u/Art3mis_ak

so i've been studying italian for my exchange program lately and i’ve realized that my brain is starting to "narrate" my day in broken italian. like i’ll be brushing my teeth and my head just goes "io lavo i denti" for no reason at all. it’s kind of trippy because i’m not even close to fluent, but it’s like my brain is trying to force the new skill into my actual life.

my praktika pronunciation score is between 50% and 64% (embarrassing, but i'm trying to improve it). turns out my mental narrator has a terrible accent. has this happened to you when you're learning a language?

I’ve been listening to italian podcasts for months and i can understand almost everything now, which is great. but the second I try to form a sentence myself, my brain just stalls and i forget basic grammar. I'm leaving for an exchange soon and testing other ways to stop my brain from freezing like like anki and praktika, which are helping but if you I need to get to the SPEAKING part, so please tell me what's helped you.

I’m moving to Italy for an exchange and I realized I know zero casual language. I can tell you where the train station is, but I have no idea how to sound like a normal person my age at a bar. It feels like I have the textbook version of the language down, but the actual social side is missing. I’ve been using Praktika to practice conversation flow, which is great for building confidence. I’ve been focusing on my pronunciation score to make sure I don't sound too much like an American tourist, but I still don't know the "filler words." What are the actual phrases you guys use to buy time in a conversation? I just want to blend in a little bit at the orientations that are coming up

I’m prepping for an exchange trip to italy, but my high school spanish is making things so difficult. every time I try to say "and" in italian, my brain defaults to "y" instead of "e," and it’s constant across most of my vocabulary. it feels like my brain has one designated folder for "not english" and it’s just mixing everything together. is there a specific term for why your brain defaults to a second language instead of your native one during stress? it’s literally making my accent sound super a weird. my pronunciation score on praktika is like at 60% close to native and I try to try and catch myself when i slip into a spanish accent, and seeing the feedback on screen is the only thing keeping me sane lol. What's the name for this language mixing glitch?

I tried to order a coffee in an italian restaurant yesterday and I completely froze when the waiter came to my table. I thought that after 400 day streak I would be much better, but I realized that it feels more like I am solving a puzzle rather than learning a language. the fact that I am moving soon to italy makes the anxiety that I felt after yesterday even worse and being high on the leaderboard just makes me feel more guilty. does anyone have any tips?

I’m getting ready for a study abroad trip to Italy in a few months and I’ve started to notice something about how I study. I’ve been trying to fully master each lesson before moving on. because of that I got really good at present tense, but I can barely talk about the past or the future. now I’m thinking that maybe learning a language isn’t about being perfect first, but about using it even when it’s messy. how do you study in a way that helps you start speaking sooner? are there ways to focus more on communication instead of getting everything right first? I want to spend the next few months actually learning how to talk, not just memorizing grammar.