Rosetta Stone?

[carnation]

Okay, I teach Spanish as well as ESOL. We had the program at school for our ESOL kids. It is very, very good and they learned a lot but you have to be committed. I know so many people who have put big bucks out for this and then quit using it after a month or so.

I always tell adults that they may get better results taking a course from a college because they usually feel like if they paid for the course, they'd better attend the class. Nobody's making anybody attend Rosetta Stone.

There are several universities (use a brick-and-mortar one) that offer Italian online.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by carnation

Okay, I teach Spanish as well as ESOL. We had the program at school for our ESOL kids. It is very, very good and they learned a lot but you have to be committed. I know so many people who have put big bucks out for this and then quit using it after a month or so.

I always tell adults that they may get better results taking a course from a college because they usually feel like if they paid for the course, they'd better attend the class. Nobody's making anybody attend Rosetta Stone.

There are several universities (use a brick-and-mortar one) that offer Italian online.

I did study Italian at my college for two semesters, so I have those basics - grammar, structure, pronunciation, etc. So I'm not starting at zero. I thankfully still have my very detailed notebook from my classes, where I took impeccable notes, wrote out pages of vocabulary and conjugated verbs, etc. (My Latin is a huge help in understanding conjugation.)

My current state of health (aside from being sick frequently, I have a chronic cough that can be very disruptive), and side effects of some of my medications (blurry eyes, fatigue) can get in the way of being able to commit to GETTING TO class, attending class, being in a good enough condition to go to every class, and get out of them what I need to in the brief time the class meets.

Because of these obstacles, and the fact that I am well-motivated to do the work on my own, I'm not too worried about that.

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Nothing gets you fluent except immersion, but I think this is probably as good an at-home option as you can get. I haven't used it either. I would say (did I tell you I'm a travel agent?) that you should buy the program and book a trip to Italy. It will give you motivation. Even if your family is Italian and native speakers, you may have trouble getting them to play along well enough to be much help. But the good news is you know how the words should SOUND, and that helps a ton.

>> Yes! My dad is "off the boat" so I grew up hearing it all around me. My mom didn't allow us to learn because she tried it once (she's not Italian) and a family members laughed at her, so she prohibited speaking Italian in the house, so I just went next door to my gramma's to hear it spoken.

As a side note, I went to Greece years ago with a gal who was Greek. She never studied Greek, was never taught it because her grandparents used it to fight (I think that's hysterical). In 1 week she was conversational just from talking to people in stores and restaurants. You'd be surprised how much you have absorbed over the years.

I totally agree. Having that underlying understanding, even if it's not dictionary-exact, goes a long way in helping sharpen your language skills.

Thank you for the suggestions and considerations!