Hi everyone! So, this is the first post for this new blog. I thought I might document my language learning with you since I spend so much time doing it. I could give you a plan of how I will attempt to learn and improve Italian, Arabic, Persian and Turkish for the next year. However, I am Jake and I am very fickle so I wouldn't be surprised if this changes.
Today I was experimenting with Eurotalk to improve my Italian pronunciation. I have already gone through Talk Now Italian to get some basic vocab. The vague principle I followed was that if I got more than 40 in any of the levels, I would move on. By the time I got to hard game +, I would move on in any case.
Afterwards, I decided it was time to hone my pronunciation skills for basic words. When I do this, I make sure I have a gap between each stage; I try and complete one stage, then do whatever else I have to do and come back later. Otherwise, it is hard to tell whether I have learned anything, or if it's just in my short term memory.
When using Eurotalk, I proceed as follows: I begin by listening to each word, both the male and female voice, which appear to be from different regions, (although I have no idea to be honest; secondly, I listen and repeat after each one;then, I listen and repeat and record my voice. For the final stage, I mute my computer, press the word I am trying to improve, record my voice and then, after restoring sound, compare it to the speaker.
I find this method useful, especially if, like me, you haven't been trained in phonetics. It's surprising how you can start to hear the differences between your voice and that of a native speaker in a short period of time.
For example, had I just simply been speaking, I would have imagined that I was pronouncing Italian "i" correctly, e.g. in "dritto". However, this was not the case and there was a marked difference between my pronunciation and that of a native speaker's.
Anyway, I have to go now. I hope that this is of use to someone. If not, it will be nice to look back on for posterity.
Buonanotte!
