ekscrunchy

I am interested in reading comments by people here who have tried to lean a language from the sites such Babel, Rosetta, and the others.
I know zero about any of these.
I enjoy leaning new languages but tend to be bored by strict grammar.
My goal is to improve my ability to chat, or ask questions, when I travel in Italy.

I can get along pretty well since my Spanish is very good, and usually people can understand me when I speak in that language.
BUT I cannot understand more than the basics of what they respond to me.
My "menu" Italian is excellent..no issues there...but I want to go beyond that..

Am I wasting my time trying to sign up for an online course in Italian?
If not, which one do you recommend?

I also MIGHT be able to find someone who can teach me in person, in private, but have not done any research on that and not sure if that is worth time and cost since I am not usually in Italy more than one month per year...and the fact that I know Spanish might be confusing. This is not a dire issue; I can have a vapid conversation with people (not in dialect) in Italy, but would be ready to improve, so I can feel better connected to local persons that I meet. My next visit will be a return to Sicily, in September.

All comments welcome.....this is just an investigative post....many thanks!

Travel_Nerd

I can only speak for the ones I've tried and they were because the language I was (am) learning (Serbian, Croatian) is not as available as Italian on some platforms. And I found it to be worth my time and absolutely useful on my most recent trip to Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia. Was able to do basic communications and was even complimented on my accent a couple of times!

The two platforms I used were Language Drops app and Ling. Ling is more conversational practice and Drops is mostly vocabulary and basic phrases. Drops has a "free" platform, which I use and you only do 5 minutes of language practice every 10 hours, but also have a subscription where you can study unlimited. And they make it like a game with spelling, listening, and reading practices. Ling is similar but again, has a lot more conversational practice that you see the different styles of verb and grammar uses without putting it down your throat. Ling does have a fee associated with it after the 7-day trial.

I only did a trial of Babbel and if I remember correctly, the platform was sort of a hybrid of the two I mentioned above. I did not go beyond the free trial.

My thought here, is that they will only help and if they are interactive, it will help keep you engaged.

I am currently working through Drops in Italian (you can switch languages) for some basic vocabulary and phrases for my upcoming trip to Southern Italy.

Leely2

If you don't want to take a real class, book a private instructor either in person or online. I started in-person classes through the scuola run by our local Italiano Istituto (I would think there is one in NYC) almost ten years ago: https://sfiis.org/

When the pandemic started, classes became virtual and many still are. I also do a private conversation class online once a week with one of my teachers.

I studied Spanish in high school and college, and a number of family members are native Spanish speakers. I would say this makes Italian pretty easy for the first 18 months-2 years of study. Then things deviate... Still, if you have some Spanish or French or Romanian etc., Italian will be easier.

ETA: I know you were asking about Babel, etc., but I believe based on your postings over the years that you have the time and money for something more tailored, and I think you might enjoy that approach, even short-term.

PSKid

I enjoyed the free Italian courses offered by Wellesley College on Edx.org. The courses are self-paced and include grammar lessons, videos, podcasts, readings. When I watch Italian television shows with English captions, I remember a surprising amount of vocabulary and grammar.

ekscrunchy

HI, thanks to the three of you!! I am on a roll now to "improve" my language learning..I will take a few days to look into these options and report back!

The truth is that if any of us could take the time to live in xxx country for a couple of months, we would not need any course at all. Inshallah!!

Special hello to Leely!!

bilboburgler

I used Duolingo to get some basics in the head and then swapped English for Italian on Italki (it's free) for some time. I now feel comfortable though I'm probably only at B1 level

bvlenci

I used Duolingo for a brief attempt to learn Polish. I thought it was well designed and useful. If you made a mistake, they began to drill you on the kind of error you had made. It was more oriented to conversation than grammar. I am a structured person, so if I had wanted to really learn the language, I would have found a more academic course.

I only used the free version. Soon my trip to Poland had to be scrapped, so I didn't get very far with Polish. My granddaughter was using Duolingo to learn Italian. I believe she also found it useful.

AlessandraZoe

I recommend anything done by Pimsleur. I used the tapes and CDs; they have an online system now. The emphasis is on repeated sentence structures, allowing one to "snap in" additional vocabulary as needed.

Even though I had taken four years of French in high school and around six French literature classes in college, I just was never self-confident in speaking it no matter how many grammar and vocabulary tests I passed. I could translate the most difficult written passages with ease; I froze like a rabbit if anyone asked me a question in French about what I had just translated. Therefore, when I first went to Paris, I had no problem reading menus or street signs. I just could not order a meal in French (my attempts were always interrupted by the waiter). Ticket windows were a nightmare for me, and I adapted by writing what I wanted and the amount on index cards and passing them through the window. I also had another index card with "How much do I pay? Could you write down the amount?" to pass through, too.

Exasperated, I tried spending two weeks in a language course in Sancerre. I joined a French conversation group in my town. Little success.

But following the advice of a friend, I bought my first set of Pimsleur tapes (they have an online presence now), and I realized I was finally absorbing the rhythm and pattern of spoken French and that my responses were becoming second nature.

Whenever we land in France now, I always wonder, "Will I remember?", but after about four hours, everything just comes back. The true test? Waiters no longer interrupt me mid-order.

crellston

The only online language service I have used is Duolingo for Spanish and then only as a "refresher" prior to a trip. Have taken Spanish lessons for extended periods in Peru and got to a reasonable standard (though nowhere near fluency) , enough to travel round much of South America for quite along time. Like other here have said, I could speak ok but my biggest problem was in listening (according to my wife, it is not restricted to Spanish! Currently using Duolingo again with a view to visiting Mexico later this year and it is very good at bringing all back and the latest version which has elements of AI is a great improvement. How good it would be to learn a language from scratch, I am not sure.

