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Do You Speak Italian? – HearSay

Italian B1

Master B1 Italian with Chapter 1 of Nuovo Espresso 3. Practice listening and speaking on the go as you debate grammar, borrow books, and share hilarious cultural anecdotes.

Lessons

Expressing personal opinions
Learn how to clearly state your thoughts and opinions on the language learning process.
Vocabulary
- Esprimere la propria opinione (To express one's opinion)
- Io sono del parere che... (I am of the opinion that...)
- Imparare una lingua è come... (Learning a language is like...)
- Io sono convinto che... (I am convinced that...)
- Credo che si possa dire così (I think you can say it like this)
- È proprio vero... (It's really true...)
- Hai ragione (You are right)
Objectives
- Express your personal opinion
- State your convictions clearly
Agreeing and disagreeing
Navigate debates by politely showing your agreement or firm disagreement with others.
Vocabulary
- Esprimere accordo (To express agreement)
- Esprimere disaccordo (To express disagreement)
- Non sono affatto d'accordo (I completely disagree)
- Io la penso diversamente (I think differently)
- Non direi proprio! (I really wouldn't say so!)
- Sono d'accordo con te (I agree with you)
- A me non sembra proprio! (It really doesn't seem so to me!)
Objectives
- Agree with a classmate's point
- Firmly express disagreement
Assessing your language skills
Take a moment to reflect on your current language abilities and identify areas for growth.
Vocabulary
- Riflettere sulle tue conoscenze (To reflect on your knowledge)
- la competenza (the competence)
- l'abilità (the skill)
- i punti deboli (the weak points)
- Fare progressi (To make progress)
- la memoria (the memory)
- il vocabolario (the vocabulary)
Objectives
- Self-assess your language proficiency
- Identify your weak points
Strategies for language improvement
Discover proven techniques and daily habits that can help you master a new language.
Vocabulary
- Ascoltare dialoghi autentici (To listen to authentic dialogues)
- autentico (authentic)
- Leggere testi letterari (To read literary texts)
- Leggere ad alta voce (To read aloud)
- Imparare parole a memoria (To learn words by heart)
- la traduzione (the translation)
- la scuola di lingue (the language school)
Objectives
- Identify strategies to improve weak points
- Discuss the value of authentic dialogues
Motivations to learn languages
Discuss the deep personal and professional reasons people choose to study foreign languages.
Vocabulary
- Conoscere altre lingue (To know other languages)
- Entrare in un nuovo mondo (To enter a new world)
- Riuscire a comunicare qualcosa (To be able to communicate something)
- Entrare in contatto con persone di altre culture (To come into contact with people from other cultures)
- Scoprire la propria passione (To discover one's passion)
- Riallacciarsi alle proprie origini familiari (To reconnect with one's family origins)
Objectives
- Understand motivations for studying languages
- Discuss cultural connections
Deep meanings of learning
Explore poetic and practical metaphors for the language learning journey.
Vocabulary
- Studiare uno strumento musicale (To study a musical instrument)
- Piantare un albero nella mia anima (To plant a tree in my soul)
- piantare (to plant)
- Trasferirsi (To move / relocate)
- la lezione di prova (the trial lesson)
- Ridare indietro tutti i soldi (To give all the money back)
- Per niente noioso (Not boring at all)
Objectives
- Compare learning a language to playing an instrument
- Talk about trial language lessons
Using the past perfect
Master the trapassato prossimo to talk about actions that happened before other past events.
Vocabulary
- Il trapassato prossimo (The past perfect tense)
- Mi ero già iscritto l'anno scorso (I had already enrolled last year)
- iscriversi (to enroll)
- Prima di + infinito (Before + infinitive)
- Diventare sempre più importanti (To become increasingly important)
- l'agenzia di viaggi (the travel agency)
- la storia d'amore (the love story)
