Were you one of those people who accepted my 2014 Improve your Listening Challenge?
I haven’t forgotten you, you know…. There were 26 enthusiastic “ci sto”s (Click here and scroll down to read them.)
So:
Sergei, Sue Stanford, Willem-Jan, John Thompson, Mary-Teresa Branton, Vicki, Lee, Rich, Tom, Stuart Reininger, Dot Read, Dianne Perrin, Julian, Linda LoCascio, Terry, Simon Hutton, July Rice, Katy Wheeler, Charlotte, Ruth Stephens, Margaret, Jean, Hildegarde, Cyndie and Chris…
how’s it going?
Have you improved your Italian listening in the last four weeks?
I’d like a progress report, please.
What’s working? What’s not? Why? Why not?
Leave a comment on this article.
I’m keen to hear all about it, even if it’s just “I’ve been too busy” (know the feeling…)
What’s all this about, then?
If you’ve just joined us at OnlineItalianClub.com, or aren’t on the mailing list and so haven’t been getting the articles, catch up here:
- Want to understand Italian better in 2014?
- ‘Improve your listening’, day 1 – Start here
- ‘Improve your listening’, Day 2, The man with the plan
- ‘Improve your listening’ Day 3, I encounter an obstacle
- ‘Improve your listening’ Day 4, On motivation
- ‘Improve your listening’ Day 5, Why learning Italian is like learning to juggle
My progress with the French…
You’ll recall that the idea was to pick up a language that I did at school, 30 years ago, so as to level the playing field. After all, I live in Italy, and have been here for years, so it wouldn’t be fair to use Italian as an example…
I described my plan to improve my French listening here. I estimated about 6-7 weeks to improve my French listening from a mid-A2 to a mid-B1…
The idea was to start with the easiest material I could find (A1 listening exams), then work up gradually hoping that this would ‘reactivate’ my knowledge of the language and gradually build my listening skills towards B1…
Today is the end of the fourth week – you’ll have read about my ups and downs, which can be summed up as having had periods of simply not doing anything.
But recently I’ve got back on track. Today I completed my third A2 listening test, and scored a satisfying 100%! I’ve also completed a lot of the free online material I found, which has helped build my confidence.
So, broadly speaking I’m still on target… I have another day or two with the A2 material, before stepping up to the B1 tests, and beginning with more authentic listenings.
I’m giving myself another three weeks or so to achieve my goal of passing a B1 listening test similar to the one I failed miserably at the beginning of this year.
If I manage it, you can be sure you’ll be hearing about it.
If not, I’ll let you know why. It’s likely we all experience the same doubts, difficulties and motivational lows, after all.
Over to you…
If I can stick with this, and be making progress, then so can you.
So, let’s hear about it!
Leave a comment on this article
P.S. Watch this space for details of 2 free online speaking opportunities in the coming week (if you don’t open your emails, or aren’t on our mailing list, you are SO going to miss out!)
Willem-Jan says
I have suffered the same stress as you have, Januari is a busy, busy month for me with a lot of new projects…so my focus is not with Italian. But i have started to get creative. I have learned English in the past by studying song texts, so i have downloaded the latest album by Alice ” Samsara” and am listening intensifly to the text of the songs and compare them to the written songtexts, you will find on the internet! It workes for me…especially the tenses of the verbs can be given meaning ( which in gereral is most difficult for me! ).
Daniel says
Good for you, Willem-Jan!
My advice would be to not bother too much about the tenses, though. Once your get the habit of listening (and/or reading) to Italian, you’ll pick up the tenses effortlessly. I promise!
Ruth stephens says
Being involved in the drive to improve our collective listening skills has given me a new impetus to improve my Italian generally, so I’ve started reading more and , though the listening isn’t going too well at least I’m doing a bit more. I’m really intrigued to know how the webinar session went on Friday and have been watching for feedback but apart from a couple of brief allusions to it there seems to have been a deafening silence! Or have i not been looking in the right place?
Well done with your progress with the French , Daniel. 100% is beyond my wildest imaginings – even at the lowest level!
Daniel says
Thanks for commenting, and good on you for ‘doing more’…
100% in a listening test is totally achievable in terms of questions correctly answered. Doesn’t mean 100% understanding, though. It’s normal to not get everything, but to be able to reply correctly to the questions, especially if you have good ‘exam technique’.
Feedback on the webinar tomorrow…. and an invitation to the next one!
John Thomson says
Hi Ruth
I am one of those who experienced problems, all at my end. I will try to fix them before I try aga,
From what I saw webinar looked very good
One question of Daniel
Should I hold off for a bit to let other members have a go
Cheers
John
Daniel says
First come, first served, John. Check out today’s post. There’s a session for your level on Wednesday.
july rice says
I’m not registering this week in case I have problems again. I think it’s fair to let others have a go.
Ruth Stephens says
No , John, you should not hold off. You can be the canary in the mineshaft for technophobes and scaredy-cats like me.
July Rice says
What’s working for me is making a courageous effort to speak to the locals and understand their replies. What’s not working is that I tried this out the other day with a signore with a bicycle who was waiting with me at the level crossing for the Milan bound train to pass – this is a very small village. A good opportunity, I thought. However, I soon realized that he had forgotton to put his teeth in that morning, and I was reduced to nodding and smiling because, with reason, I really could not understand a word! And off he rode wearing his bedroom slippers. Yes, a small village! But I’ll keep trying. Listening to the TV is working better for me now — maybe I am starting to catch on.
Ruth Stephens says
You are lucky, July, to be able to immerse yourself in local village life – though it’s easy to forget just what this can mean! And having said that, when I am in Italy, i’m inclined to avoid speaking to people for fear of becoming tongue-tied or of not being understood. If someone tries to make conversation wirh me i usually mumble “Mi dispiace, sono inglese, non parlo bene italiano”. Which rather makes all the effort to learn the language a bit pointless!
Daniel says
Not understanding incomprehensible old nutters in carpet slippers is an essential skill, July. Well done for having acquired it…
Katy Wheeler says
My progress report: I’ve been keeping up with my Italian lessons (weekly), which involves speaking and listening in Italian for most of the hour of the lesson on a one to one basis, and then doing the homework a little and often over the intervening week, which amounts to about 15 minutes a day. I’m finding watching 2 hours of “Inspector Montalbano” each week very helpful in my general understanding. I think I’m beginning to understand more than I used to, and I even enjoy the plots and characters as I get to know them better. Some of the acting is a bit meh, but there we go! I’ve booked two more weeks at the Istituto Venezia at the end of May (sorry Daniel!), and my teacher here thinks that, by then, starting their A2 level will be a good exercise in both revision and learning new stuff.
Daniel says
Thanks for keeping us in the loop, Katy!!