understanding the "real Thing"

Hello all - Just returned from a week in Italy where I had a chance to try out some of the Italian that I had learned with the course. I really only had 10 weeks to study and really only made it through the first part of the premium course. I was able to offer some simple greetings to be polite but really never had a chance to carry on a real conversation. The tour didn't really get very far off the tourist path and pretty much everyone spoke English. I eavesdropped in on others conversations as much as I could to try to see what they were saying but other than picking up a word or two had no chance of understanding them. The words I recognized were completely out of context so couldn't really put a sentence together. would love to hear from someone who started the course knowing absolutely nothing and who has progressed to the more advanced levels. At what point does all this start to make sense. I would hope that the next time I visit Italy I will have at least completed the premium plus and possibly the platinum course. Anyone here progressed that far who can actually say that they can follow conversations with some confidence. Thanks.

Ciao! amo also un beginner en i hope i wont get confused when start speaking the the language. buon serata ariverderci

Ciao Bryan, learning a language takes time and a lot of practise. In the forum you can find some testimonials of some students who had the opportunity to practise the language while travelling. In my experience organized tours don't give much chance to interact with local people. What have you visited in Italy? I'm sure that next time you'll go there, you will be more fluent. Keep practising and you will improve in no time. Ciao

Thank you for the reply. You are right, the organized tours kept us on a path where one didn't need to speak Italian to get by, but I did use the little I knew whenever I could. I visited Rome, Assisi, Orvieto, Siena and Perugia and Florence. Of course, practice is all important and I work with your program daily just for the challenge even if I never make it back to Italy. Would still love to hear from someone who has completed the platinu= m course get their inputs on the question. On a different note, Maria, I have mentioned to customer service of "Rocket= " the issue of responses from the "community" section taking a long time. I see you have answered all my questions today and I thank you. Seriously though, I think that your system should focus on getting back to people within 48 hours. People looking for help get pretty frustrated if there is no quick response. It doesn't seem that there is a high volume of questions going to you so.......Please make for quicker turnaround and take this as constructive criticism for a wonderful program that just needs a little tweaking to make if perfect. Tom

ciao Tom, thank you for your feeback. I'll do my best to reply to the post as quick as I can. Thanks again. ciao

Tom, I agree that on the bus tours it is hard to practice the language as the tours are structured with the language of the clients in mind. I have been travelling to Italy for many years now and have tried to get more 'lingual'. It is hard. The last several years I have made my own arrangements rather than the tours, it also forces me to speak the local tongue more. I find I can ask for simple things and am understood as well. I am trying to commit to taking the time to improve.

Ciao Maria Mi chiamo Rita, sono di Libano, voglio imparare velocemente!!! vengo molto per l"Italia, amo Italia, gli iataliani e la cucina italiana, sono antiquario. vado a Fierra di Parma e Milano due tre all'anno, please can I speak as fluent as I hear, because really I want to ,I do speak small phrases but not so much, already improved a lot with your fabulous Rocket Italian. Grazzie mille

Ciao Rita I tried to understand your Italian comments but had trouble so I cut and pasted your text into the Google translator for Italian to English. Several obvious errors were evident. I think if you do the same, you will be able to see what you actually said versus what you thought you were saying. I use Google translator a lot as I put together sentences using different pronouns and verbs to see how the Italian changes. Try it out and good luck. Tom

ciao^^

Ciao Tom I tried to say. My name is Rita, I am from Lebanon, I want to study Italian quickly!!!! I go To Italy 2,3 times per year I love Italy, Italians and the Italian cuisine, I am antique dealer so I attend the professional fairs in Parma and Milano but I think still need a lot to phrase in Italian......thanks for the advice I'll try the google translator for further communication. Rita

مرحبا مرة أخرى ريتا ويسرني أن كنت اكتشف مترجم جوجل. أحيانا أجلس على الكمبيوتر تجريب المحادثات اذا كان بامكاني في ايطاليا. ثم أركب لهم في ما اذا كان يمكنني الايطالية وضرب ترجمة لرؤية ما قلته بالفعل. ثم أقوم بإجراء التصحيحات. أجد هذا ليكون وسيلة عظيمة لممارسة. وتألفت هذه الفقرة باللغة الانكليزية وترجمت إلى العربية وهو ما أعتقد أنه لغة منزلك. نجاح باهر ، وأنه الآن هو طريقة ترجمة خارج عن ارادتي! وآمل أن تتمكن من فهمه. إن لم يكن، وربما سوف تكون ذكية بما فيه الكفاية لقطع ولصقه في جوجل وتترجم إلى الإنكليزية أو الإيطالية. حظا سعيدا.

Ciao a tutti, Google translator is a very helpful tool that you can use on your studies but remember that it's not 100% correct. I'd recommend to use it as an help but don't rely on it too much. Cara Rita, here below the correct translation of your message. There are few mistakes but keeping studying and I'm sure you'll improve in no time. Ciao Maria mi chiamo Rita, vengo dal Libano e voglio imparare l'italiano velocemente!!! Sono venuta molte volte in Italia. Io amo l'Italia, gli italiani e la cucina italiana. Io sono un'antiquaria e vado alla fiera di Parma e Milano due tre l'anno. Grazie mille I hope this helps Ciao

Ciao Maria In your answer to Rita you used "sono del Libano" as "I am from Lebanon". In the course, under introductions you used "sono di New York" and sono di Roma. So...., why use del as di+il here. Is there a distinction between cities and countries? Also, you use "Sono venuta molte volte in Italia. One doesn't come (venire) to Italy from someplace else, they go to Italy. Why wouldn't you use "Sono andato (andare-to go) molte volte alla Italia" instead. Grazie per il vostro aiuto!

Ciao Tom, I apologize for the confusion. I just realize that my message had a mistake. The most common way to say " I come from" is "Vengo da+city/country". If you want to say that you come from a city you will need to say: Vengo da Roma Vengo da Palermo Vengo da ... If you want to say that you come from a country you will need to use: Vengo da+define article Example: Vengo dall'Italia (da+l' Italia) Vengo dall'America (da+l'America) Vengo dal Brasile (da+il Brasile) Vengo dal Libano (da+il Libano) etc... "Io sono di .. " is another expression used before the name of a city but you DON'T use with countries. In regards to the translation, please note that I have amended the Italian message Rita wrote at the beginning (without having the English translation). As you know the verb "to go" is translated as "andare". Therefore the sentence"I go to Italy" will be translated as "Io vado in Italia". In this case Rita wrote "I come to Italy" ("Io vengo in Italia") as she was addressing to me who I live in Italy. I hope this helps. If not please let me know. Ciao

Ciao Thank you for clearing up the city/country differences using venire as the verb. Tom

Di niente! :) A presto

ciao Io sono rima , je suis algérienne j'adore l’Italie sa nature sa cuisine, et aussi la langue italienne , je veux apprendre l'italien de A à Z .mais il faut faire toujours un premier pas

Ciao Remy, thank you very much for your post but unfortunately in this section you need to write in Italian. Post your message again in Italian and see how it goes. I'll be more than happy to correct your mistakes. Buon divertimento. Ciao

Ciao Signora DiLorenzi, Sono uno studento di rocket italian premium plus e vorrei sapere che posso trovare delle storie italiane in modo "e-book", peró deve essere sufficente al mio livello. Ha delle idee? Molto grazie e tanto saluti della Turchia.

Ciao Ramazan, che tipo di storie stai cercando? Le favole per bambini sono sempre un buon modo per iniziare a leggere in una lingua straniera. Una della mie storie preferite e' Pinocchio. Ciao