5 SEGRETI per migliorare davvero in Italiano!

Today I will talk to you about an extremely effective method to make real progress in Italian. Hi everyone and welcome to a new video! I'm Stefano and I'm an Italian teacher for foreigners. Today I want to give you some very useful tips to improve your Italian. More than anything else, improve the method with which you study Italian. Because remember that everyone can learn a language. It doesn't matter your age, it doesn't matter what your first language is, it doesn't even matter how much time you have available, everyone can learn a language. The most important thing is to have a method that works, so use an effective method that allows you to achieve your goals. So let's start right away with the first tip I have for you. Create a nice study schedule. This is a very important thing because we humans like to be organized, so if you are going to create an event in your calendar or write manually in your agenda that you have to study Italian, perhaps the chances of you doing it will be higher. This will also allow you to maintain motivation. For example, I like to open my calendar, see what my availabilities are and create a realistic study program. Don't put in your calendar that you will study every day for three hours if you don't have time to do it. It's counterproductive because then you won't be able to achieve your goal and you will lose motivation. Give yourself realistic goals, for example, study four times a week for 45 minutes. Also decide the time, for example, at 7 in the evening, so from 7 to 7.45. But not only that, you also have to decide what you will do, because you can't waste time deciding what to do during the 45 minutes. No, you have to decide what you want to do before. For example, on Monday you study grammar with Teacher Stefano's courses, which, by the way, if you are interested, you can visit our website www.teacherstefano.com and see all the courses available. Then, for example, on Wednesday you will watch videos on YouTube and you can also choose which topic. On Thursday you will take a lesson with your Italian teacher or you will have a nice conversation with a language partner and finally on Saturday you will repeat the useful vocabulary or you will read a book. In short, the combinations are endless. Then it also depends on the resources you are using at the moment. The study program must be very personal, but you have to plan it, because only by planning it you will actually be able to have a clear vision of your study, be more disciplined and at the same time have more motivation when studying Italian. So make sure you have a nice study program on your calendar. Now, this thing I just told you about active study, that is, that you actually sit at the desk and study Italian. But to learn a language it is very important to be constantly exposed to the language and therefore also do a study, a passive learning. And here we come to the second tip. Take advantage of the dead times. We all have dead times during a day. Cooking, cleaning, driving, doing sports. Here, we can take advantage of these dead times to expose ourselves a little to Italian. In my opinion, the best way to do this is through podcasts. For example, I am not a person who particularly likes to listen to podcasts. In the sense, I correct myself, I like it, but only at certain times. I am a person who often needs visual input, that is, I like to look at what I am listening to. I find podcasts a bit boring because I need to look at the person who is talking. But if I'm driving, I'm running, I'm cooking, it's a bit difficult to even look. And then, in those moments, I love listening to podcasts because they keep me company while I do these repetitive things. But I'm learning something new at the same time and so I'm taking advantage of the dead times. So really, this is a very important tip. When you're doing activities that don't actually allow you to look at a screen, but that allow you to listen, use podcasts to improve your Italian. You will improve your listening skills, you will learn many new words and expressions and you will train your ear to listen to Italian. If you feel like it, you can listen to my podcast. Just look for Teacher Stefano on the biggest podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, etc. and you will find it. Let's move on to the third tip which is very much linked to motivation. This is very important. But before we move on, I have to ask you a small favor, a very small favor. That of leaving a like. In fact, if you're enjoying this video and I'm giving you useful tips to learn Italian, don't forget to leave a like. This helps us incredibly to grow the channel. In fact, if you leave a like, YouTube will understand that this video is interesting because it is liked by people and therefore will recommend it to many other students like you. So if you want to support us, don't forget to leave a nice like. It's easy, fast and free. Thank you so much for the support! And now let's move on to the third tip which is about motivation. How do we keep our motivation high? Well, we definitely have to use content that we actually like. But why do I say this? Because if we study with things, with content, with the material we like, it will be easier to do so. So if you have to read a book in Italian, read a book that actually interests you. For