Buondì.
Another quick one, as I have an online (Swedish) lesson in an hour.
You’re impressed, huh?
It’s been a year since club members voted that I should study Swedish and, to my amazement, I’m still at it.
Level now? Somewhere near the beginning of A2, I’d say. Which is pretty typical for part-time study.
A level in a year, two or three years to reach the ‘autonomous’ stage.
That said, with all the online lessons I’m doing (I bought in bulk…), I’m closing in fairly rapidly on a ‘proper A2’, the minimum level for immigration in a lot of countries.
Talking of Swedish, I’ve ‘finished’ the Duolingo course, though it turns out to be like one of those enormous bridges that need painting again as soon as you thought you’d done.
So now I’m looking around for other ways to boost my level, in particular listening materials with accompanying texts.
Like, for instance, our graded readers, which turn out not to really exist for Swedish.
(If anyone knows of a publisher that does them, please let me know as I have my allowance spend…)
Anyway, in the absense of simplified text + audio solutions, ideally I’d turn to the non-simplified material, maybe a TV series or something, and just sweat it until my brain caught up.
Turns out, however, that you have to actually BE in Sweden to watch just about anything on Swedish TV, which is a pain.
Guess it must be so good, they have to keep it secret.
Which is certainly NOT the case with Italian TV, though I admit I never watch it.
Since the kids colonized our living room ‘en masse’ a decade or so ago, I’ve felt more comfy in the kitchen, at the computer.
And yes, I know you can watch TV on a computer (unless it’s Swedish TV, of course.)
But we’re open-plan here, so the row from the PlayStation would drown out the sound…
OK, so headphones.
I guess I’m just making excuses.
Must try harder!
But back to Italian TV.
What DO you think of Italian TV?
Do tell.
Last time I tuned in, it was all semi-naked girls and soccer matches.
In fact, at weekends it was semi-naked girls AND soccer, at the same time.
What happened was, the terrestrial TV channels lost their rights to show the matches.
The satellite channels had deeper pockets.
So the ‘free to watch’ channels had to innovate and came up with a format for Sunday afternoons in which invited guests, and the aforesaid semi-naked girls, would watch and discuss the matches as they happened.
You didn’t get to actually see the soccer match, unless you shelled out for a satellite subsription or went to a pub.
But you could watch ‘personalities’ as THEY watched the match.
Fun, fun, fun ’till Daddy takes the zapper away.
Today’s free material for learning Italian covers phrases for saying what you think about things.
I think Italian TV is…
(But now I can be rude about Italian TV in Swedish, too. It’s very exciting!)
There’s a list of supposedly useful expressions, and an exercise to try.
The level is A2.
If that’s too easy, or too hard for you, find something more appropriate to study over at the club website.
P.S.
For anyone in, or near, Bologna – on Friday 15th December we have an event at our Italian school.
It’s a sort of combo ‘show off the beautiful new premises’ and ‘Christmas drink’ event.
There’ll be wine and snacks, and hopefully plenty of Italians there for you to practice on (we also run an English school for the locals…)
The event starts at 18.00 and should last a couple of hours. So, if you’re in the city center that day, do just drop in.
The address is on the school website.
I’ll be there, of course, so you’ll know someone already.
I’m the one with the white beard and stubble (I’m telling the little kids I teach that it’s so I can go help Babbo Natale…).
Be sure to come and say ‘ciao’!
A venerdì.