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privateeye Monday 25th of July 2005 07:33:48 PM
new to italien - Hi everyone,

I am completely new to italian and don't know where to start learning all I know is Buon Giorno. :(

Also what does prego mean, I heard many people say it.

What to do now?

thank you

leobloom Thursday 08th of September 2005 09:38:08 PM
Ciao! - i think that if you really wnat to learn italian you should buy a good conversation book or, if you don't want to, donwload all the lessons from this site or others(the web is full of free resources ;o)and start reading them. You won't get anything in the beginning for sure but you'll start familiarizing with it. In addition, try to memorize as many words and sentences as possible without wondering too much of grammar stuff, italian grammar could be rather difficult to most of lerners and sometimes it IS to native-speakers too!!!

ORGANIZE YOUR TIME !!!!

Organize your time with a time-table so that you'll always know how much spare time you can use to study Italian EVERY day. I think that at least in the first 3/4 weeks you should not study it more than 1 hour a day or you'll likely be bored woth it soon and stop studying it. I suggest to begin with HALF an hour of studying.
Like a musician does with a new piece of sheet, I think the best way to learn a new language is to gain the best from the small ampunt of time you have so even before beginnin with the study you 'd better try to "SEE" your targets.
Ask yourself
"Why do i want to learn it? What would I like to do with it? How much time and effort am I able to spend on it?"
Just after this put all the resources you have about it( downloaded lessons/whole sites wuth an offline browser if you have the permission,dictionaries (both on line and normal ones,the are very cheap nowadays), softwares (again, look on a web browser like google for freewares, GNU, adwares and low-cost stuff related to Italian you may need) grammar and conversational books, study cd's and music cd's, magazines, newspapers etc...) in a folder and organize them the way suiting your best.
E.G. On your pc put all the grammar lessons in a folder, excercises in another, dialogues and stories in another one and so on, everything in a section relative to its grade of difficult. if you are not able to try to find somebody who knows Italian and can help you for a couple of hours to organize things, I don't think it'll be so difficult to find some italian speakers in your town. After doing this You'll have all under control then and you won't waste time studing things you already know. Nevertheless, as soon as you have a doubt try to solve it by checking your referece resources. Going back to the musician exemple, that's what is called MANTEINENCE. IT MAY BE VERY ANNOYING, ESPECIALLY IN THE BEGINNING, BUT IN TIME IT'LL MAKE THINGS WAY EASIER!!!

SPEAK THE LANGUAGE!!!

Use it as often as you can, once agan the www is a very good resource for webforums, chats, e-mails etc. Don't stop here, try talking Italian at school, job, restaurant, with your friends. Small sentences and easy words like CIAO have somehow a sort of exhotic charme that'll make other people notice you and (possibly) give you a stronger intention to keep on learning.

If, after you have known the basics of my lang, you'll like to get into the cultural view, I'd suggest to start from the Italian words that are used in your language, you'll find out a real lot of them! For exemple, did you know that the word Ghetto has its origin in Italy? i comes from XVIth century venetian, Venice's dialect, when the Jews lived in a restricted area on an island of the Laguna.

I hope this helped you a bit. I'm sorry for my English, it's a bit rusty.

Good luck with your study, anzi, In bocca al lupo!!! ;o)

Phrasebase Archive
	privateeye	Monday 25th of July 2005 07:33:48 PM
	new to italien - Hi everyone, I am completely new to italian and don't know where to start learning all I know is Buon Giorno. :( Also what does prego mean, I heard many people say it. What to do now? thank you
	leobloom	Thursday 08th of September 2005 09:38:08 PM
	Ciao! - i think that if you really wnat to learn italian you should buy a good conversation book or, if you don't want to, donwload all the lessons from this site or others(the web is full of free resources ;o)and start reading them. You won't get anything in the beginning for sure but you'll start familiarizing with it. In addition, try to memorize as many words and sentences as possible without wondering too much of grammar stuff, italian grammar could be rather difficult to most of lerners and sometimes it IS to native-speakers too!!! ORGANIZE YOUR TIME !!!! Organize your time with a time-table so that you'll always know how much spare time you can use to study Italian EVERY day. I think that at least in the first 3/4 weeks you should not study it more than 1 hour a day or you'll likely be bored woth it soon and stop studying it. I suggest to begin with HALF an hour of studying. Like a musician does with a new piece of sheet, I think the best way to learn a new language is to gain the best from the small ampunt of time you have so even before beginnin with the study you 'd better try to "SEE" your targets. Ask yourself "Why do i want to learn it? What would I like to do with it? How much time and effort am I able to spend on it?" Just after this put all the resources you have about it( downloaded lessons/whole sites wuth an offline browser if you have the permission,dictionaries (both on line and normal ones,the are very cheap nowadays), softwares (again, look on a web browser like google for freewares, GNU, adwares and low-cost stuff related to Italian you may need) grammar and conversational books, study cd's and music cd's, magazines, newspapers etc...) in a folder and organize them the way suiting your best. E.G. On your pc put all the grammar lessons in a folder, excercises in another, dialogues and stories in another one and so on, everything in a section relative to its grade of difficult. if you are not able to try to find somebody who knows Italian and can help you for a couple of hours to organize things, I don't think it'll be so difficult to find some italian speakers in your town. After doing this You'll have all under control then and you won't waste time studing things you already know. Nevertheless, as soon as you have a doubt try to solve it by checking your referece resources. Going back to the musician exemple, that's what is called MANTEINENCE. IT MAY BE VERY ANNOYING, ESPECIALLY IN THE BEGINNING, BUT IN TIME IT'LL MAKE THINGS WAY EASIER!!! SPEAK THE LANGUAGE!!! Use it as often as you can, once agan the www is a very good resource for webforums, chats, e-mails etc. Don't stop here, try talking Italian at school, job, restaurant, with your friends. Small sentences and easy words like CIAO have somehow a sort of exhotic charme that'll make other people notice you and (possibly) give you a stronger intention to keep on learning. If, after you have known the basics of my lang, you'll like to get into the cultural view, I'd suggest to start from the Italian words that are used in your language, you'll find out a real lot of them! For exemple, did you know that the word Ghetto has its origin in Italy? i comes from XVIth century venetian, Venice's dialect, when the Jews lived in a restricted area on an island of the Laguna. I hope this helped you a bit. I'm sorry for my English, it's a bit rusty. Good luck with your study, anzi, In bocca al lupo!!! ;o)