How to Learn Italian, Properly
Henrietta Laurenston
Have you noticed how language courses these days are so concerned with speed and avoiding 'the boring bits' that the knowledge they offer you is usually sketchy at best? As someone who actually likes grammar, I find that frustrating - and slightly insulting. However, I'm happy to say I have finally found a course that suits me.
When I was at school, in the 1980s, I was taught French and German grammar. We learnt verb conjugations off by heart, we understood adjectival agreement, we knew what an indirect object pronoun was. And it has stayed with me.
While I am not suggesting that language-teaching methods were perfect in those days, I do believe they were more effective than what is generally on offer today. My major criticism of the way I learnt at school is that the emphasis was so heavily on writing and reading. It's great to be able to do both of those things in a foreign language but it's even more useful, particularly at the beginning, to be able to speak and to understand what someone says back.
Modern methods focus on speaking and listening, which is good, but what I find difficult and annoying is that the grammar is rarely presented in any systematic form. We tend to have the word(s) for "I am" on page 2 and "She is" somewhere further in. What I want is to see the whole of the present tense of the verb To Be conjugated in all its persons, in one table.
In a culture that demands immediate gratification, I can understand why the trend is to promise Italian in 7 Days (or less). The problem is, a course like this can only skate over the surface. You will emerge with some set phrases, some vocabulary and only the haziest idea of how to construct a sentence. In certain circumstances, this may be all you need, but not if your goal is to converse in the language.
To learn Italian well, you have to be dedicated. It's not very exciting at the outset, memorising verb endings, sorting out nouns and adjectives, getting your mind around the different words for "you". But the investment you make in doing this will pay enormous dividends when you reach the next level.
After the first few weeks, it all gets more interesting but it's really no good trying to skip that initial phase. If your Italian has not got firm foundations, it will be shaky for ever. However, if you put in the effort at the beginning, you will develop into an accurate, confident speaker of this beautiful language.
Teaching materials, then, should provide clear explanations of how the language works, as well as lots of practice exercises, so we can check we have understood as we go along.
I highly recommend Italian for Beginners, an ebook written by a language school in Manchester. I bought it 3 or 4 months ago and have now just finished working through it. I've still got some way to go before I can discuss politics in Italian, of course, but I feel very secure about what I've learnt and I know I've got a solid base on which to build further. Sono molto felice!
If you are interested in http://www.italy-info.co.uk) Italy and determined to speak the language accurately, visit Italy Info and download http://www.italy-info.co.uk/italian-for-beginners-ebook.html Italian for Beginners.
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