Learning italian everyday tips / busy schedule

[Luke]

Hi all,

I have a mac and I have changed the default language to italian so that I am familiar with all of the terms (I have done this in the past also),
I was wondering what your setup is and if you have done any tricks/tips to help with your learning? Maybe the accessibilty voiceover could be used to pronounce words in italian when a key is pressed or when something is highlighted (do you know how?). I have added a translation widget on my notification centre so that I can quickly do a translation from english to italian and vice versa when needed.

I was also thinking of taking some photos of my house eg the kitchen with utensils out etc and then on the photo I could draw a line and annotate with italian words for everything.

I was wondering if anyone else has some tips and learning methods they could share. I have 2 kids (one newborn) so I want to use my learning time effectively.

Many thanks,

[calum]

Not being a Mac user, I can't help you with that side of things. Instead, I would recommend a low-tech version which I used when I was at your stage of learning: post-it notes.

I would label every object in the house, using one colour for masculine and another for feminine. When my wife came home and saw the mess, she pulled them all off, leaving them in a pile on the coffee table. This was a great help as it forced me to remember where they all belonged. I'd wait till she'd gone to bed and I would replace them all, and in the morning she'd pull them all off again. Rinse and repeat.

[Pietru]

They are all good tips.

Other ideas are to use a Dymo labeller (or post-it notes) in Italian on areas that contain cutlery, identifying what they contain. Dymo labels are smaller and more discrete, which may be more suitable and the labels can be used in the drawer.

Depending on your level of study, you could get flash cards or create your own, or set Italian as your default language on your computer.

Duolinguo is an app you can use on the phone or Rosetta stone can be used for bitesize chunks of study

Also, you could use animated cartoons in Italian on the computer, which you can watch with your children - they can learn the language with you

[speak_travel_italian]

Ciao! Le vostre idee sono molto buone. I nomi sulle parti della casa sono utili, ma è importanti cambiarli spesso. Il rischio, altrimenti, è abituarsi all'etichetta e non notarla più. Buono studio di italiano e fatemi domande se volete!

[Voyager]

Ciao Luke

Ho fatto la stessa cosa con le etichette 'post-it', funziona davvero! Ma, per me, il modo migliore per imparare l'italiano è stato a guardare la tv/films con sottotitoli in italiano. Si aiuta davvero con il contesto e frasi di uso comune.

Il mio nuovo modo di migliorare il mio italiano è di scrivere solo in italiano su questo forum. È un nuovo e grande salto per me. Forse, potresti provarlo anche tu?

[MarianoI]

In my opinion to learn Language is to spend some time with native language( Italian) go for holiday, talk to them in workplace or there are few website they offer you online chat so the "Italian person " will learn English and you will Italian. It's a free option so you should think about this one.

[rus]

I've started watching movies in Italian, so right now I'm watching the famous 'Il Giovane Montalbano' series and then will start 'Il Commissario Montalbano'. The only issue is that an episode is almost 2 hours long, so this takes quite some time.

Apart from that, I've did Duolingo, Memrise and some other apps for learning Italian.

Immersing oneself as much as possible in Italian can't go wrong, I suppose.

[colors_]

Ciao tutti!

Suggerimento buono finora! Non ho provato appendere etichette al cose. Ma forse dovrei farlo.
Ho studiato italiano con Duolingo, guardato videi, guardato film in italiano, usato un libro di esercizio, e adesso anche questo foro.

Sono nuove con comunicare in italiano, ma mi correggere se ho faccio qualcuno errore.

[Dylan Thomas]

Per colors_

Ciao a tutti!

Suggerimento buono finora! [you should leave “finora” out, it doesn’t make much sense in this context; I prefer: buon suggerimento] Non ho ancora provato ad incollare/a mettere post-it (etichette) sulle cose, ma forse dovrei farlo.
Ho studiato italiano con Duolingo, guardato video e film in italiano, ho usato un libro di esercizi e adesso anche questo forum.
Ho ancora difficoltà a comunicare in italiano, ma (sono certo che) mi correggerete se faccio errori.

Done!

DT

[colors_]

Grazie

//colors_

[Barbara6]

These tips are very useful.