Comments on: How to start learning Italian (video) http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/ Unconventional language hacking tips from Benny the Irish polyglot; travelling the world to learn languages to fluency and beyond! Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:53:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Philip Leo Kraus http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-6768 Philip Leo Kraus Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:30:35 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-6768 Happy Birthday, Bennie! It's been 6 years since Rome and I see you are getting more in love with life every day... it's been good for you, certainly! God bless you, see you out and about. Happy Birthday, Bennie! It's been 6 years since Rome and I see you are getting more in love with life every day… it's been good for you, certainly! God bless you, see you out and about.

]]> By: GlobalButterfly http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-5463 GlobalButterfly Sun, 28 Mar 2010 07:53:52 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-5463 Haha, you remind me so much of my very Italian father in this video! Love the sunnies!!! :) Haha, you remind me so much of my very Italian father in this video! Love the sunnies!!! :)

]]> By: Benny the Irish polyglot http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-5410 Benny the Irish polyglot Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:21:07 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-5410 No worries ;) If I ever visit one of those élite schools, I may just make a video making fun of THEM, that will bring their ego down a notch ;) No worries ;) If I ever visit one of those élite schools, I may just make a video making fun of THEM, that will bring their ego down a notch ;)

]]> By: Arianna http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-5409 Arianna Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:09:20 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-5409 that was a quick reply!<br><br>again, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, i just couldn't help it, i had to say i didn't like the whole overdoing hand gestures lol<br>but yes, overall it's a good video and you did show things that are typical of Italians, such as the espresso thing ;) <br><br>I do care of what they think of Italians in an élite school, because it shows that even in a place where supposedly cultivated, open-minded people go to, clichès are deeply rooted and hard to eliminate. Most of the times i find them funny; some other times i would like to remind people that my country isn't just about pizza, spaghetti, mafia and mustached men that speak really loudly and move their hands every 2 seconds! (---> like in Family guy when Peter tries to speak italian LOL...)<br><br>Nevertheless, it's a pretty good video and i very much appreciate the fact that you've been learning italian! it's not that easy to find :) <br>Good luck with your missions! And i apologize if i sounded too "harsh" in my previous comment <br>ciao<br>Ari that was a quick reply!

again, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, i just couldn't help it, i had to say i didn't like the whole overdoing hand gestures lol
but yes, overall it's a good video and you did show things that are typical of Italians, such as the espresso thing ;)

I do care of what they think of Italians in an élite school, because it shows that even in a place where supposedly cultivated, open-minded people go to, clichès are deeply rooted and hard to eliminate. Most of the times i find them funny; some other times i would like to remind people that my country isn't just about pizza, spaghetti, mafia and mustached men that speak really loudly and move their hands every 2 seconds! (—> like in Family guy when Peter tries to speak italian LOL…)

Nevertheless, it's a pretty good video and i very much appreciate the fact that you've been learning italian! it's not that easy to find :)
Good luck with your missions! And i apologize if i sounded too “harsh” in my previous comment
ciao
Ari

]]> By: Benny the Irish polyglot http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-5404 Benny the Irish polyglot Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:29:37 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-5404 Hi Arianna!<br><br>You're right that the video is a silly and a regurgitation of <i>certain</i>stereotypes, but the character I was playing was a foreigner <i>trying to be Italian</i> (I don't think Italians go around with English-Italian dictionaries much in Rome) ;)<br><br>However, a lot of things I did in the video <b>are absolutely typical</b> of Italians in my experience, like drinking espressos in one super quick gulp ;) I also didn't shave for a few days, something that seems to be the norm among men in many parts of Italy compared to other places I've lived in. I way overdid the hand gestures, but you have to admit that they are partially true!<br><br>Most Italians I've shown the video to have found it absolutely hilarious to see how ridiculous <i>I</i> look in overdoing it ;) I hardly think that overdoing the hand gestures is as offensive as say if I tried to repeat the Mario brothers image of an Italian. I genuinely think parts of the video are indeed authentic, and I worked hard to present myself as Italian as possible based on my experience living there, but exaggeration is needed for humour.<br><br>This is a theme in other videos I've made; I just made one about Ireland where I'm dressed up like a leprechaun, thus satisfying all the American stereotypes. I don't like stereotypes (and you'll notice that I've just written a post about getting over stereotypes about Parisians), but as long as they aren't offensive and are funny, more people will watch the video and actually pay attention to the message in the voice-over :) <br><br>It's important to remember that the point of the video isn't the silly representation of Italians, but to <i>promote the Italian language</i> and introduce people to it. The video has been up for a very long time and you are the first Italian that has voiced not appreciating it.<br><br>I personally wouldn't care much about what they think of me in an élite school if I were you. Travel is indeed about embracing other cultures and avoiding clichés, but it's also about not taking things too seriously for some of us ;) The video includes a style of humour that has been appreciated by a lot of Italians I've shown it to.<br><br>Frankly, to find a video about Italy without hand gestures, you will have to either use a foreigner who doesn't want to emulate Italians, or use an Italian in a straightjacket ;)<br><br>Biz Hi Arianna!

You're right that the video is a silly and a regurgitation of certainstereotypes, but the character I was playing was a foreigner trying to be Italian (I don't think Italians go around with English-Italian dictionaries much in Rome) ;)

However, a lot of things I did in the video are absolutely typical of Italians in my experience, like drinking espressos in one super quick gulp ;) I also didn't shave for a few days, something that seems to be the norm among men in many parts of Italy compared to other places I've lived in. I way overdid the hand gestures, but you have to admit that they are partially true!

Most Italians I've shown the video to have found it absolutely hilarious to see how ridiculous I look in overdoing it ;) I hardly think that overdoing the hand gestures is as offensive as say if I tried to repeat the Mario brothers image of an Italian. I genuinely think parts of the video are indeed authentic, and I worked hard to present myself as Italian as possible based on my experience living there, but exaggeration is needed for humour.

