Another year nearly gone by. A time for reflection and a time for resolutions. The end of this year feels fraught with anxiety for me, for a variety of reasons. I know...
yabla
I recently subscribed to the fantastic language learning site, Yabla to help me learn more Italian. I watch a lot of RAI International but often the speaking is so fast that I'm not always comprehending. That's where Yabla makes things much more understandable. It's a wonderful site where you can watch all sorts of videos, ranging from instructional to television shows to music videos.
As you are watching the video, you'll have the choice of viewing subtitles in the language of your choice, or in English. You can slow the speech down, pause it, loop sections over and over, and when you click on a word in the subtitle it gives you a definition and then automatically adds it to a flashcard list for later.
yabla2
I've really gotten into a cheesy romantic cop show (although sadly full of typical Italian misogyny) called Il Commissario Manara (Commissioner Manara). I find that I'm truly enjoying the lessons I'm learning. I study far longer than I would regular flashcards and I am also getting a sense of the accents, the cadence and the diversity of the language in a way that I simply cannot through most of the other materials I'm using to learn the language.
I'm really not a big fan of the zillion subscriptions I have to everything but Yabla is definitely worth it if you are serious about learning a language.
And that Jovanotti video above? Here it is, in all it's pure awesomeness. What I love about him is that he always seems to be having a blast in whatever he does.
Note: This is an independent review/recommendation. Yabla did not reach out to me prior to this review.