With lessons I found it easier with formal lessons as I felt I needed to know the grammar. Immersion learning was fun but I found I didn't progress as quickly. Probably something to do with studying French and Latin at school where I can still remember much of what was drummed into me back then - Sadly , I have no intention of visiting France and Latin is of very little use apart from being able to work out words in other languages.

I did once take a couple of years of Thai Evening classes and got to a reasonable standard again in a formal classroom setting. I backed this up with a "Teach Yourself Thai" book and CD which again I feel was good for keeping up the skills and a bit of light relief on long commutes to work.

Essentially, I think we all learn in different ways and unfortunately the older we get the harder languages are to learn. We have some Libyan friends whose 4 year daughter speaks Arabic at home, English when she goes to nursery and comes to see us and Italian when she goes to visit her grandparents - I am in awe of her!

I think practice does make perfect and if online makes it easier to do that than why not? I also think that immersion learning I can be great if traveling alone but is next to useless if travelling with and English speaker which is maybe why it doesn't work for me.

ekscrunchy

Thanks so much to all who responded.

Crellston: I wonder if your wife attempts to alert you to the dirrences between "hearing" and "listening," a problem in house that I know all too well.
"Yes, I heard you, ek!!" "Yes, but did you listen to what I said??'

Ok, TMI!!

I actually took in person private classes in Balinese decades ago. It was fun and fun to get to know a person from that island. At least I can still say thank you in Bahasa, or Balinese, don't know which one....

Will do some investigating before next trip to Italy, planned for September, three weeks in Sicily.

jeffhullinger3220

Among Rosetta Stone, Duolingo and Babbel, my personal language learning for Spanish was best advanced by Babbel, followed fairly closely by Duolingo. But I think everyone has a different learning style, and consequently many different opinions are likely as to which is best.

KTtravel

I learned a little German by using Duolingo before a trip and, for the first time, actually had fun trying to learn a language. I didn't have time to advance as far as I would have liked to in the course, but it was helpful when we visited.

lavandula

My husband learns French and is practicing German as well on Duolingo. I think ultimately he will have to switch to a classroom situation to practice speaking, but there is a component for that in Duolingo also. It's free, you don't have to pay but of course there is a premium version, which he doesn't subscribe to. If you are competitive there is a table of high achievers, and it would suit you well if you like computer games. He is making good progress with the French, seems to be somewhere around high A2 now.

I taught German online (Zoom) for years during Covid. It's not ideal but it works OK. If you have a whole class you have to be a little careful about how you give feedback as people don't want to be criticised or pulled up in front of a whole group of people, so careful feedback in breakout groups or twos and threes seems to be the way to go. We still hold the occasional class online, and it is well-tolerated by students under these circumstances. I would think that if you wanted to take lessons with someone online, go for it. There will probably come a point where you will want to be in a whole class of people, but yes, it can work, and online can give you access to people with specialist skills (like if you wanted to learn Swiss German, or a special variety of Italian).

Good luck, whichever way you choose!

Lavandula

danon

Hi eks,
It might be an idea to search the YouTube for something on the “lighter side “of learning.
I have never used one of the sites you mentioned since I prefer the classroom setting.
Also, when I started learning Italian I really had to “ block” the Spanish in my head.
Finding what you need on YouTube may take some time or it may not even be there.
! Suerte !

bilboburgler

I speak French and Italian now and I find I can get stuck in one or the other if I'm not careful.

I'm very much in support of the immersion process for learning. After all that is what immigrants often have to do and they seem to do a great job of learning local languages without the "class room experience". When I started Italian I took my fear in my hands and set up back to back swap meetings on italki, it was tough and I gave myself some cheat sheets (my name is, how old are you etc etc) and I dived in. The wonderful thing is the that the people at the other end are just like you and me, they want to help they want to communicate and they want to learn. So they help. The first few times were wonderful experiences as we had to correct each other time and again but the pressure certainly got the basics home and then it has been easy sailing.

Between Mrs Bilbo and I, we speak German, Spanish, Italian, French and of course can read Romanian (another romance language), while she can comprehend and read Arabic (and neither of us are linguists) just we don't like our self planned holidays to go wrong because we cannot talk to the locals.

bvlenci

I found the same thing. It's strange that I didn't need to block German or French. Spanish and Italian are too similar; I would start a sentence in Italian but finish it in Spanish.

I had reached a good level of fluency in Spanish, having studied it for four years in high school and two years at university, at the level of Spanish majors. I was sorry to lose my Spanish. I can still read it fairly well, but when I was in Spain, I found it very difficult to speak the language.

Many Italians have told me they can understand spoken Spanish without having studied it, but I have asked Spaniards and they all say Italian is incomprehensible to them.

bvlenci

Here's an interesting cartoon I found on Facebook:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CzthmMED3rq2XZHp6

bilboburgler

danon

The one not pictured gets me…(especially in French): understanding what people are saying to you !😳

ekscrunchy

Thanks so much to everyone. I will take a look at DuoLingo...what's the worst that could happen??
I do see a huge difference for myself when in Spain as compared to Italy, since I can only fumble through in Italy while in Spain, I can go so much deeper with conversations with strangers...it would be so great to be able to have something close when I travel in Italy, even though I guess the dialects are more of an issue in that country....

Anyway..nothing to lose, and a lot to possibly gain.....

Don't they say that learning a new language is good for the brain??