u/Arimoro

Dear all,

I have a question for all of you teachers on Italki regarding the pricing of packages. I have seen that my tutor is offering a huge discount on 20x 30 minute lessons (around 20%), but not that much for 10x 60 minute lessons (only around 10%), even though, mathematically, it is the same amount of time.

Why do you think are they doing this? I guess by completing two 30 minutes lessons, their lesson count appears higher, which could be good for them because the more lessons, the better to attract new students, right?

However, I feel a bit bad taking advantage of this pricing. I really appreciate my tutor and don't want to be a cheapskate, knowing that Italki is also taking commissions...

Probably I'm overthinking this, but I'd like to hear your perspective on this matter.

Hey all,

is there an option to disable that tutors see whether you have visited their profile or not? I looked at some tutor profiles and now some of them wrote me asking if I'm interested in taking lessons with them, which is actually not the case (I appreciate the effort, but I prefer to be the proactive one). I don't want them to be left on read, so I answer them, but it's a bit annoying nonetheless.

Thank you in advance.

Ciao a tutti,

I noticed that sometimes the construction "stare a + infinitivo" is used instead of "stare + gerundio".

For example in the lyrics of Laura Pausini's song "Una storia che vale": "[...] nei tuoi occhi che mi stanno a guardare"

Is there a difference between these two forms, except that the one with gerund is more common? Are these maybe regional differences?

Olá a todos,

recently I've heard that Brazilian Portuguese is apparently a highly diglossic language according to which the spoken and written language are quite different from each other, even following different grammar rules. Since my Portuguese is really basic, I cannot judge whether or not this claim is true, but I am really interested in this topic and socio-linguistics in general.

From what I understood, this diglossia is not about the differences between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, like the different use of gerund for example, but rather within the language continuum of Brazilian Portuguese.

You as learners, have you noticed this shift? And how do you navigate these differences?

Maybe some of you could give examples for this phenomenon?

Obrigado

EDIT: Unfortunately, I cannot change the spelling mistake in the title. Sorry about that.

Hey all,

today, I decided to get some physical flash cards after a decade of not using them. One of the reasons that pushed me to do this is my bad habit of spending way too much time on my phone/computer. At the same time, I also have the feeling that using a physical support might help me focus more while studying vocab in my target language (TL). I get easily distracted on my phone.

Do you think that physical flash cards have some perks over virtual ones? Or are virtual ones superior thanks to their numerous advantages (like easier to create / personalise with audio or pictures, no messy handwriting that might make words illegible, automatic spaced repetition system ...)

Hey all,

after having neglected writing in my target language (TL) for quite some time, I have recently started writing argumentative essays (there are many writing prompts out there for exam preparation like IELTS for example).

Thanks to these prompts I learn to write about topics that I'm not really familiar with and get to use my brain to string together arguments. That's not only fun, but also a really efficient way to acquire new vocab.

How do you practice your writing?

Ciao a tutti,

I've been to a trip to Italy recently and really enjoyed my experience and was also excited to put my language skills again into practice (I plan on taking the B2 exam in June).

But I noticed that some/many staff are answering in English in spite of me initiating the conversation in Italian. And I speak fluently, it's not like that people would gain anything in speaking English with me (or would lose time talking to me in Italian, on the contrary actually). For example, I was asking a person working in a mall where another store is. They switched immediately to English, struggled, asked their colleague next to them to find the right words, and then answered me. I appreciate the effort, but it was not necessary.

Probably, the fact that I was in a rather touristic place (Bologna) in the city center didn't help. In Udine, e.g., this didn't happen as frequently. On the bright side, there were also many instances where no one switched to English like in the book store, the hotel reception, the pharmacy or the ice cream parlor... But generally in restaurants, people would not answer immediately in Italian. But after some time being stubborn and only answering in Italian, they switch to their mother tongue.

At some point I was tempted to just pretend not knowing any English (I have a German accent when speaking and English is my L2). But I didn't follow through with that plan, especially because I was travelling with my partner who doesn't speak any Italian (and we talk English with each other).

How do you feel about this when people switch to English? Do you give in? Do you ask them kindly to speak Italian with you? Or do you pretend to not speak any English?

EDIT: Wow, non mi aspettavo che il mio post ricevesse tante attenzioni. Purtroppo non ho il tempo di rispondere a tutti e, per questa ragione, ho deciso di aggiungere questo edit. Serve anche come dimostrazione del mio italiano per tutti coloro che credono che io non sia in grado di parlarlo.

Prima di tutto, voglio darvi la mia definizione di cosa vuol dire parlare una lingua correntemente. Secondo me, non è questione di aver raggiunto il livello C1 e sembra che sia un'opinione abbastanza impopolare. Per me vuole semplicemente dire essere in grado di parlare senza (o quasi senza) esitazioni in qualsiasi contesto della vita quotidiana e non della vita academica. Dopotutto, ci sono anche dei parlanti madrelingua che non sono mai andati alle scuole superiori/all'università.

Sono convinto di parlare correntemente l'italiano perché seguo delle lezioni di conversazione con due professori italiani e parlo con loro di una grande varietà di argomenti come la storia, la cultura oppure la politica. Ovviamente, non lo parlo perfettamente: commetto errori e a volte non trovo le parole giuste, ma in questi momenti sto parafrasando. Per quanto riguarda il mio accento, a mio parere, non è così male, ossia, ce l'ho e si nota sicuramente, ma non dovrebbe essere incomprensibile. Per esserne sicuro chiederò la prossima volta ai miei professori cosa ne pensano.

I vostri commenti, però, mi hanno fatto riflettere. Mi sono reso conto che spesso quando la gente mi parlava in inglese c'era anche il mio ragazzo e prima ci avevano sentito parlare in inglese. È probabile che questo sia la ragione. Quando sono andato da solo alla libreria, questo non è successo.

L'ultimo argomento di cui voglio parlarvi è un po' controverso. Sono d'accordo che non sia il lavoro dei camerieri o dei commessi di praticare l'italiano con i loro clienti. Ma, nel mio caso, non si tratta nemmeno di praticare. Prenotare un tavolo oppure chiedere il conto sono situazioni basilari per me. Sono situazioni communicative del livello A2. E capisco che anche gli italiani abbiano voglia di praticare il loro inglese, ma non sono d'accordo che questo sia paragonabile. L'inglese non è la lingua ufficiale dell'Italia.

Credo di avere scritto abbastanza. È stata una bella opportunità di praticare un po' il mio italiano scritto. :)