Best app for learning Italian?
Discussion
I've used Duolingo for over 3 years now to learn Spanish.
I do at least an hour everyday and stick to that religiously.
My written Spanish surprises even myself now and I can get by in general conversations, albeit slowly and I do ask people if they can speak slower
I supplement it by watching/listening to Spanish films/TV and radio and being in WhatsApp contact with Spanish speakers.
I also spend a month or two a year in parts of Spain where no one either can, or wants to speak English
I do at least an hour everyday and stick to that religiously.
My written Spanish surprises even myself now and I can get by in general conversations, albeit slowly and I do ask people if they can speak slower
I supplement it by watching/listening to Spanish films/TV and radio and being in WhatsApp contact with Spanish speakers.
I also spend a month or two a year in parts of Spain where no one either can, or wants to speak English
Yeah, about 2 years ago I spent a month in a poorish working class Spanish town. No tourists and no English spoken.
Despite my fledgling Spanish, old people wanted to stop and chat to me and weren't put off by my infantile español. They wanted to tell me about weddings, cousins, children etc
Plus there was a bonus of striking up conversations with drunks in bars and the odd druggy who didn't seem bothered about my attempts at their language.
At least they spoke slowly
Despite my fledgling Spanish, old people wanted to stop and chat to me and weren't put off by my infantile español. They wanted to tell me about weddings, cousins, children etc
Plus there was a bonus of striking up conversations with drunks in bars and the odd druggy
who didn't seem bothered about my attempts at their language.At least they spoke slowly
I tried Rosetta Stone to learn German. But it was a few years back, supplied on CDs, and was total immersion (bizarrely given the whole significance of the original Rosetta Stone was that it carried a translation). As I recall even the instructions were in German so pretty pointless for learning from scratch. It was a case of typing in words in response to images, so you could learn which word went with which picture but not be sure what it meant in English.
I spent a lot of time on Duolingo during lockdown, seemed to get a long way through it but can't remember any of it now. Come to think of it I'm not sure what language I studied.
I spent a lot of time on Duolingo during lockdown, seemed to get a long way through it but can't remember any of it now. Come to think of it I'm not sure what language I studied.
Austin Prefect said:
I tried Rosetta Stone to learn German. But it was a few years back, supplied on CDs, and was total immersion (bizarrely given the whole significance of the original Rosetta Stone was that it carried a translation). As I recall even the instructions were in German so pretty pointless for learning from scratch. It was a case of typing in words in response to images, so you could learn which word went with which picture but not be sure what it meant in English.
I spent a lot of time on Duolingo during lockdown, seemed to get a long way through it but can't remember any of it now. Come to think of it I'm not sure what language I studied.
Odd, there were zero instructions for Italian - you didn't need them, that was the point. You'd see a photo of a yellow bycicle and it would say (text and spoken) "a yellow bicycle", then it would say, "una bicicletta giallo", and you'd have to speak it back, not type. Then at the end of a big "chapter" you'd have to type as well to start to practice the spelling etc. Each photo would reinforce what you were learning, then slowly add grammar, like "I have a ball" would progress to "they have a ball", "we have a ball..." etc etc. So you'd slowly learn verb tables without knowing you were!I spent a lot of time on Duolingo during lockdown, seemed to get a long way through it but can't remember any of it now. Come to think of it I'm not sure what language I studied.
I find the best app (or physical cd) for general vocab is the Michel Thomas method.
I got quite far with Spanish a long time ago using these, just listening to them in the car on the commute.
I’ll be starting to learn Italian myself soon and that’s where I’ll start. Helps enormously to have a decent vocab before focussing on structure, tenses, etc.
I got quite far with Spanish a long time ago using these, just listening to them in the car on the commute.
I’ll be starting to learn Italian myself soon and that’s where I’ll start. Helps enormously to have a decent vocab before focussing on structure, tenses, etc.
James P said:
I ve been using the paid version of Duolingo for around 6 months. The free version is useless as you run out of hearts before you re able to spend a reasonable amount of time learning.
