Grazie mille @RichardBuck !
Helo Deborah,
I remember you saying that I had access to the Italian but I am not sure how to find Italian. Is it under automagic?
I did finally re-download my Cymraeg at last! Better late than never eh?
Shwmae @annmoore!
You canāt get to the Italian directly from the website. All the new languages are loaded into the new SaySomethingin app. Thereās a mobile version which you can download and install from the usual app stores, or if you prefer to use a PC or laptop, go to app.saysomethingin.com in a browser. Make sure you log in with the same email address you usually use so the system can link to your account.
Youāll see the choice of languages available to you there.
Great, thank you Deborah. I thought I might give the Italian a go as my Grandson lives in Italy with his new and gorgous wife.
I havenāt been around much so have forgotten how to find my way around the website and forum. Can you tell me how to find the music again please? I tyoed music in the box but could only find posts from years ago. Sorry
Anyhow, its nice to hear from you and thank you for the prompt reply.
Snagging: after Aran introduces the word conosci and the two voices repeat it, the next prompt (where āyou knowā would be expected) is a longish sentence instead: the voices respond with conosci, as expected.
I have recently started the Italian course. So excited for this course as I have built up a decent listening comprehension level with podcasts, Youtube, etc but I needed something to get me speaking.
Two quick comments.
One: I have only done 52 minutes and have reached the yellow with black stripe. That seems quite quick to progress 3 levels.
Two: One of the sentences was āYou speak Italian with youā. Not that it hinders learning the words or phrases, but it is something that no one would sayā¦
Thanks for your comments!
Donāt worry about the belts - they start slowing down after the first few, and reaching black belt doesnāt mean youāve finished the course
Just listening to the latest version of the Italian course, and I can notice a few things have already been fixed since the very first version. Well done!
A couple of things Iāve noticed:
In the Welsh course I did (the one with the challenges, not Automagic), from time to time there was a very short explanation about some words an sentences or something that was going on.
Now Iāve just come across āyou areā translated as āstaiā .
Of course it is correct in some contexts, and it is easy for me to guess what blocks are going to be introduced next and what sentence youāre going to get in the end (present progressive).
However the most common translation of āyou areā would be ā(tu) seiā - unless youāre speaking napoletano.
Iām fully into learning without need of grammar and too much bla bla in between. But I guess this is a situation when a very quick introduction in the old SSiW version way could be useful, and wondering if thereās ever going to be any (in spoken or written form somewhere as additional notes)
Just sharing a reflection!
Just funny to notice: In the Welsh course of course there were the Northern and Southern version. in the French course, accents seem pretty neutral (as far as I can tell).
In the Italian, the woman is neutral and the man with Roma/center Italy accent!
Is there a particular reason for the choice or just accidental? (just curious)
Edit, more relevant at the moment: on my android phone the sentences right after this are all a bit out of sync (the one shown on the screen and the audio). Like Aran speaking while text shown is in Italian. Maybe itās my phone but I canāt tell!
Agreed - Iād quite like it even if all we got was, āNow, in some sentences the Italian for āifā is cheā - building up to Non sono sicuro che possoā¦ - instead of just āifā = ācheā.
Great to hear your comments @gisella-albertini!
Weāre definitely trying to stick to āno explanationsā as much as possible just because we really want to avoid contributing to people thinking about grammar too much. The presentations are never a perfect match every time in every language anyway, and often phrases with different translations will just get presented many times with the other meanings. I think with those multiple introductions people catch on to the fact that itās not very often a case of x=y. And maybe Iām biased as a napoletano, but I donāt mind if some italian learners go round saying āstaiā instead of āseiā that early on, Iāll just be impressed theyāre already breaking away from the practice phrases and trying new things
But nothing is certain about the future, and weāre open to whatever will make it a better course This is just something to think about carefully before we act, and the comments are a big help. We did play around with the idea of āOne way to say x in Italian isā¦ā, and thatās still an option.
