Fluenz Italian 1+2 – Sonia Gil

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THE ITALIAN WAY

Those looking to learn Italian at design firms, fashion houses, Apple or the UN have come to appreciate the unique approach of Fluenz Italian. Whether you work in design, film, or want to get in touch with your Italian roots, you’ll appreciate our serious approach to languages–as the Navy’s Special Warfare Command has been doing since 2009.

THE FLUENZ ITALIAN WAY

Three Reasons Fluenz is Different.

1. A Real Italian Coach

At the core of Fluenz Italian we offer hundreds of videos with beautiful explanations of how Italian works. Milanese fashion editor Sophie Pera will take you through Italian in a way that picture-matching programs like Rosetta Stone or Babble can’t possibly offer. Most digital Italian programs have been designed so that learners of every language can use them. Because there is no way that Japanese and English speakers, for example, would learn Italian in the same way, those programs can’t hope to match the quality of explanations specifically designed for English-speakers.

2. Total Italian

There are many helpful tools to practice some Italian (Duolingo, Youtube or Slow News) but none of them can actually teach the language from scratch and take you to elegant fluency. Fluenz Italian offers the most comprehensive answer to 1) show you the ins and outs of how Italian works, 2) by leading you through a unique path designed for English-speakers to reach real comprehension and fluent speaking ability, and 3) connecting everything to the most extensive workout platform so that you can practice what you learn.

3. Beautiful and Real

For more than ten years Fluenz Italian has been the choice of those in the know. Countless five star reviews, success stories, our continuous free upgrades across devices and the amazing community of users make Fluenz the real choice to learn Italian. Unlike any other digital language learning company, Fluenz tests its methodology every single month at face-to-face immersions.

LEARN ITALIAN ON THE GO

Start on your iPhone, continue on your iPad, end on your laptop. Fluenz Italian on every device. Follow Fluenz Italian on every device. We always know where you left off. The entire program, including all tutorials, the workout platform, the assessment system, follow you no matter which device you’d like to use.

FLUENZ ITALIAN

What You Can Learn.

Level 1

Master the basics and gain the ability to navigate through a new country or city.

REAL-WORLD SITUATIONS YOU’LL ENGAGE IN:

• Greeting and introducing yourself
• Going out to eat and for entertainment
• Shopping and monetary transactions
• Navigating airports and bus stations
• Taking transports and communicating with taxi drivers
• Discussing origins
• Making hotel reservations and other travel arrangements
• Looking for people and places (directions)
• Expressing needs

FOUNDATIONAL TOPICS COVERED:

• Regular verbs and essential irregular verbs in the present tense
• Building sentences in the future
• Using the two verbs for To be: Ser and Estar
• Addressing people in a formal or informal manner
• Forming basic questions and negations
• Forming basic plurals
• Masculine and feminine gender of nouns and adjectives
• Basic pronouns and quantifiers
• Demonstratives and possessives
• Essential contractions
• Basic comparisons
• Counting up to 999,999 and expressing time
• Sounds of Italian

Italian 1 has been designed to prepare you for the most important and common situations you’ll face in the Italian-speaking world. At the same time, you’ll develop a strong foundation in how the language actually works, allowing you to go beyond simple stock phrases to actually building sentences yourself. This is a serious introduction to the language.

Right from the start, you’ll begin working with powerful structures and key vocabulary so that you can build useful Italian sentences. After only a few sessions, you’ll already be having meaningful interactions in a restaurant, and soon you’ll be shopping, making plans with friends, getting around a city, going out for entertainment, and making travel arrangements with confidence.

You’ll build upon these skills through practice with key verbs and adjectives, so that you can express your needs and desires in diverse situations with considerable detail. As you learn how to use possessives, pronouns, and form future sentences, you’ll expand your range of communication while adding an important level of depth to your interactions. Further work on location along with important time expressions will round out your introduction to the Italian language, leaving you well-prepared to dive into your experiences in the Italian-speaking world.

Level 2

Solidify your foundation and begin to acquire the tools for more serious engagement.

