Learning Italian

What now feels like a lifetime ago, I spent 15 months studying in Milan. While my course was in English, I did have some Italian lessons; but I mainly learned from daily interactions in shops, restaurants etc... And by the end of the year I could get by. However, apart from a couple holidays; I've not been able to practice, and can no longer string a proper sentence together.

So I decided to pick this up again.

First step was to dust off the DuoLingo app - which I have used for Spanish, Italian (pre - above mentioned holiday) and Danish (suddenly found my self supporting a Danish account at work and while their English was more than prefect, decided I needed to learn some basic Danish).

 I first used Duolingo in 2015, and it has come a long way since. First of all, while some still seem random, the sentences used in the exercises are now ones that you could actually use - unlike my favourite - "The monkey sleeps on the elephant" -  from my first lessons. And the latest feature that I think is great are the little stories. They are short conversations that are a good test of your understanding. 

I am now on a 38 day streak with Duolingo - which means I've used the app every day and done a minimum of 4 lessons or 2 stories each day. But that's not enough for me, as in some instances the explanations are lacking or it's a bit too easy to guess the answer.

So I've also bought a grammar book to learn the rules and verbs. I've also found an exercise book which seems comprehensive, and I'm working through that.

On the days that I do the extra grammar work, I can spend up to an hour on learning Italian.

I've also started listening to the Coffee Break Italian podcast while I cook dinner. Like the stories in Duolingo it's great for understanding. The set up is a language teacher, a native speaker and a student. Each episode is a different topic, and they include short pauses so you can repeat after them. They exist for different languages and I found them on Spotify though they are probably available on other platforms. 

Adesso devo lasciarevi perche c’è una tazza di tè con il mio nome su.

What I use:

Duolingo App

Coffee Break Podcast: https://radiolingua.com/ 

Collins easy learning: Complete Italian Grammar + Verbs + Vocabulary

Italian Tutor Grammar and Vocabulary Workbook