How’s it going now Georgia? Four years on.

Two things you can't bullshit in a foreign language are your on the spot speaking skills, and listening comprehension. Only way to get better is to keep practicing and speaking/listening as much as possible.

MoishetheBeadle Absolutely, that's great advice. I find that listening comprehension isn't too hard, so long as the conversation isn't super fast, but speaking -- now that's tough. None of my friends speak Italian, and the only practice I get is once a week during class. It takes a real effort to think of the right vocab and grammar, and even then what comes out is just simple sentences, oftentimes in "broken" Italian sans the right articles. Do you have any advice on how to practise speaking more if you don't live in Italy?

I feel ya buddy. Fortunately, in my case, I am learning Brazilian Portuguese (Italian next) and I have family from Brazil and friends from a video game project I am working on from Brazil as well. Stringing clauses together is really difficult right now, but I find listening comprehension pretty difficult in cases where the speakers rant (emotionally). But we seem to be stuck in the same lane. It seems, however, that you don't come into contact much with native speakers. This is where textbooks and courses fall short. Speaking with natives is absolutely the best way (and possibly only way) to truly be particularly proficient/fluent in your target language. First, I would take a look at Italian culture and adjust based on your assets around you. Where I am a resident, Italian culture is a large portion of city culture; pizza shops/restaurants usually have your fair share of Italians. Alas, I cannot help you much due to the fact that I am not in search for Italians. My second option would be to speak to somebody in Italian, translate for them, and have them respond in English. Then, translate what their response in Italian, and give *your* response in Italian. Repeat. The second method would help tremendously and although you may not be getting the experience that speaking with a native would, it will increase your transliterating skills as well as your conversational/on the spot speaking quality. Buona fortuna, boa sorte!

Grazie per i tuoi video=Thank you for your videos Grazie per il tuo video=Thanj you for your video

Using the present tense does work fine as long as you put an adverb of time in the sentence (tomorrow, this afternoon, next week...).

Thanks!!

word20 maybe you're right 😊

well? it has been 2 years. did you make it?

@@Jetsumo70 omg I was about to ask the same thing!

Jennelle Smith mate did you go to your Italian uni then ?

Did you?

No I didn't.. Lol. Circumstances changed

madi Ceesay thank you!

Just do it...good things will come;)

Andreza Alves

Eliza Lo Russo Try duolingo :D and when you go there, speak as much as you can with people. Don't be afraid of errors. Try to use English as less as possible, immerge yourself completely, it will help you a lot learning

Era ora!

Margoh GS I know that one! I just started learning Italian. I'm getting confused with the verbs and formal and informal. I am going to try writing it as well. I am planning my trip for September, 2018. I am hopeful I will be able to hold a conversation by then. :). Tuscany, Rome and The Amalfi Coast. I'm so excited! I've been watching every single video and vlog on you tube! Ciao!!

lifeafterclutter Panasonic 12-35mm

The number one way to improve your vocabulary is reading. Read as much as you can in Italian, and make flashcards of the words you don't know. I recommend the website/app Quizlet for studying my flashcards. I tend to underline words or phrases I don't know, then at the end of the chapter I can go back and made a spreadsheet in Excel (Column A with the term in Italian, Column B with the English translation or equivalent) which can be easily copy/pasted into Quizlet's website when you make a new set of flashcards. There are several sources I recommend for finding translations: wordreference.com, context.reverso.net, Wiktionary (both the English and Italian websites). I sometimes read on my iPad using the Kindle app, which allows you to highlight as you read, and if you have purchased the book (as opposed to just reading the free samples that can be sent to the Kindle app via Amazon's Kindle store), you have the ability to gather all these highlights in the form of a document which (with a little bit of formatting) you can make into an excel spreadsheet. Start with kids books, even if it seems juvenile, it only makes sense to start at a lower level and work your way up. The very first novel I read in Italian (when I felt like I was ready to read a more advanced book) was the first book of the Harry Potter series. I would recommend reading a book that you already know very well, so as you are reading you can tell where the plot is going and from context you can pick up a lot. I recommend doing the same thing for your favorite movies and televisions series translated into Italian. If you know the dialogue by heart and you watch the film dubbed into Italian (subtitles too) you can pick up on how the lines of dialogue correspond. Keep in mind, of course, that not everything can be translated 100% between two languages, and for various reasons those who dub or subtitle films and series will often take some creative license with the translations (especially when humor is involved), so keep that in mind. This is also something that I always add as a footnote when I recommend people to use Reverso - much of their translations are sourced from movie/series subtitles, so use discretion when taking certain things from Reverso. Lastly, find yourself a native speaker. The better they speak your native language, the easier you will be able to learn from them. My boyfriend is Italian and I started learning Italian (well, I took it back up after many years' break) when we met. As I was learning on my own, he was always willing to answer my questions (willingness is one thing), but he is also able to answer basically anything I throw at him because he is extremely competent in the language. Not only will you have the ability to practice writing, listening, speaking, reading with them on a frequent basis, but they will also share so much about the culture that you will never learn in a classroom. There are several websites and apps you can check out to speak with natives: iTalki, interpals, conversationexchange, HelloTalk, etc. Hope my advice is helpful! In bocca al lupo! If you need any further help, let me know, I would be happy to send an email.