REAL-WORLD SITUATIONS YOU’LL ENGAGE IN:

• Making plans with friends and telling a simple story
• Going out and interacting at restaurants and stores
• Renting a car
• Sending packages
• Expressing likes and dislikes
• Finding your way
• Making more complex travel and work arrangements
• Buying gifts and souvenirs
• Describing places and items
• Going to the pharmacy or doctor’s

FOUNDATIONAL TOPICS COVERED:

• Regular and essential irregular verbs in the past tense
• More regular and irregular verbs in the present tense
• Introduction to object pronouns
• Forming more complex statements and questions
• Place and form of adjectives (feminines and plurals)
• Comparatives and superlatives
• More advanced preposition usage
• More crucial quantifiers and other articles
• Further work with plurals
• Colors
• Using essential time adverbs and expressions

Italian 2 picks up where the first level leaves off, deepening your grasp of the fundamentals through new verb tenses and conjugations, an expanding vocabulary, and a broad range of other key parts of the language. By the end of Italian 2, you’ll have begun to make substantial inroads into becoming a more serious Italian speaker, ideally preparing you for moving on to a more intermediate level.

You’ll begin perfecting your verb conjugations in the very beginning, including both past tense and important irregular verbs. From there, you’ll continue to build upon the structures learned in Italian 1, so that your journey through this second level leads to more complex and meaningful interactions in restaurants, travel agencies, stores, and with friends. You’ll buy clothing from boutique stores and a cell phone for your trip ; you’ll enjoy local cuisine at restaurants, and visit museums with friends. And as your ability to express location—along with giving and understanding directions—grows, you’ll find yourself thoroughly prepared for navigating any Italian-speaking city or neighborhood.

As with all Fluenz programs, these critical scenarios provide the setting through which your grasp of the language’s fundamentals is steadily developed. By enhancing your ability with the central topics covered in the previous level (such as articles, pronouns, verbs, and genders), you’ll solidify your foundation in the language. Meanwhile, the introduction of new structures and vocabulary (such as new adjectives, comparative forms, and many time expressions) combines with more serious responsibilities, such as going to the doctor and handling office tasks, preparing you to engage more seriously with the Italian-speaking world.

Get Fluenz Italian 1+2 –  Anonymous, Only Price $57

Level 3

Connect more deeply and confidently with the world around you.

REAL-WORLD SITUATIONS YOU’LL ENGAGE IN:

• Completing home and office tasks
• Renting an apartment or a house
• Discussing family
• Describing people
• Talking about studies and learning
• Talking about hobbies and sports
• Discussing the weather
• Scheduling, including making plans with friends and colleagues
• Complex dining and shopping interactions
• Advanced issues related to going out at night and entertainment
• Expressing opinions and preferences
• Expressing goals

FOUNDATIONAL TOPICS COVERED:

• Constructing more complex sentences using past, present, and future tense verbs
• More irregular verbs in past and present tenses
• Further work on formal and informal pronouns
• Forming all types of questions
• Extensive work on articles and adjectivesOrdinal numbers
• Further work on comparatives and introduction of superlatives
• Structure of indirect speech
• Further work on replacement and object pronouns
• Asking for words or information
• Ordinal numbers (floors)
• Prices and rates
• Complete dates

Italian 3 dramatically expands your ability with the language. While Levels 1+2 establish the strongest possible foundation in the language, Level 3 builds upon this base into areas of substantial complexity that add an impressive layer of subtlety and sophistication to your speech. You also begin to develop the ability to connect with Italian speakers around more personal topics.

By the time we arrive at Level 3, the foundation has been set for a pivotal moment of growth. Building upon all that has been learned in the previous levels, your depth and range of communication will quickly broaden. As your skills develop with more adverbs, verb conjugations, and colloquial phrases and questions, your conversations will become more fluid and natural. In the end, other important topics, such as essential computing expressions, the use of superlatives, and expressing opinions and preferences will combine with more real-world vocabulary to bring you to an impressive level of competency in Italian.

Throughout the program, you’ll use these skills at home and in the office, while talking to people about your studies and professional life, and in order to rent an apartment. You’ll also shop, dine, take pictures, and enjoy the entertainment that the great cities and communities of the Italian-speaking world have to offer. By the end of Italian 3, you’ll have taken a major step towards becoming a serious Italian speaker, capable of handling intricate conversations and complicated situations with confidence.

Level 4

Open new doors into travel, business, and community.