example, what is your passion? Psychology? Do you like psychology? Read a book on psychology. Do you like the yellows, the policemen? Read a book on that topic. Do you like love stories? Read a book about a love story. Why do I tell you this? Because many times we feel like we have to do something, that is, I have to read a book in Italian because it is important to me, because it will help me improve, but then we hate the process of doing it because we don't find that book interesting. I don't think you would read a boring book in your language that you don't like. No, maybe you read the first pages and then you say, no, look, I don't like it, it's boring, I don't read it anymore. You have to do the same in Italian. Then it is clearly a little more difficult because in addition to an interesting book, you also have to find a book that actually suits your level. Because a book that is too difficult can demotivate you, it can be frustrating to read a book that is too difficult. But this speech I'm making doesn't just apply to books, but to all the material you choose. That is, when you have to listen to something in Italian, read, watch, try to choose material that actually interests you. It happens to me very often that students ask me, Stefano, but can I read books for kids? I mean, I don't know if you'll find an interesting book for kids. And in any case, many people think that books for kids are easier. It is not said, because anyway, if the book is for a 5-6 year old, the 5-6 year old understands everything in Italian. Books for kids have a remote past, which is still a very advanced past tense. So the fact that the book is for kids doesn't necessarily mean it will be easier. Absolutely not. On the contrary, it will use a language for children. That is, maybe some words that an adult would not use. So it is also counterproductive, because you would learn useless vocabulary. So try to use material that you actually find interesting. And of course, this does not apply to grammar, which I find incredibly interesting. But I either find it interesting or not. Anyway, you have to study it. And now let's move on and talk about the fourth tip. This advice is also a bit related to motivation. Many times students study grammar a lot, vocabulary, but they forget a very important thing, culture. Because slowly, the more you get to know our culture, our traditions, the easier it will be for you to study Italian. Because you will be able to see a real reason why you are doing it. You will begin to understand so many cultural things that you would not have understood without the language. And so you will say, ah, then I want to study Italian even more, because I want to get even more into Italian culture. In my opinion, studying the culture of a place will really give you the necessary motivation to improve the language a lot. And in fact, this is very important for me and my team. That's why in every course we always have culture lessons, because they are essential to really understand how a country works. And now let's move on to the last tip, which is perhaps quite practical, but in my opinion very important. Use flashcards to improve your vocabulary. In fact, many times a problem for all students of a language is that building your own vocabulary and also expanding it, so making it bigger, but above all keeping it, is very difficult. This is because if we don't use the words we learn every day, well, these words are then forgotten. Flashcards can help you avoid this problem, so forget the words or at least make them less serious. It's obvious, some words, if we don't always use them, we'll forget them, but at least we can reduce this problem. You can think of flashcards in two ways, or just the traditional paper flashcards, so on the one hand you write the word in Italian and on the other the definition in Italian or the translation into your language and then every day, every two days, you use flashcards to repeat the words you are working on in that period. Or I want to recommend an app that I think is fantastic, called Quizlet, which allows you to digitize your flashcards. It has many functions, many interactive games and is very easy to use. There is a free version, which does everything anyway, and also a paid version. This video is not sponsored by Quizlet, but I always like to recommend this app, because I use it personally and I really like it. So, in my opinion, you can take a look. And then you know what? Also the convenience of having flashcards on your cell phone, so you can take advantage of dead time by repeating the words with the app. Clearly not when you're driving, because you don't use your cell phone while driving, but for example, if you're waiting for the bus, or if you're on the bus, on the train, on the plane and you want to repeat your words, you can do it through the app. It's easy, intuitive and it's really very, very effective. And then, in my opinion, it's also a fun way to study Italian. So, what do you think of these tips? Did you already use some of these techniques or are they new to you? Let's talk about it in the comments. And if you liked the video, don't forget to leave a like because this, as I told you before, helps us a lot. And don't forget to subscribe to the channel and activate the bell so you don't miss any future videos. See you in the next video! A hug from Italy, ciao!