Italian

ÓBuadhaigh · Post by **ÓBuadhaigh** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:50 pm

Anyone know of a good group or website with a supportive community (like Textkit) to learn Italian? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

SeÃ¡n

Lucus Eques · Post by **Lucus Eques** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 11:19 pm

I wish I knew myself, SeÃ¡n. In the meantime, I know Italian quite well, so I can answer any of your questions to the best of my ability.

Post by **IreneY** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 12:05 am

Well you can always try wordreference.com which comes with a dictionary (truth be told it's the dictionary that comes with forums

).

Following this link will take you to the Italian subforums of wordreference.com (the threads etc appear locked till you register but you can browse them as much as you want).

Gonzalo · Post by **Gonzalo** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:50 am

Lucus Eques wrote:I wish I knew myself, SeÃ¡n. In the meantime, I know Italian quite well, so I can answer any of your questions to the best of my ability.

AnchÂ´io parlo la lingua toscana.
I also offer my assistance to you, SeÃ¡n.
I found this one: http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Learn/Italian.asp
but anyway what post Irene is better than this one. I have heard good words about WordReference.com.

mingshey · Post by **mingshey** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 4:06 pm

What do you think about creating "Italian" Board in the Latin Forum, and a "Modern Greek" board in the Greek Forum?

Lucus Eques · Post by **Lucus Eques** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:52 pm

I rather like that idea.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:18 pm

Lucus Eques wrote:I rather like that idea.

Scope-creep! Follow that path and soon Textkit will become Orbis Latinus.

Post by **IreneY** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:39 am

Well, for the Greek part at least, for any member that has a question and doesn't want to go outside textkit why not post it in Learn Greek with an MG notification on the thread subject? It's not as good as having a separate section but I am not sure we can "handle" such a thing right now.

And I am not sure I can personally handle having to deal, in this forum too, with all those posts that crop up after every summer with requests such as "HELP PLZZZZ!!!!!!!! Can U translate 'I love you my sweet honeybun and I'll be your cute little cupid forever and ever' "

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:51 am

IreneY wrote: "HELP PLZZZZ!!!!!!!! Can U translate 'I love you my sweet honeybun and I'll be your cute little cupid forever and ever' "

These sorts of translation requests almost always end up in the Latin area. For some reason Greek doesn't seem as grand or spooky, which is a shame, really. I still have fond memories of the diluo pravus incident.

ÓBuadhaigh · Post by **ÓBuadhaigh** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:12 am

Mille grazie, amichi! Ho trovato un grupo qui -

http://www.impariamo.com/forum/
E Lucus e Gonzalo, grazie a voi particolaremente. Quando avrÃ³ bisogno di aiuto, cercerÃ³ voi!

And I found an exchange partner to help me, too: Italian-Gaelic as her English is already as good as mine, not to mention her superior command of French and German and Russian... You just gotta love (and envy) polyglots.

SeÃ¡n

edonnelly · Post by **edonnelly** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:25 am

This forum is a great site for discussing the learning of any modern language:

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/default.asp

Also, here's a learning-Italian podcast I came upon that seems promising (I've only listened to a small bit of it so far):

http://www.learnitalianpod.com/ (there are both beginner and intermediate sections, I think the beginner one finished after 50 posts)

I've been working on Pimsleur's Italian with the ultimate goal of reading Dante, but it takes a second seat to Pharr right now, so my progress isn't that great.

Kasper · Post by **Kasper** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:29 am

Ed, would modern italian allow you to read Dante? (perhaps with a background in latin)

Post by **klewlis** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 1:27 am

edonnelly wrote:Also, here's a learning-Italian podcast I came upon that seems promising (I've only listened to a small bit of it so far):

http://www.learnitalianpod.com/ (there are both beginner and intermediate sections, I think the beginner one finished after 50 posts)

This is great! I'm going to burn them to cd and listen to them in the car... good stuff. :)

Lucus Eques · Post by **Lucus Eques** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 1:33 am

IreneY wrote:Can U translate 'I love you my sweet honeybun and I'll be your cute little cupid forever and ever' "

'Ti amo, mio dolce tesoro e sarÃ² sempre il tuo carino cupidinetto.'

Not too hard. Your turn, Irene.

And Kasper, absolutely.

