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Soluzioni – A Practical Guide to Italian Grammar

The material on this website is provided in support of Soluzioni – A Practical Guide to Italian Grammar

Weblinks

The internet is an invaluable linguistic resource, exposing you to words and expressions that are current and contemporary, so it’s worth building up a repertoire of favourite sites. Whether you are reading, listening or viewing, it is a good idea to choose subjects you are familiar with and which interest you. This will make it easier to understand and learn.  Remember that the secret of successful learning is little and often:  a lengthy blitz only now and again will simply leave you dazed and unable to take much in!

When listening or viewing live, you will be exposed to spontaneous Italian which is harder to process than the Italian spoken or heard in class. It is important to realise that you are not meant to be able to translate every word. Aim at gradually picking out significant words and phrases and understanding the overall gist. Further practice will enable you to understand more and more.

You do not always have to listen live. It is well worth making use of podcast facilities such as Stitcher (which enables you to personalise your favourite podcasts), or applications such as iTunes, so you can listen more than once when driving, shopping or working around the house.

The following references provide a selection of links to useful language learning resources.

READING

Newspapers

News online

Other Interests

  • Focus. This magazine is for the general reader. Su Focus.it trovi tante notizie, curiosità e news su scienza, natura, mondo animale e sesso; scopri tutte le ultime novità su storia, tecnologia e salute.
  • Enciclopedia Treccani. Advanced. Enormous range of topics. Including lingua italiana. Worth browsing carefully. Also has web TV.
  • Jazz al Nero. Advanced. Focussed on reviews of thriller and noir genre of literature, but has a wide range of interesting blog links to a great variety of contemporary cultural & political comment.

LISTENING AND VIEWING

TV and Radio

  • RAI. This important site enables you to access live all RAI TV and radio programmes (Radio 1, 2, 3 & 4), and to create podcasts. (For example, see Radio 3 Fahrenheit below)
  • Fahrenheit
  • Radio 24 This has a wide range of interesting programmes which you can hear live or on mp3 and as podcasts. For example, ‘Essere e Benessere’ on health and family, ’24 mattino’, news and current affairs, ‘Gastronauta’ on food, ‘Questa casa non è un albergo’ (family matters).
  • Radio Italia Mainly Music

You Tube

ITALIAN LANGUAGE

On-line Dictionaries. You need to register, but it is quick and free.

  • Zingarelli monolingual. See also the link to ‘Le parole del giorno’ dallo Zingarelli del 2010’
  • Garzanti Bilingual and Monolingual dictionaries

Vocabulary building

  • Word reference. An active forum about language where advice is sought and given. Fun and engaging.
  • Parola del giorno A Facebook group and daily blog. Ideal for vocabulary building.

GENERAL SEARCH ENGINES These all have links to a wide range of internet sites

ORGANISATIONS AND ACADEMIC PERIODICALS