Buondì.
Someone commented recently – I forget who, or where – that it was frustrating not being able to understand all the Italian he read, and so very helpful to have a word-for-word translation into English.
I don’t have a lot of hair, but there’s even less now. And my forehead is bruised from the time spent banging it on the wall. My wife suggested I take up a less stressful occupation, like driving a cab in a busy city.
To reiterate:
1.) You won’t understand everything of a foreign language, ever. Accept that quickly, or quit. For you probably don’t understand everything of what you read/listen to in your own language (this is easy to demonstrate, so don’t argue.) Given, therefore, that understanding the language you’re learning is always going to be partial – on a sliding scale from ‘virtually nothing’ to ‘most of it’ – don’t you think you need to get past feeling frustrated?
2.) No? Then let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that you read/listened to something in Italian and felt afterwards (probably wrongly, but still…) that you had understood ‘everything’. Hurrah, success! Nope, actually, were this to be the case, then you’d have been wasting your time. For what’s the point of practising what you can already do?? After all, if what you’re reading or listening to is NOT difficult to understand (and so frustrating, if you let it be), then really, what’s the point??
3.) People who read English subtitles while watching Italian TV series, or who rely on an English translation to verify what they’ve understood of an Italian text , the sort of people who insist that EasyItalianNews.com would be EVEN MORE USEFUL if there was an English translation of each article, are, basically, barking up the wrong tree. The entire point of listening and reading practice, and particularly with authentic materials, is to train yourself to deal with the complexities that reading or listening to a language you know less well than your own involves. Complexity here means not understanding some of what you read / listen to. Do the work now, getting used to dealing with that, and then, in the future, when you need to read/listen to something that’s important to you, you’ll be ready. See?
4.) When you’ve been practising reading/listening for a while (weeks, months), you realise that you can get the ‘gist’, the main point or points, without necessarily understanding each detail. And at that point, my friends, you are on your way! You’ve broken away from the pack, you’ve slammed the pedal to the metal, and you’ve nothing but empty road ahead of you! The moment you realise that filling your skull with as much of the language as you can, as often as you can, is the way to go – notwithstanding that you don’t understand ‘everything’, or that other people might see this as ‘frustrating’, or that you might feel that this is ‘lazy’ compared to memorising grammar, THAT’S when you tie on your language-learning black belt and are ready to take on whatever comes.
5.) Assuming you are now “filling your skull with as much of the language as you can, as often as you can” then you will soon notice that of all the unknown elements (usually a lot of what you read/listen to), some of them – let’s say a tenth – are obvious, or easy to guess. That is to say, they WERE unknown, but now they aren’t, as you’ve encountered them out in the wild and survived just fine. Agreed, that still leaves the other nine-tenths of the stuff you didn’t know, but as you keep practising, and keep on assimilating the obvious and the easy to guess, that proportion gets smaller and smaller. This works for grammar, too, not just vocabulary. And for pronunciation, for how can you not listen to hundreds of hours of the language you’re learning without having a better idea what it should sound like? You’d have to be deaf…
Insomma, reading/listening practice is about training yourself to read/listen better in future situations (which in turn helps you with more traditional language studies) but is also a great way to get exposed to more and more of the language you’re learning, at least a fraction of which should be learnable without a dictionary or any particular effort.
Without reading/listening pratice, what are you doing? Memorising conjugations and vocbulary lists? Chasing phony rewards on your app? Good luck with that.
Not-understanding is the point.
Not-understanding is the way forward.
Avoid it and your learning will stall.
Embrace it and soar!
A mercoledì.
N.b. No need to start practising reading/listening immediately with ‘authentic’ materials, which can indeed be very hard, and so frustrating. That’s what ‘graded’ materials, specifically designed for learners at particular levels, are for. They’re intended to be an easy way in. But the advice is the same – don’t try to understand everything – read/listen, maybe several times, but then move on. Ideally upwards. Oh, and combining ‘graded’ and ‘authentic’ materials is a great approach at lower levels. One final thing – at some point, intermediate/advanced-level learners need to take off the training wheels and only use authentic materials. Don’t forget that part! Still doesn’t mean you’ll understand ‘everything’, though…
Kathy Simpson says
After reading one of Daniel’s recent blogs about this very subject I bit the bullet and have started reading my first Italian novel. It’s a short, modern tale of the breakdown of a relationship. Nothing too taxing and unlikely to win any awards, but a great start. I’m 67% of the way through so my e-reader tells me and I’m feeling very pleased with myself. I have resisted the temptation to look up words. Of course I don’t understand every word, but I understand enough to get the gist. For reference I’m at B2/C1 level (based on my own assessment) and the book is Una gran voglia di vivere by Fabio Volo.