With the voices, we had a few options for the male voice, and Dante here just ended up being the best - he spoke a bit slower and clearer than the others and the audio quality was better so it was easy to understand. There were no good options for female voices, so we used one that was originally made for French and the accent is just what the AI thinks she should have in italianā¦ so that explains the neutrality
argh with the sync issuesā¦ Hoping weāll fully crack it in Januaryā¦ (sorry)
Ciao, Kai!
Iām totally for sticking to avoiding grammar and rationalization as much as possible in the course - since it worked so well for me!
At the same time, Iām not completely sure that for learners who might not be exposed to the actual spoken language, and all itās natural variations until later and/or not very often (as it is often the case with these courses) I think itās worth keeping into consideration a hint here and there that might help storing things the most efficient way and/or avoiding confusion.
For example, knowing a bit how my brain works by now, I was thinking:
if I heard/said again and again āstaiā for āyou areā from the very beginning of the course, Iād tend to hear it as āTHIS is THE way to say thatā and feel very confident about it.
If later in the course, all of a sudden, the Italian voices started using āseiā instead, Iād think either āthereās a mistake in the course!ā or āam I wrong, then? But why?ā.
And Iād probably tend to resist the new translation for some time, or even try to look for someone to ask or look for some explanation elsewhere.
Especially now with Automagic where, at the moment, itās basically impossible to just go back and listen to the last sentence again or go back to the beginning of the challenge or a few challenges back to check for comparison.
I believe a simple sentence, similar to the one you mentioned (or at least that idea) āone way to say thisā¦youāll learn more laterā just allows you to learn this now, and then know that in other contexts there will be other ways, and youāll just keep room for them and wonāt be surprised when they appear later.
I wouldnāt do it for every single expression that has several ways to be translated.
But āessereā is one of the very basics and probably one thatās worth extra attention and care!
Of course I remember youāre napoletano, but also as a torinese I think itās fine for anyone to go out and say āstaiā instead of āseiā - over here people came to work at Fiat from all over Italy and actually itās normal to hear all sorts of variations derived from different dialects (Like āscendi il cane!ā instead of āfai scendere il caneā :laughing).
So thatās not really a worry, Iām sure everyone understands anyway, itās just I canāt help but wondering if thereās a sweet spot between too much explanations andā¦zero, none at all!
As for the voiceā¦ Dante, ha ha ! O, noi ci si aspetta di sentiā un Dante fiorentino, suvvia!
(just jokin now - itās ok, if youāve compared the available voices and chose that.
I was just curious.
The French lady turned Italian sounds fine and very clear to me, surprisingly!
Anyway good luck for next steps, and if you like I can write more notes and random reflections, while I go on listening to the courseā¦ until you have enough of my ramblings!
So - and correct me if Iām wrong - now you have issues with southerners, too?
Fear not, also in Italy itās Gog accents that are (in general) less pleasant to my ears!
Napoletano accent is one of the nicest sounding. And Iāve got a Beneventano in the house, too, so had the chance to hear accent from his family a lot!
By the way, I was focusing on the idea of keeping into consideration including a few hints here and there - which I agreed with.
However, while weāre here and speaking of random examples, Iām not sure if ācheā would build to ānon sono sicuro che possoā, as in Italian it would normally be ānon sono sicuro di poter(e)ā.
But thereās a lot of less common and/or more complex indirect sentences, which might include that or quite a few other tenses even!
So in this case it might be tricky to find the right introduction, as thereās probably even more variations I canāt think of building up from that ācheāā¦ and maybe just better leave it just as it is.
But I donāt know, itās just reflections, itās not easy to find just the right balance, with languages that often donāt really build sentences the same way I guess !
I agree that introducing a few key words in a simple way could be helpful.
Building on othersā comments, I noticed that ācheā is used to mean āthatā in the sentence āI want that = voglio che.ā From my understanding of how the Welsh course is structured, this will likely be used later to construct longer sentences. However, for someone with no prior knowledge of the language, this might be confusing if they are trying to say āI want that (thing).ā
That being said, Iāve only completed the free portion of the course up to the orange belt level. The issues seem to be very minor and I can see the overall value of the course and it was enough to convince me to subscribe.