Objectives
- Describe past actions using the trapassato prossimo
- Discuss past enrollments and milestones
Language learning experiences
Interview a classmate about their learning journey, from blanking out to dreaming in Italian.
Vocabulary
- Sognare in una lingua straniera (To dream in a foreign language)
- Situazioni in cui non è riuscito a dire nemmeno una parola (Situations in which he couldn't say even a word)
- Riprovare (To try again)
- l'incidente di percorso (the bump in the road / hiccup)
- In ogni modo (Anyway)
- Non ho voglia di parlare (I don't feel like talking)
- l'appuntamento (the appointment / date)
Objectives
- Interview someone about their language progress
- Describe situations where words failed you
Cultural misunderstandings
Recount awkward but educational moments caused by different cultural norms.
Vocabulary
- l'incidente culturale (the cultural incident)
- Soffiarsi il naso (To blow one's nose)
- Starnutire (To sneeze)
- In pubblico è considerata una cosa indecente (In public it is considered an indecent thing)
- indecente (indecent)
- imbarazzato (embarrassed)
- Abbracciarsi forte (To hug each other tightly)
Objectives
- Recount anecdotes about cultural misunderstandings
- Describe embarrassing cultural faux pas
Amusing linguistic mishaps
Share stories of times when a simple wrong word changed the entire meaning of a sentence.
Vocabulary
- l'incidente linguistico (the linguistic incident)
- l'aneddoto linguistico (the linguistic anecdote)
- il genero (the son-in-law)
- Strappare la pagina (To tear the page)
- È stata una fortuna (It was a stroke of luck)
- È stato un caso (It was a chance / accident)
- Toglimi una curiosità (Satisfy my curiosity)
Objectives
- Read and recount a linguistic anecdote
- Explain a chance linguistic encounter
Grammar rules versus usage
Debate whether strict grammatical rules or colloquial usage should dictate how we speak.
Vocabulary
- la regola (the rule)
- Rispettare di più le regole di grammatica (To respect the rules of grammar more)
- Le regole andrebbero rispettate (Rules should be respected)
- L'uso che fa la regola (Usage makes the rule)
- Parlare come vuole (To speak however one wants)
- Non essere nemmeno così rigidi (To not even be so rigid)
- Non si dovrebbe essere troppo categorici (One shouldn't be too categorical)
Objectives
- Debate grammar rules versus everyday usage
- Express opinions on linguistic flexibility
Discussing colloquial Italian
Identify structures typical of the spoken language and regional variations.
Vocabulary
- il regionalismo ormai accettato (the now accepted regionalism)
- Un costrutto tipico del registro colloquiale (A typical construct of the colloquial register)
- Evidenziare il tema (To highlight the theme)
- il complemento di stato in luogo (the complement of location)
- Suona male (It sounds bad)
- irregolare (irregular)
Objectives
- Identify colloquial registers in speech
- Discuss accepted regionalisms
Borrowing and lending items
Learn to politely ask to borrow things and grant permission using combined pronouns.
Vocabulary
- I pronomi combinati (The combined pronouns)
- Prendere in prestito (To borrow)
- Me lo presti? (Will you lend it to me?)
- Me la presti un attimo? (Will you lend it to me for a moment?)
- Restituire i libri (To return the books)
- il primo scaffale in basso (the first shelf at the bottom)
- Volentieri (Gladly)
Objectives
- Ask to borrow items using combined pronouns
- Grant or refuse permission to borrow
Hypotheses with the verb dovere
Use the verb dovere to express assumptions and form hypotheses about unknown situations.
Vocabulary
- Il verbo dovere per esprimere un'ipotesi (The verb dovere to express a hypothesis)
- Fare delle ipotesi (To make hypotheses)
- Mi è venuto un dubbio (A doubt crossed my mind)
- Avere un dubbio su una parola (To have a doubt about a word)
- la forma verbale (the verb form)
- la proposta di lavoro (the job proposal)
Objectives
- Express hypotheses using the verb dovere
- Discuss doubts regarding verb forms