This is a theme in other videos I've made; I just made one about Ireland where I'm dressed up like a leprechaun, thus satisfying all the American stereotypes. I don't like stereotypes (and you'll notice that I've just written a post about getting over stereotypes about Parisians), but as long as they aren't offensive and are funny, more people will watch the video and actually pay attention to the message in the voice-over :)

It's important to remember that the point of the video isn't the silly representation of Italians, but to promote the Italian language and introduce people to it. The video has been up for a very long time and you are the first Italian that has voiced not appreciating it.

I personally wouldn't care much about what they think of me in an élite school if I were you. Travel is indeed about embracing other cultures and avoiding clichés, but it's also about not taking things too seriously for some of us ;) The video includes a style of humour that has been appreciated by a lot of Italians I've shown it to.

Frankly, to find a video about Italy without hand gestures, you will have to either use a foreigner who doesn't want to emulate Italians, or use an Italian in a straightjacket ;)

Biz

]]> By: Arianna http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-5403 Arianna Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:39:33 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-5403 Hey Benny<br>I really like your blog and found some of the tips you gave on how to learn languages more quickly very interesting indeed. I speak English, French, and i'm now studying Mandarin and Portuguese. Little steps to become a polyglot!<br>However i can't say I entirely appreciated the video you posted here, on learning italian. See, i am Italian and right now i'm in a university in France, in an international campus and students come from all over the world. Well, even being an "élite" school people seem to think of italians as a bunch of funny people that use hands instead of words -.-" It's really FRUSTRATING. In your video, the hand gestures are correct, but you use them way too much!! Isn't part of the language learning process and of travelling, trying to avoid and dismantel cliches as much as possible? <br>I know it was probably meant to be ironic and i'm not making a big deal out of it, but i'd really love it if one day i could watch a video on Italy without those silly hand gestures :D<br>Bisous<br>Arianna Hey Benny
I really like your blog and found some of the tips you gave on how to learn languages more quickly very interesting indeed. I speak English, French, and i'm now studying Mandarin and Portuguese. Little steps to become a polyglot!
However i can't say I entirely appreciated the video you posted here, on learning italian. See, i am Italian and right now i'm in a university in France, in an international campus and students come from all over the world. Well, even being an “élite” school people seem to think of italians as a bunch of funny people that use hands instead of words -.-” It's really FRUSTRATING. In your video, the hand gestures are correct, but you use them way too much!! Isn't part of the language learning process and of travelling, trying to avoid and dismantel cliches as much as possible?
I know it was probably meant to be ironic and i'm not making a big deal out of it, but i'd really love it if one day i could watch a video on Italy without those silly hand gestures :D
Bisous
Arianna

]]> By: benny http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-608 benny Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:44:42 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-608 "Only" 6 languages :P Personally, I go for quality rather than just quantity ;) I'll be talking about this more in other posts. “Only” 6 languages :P
Personally, I go for quality rather than just quantity ;) I’ll be talking about this more in other posts.

]]> By: Anna Larson http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-589 Anna Larson Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:15:34 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-589 You remind me a bit of another guy I read about. He apparently learnt Italian up to the point of being able to hold a conversation in it in about 3 weeks. He can only speak 6 languages though, not 7 like you. You used to be able to find something on his website about it, but it's gone now. In case they put it back up, it used to be viewable at www.paulnoblelanguages.com Interesting stuff. You remind me a bit of another guy I read about. He apparently learnt Italian up to the point of being able to hold a conversation in it in about 3 weeks. He can only speak 6 languages though, not 7 like you.

You used to be able to find something on his website about it, but it’s gone now. In case they put it back up, it used to be viewable at http://www.paulnoblelanguages.com

Interesting stuff.

]]> By: benny http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-361 benny Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:44:23 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-361 Thanks Kirsty!! Yeah, my feed reader subscribers are steadily rising :) Lots of people are writing to me directly and the site is getting several hundreds of hits a day! Looks like a website idea and summer project that I came up with in a single morning turned out to be a good move :P On the other hand, the comments have stopped dead recently. A wee bit confusing; I got 30+ comments on posts when I had less than 100 subscribers :P It's interesting in this world of blogging!!! As always, your words of wisdom will be appreciated :) All the best! Thanks Kirsty!! Yeah, my feed reader subscribers are steadily rising :) Lots of people are writing to me directly and the site is getting several hundreds of hits a day! Looks like a website idea and summer project that I came up with in a single morning turned out to be a good move :P
On the other hand, the comments have stopped dead recently. A wee bit confusing; I got 30+ comments on posts when I had less than 100 subscribers :P It’s interesting in this world of blogging!!! As always, your words of wisdom will be appreciated :)
All the best!

]]> By: Kirsty http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-to-start-learning-italian-video/comment-page-1/#comment-359 Kirsty Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:25:12 +0000 http://www.fluentin3months.com/?p=241#comment-359 Great job on the video, and having it released on Matador is even better. I can't believe how much the site has exploded since I last checked it. Well, actually I can believe it. Very cool, good work. Keep the great content and videos coming and I think we can all expect some pretty big things in the future. Ciao! .-= Kirsty´s last blog ..<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nerdynomad/~3/MKp_9O6vHOU/" rel="nofollow">Wondering About Wanderstruck.com</a> =-. Great job on the video, and having it released on Matador is even better. I can’t believe how much the site has exploded since I last checked it. Well, actually I can believe it. Very cool, good work. Keep the great content and videos coming and I think we can all expect some pretty big things in the future.

Ciao!
.-= Kirsty´s last blog ..Wondering About Wanderstruck.com =-.

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