The Truth About Middlebury Italian Language School

Our honest review of Middlebury’s 7 week total immersion Italian program: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Website: ourbigitaliana...
Facebook: / ourbigitalianadventure
Instagram: / ourbigitalianadventure

[@jimmontalbano8142]

I really enjoy your videos. My wife and I live in Tuscany 6 months out of the year(Spring and Fall), we are both retired and we bought our first house when we were still working. When we decide to buy we looked at living in the country and buying an old farm house. After taking all into consideration we decided to buy a house in town, and becoming part of the community. It has been the best decision. Very few people here speak English. We have learned the language and the culture. Our neighbors are like family.

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

Thanks! We love our house, but we wonder if we should have done the town route as you did. It sounds very nice.

[@rigusky]

Thanks for your honest evaluation, very helpful

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

Thanks. It many ways it hurt to have to lay it out, given how much we enjoyed and respected the professors and the other students. But we certainly feel we didn’t get what we expected and paid for and want others to go in with their eyes open.

[@douglasbull7829]

I have been visiting Italy for a few months every summer since 2016 (except, of course, 2020}. I have been studying Italian online for almost 4 years with Italy Made Easy which I love, but I'm sure that Ed and Ann and many others experience the same thing that I do. I have many Italian friends around the country, only a few don't speak English, and among the majority who do speak English--even though I ask them to speak Italian with me--they want to cut to the chase and speak English to expedite the conversation. So it is difficult to practice my Italian except in markets or train stations, etc. Last summer I decided to take a one on one conversational Italian course on my first week back in Italy. It was very, very helpful. Not only in learning a few new things but most of all in giving me the confidence to plow ahead and speak and know that even with my errors I was understood and we were having a conversation. (It was at Lucca Italian School).

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

Just a thought. Look seriously at italki.com. You can get very good online tutors for, I’d guess, an average of $30/hour. Even if just want conversation, they will be sure to speak Italian. I’ve had one teacher from there for over 6 years. We talk almost every Friday for an hour. She helps me with vocabulary, mostly, and correcting mistakes. I know the grammar well, but she’d help me there if I wanted it.

[@douglasbull7829]

@@OurBigItalianAdventure Lo controllerò. Grazie

[@markino222]

That avocado phrase would be botched by at least half of the native Italians 😊 Native Italian here, lived in the US for some years, now back in Milano. Found your channel randomly on KZbin and it’s really interesting to hear all about your avventura. 👍🏻

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

Grazie. Sì, questa costruzione di “se potessi trascorrere più tempo in Italia, mi piacerebbe moltissimo” e difficile per noi perché, più o meno, non abbiamo il congiuntivo in inglese. O almeno è utilizzato da un percento basso. Posso parlare abbastanza bene - fuorché le preposizioni, che creano un incubo per me - ma ogni volta devo fermare a parlare alcuni secondi per costruire queste frasi ipotetiche.

[@etherdog]

The film reference is for La meglio gioventù (The Best of Youth), which has 8.5 rating on IMDB.

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

Yes. Did we mangle the name in the video?

[@etherdog]

@@OurBigItalianAdventure The name was pretty difficult to parse (I figured it out) but it is pretty obscure for English speaking audiences. It seems like a pretty significant piece of A/V literature that deserves a wider audience. I would equate it with the German series :"Heimat", which I saw in Berlin in late 1989.

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

@etherdog Yes, it is an important cultural piece.

[@RandyHamill]

Hi, this is Randy. It’s unfortunate that your experience at Middleberry was not what you expected. I am in a similar situation and plan to enroll this coming summer for the seven week Italian in Bennington. Hopefully, Middleberry will take in to account your recommendations. I have a similar background as you, as I am retired, and also have a house in Italy. One major difference is that my wife is Italian, which actually believe it or not hinders my learning Italian to a certain extent since whatever skills I develop in Italian, are never needed when we travel there. but, I think one advantage will be that I will be conversing with my wife on a daily basis while in Vermont while she is in Italy, as I am skipping my summer trip there for Middleberry. we are going to Italy this spring, but for only two weeks. Ifyou haven’t been to Italy in the spring, it is actually one of my favorite times. Randy

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

Hi, Randy. I hope they do change the program so that there is more conversation time, or as we suggested, a split learning track for those wanting to concentrate on speaking. If I were you, I’d try to pin them down, either during one of the information calls they have or over the phone on a call to the admissions people. Spring and fall have been our favorite times, but we’re in Italy right now visiting cities to do the tourist thing. January, at least this year, is an even better time to be here. Best, Ed

[@valebliz]

Ragazzi per 11000$ avreste trovato un insegnante del liceo italiano che vi avrebbe dato lezioni per un paio d’anni!

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

Purtroppo hai ragione!

[@edera1536]

Thank you for the helpful video:)

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

Thanks! Are you thinking of attending?

[@edera1536]

I have thought about it from time to time but suspected it was not a good fit with my learning style. Your video, which was direct and descriptive, confirms in my mind that it is a great approach for many, but not well suited to me.

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

Thanks. Despite the school’s reputation, it’s not for everyone. We had an enjoyable time, but not as fruitful as we had hoped.

[@occhiodisauron25]

il problema dell'italiano e' che non e' una lingua commerciale/ex coloniale,quindi poco diffusa. comunque ho ho notato, che ci sono molti stranieri, sopratutto anglosassoni, che lo studiano, negli ultimi anni! chissa' perche'?

[@OurBigItalianAdventure]

È una buona domanda. Dal Wikipedia, italiano è il settimo più popolare da studiare nelle università americani. Prevedo che la maggioranza siano studenti della storia d’arte o di musica. Ma non ho una congettura perché ci sono tante altre persone che lo studiano.