Study time per lesson

Ciao a tutti.  I'm currently on 9.5 Conditional Present - Part I, and am finding it the hardest lesson to absorb so far.  (Full credit to Rocket for such a thorough course!).  I'm curious how much time people spend per lesson on average before completing it, and how you integrate reviews of previous lessons as part of that.  I average 135-200+ points per day at the moment, and on average, a lesson takes about two weeks.

I know part of your feedback will be affected by whether or not you use other Italian resources.  At the moment, I have whittled down non-Rocket resources to only Duolingo just for some variety, but when I'm finished with that, will spend almost all of my time on Rocket.  

Any other study tips are welcome!

Grazie. Chris

Hi Chris, great discussion point.

I suspect we all learn differently and my learning technique has changed over my period of learning.

I am now on module 5 (level 1) and it has taken me 9 months to get here, although my learning has had peaks and troughs!!

Initially I would go through lessons quickly and move on but memorising everything proved difficult, so now every couple of days I start the lessons afresh and practice the converstions and the ‘know it sections’. This allows me to listen with plenty of speaking practice. I have found this useful.

I am finding the grammar difficult and especially prepositions and sentence structure, so at the moment my confidence levels are low. Will I ever improve!!

I am thinking of creating an online group to allow conversation practice. At the moment I practice the same conversations and some variety would be great.

Also finding creating my own sentences in English and then, without reference to anything, write them as best as I can in Italian. 

Ciao a tutti.

Gary

Thanks, Gary.  I found your revision tips useful.  I also like the idea of a Rocket users conversation group.  I know speaking is essential, but so far, have found being pinned down to a specific time to be something of a chore.  Dipping in and out of conversations as the opportunity/mood arises would be handy!  Thanks again.

Chris

Hi Chris

I agree with Gary have my ups and downs. Some lessons take much longer than others. Am on level 1 lesson 5 and 6. Taken me about 9 months to get there too. I find the conversational lessons quite easy, whereas the cultural and grammar ones get to me. Keep on going back to prepositions and pronouns. Have spent hours on these and I still don't feel that confident with them. Have tried book learning and even then find there is not enough information and explanation. So will just keep at it and I know I will eventually get there. When we have more freedom I am hoping to find a tutor, for conversation mainly. I know a Spanish one a French one, have no idea where am going to find an Italian one. We live in a smallish town on Vancouver Island and there must be one, I'm sure. Just not much point in doing it now.

Happy learning. Ideally I would love to spend 3 months in Italy, who knows maybe one day

Hi sebongela

I joined in late July 2019, and it taken me this long to get where I am.  Like you guys, it's in fits and starts, in terms of points per day, but I always endeavour to do a session per day.  Re tutors: web search “iTalki”.  They have online tutors complete with user ratings, various levels of pricing (often bookable in blocks, to make each session cheaper, pro rata), you can filter your search re native speakers, for example, etc.  I'm too stingy to pay for the sessions, though!

A presto

Chris

Hi Chris

I am going to wait to have an in person tutor. More fun than an online one, I then get to have a good coffee as well. So will continue to plod along and hopefully it will all begin to form a bigger picture and start to gel. Am already seeing natural connections in the grammar lessons and conversations, which is exciting. The real test will be when I need to speak in a real conversation. Find that really difficult. Inclined to go blank then. I think Rocket is really excellent from a speaking point of view. They don't have any Nordic languages, so am considering German next. Already speak a bit, but German grammar is even more complicated.  Have some French and Spanish too, but they are too close to Italian, and I think it would then confuse me. Have you tried Memorise? It's free up to a point, and I subscribed to the paid one for awhile, but not worth it. Had bugs, and they eventually dropped the charges

Hi sebongela.  Yep, tried Memrise including the paid version but in balance, not worth it, in my opinion.  Having used Duolingo for previous French and Spanish (plus some Latin - useful for Italian),  I'm currently using it just on principle, and once done, will focus on Rocket Italian.  At that stage, i'll also re-incorporate LanguageTransfer dot org.  I highly recommend it.