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Originally Posted by MIA  thank thank you.. but you cant stop here  .... really wanna learn it well so i will be able to speak it soon.. you will have to teach me online privately or ill get so confused. thank you so much |
Mia, If you lived anywhere in the U.S. we could talk in Italian by phone gratis(free). Purtroppo non e cosi. (Unfortunately it's not like that.)
Get in contact with Carlo Pesce. He runs a business teaching Italian from Venice, Italy where you talk to him by video camera from your computer.
Go to where it says Community at the top of the forum and look him up under the membership list. He has his website there.
I do not make any money or anthing like that for telling you about Carlo a proposito(by the way)Like I said before I have
no financial connection with Carlo.
Or contact him here:
learn@parloconcarlo.com (First lesson for free. During our first talk we'll define your
goals and level and if you like it we can start a free lesson right away! Of course that won't be a commitment for you.)
In that case everybody should at least take that first class.
However there is one thing that I somewhat disagree with Carlo on. I speak 5 languages and have had to go through this
so called silent period with each language I've learned. So at first when you're learning a new language in this case
Italian you need to listen to Italian a lot over and over with CDs, TV, radio, audio books etc. You should have some
kind of Italian on CDs and be listening to Italian constantly. You can download Italian audio books for free and listen
to them while your on this forum as I am right now. This so called silent period lasts anywhere from 4 to 6 months for
the average native English speaker depending how much time you put into it. (For Spanish speakers it takes far less time.
Spanish and Italian are 70+% the same.) Per esempio, I was taking private French lessons for $50 an hour and could not say
the simplest of things. Was very frustrated to say the least. Then I thought about the silent period that I went through
with Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. So I went back and listened to French everyday and studied it at the same time and
then the French words just started flowing out of my mouth.
However, don't forget to make your Italian flash cards and study Italian in general during the so called silent period.
4 to 6 months will pass quickly. But at the sametime you've got to be listening to Italian every day 2 to 8 hours a day.
I do so why not you?! If not you can still learn Italian but not that quickly. (Io per esempio) For example I stopped
listening to English and only listened to Italian and watched only Italian TV for two straight years.
Oh, listen to Italian music molto, learn the Italian lyrics di memoria.
Parlo con Carlo is for practical Italian learning.
To speak well, practice speaking. (Carlo)
>> Log into Skype from your home and SPEAK Italian with me. You can talk to a motherlanguage in his country while sitting at home thanks to this wonderful, free software. All you need is a headphone (or loudspeakers) and a microphone to plug into your computer. A webcam helps too since you'll see me and I'd like to see you!
>> One to one personalized teaching. A group's learning pace is its slowest member's, so in a class you either slow down because someone's slower than you or feel bad because the slow one is you! Neither's fault though: each one of us has his own level, skills and time he can dedicate to learning.
>> First lesson for free. During our first talk we'll define your goals and level and if you like it we can start a free lesson right away! Of course that won't be a commitment for you.
>> Choose your favourite day and time. We'll set a day and time which works for both, and this can change from lesson to lesson.
>> Is one hour too long? You might prefer shorter lessons for a number of reasons. This is possible when you purchase 5 one-hour-long lessons (80 Euro, 16 Euro/hour): you can choose to split 2 of these hours in two, and get 3 lessons of 60 minutes and four 30 minutes lessons.
>> Payments via PayPal. You don't need a PayPal account for this: once you decide for a certain number of lessons I can email you a PayPal invoice, payable with any VISA card. Paypal's 3.5% commission is included in my price, this means that you have no hidden fees to deal with (I pay PayPal for its service).
>> All levels from very basic to very fluent. Whatever your Italian skills, if you need some improvement this is the place to get it. I'm a native speaker and my Italian is clean from regional accents (most Italian towns have their own dialect, which usually leaves traces in people's pronunciation). I have a good knowledge of this language's structure and traps.
I was born and live in Venice where I presently earn my living renting my family's apartments to tourists through this website. I lived in Rome, Bergamo, Milano and Ferrara before finally getting back to my hometown in March 2001.
A former chemist, I quit that job and moved to Venice again to start a new life, and was rewarded with luck and serenity. I'm in love with this town and like to catch nice views of it. Some of them are shown here.
I learned Latin and ancient Greek in high school; these studies allow me a deeper sight on Italian language's structure/organization and fed my curiosity about languages in general.
I learned English mostly by myself, listening to songs and translating them and talking to people while traveling.
Testimonials:
Tony, UK
One of the high-spots of my week is talking to Carlo on Skype; we have a regular appointment on Tuesday mornings before breakfast. I am English and have been learning Italian for around four years; I have made good progress with the written language but have hit a plateau with conversation, understanding Italian films, TV, and other similar media. It is a great feeling to use Skype, which is free, and have the undivided attention of Carlo for an hour on a one to one basis, this is so much better than a group lesson. He is a cultured and meticulous listener, who can make instant corrections to grammar, or pronunciation. Skype’s ‘chat’ facility is very useful to record points in writing, so that they can be referred to later, after the conversation. Of course, being Italian, it is good to see his body language on the webcam!
Since returning from Italy, I have continued having lessons as I now feel like I am finally making the progress that previously I could have only hoped for. Carlo is extremely interesting, has a great sense of humour, and makes each lesson fun. He has some fantastic study tips which can be used between lessons and is very careful to review new things as we go. He does not complicate things, taking each a step at a time. He is very flexible with times, is generous with the lessons and is prompt and reliable. Carlo’s lessons are never boring, and I have also learned much about the culture and day-to-day life providing a true insight into all things Italian, from the comfort of my own home. He is very particular regarding pronunciation and grammar, and is extremely knowledgeable in the technicalities of sentence structure in both Italian and English.
I would highly recommend anyone learning Italian, regardless of their level, who wants to expedite their progress and have fun along the way, to try Parlo Con Carlo. You will be amazed with the results.
I am happy to expand further should any potential students wish to contact me.
Some of my views on teaching:
Learning a language involves a number of aspects: grammar and its rules plus new words and their pronunciation, unfamiliar sounds, syntax, conversation.
None of them is enough by itself, but one item is fundamental: practice. This is also the hard part of the learning process: being costant is hard, and finding someone who can assist you during that can even be harder.
With no practice, everything we learn tends to fade away and can ultimately become useless. We learn something new in order to use it and using what we know will eventually teach us more. Practice is so vital in the learning process that we can even disregard other aspects and still get better. Constant practice is what let us learn our native language, after all.
This project is not about learning Italian without grammar or without theory. It is meant to give you constant practice and feedback on Italian pronunciation, grammar, conversation, fluency. We'll touch rules when they'll be needed and you'll become familiar with new sounds, work on short sentences and simple everyday words. A good starting point is to define an area of life where you'd like to be able to express yourself in Italian: some might want to learn how to ask for directions, others might need numbers first. Someone might feel puzzled by our verbs system but please believe me: put some practice and an understanding teacher in the picture and you'll eventually find yourself speaking Italian with not much effort anymore.
Same goes with speed: Italians talk fast and it's hard to tell where one word ends and the next starts. This skill will come too provided you don't look too much for it. No problem if you talk slow here though, and Italians usually like to repeat or slow down in order to let you understand better. I hope we'll be discussing and learning this and more in person.
Join Parlo con Carlo to get better every day and let your fears about talking Italian slide away. Choose the lesson pace you prefer or change it along the way and get the feeling of a daily growth. Knowing that we're finally learning what we like to raises our confidence in all other sides of life!
new to this:) 
Benvenuta Mia! Molto piacere! 
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