REAL-WORLD SITUATIONS YOU’LL ENGAGE IN:

• Discussing family and childhood stories
• Seasons and climate
• Handling complex currency and money-related issues
• Opening and closing a bank account
• Traveling around Italy
• Navigating city traffic and parking
• Outdoor activities and planning
• Describing places: going around cities, beaches, mountains
• Sports and sports equipment
• Talking about clothes
• Italian culture

FOUNDATIONAL TOPICS COVERED:

• Building phrases in the recent past and the near future
• Introduction to verbs using specific prepositions
• Introduction to reflexive verbs
• Geographical terms and cardinal directions
• Nuancing your speech: further work on formal/informal language
• Expressing obligation
• More irregular verb forms in past and present tenses
• Crucial expressions with essential verbs
• Using direct and indirect object pronouns
• Complex comparative and superlative structures

Italian 4 continues adding critical pieces to your communication. From the subtle uses of some key prepositions to more refined object pronoun use, this level expands on the sophistication developed with Italian 3. It also addresses topics that allow you to express a much wider range of emotion, from opinions and preferences to wishes and desires, or even obligation, as well as to adapt your speech to all types of speakers and interactions.

These areas of the language fit perfectly with the situations you’ll find yourself in as you journey through the level. As you learn how to use reflexive verbs and indirect objects, you’ll hold conversations about your family and childhood, cultural issues, interests, and more. By the end of the level, you’ll know how to address issues of season and climate, open or close a bank account, and handle more complicated issues. In addition to an extensive vocab on some outstanding topics like street directions, travel plans, beach essentials or sports equipments, you’ll also learn how to make calls and ask for important information.

This level is designed for you to reach a whole new level of fluency and acquire the necessary skills for integrating yourself more deeply in a Italian-speaking community. Italian 4 is where you begin to develop the ability to move beyond being just a tourist, student, doctor, or business professional who can capably interact with the Italian-speaking world. With Italian 4, you begin to become a part of the community.

Level 5

Make friends, collaborate with colleagues, and become a true member of the community.

REAL-WORLD SITUATIONS YOU’LL ENGAGE IN:

• Advanced conversations about food and diet
• Discussing the arts and artwork
• Talking about studies, professions and titles
• Talking about countries and nationalities
• Extended family
• Animals and pets
• Making deposits and wire transfers
• Complex trip and meeting planning
• Writing letters and emails
• Sharing menus and recipes
• Visiting the doctor and physical terms
• Filling out forms
• Dealing with basic legal issues
• Airport announcements
• Telling stories in the preterite and imperfect past tenses

FOUNDATIONAL TOPICS COVERED:

• Forming and using the imperfect tense
• Expressing emotions in present and past tenses
• Introduction to reciprocal pronouns
• Advanced issues on the positioning of adjectives and adverbs
• In-depth work on prepositions
• Expressing relative time
• Using where and when as conjunctions
• Using basic relative pronouns: that, who, which
• Complex quantifiers and comparisons
• The alphabet and complex phonetics issues

Italian 5 builds on the skills acquired through the previous levels, adding substantial layers of subtlety and sophistication to your ability with the language. You’ll master complex grammatical issues like the use of the preterite vs. imperfect past tenses, speak more naturally through colloquial expressions and lots of new vocab, and communicate more fluidly with greater diversity in tone and structure.

As with all Italian programs, these skills are developed over the course of 30 full sessions that will take you on a journey through real, daily-life experiences in the Italian-speaking world. You’ll plan memorable trips with friends, arrange meetings with colleagues, discuss the arts, and exchange delicious recipes. You’ll also further your ability to handle those things that are critical to establishing yourself more deeply in a community, from taking care of legal matters to more formal writing.

While there will of course still exist many ways to improve your Italian, and building a larger vocabulary will allow you to discuss a wider range of topics, Italian 5 will bring you to a point where grammar will no longer be an obstacle to communication. By the time you complete this level, you will truly be an experienced Italian speaker.

FLUENZ LANGUAGE IMMERSIONS

The most sophisticated Immersion anywhere.

The love of language is at the center of our company. For us Apps and our online platforms are a means to convey our powerful linguistic model, not an end in itself. This is why we’re the only major digital language learning company that offers real face-to-face immersion every month–the ultimate test of how powerful our language learning system is. We’re currently offering Spanish Immersions and will be launching Italian Immersions in the future.

“To use English to teach a foreign tongue? Fluenz says “yes”, and trumps Rosetta stone.”