I am improving but I suspect I really need just to spend more time actually talking to Italians.
Duolingo changed a few months back, the hearts are gone so its much easier to stay in the app for longer. I am improving but I suspect I really need just to spend more time actually talking to Italians.
Its certainly a place to start, yes you only learn basic phrases and words but its a start. I've been using it for 2.5 years but know I won't really start to learn Spanish until we move there permanently at which point we'll take on some zoom lessons in the hope that speaking it daily will ensure it 'sticks' better.
I know a number of people using duolingo - it's highly accessible and there is a competition element to it that helps people engage/stick with it. However, I hear same comments from all that is isn't actually much good at teaching you a language. I tried it myself for several months (Brazilian Portuguese) and my feedback was the same. Fun, pick up some words but extremely limited at teaching you about the language, especially bad at numbers.
I switched to a tutor actually based in Brazil (MS teams!) and learnt at a much faster rate building an understanding of the language foundations.
I switched to a tutor actually based in Brazil (MS teams!) and learnt at a much faster rate building an understanding of the language foundations.
Los hombres escriban en el azúcar.
I've also learned useful phrases like.....
El Rey no le gusta los patos pero la Reina les encantaron.
But joking aside, I'm over 3 years in, maybe 4. My streak is around 1400
I've been conversing via WhatsApp with a beautiful Chilean lady who flits between Spain and South America and she doesn't speak any English.
The app has surprised me with how I can have quite complicated chats in Spanish and the lady in question never corrects me, even when I ask. She thinks my written Spanish is very good.
As I said earlier, I do at least an hour a day, mainly because I'm terrified that I'll forget too much if I don't practice.
I've also learned useful phrases like.....
El Rey no le gusta los patos pero la Reina les encantaron.
But joking aside, I'm over 3 years in, maybe 4. My streak is around 1400
I've been conversing via WhatsApp with a beautiful Chilean lady who flits between Spain and South America and she doesn't speak any English.
The app has surprised me with how I can have quite complicated chats in Spanish and the lady in question never corrects me, even when I ask. She thinks my written Spanish is very good.
As I said earlier, I do at least an hour a day, mainly because I'm terrified that I'll forget too much if I don't practice.
Edited by croyde on Monday 17th November 14:54
Really, DO look at Rosetta Stone. I can speak moderate Italian, and write too, mostly down to that - well, it certainly got me started on the right foot. I can't stress how important it is to get a grasp of verb conjugation (the essential verbs) early on, and RS does this via the "back door" but just tweaking what you see and say as you go along.
Having the ability to be able so say , I am / we are/ they are (the verb essere), or I have, they have, you have, the man has, the lady has, etc etc - sounds trivial, but in Italian, for example, the word for "have" changes with every different conjugation - Io ho (I have), "Loro hanno" (they have), "noi abbiamo" (we have) etc - it sounds difficult, but once you have drilled the verb tables again and again, it becomes natural, and then when you have the essentials (to have, to be, to want/need , to make/do, and less so, to try/taste etc) you can fill in the blanks really easily which will be just vocab. Without the verb tables you flounder a lot.
RS teaches you verbs in a really intuitive way.
I have to say, night classes in Italy made the world of difference, mind you.
Having the ability to be able so say , I am / we are/ they are (the verb essere), or I have, they have, you have, the man has, the lady has, etc etc - sounds trivial, but in Italian, for example, the word for "have" changes with every different conjugation - Io ho (I have), "Loro hanno" (they have), "noi abbiamo" (we have) etc - it sounds difficult, but once you have drilled the verb tables again and again, it becomes natural, and then when you have the essentials (to have, to be, to want/need , to make/do, and less so, to try/taste etc) you can fill in the blanks really easily which will be just vocab. Without the verb tables you flounder a lot.
RS teaches you verbs in a really intuitive way.
I have to say, night classes in Italy made the world of difference, mind you.
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