, but rather of leaving little intervals between ideas, giving time for the meaning to sink in.
Daniel says
But the present Pope is 1) a native speaker of Spanish (have you heard him preaching in Spanish?), and 2) a professional communicator who’s spent a large part of his life giving sermons of one sort or another.
99.9 % of the Italians you’ll hear speaking Italian (and non-Italians, for that matter) are not professional orators, meaning the onus is on the learner to deal with speed, complexity, accent, and the many interesting features that characterize fast natural speech…
How often… do people… reallly … speak… like THIS… giving you time… to process…what’s being said?
Certainly never in CILS or CELI exams.
Karen says
I would like loads of real conversations, not necessarily grammatically challenging. Everyday people as in English seem to speak “good enough grammar” Commonly used phrases and idioms, the sort you really have to be just familiar with instead of translating, like “Non vedo l’ora” and “che c’entra” Even when I have been told a phrase I really need to hear it and use it. If not I feel very self conscious if it feels slightly wrong in the English. Books don’t really help because it’s hard to tell if the phrases are in regular modern use or pretty much out of date. I agree normal speed is something we have to get used to. Few people slow down and if they do we all sound like idiots
Daniel says
Thanks for your comment, Karen.
What about watching TV? Get a box-set with Italian as a language option and watch the whole series. You can even use subtitles, if your aim is vocabulary, expressions and so on.
We’ve just watched “Game of Thrones”, we’re currently on “Orange is the new black”, and next is “Downton Abbey”.
Some here will probably disagree, but in my opinion there’s no reason you can’t massively improve your Italian using cultural products (films, TV series) which were not created in Italy. The dubbing is very good these days…
TV series are best, because you get to know the characters and their ways of speaking (also their motivations, which helps understand what they are likely to be saying…)
Karen says
That’s a good idea, I do try to watch Italian films and try to have the subtitles off. I also like to sometimes have Italian subtitles on which i suppose is cheating a bit, but does help. It hadn’t occurred to me to watch non Italian ones. I suppose I would have to buy them in Italy or from Amazon.it
Thanks for the tip about googling the site to pinpoint exercises, works brilliantly
Karen says
I just had a quick look to see if there was a general forum and didn’t see one so am dropping this comment in here. I have just discovered a cast iron way to fix a word in your memory. Make an ALMIGHTY BLUNDER!. I sent an email to all the neighbours to apologise for builders noise (some I don’t know, and are complaining) I wrongly guessed the past participle of soffrire as soffritto for some crazy reason. It has caused much amusement and one family is hoping to not be too soffritto by September, Well it broke the ice I supppose
Daniel says
Oops!
But as you say, it’s one way to break the ice.
I think the law in Italy specifies when you are (and aren’t) allowed to make noise. As long as you avoid the “hours of silence” you can disturb whoever you wish without a qualm. But let your builders finish their long lunch break five minutes before the end of the afternoon siesta period and there will likely be hell to pay…