Post by **klewlis** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:00 am

klewlis wrote:
edonnelly wrote:Also, here's a learning-Italian podcast I came upon that seems promising (I've only listened to a small bit of it so far):

http://www.learnitalianpod.com/ (there are both beginner and intermediate sections, I think the beginner one finished after 50 posts)
This is great! I'm going to burn them to cd and listen to them in the car... good stuff. :)

listening to these now: so far, so good. They really break down the conversations into the phrases, and there is lots of repetition. And they speak slowly and enunciate, unlike a lot of Italian audio programs! I hate it when you can't even understand what the speakers are saying, but you're supposed to repeat it...

I like this one so far. :)

edonnelly · Post by **edonnelly** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:48 am

Kasper wrote:Ed, would modern italian allow you to read Dante? (perhaps with a background in latin)

My understanding is that much of what is modern Italian became that way because of Dante. I'm not anywhere close to being able to make an opinion on it, but I believe Lucus.

klewlis wrote:I like this one so far.

Great. I had heard good things about it. I'll be tackling it soon, too.

Lucus Eques · Post by **Lucus Eques** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:11 pm

Those two at LearnItalianPod are so cute! It's worth it just for their accents! And Impariamo is also stupendous. Looks like we found what we need, amico irlandese.

Amadeus · Post by **Amadeus** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 3:46 pm

I just heard the first podcast on LearnItalianPod, and I liked it!

The last entry stops at intermediate level, however, and I hope they'll take it up to Advanced as well, that would be fantastic.

Now a question for those of you who are polyglots: would you say it is very difficult, if not impossible, to learn more than 2 languages at the same time? I'm still studying Latin and Ancient Greek, but I'm dying to read some German and Italian. I figure since I've been studying Latin for almost 2 years and am almost "finished" with it (if you could say that), do you think I have a shot if I picked up German anytime soon? After German, I'm going for Italian, which is my favorite language, but, because it sounds so much easier (and a lot like Spanish) I am leaving it 'til last.

I've heard of people who know several (up to 15 or more!) languages. They couldn't possibly have taken years to learn each one, could they?

Lucus Eques · Post by **Lucus Eques** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 4:04 pm

I think you can multitask, Amadeus. I learning Russian, Latin, Greek, and whatever comes my way at the moment. You're obviously an accomplished Latinist and in English as well; picking up a new language will just make the others make more sense in the context of IE languages as a whole.

Amadeus · Post by **Amadeus** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 6:12 pm

Thanks Luke! I think I'm gonna go for it, I just need to reach the middle part of my Greek course, which should be only a few weeks away... Deutsch here I come!

Vale!

P.S.: I don't know about being an accomplished Latinist... let's say I'm almost "there"

perispomenon · Post by **perispomenon** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:00 pm

edonnelly wrote:I've been working on Pimsleur's Italian with the ultimate goal of reading Dante

Dante... I don't know, I have owned a copy of Dante's 'La Divina Commedia' since my teen years, but never felt any urge to read it whole.

After really having learned Italian, I stumbled on a writer whom I would like to place in the spotlight: Luigi Pirandello, especially his 'Novelle per un anno' (all short stories). It is superb reading material, gripping and very close to real life.

I've tried some contemporary Italian literature, but haven't yet found anything as compelling as Pirandello.

Misopogon · Post by **Misopogon** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:27 pm

perispomenon wrote: After really having learned Italian, I stumbled on a writer whom I would like to place in the spotlight: Luigi Pirandello, especially his 'Novelle per un anno' (all short stories). It is superb reading material, gripping and very close to real life.

I've tried some contemporary Italian literature, but haven't yet found anything as compelling as Pirandello.

What about Italo Calvino and Tomasi di Lampedusa?
Regards
Misopogon

perispomenon · Post by **perispomenon** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:48 pm

Misopogon wrote:What about Italo Calvino and Tomasi di Lampedusa?
Regards
Misopogon

I was trying to find Italian literature starting from the 1970's (preferably from the nineties and later, to get in touch with more contemporary use of Italian idiom). I tried Benni, Mazzucco, Eco, but wasn't swept away. If you have any recommendations, I would be most grateful!

perispomenon · Post by **perispomenon** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:55 pm

Oh, oh, I forgot, I did like Luca Goldoni's 'Se torno a nascere'. Where did I leave that book?

Post by **IreneY** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:04 pm

Lucus Eques · Post by **Lucus Eques** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:38 am

Love ya, Irene! thanks.

You rock.