If I’m reading an article for homework for example, then I still look up words, but after reading the article through first to get the gist. As Daniel says you don’t understand every word in your own language, when that penny dropped, I realised I was able to try reading a novel in Italian. Give it a go!
Daniel says
Brava, Kathy!!
Colleen says
There are some good reads on this site from our book club last summer, Kathy. Challenging, but I really enjoyed tackling Il Nome Della Rosa and I Promessi Sposi.
Georgina McManners (Gina) says
Dear Daniel
Cant thank you enough. This is so motivating and encouraging. . Even last week I was looking up words and writing them down! I will stop. I will heed your advice!
Daniel says
Prego! Buono studio, allora.
DP says
Daniel,
I completely agree with you.
I have immersed myself in all things Italian. I switch back and forth several times a day between listening, reading, writing and watching free Utube videos. Do I understand all of it? No.
Learning a language is about understanding how to fail and recover. It is about frustration and success. It is about humility. If someone is not comfortable with being uncomfortable and stretching beyond their normal limitations they will never be successful.
I am looking forward to getting to Italy this fall and “failing” at the restaurant, the shops and the rental car agency. I know it is the best way to move forward. People memorize because that way they are in control. A conversation is akin to jumping off a cliff without a parachute to them.
Thanks for all the hard work. Now I need to go because I have a class with Francesca and she chucks me off the cliff in every conversation!
Kathryn says
Another great (and. hilarious) post, so thanks for that Daniel. One question: when doing this, how focused should we be? You describe listening while cooking, etc. which sounds great except my husband would want to kill me…but also when I’m distracted the Italian washes over me but I understand so little, almost nothing. I really have to _focus_ to understand. Do you think it’s worth simply listening “in the background”?
Daniel says
“Do you think it’s worth simply listening “in the background”?”
Isn’t that what people usually do with the radio? I know that’s what I do.
As regards the husband, why not get bluetooth headphones? Poor man.
Kathy Simpson says
I listen to Easy Italian News while I’m gardening. I don’t need to think too hard about the gardening so I guess more of my brain is tuned into the Italian. If I try to just sit and listen, my mind is more likely to wander.
Colleen says
Thank you, Daniel! I love being reminded that learning a language is an ADVENTURE! My comprehension has improved enormously by following your directives. Now I need to do more writing and speaking. I am so enjoying learning Italian. Especially cooking in Italian from Youtube and Pinterest. In Italian only- no English subtitles or translations. Also movies with NO subtitles! My dictionary is hard to get to- so I am not tempted!
Minou says
Buondi, Daniel! Come sempre, grazie per “the reminder”!!! Just when I was deciding that “listening in the background” was not useful, you speak out on behalf of same. Thank you for catching me – again and again!
Chris says
Grazie mille Daniel! You’ve said it a number of times, but this was perfectly timed, because I was drifting more into the word-for-word jungle. Lo farò. Senza dubbio. Ciao. Chris
Rosemarie Elizabeth Harvey says
This is all so good to read, to know others have exactly the same problems!!!! I too, for a long time fell into the trap of too much grammar. Now I try to listen the news at least 3 times…firstly listening, then reading and then listening again. I even sometimes improve my understanding. There is so much free stuff available. I find that just reading the free chapter of a book, after listening to it, is a fabulous resource . I print it and read it when on a tram or train or just waiting somewhere. We have 2 hours each morning of an Italian chat show, on SBS radio. Cannot always manage 2 hours but it is on in the background, for as long as I am home. if I watch an English movie I change the language to Italian. or sometimes just the subtitles.
desperately want to do Skype but not financially able at the moment. I have bought a few books over time, the one I really enjoyed was the one by Stefania, Il campo di papaveri. I am, i tell myself, B1,B2 or sometimes even C1!!! this was a lovely read. Also thoroughly enjoyed Prometeo e la guerra dei titani.
Thanks so much for all you do, am very grateful.