By Deborah Yap AP Business Writer

DIFFERENCES IN APPROACHES: Rosetta Stone believes in fully immersing the student in the language, without using any English to explain phrases. Fluenz believes adults learn best when they can relate the grammar and syntax of a foreign language to the structure of the tongue they already know.

THE VERDICT: Fluenz’s approach is much better. Hearing English while going through Italian words helps with learning and retention.

On a trip through southern Italy years ago, I was embarrassed to discover that all along, I had been mispronouncing “tabacchi” — tobacco shops that sell bus tickets and other sundry. I’d been saying “ta-ba-chee” rather than “ta-ba-kee” until a storekeeper impatiently corrected me.

Determined not to make the same faux pas, I brushed up on Italian using two language-lesson programs ahead of my visit to Cinque Terre and Tuscany in early July. I found the Fluenz software from a relatively new company by that name better than the venerable Rosetta Stone Totale program.

The two programs had opposite approaches. Rosetta Stone Ltd.’s software believes in fully immersing the student in the language, without using any English to explain phrases. By contrast, Fluenz believes that while full immersion might work with children, adults don’t learn languages as instinctively. Fluenz believes that adults learn best when they can relate the grammar and syntax of a foreign language to the structure of the tongue they already know — in my case, English.

I like Fluenz’s approach much better. I like the comfort of hearing English as I go through Italian words, to help me pronounce them and understand what they mean.

Fluenz helped me make the word associations I needed to learn the language faster. For instance, in learning the word “lui,” which means “he,” the smiling female instructor on the computer screen told me to think of a guy named “Louis.”

The instructor also gave tips on how to pronounce Italian properly. For “Sandra,” which is pronounced “sun-drah,” she told me to open up my mouth for the first syllable.

These were the tips and mental bridges to the Italian language that were missing in Rosetta Stone.

Rosetta Stone’s lessons used all Italian words and sentences, which you match to pictures — of a woman eating or children reading. This approach worked well initially, until it got to more complex sentences and phrases. I’m still not sure what some of them meant.

The look and feel of both programs also differs. Fluenz used the video of a friendly instructor to welcome me to the program and ease me into the lessons. Rosetta Stone went straight to the lessons, which might be fine for some folks, but I felt a bit rushed.

Both programs offer language exercises after each lesson to pin down what you’ve learned.

There were a variety of tests: You match Italian words to the pictures or type in the words yourself, among others. You weren’t graded but the programs tell you if you’ve made an error.

Rosetta Stone also offers the option of talking to a native speaker for no additional cost. There are group sessions you can join throughout the month. You pick an online meeting time that’s convenient for you.

But both programs fall short in failing to introduce conjugation and grammatical rules, so that I could construct my own sentences. Perhaps it’s just my preference, but as a speaker of Tagalog, Taiwanese and English, I’m not satisfied with simply memorizing sentences as I’ve had to with Rosetta Stone and Fluenz.

It boils down to why I take these lessons. For a casual tourist or business executive, memorizing a smattering of phrases is probably good enough. For more serious linguists, there’s no substitute for a formal Italian lesson. I fall somewhere in between.

Rosetta Stone Totale costs S999 for a year. Lessons can be accessed online through RosettaStone.com, and the price includes audio CDs and a headset to practice five levels of Italian on the go. There is no software to download. Rosetta Stone also makes cheaper sets available, without the language coach and a few other perks such as an online community of learners. The one with all five levels costs S699. In this case, the software comes on CDs that you can buy online or in mall kiosks.

Fluenz offers two levels of Italian for $357 combined. The program comes on DVDs and works on Windows XP, Vista or 7 and on Mac OS X 10.3 or higher. Besides the DVDs, you get an audio CD to review what you’ve learned.

Fluenz also has software for French, Spanish and Mandarin, while Rosetta Stone offers 30 other languages, including Swahili and Turkish.

In the end, I had more fun learning Italian using Fluenz. The software’s female instructor introduced each lesson and sought to evoke the excitement of Italy by sharing imagery such as sitting in an Italian class in Milan near the Duomo, or cathedral. Such mental motivation goes a long way toward keeping me interested in the lessons.

She also encouraged users to keep learning by telling us we can do it: “Italian is your friend,” she said. “I hope you go to Italy soon.”