Here’s the second of our new A1 Italian listening practice articles. While the level, and the grammar (today it’s ‘Mi piace / Non mi piace”), is technically A1, it’s useful practice for students at any level.
To get more out of this free material, follow the ‘Listening Tips’ below:
Listening tips:
- Listen first without the transcript, even if you don’t understand much at first
- Listen again with the transcript. You should understand more this time
- Repeat…
- Before you quit, listen one more time without the transcript. This will help you ‘tune in’…
(N.B. If you’re reading this in an e-mail, click here to visit the website and do the listening exercise!)
Don’t be tempted to read the transcript until you’ve listened to the audio (all the way through) at least once!!
Transcript
2.MI PIACE/NON MI PIACE – Luca e il tempo libero
Luca è uno studente universitario di 25 anni. Studia medicina all’università di Milano ed è molto diligente. Gli piace molto aiutare le persone quando stanno male, quindi studia per diventare un bravo medico.
Quando non va all’università e non studia, a Luca piace ascoltare la musica. Gli piace soprattutto la musica dance e infatti spesso va in discoteca a ballare fino a tarda notte.
Inoltre a Luca piace fare ginnastica all’aria aperta: infatti quando non piove va spesso a correre con il suo cane a Parco Sempione che è il più grande parco di Milano.
Gli piace anche mangiare: gli piacciono soprattutto la pizza e la pasta e non gli piacciono le verdure.
A Luca però non piace fare le pulizie di casa e lavare i piatti. Spesso Marina, la sua fidanzata lo rimprovera perché la sua casa non è in ordine.
Marina è una ragazza molto simpatica. Lei non è una studentessa ma lavora come dentista a Milano.
A Luca e Marina piace molto nuotare. Spesso vanno insieme alla piscina comunale a nuotare.
Infine, a Luca piace soprattutto viaggiare. Quando viaggia, però, a Luca non piace andare in un hotel o in un albergo ma gli piace fare campeggio.
Alla sua ragazza però non piace il campeggio e per questo Luca è molto triste.
Like this article? So, share it with other people learning Italian!
And we’d love to get your feedback. Leave a comment.
Jo says
Goodness me I hope the sum works this time. I’ve been having some problems lately Daniel, with having the sum rejected by the system. I know it’s not my maths when it comes to 2 plus 2. The more tricky ones, okay I confess, I have to use the calculator. I love these exercises. They are at the perfect level and as I said in an earlier post today, the speaker is so clear and is not speaking too quickly. In contrast, when I try and listen to the lead character in the TV show ‘Commissario Manera’ (I hope I’ve got the name right) well, he speaks so fast that a whole sentence sounds like one word all rolled into one long word. I tried to correct my earlier post today (written in Italian) but the system rejected my sum. I wanted to say that I had meant to write at the end of the message – ‘insegnante’ (for teacher) and not ‘segnante’. Grazie ancora!! : )
Daniel says
We think the problem with the ‘captcha’ (anti-spam) is caused by the software which ‘caches’ the page. If you refresh/reload the page, that might help (obviously, copy and paste somewhere whatever you have written first so as not to lose it). Or another option is to try a different browser – if you normally use Google Chrome, try Internet Explorer, or vice versa. The logic is that the ‘new’ browser won’t yet have a cached copy of the information on the ‘old’ browser which is causing the problem….
Hope that helps!
paola rodriguez says
Thank you so much!! Your lessons are pretty cool!!
John P says
Well done again as for the first it was clear it streamed well over the internet.
Content is also interesting, not your typical tourist phrases, and it certainly stretched me.
Grazie
Daniel says
Thanks for the feedback, John. There’ll be more on the way in a day or two.
susan says
Grazie mille! These are so clear and great to drill on piacere. Regards, Susan
Daniel says
Glad you found this useful, Susan. There’ll be more over the next few days.
Daniel
Alan Falcon says
Grazie mille for your listening lessons. I am learning Italian mostly on a self-study basis,. Listening to Italian is a totally difference experience compared to reading short texts and learning grammar and vocabulary, so I appreciate your listening lessons so much. I hope that you continue to bring us these listening lessons. Alan
Daniel says
Thanks for your kind comments, Alan. We have plenty more listening coming over the next few weeks. As you say, improving your listening is very different from studying grammar or reading texts. Basically, it’s a question of getting suitable practice material…
Petra says
Ciao,
mi piace il tuo testo. Grazie Petra
Daniel says
Ciao Petra. Benvenuta!
Daniel
Patrizia says
Perfetto! Great preparation for my class. (Beginner+) I can easily spend an hour listening again and again, checking transcript for content and pronunciation.
Will keep watching for new postings.
Daniel says
Thanks for the feedback, Patrizia. There’ll be new ones along in a couple of days.
Daniel
Frances says
Hi Daniel. Thanks a million for the listening exercises. They are great. I am glad to say that I found them easy and only had to check transcripts for one or two words. Considering I am at intermediate level it would bad news if I didn’t understand them!!! My Italian teacher laughs when she sees my face when we do listening exercises. I groan and think I have this blank look! Looking forward to the B level exercises. Ciao Frances
Daniel says
It’s reassuring when you listen ‘below’ your level and understand almost everything. But a lot harder when the situation is reversed! Still, a little morale boost is good sometimes… (The B1 exercises have just been written and still have to be recorded.)
Monika says
Thank you so much! Your site is truly amazing!
Daniel says
Thanks for your feedback, Monika! We appreciate it.
Karen says
Thank you, this is exactly what I need. It is easy to find reading and writing material, but very difficult to get enough listening practice at the right levels. It is so disheartening when 40% goes over your head. Some of the tricky areas (like “Ce”) start to make perfect sense if you hear them used often enough
Daniel says
Hi Karen!
Yes, you’re right. With the right sort of examples, and especially when hearing the rhythms of the language, even the strangest grammatical constructs can at least start to seem logical…
Sieglind says
Thank you so much Daniel for this fabulous study tool. Not only does it train my ear (I wish all Italians spoke at that pace and with such excellent diction…), the grammar also seems to click into place in my brain when the phrases are spoken.
Daniel says
I’m happy you found it useful, Sieglind. What I’m aiming at with this material are more extended texts which will get people used to hearing the language, both grammar and lexis. In this case, the ‘mi piace’ thing can be so confusing for a lot of people, so there more practice, the better!