Forming negative adjectives
Expand your vocabulary by learning how to use negative prefixes like in- and ir-.
Vocabulary
- Il prefisso negativo in- (The negative prefix in-)
- Utile / Inutile (Useful / Useless)
- Possibile / Impossibile (Possible / Impossible)
- Responsabile / Irresponsabile (Responsible / Irresponsible)
- la guerra irresponsabile (the irresponsible war)
- Adatto / Inadatto (Suitable / Unsuitable)
- Logico / Illogico (Logical / Illogical)
Objectives
- Form negative adjectives with prefixes
- Describe situations as logical or illogical
More negative adjectives
Continue building your descriptive vocabulary with contrasting adjective pairs.
Vocabulary
- Morale / Immorale (Moral / Immoral)
- Probabile / Improbabile (Probable / Improbable)
- Ragionevole / Irragionevole (Reasonable / Unreasonable)
- i fenomeni simili (the similar phenomena)
- la premessa (the premise)
- Preferibile (Preferable)
Objectives
- Use more negative prefixes accurately
- Evaluate premises and probabilities
Anglicisms and loan words
Discuss the impact of English and other foreign languages on modern Italian.
Vocabulary
- Parole straniere entrate nella lingua italiana (Foreign words that entered the Italian language)
- l'Italenglish (the Italenglish)
- Inutile introdurre una quantità di parole inglesi (Useless to introduce a lot of English words)
- il pranzo veloce (the fast lunch)
- il servizio clienti (the customer service)
- lo spettacolo (the show)
- Suona strano o antiquato (It sounds strange or antiquated)
Objectives
- Discuss the use of anglicisms in Italian
- Identify foreign loan words
Navigating foreign terms
Examine how foreign words become habits and look for adequate Italian equivalents.
Vocabulary
- I termini che usiamo correntemente (The terms we currently use)
- Per abitudine (Out of habit)
- il termine corrispondente (the corresponding term)
- Non ci viene in mente subito (It doesn't come to mind immediately)
- Apportare integrazioni o cambiamenti (To make additions or changes)
- l'adeguato equivalente (the adequate equivalent)
Objectives
- Find adequate equivalents for loan words
- Discuss habitual language changes
Directions and misunderstandings
Practice giving directions and resolving the confusion that occurs when getting lost.
Vocabulary
- Chiedere un'informazione (To ask for information)
- Dare informazioni sbagliate (To give wrong information)
- Spiegare la strada giusta (To explain the right way)
- Litigare tra loro (To argue with each other)
- Scappare senza capire niente (To run away without understanding anything)
- Scoprire l'origine (To discover the origin)
Objectives
- Give directions in a conversational setting
- Resolve travel misunderstandings
The global Italian language
Learn about the reach of the Italian language and its status across different global regions.
Vocabulary
- la lingua materna (the mother tongue)
- la lingua ufficiale (the official language)
- Avere lo statuto di lingua ufficiale (To have the status of an official language)
- le regioni europee ed extraeuropee (the European and non-European regions)
- Un numero ristretto di regioni (A restricted number of regions)
- l'italofonia (the Italophony / Italian-speaking world)
Objectives
- Discuss the global presence of Italian
- Describe regions where Italian is official
Expanding Italian communities
Wrap up by exploring the impact of Italian emigrants and international enthusiasm for the culture.
Vocabulary
- Gran parte della popolazione (A large part of the population)
- Ampie comunità di emigrati (Large communities of emigrants)
- Parole italiane internazionali (International Italian words)
- la richiesta di italiano e italianità (the demand for Italian and Italianness)
- Mantenere fresca la conoscenza dell'italiano (To keep the knowledge of Italian fresh)
- Caricare i loro video (To upload their videos)
- le lingue parlate (the spoken languages)
Objectives
- Discuss communities of Italian emigrants
- Explain how to keep language knowledge fresh

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