Tips/Resources for self-teaching Italian?

[vitaebella]

Hey guys,  I figured this might be a good place to come for some language-learning advice since that's what a lot of you are doing for a living

 

I'm starting an MA in English this year and my program requires demonstration of second-year proficiency in a non-English language by the end of the first year of the program.  I studied Italian previously (first year 07-08, second year 08-09) and did quite well my first year.  I felt very confident in my progress, but my second year course was just awful and I learned nothing.  The professor didn't actually teach much of anything and was more interested in yelling at us for not understanding things he wasn't teaching than trying to help us through our struggles. 

 

Anyway, that second year class killed a lot of my motivation and here I am four years later, having regressed to more or less square one.  I still have my first and second year textbooks, the workbooks that go with them, supplemental workbooks, an English-Italian/Italian-English dictionary, a verb dictionary, and flashcards but I'm not sure eactly how to get started again.  A textbook supplementing an informative classroom experience like my first-year course is a lot different than just a textbook.

 

Any ideas on how best to go about re-learning?

 

Thank you!

[caldwell614]

I've been using Duolingo the last couple weeks to refresh my Spanish, and it has been pretty good. Reviews by people who know more than me say it is better than Rosetta Stone in effectiveness. Also it's free and you get points for reviewing and learning so it feels like a game. They have Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and French I think. But the best part is the free.

 

http://www.duolingo.com/

Edited August 9, 2013 by caldwell614

[vitaebella]

Started using it the same day you suggested and it's been incredibly helpful so far.  Thank you for the suggestion!  I love it, it's definitely helping to refamiliarize myself with the basics.

[Rebecca1]

Hi,

 

Maybe try a language exhange. There is a meetup group everyone Tuesday and Thursday online on ELE http://www.easylanguageexchange.com where everyone gets together to find language partners, it has an online live chat so people talk to each, share idea's, make appointment etc.

 

Maybe that can help, it's always good to talk to others in the same position as you