Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.italiano
Titolo: ciao a tutti

sono una americana, e comincero' a studiare l'italiano con la musica
quando ritorno all'universita' nel autunno. ho studiato un po'
d'italiano alla mia universita' scorsa (ho trasferito scuole).
apprezzerei tutto il consiglio che voi potreste darmi riguarda il mio
italiano. nel futuro, spero di vivere e cercare lavoro in italia (doppo
l'universita'). anche, si ci sono alcuni che desiderino pratice il loro
inglese, potrei aiutarli.
grazie,
felicity

quando ritorno all'universita' nel autunno.
Benvenuta.
Ciao.
Gian Carlo

 sono una americana,
Hi
In attesa che ci dica se preferisci che ti rispondiamo in inglese o in 
italiano, ecco un consiglio per perfezionare il tuo italiano:
type in google "tomatis method" or, simply, "Alfred Tomatis" un modo 
rivoluzionario per imparare le lingue e perfezionarle, il migliore in 
assoluto
Ecco come funziona:
How the Tomatis Method Accelerates 
LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES
by Jan Gerritsen, Ph.D.
On March 25, 1957, the French Academy of Sciences listened to an 
intriguing speech. They heard about the discoveries of a young ear 
specialist by the name of Alfred A. Tomatis.
 He had discovered laws that correlate hearing and speaking. His 
findings would have a lasting impact in many areas, among them the 
learning of languages.
 He discovered why it is so difficult for some people to learn and 
speak a foreign language. And more importantly, he developed a method 
and the equipment to overcome this difficulty. 
Professor Tomatis has been honored repeatedly for his discoveries. 
Among other distinctions, he was awarded the gold medal for Scientific 
Research (Brussels, 1958), and became Knight of Public Health of France 
(1951). 
Professor Tomatis has also established Tomatis Centers all over the 
world, so that an increasing number of people can benefit from his 
inventions. 
The thrust of the Tomatis method is to train your ears before you start 
learning a language. As a result, you will be able to learn a language 
much faster. Or, if you already speak the foreign language, it will 
improve your accent significantly. 
This document will give you an insight into the theories upon which the 
Tomatis method is based. It will also outline how it works in practice. 
TOMATIS' DISCOVERY
The original experiment by Professor Tomatis had nothing to do with 
learning languages. Nor was it one of those serious and complicated 
tests you often read about.
In fact it was quite an amusing experiment. Professor Tomatis asked a 
well known opera singer to sing a song. As he was singing, Professor 
Tomatis blocked his ears with a special device. That device, an 
acoustical filter, blocked the sound of a specific frequency. Soon 
thereafter the singer's voice deteriorated. What happened was that the 
voice started to lose the sound blocked by the filter. This experiment, 
and many others, formed the basis of the First Law of Tomatis: 
YOU CANNOT REPRODUCE A SOUND YOU CANNOT HEAR
You may ask what the connection is between this law and learning of 
languages. To understand that, we will have to first explore some of 
the fundamental differences between languages. 
THE CHARM OF A LANGUAGE 
Have you ever wondered why a piano sounds so different from a violin, 
even when you play the same notes? Have you ever noticed that American 
spoken by a Spaniard often does not sound American at all? In both 
cases, the reason is basically the same. We will therefore first look 
at the difference between a piano and a violin, and then come back to 
languages. 
When you strike a key of a piano, you generate a tone. At the same 
time, however, several other tones, also called overtones, are 
produced. The overtones are much less intense than the base tone; so 
you will mostly hear the base tone. When you play the same base tone on 
a violin, different overtones will be formed. Therefore, a violin 
sounds completely different from a piano. 
One of the reasons a piano creates different overtones than a violin is 
that the soundboards are so different. A piano has a large, heavy 
soundboard, while the soundboard of a violin is a small, delicate case. 
Hence, different overtones are formed. 
Now back to the differences between languages. Like musical 
instruments, all languages use the same base tones. These range from 
125 to 250 Hertz. The overtones, however, differ from language to 
language. English uses a lot of high pitch sounds, ranging from 2,000 
to 12,000 Hertz. If you listen carefully, you will be able to 
distinguish these high pitch tones. Listen to all the S's (as in 
SeSSionS) and to the "TH" sounds (as in THanks). French, on the other 
hand, rarely uses such high pitched sounds. For example, the S at the 
end of a French word is hardly ever pronounced. 
You may ask why English and French have different overtones. Here the 
analogy with the soundboard comes in handy. The base tones are 
generated by the vocal chords. These tones travel through the mouth 
cavity, where the overtones are formed. The mouth cavity acts as our 
"sounding board". In fact, we have two "sounding boards" because the 
mouth cavity is split in two by the tongue. As you may know, you have 
to position your tongue differently when speaking a foreign language. 
We thus use different "sounding boards" when speaking foreign 
languages, and thus generate different overtones. The tongue position 
makes all the difference! That is why we call our own language our 
"mother tongue." That is also why we say that speaking a foreign 
language is a "tongue twisting exercise." 
The main idea to retain from the preceding paragraphs is that most 
language have different sets of overtones. 
Our ears, by constantly listening to ourselves and to those around us, 
are most attuned to the frequencies of our native tongue. For the 
foreign frequencies, we are, so to speak, deaf. And here comes the 
connection with the discovery of Professor Tomatis: because we cannot 
hear foreign tones, we cannot pronounce them correctly. What is worse, 
we can not memorize them easily. An almost hopeless situation, until 
Professor Tomatis found a way to train your ears to hear different 
tones. 
By having your ears trained first, you can reduce significantly the 
time required to learn a new language. Once your ears have been 
trained, you will be able to hear the new language correctly. 
Therefore, you will be able to memorize the words quickly and pronounce 
them well. In the next section we will explain how we can train your 
ears. 
EAR TRAINING: IN THEORY 
Once again, an analogy might help explain how your ears can be trained. 
But before that, you have to know why the ear cannot hear certain 
tones. It is because the two tiny muscles of the middle ear, the muscle 
of the hammer and the muscle of the stirrup, are not prepared to focus 
on sounds rarely used in our mother tongue. They need to be exercised 
to do so. 
Professor Tomatis came up with an ingenious way to do just that. 
Oversimplified it can be explained as follows: You are made to listen 
to a tone, or frequency, that you cannot hear well. This tone is 
continuously switched on and off. The muscles of the middle ear are so 
forced to stretch and relax. This strengthens these muscles and enables 
your ear, after several sessions, to perceive the tone better. 
EAR TRAINING: IN PRACTICE 
Now, how does this work in practice? First, a Tomatis practicioner will 
measure which frequencies you can or cannot hear well. This test is 
called the "listening test," and takes about 30 minutes. From the 
listening test she or he can see which frequencies have to be 
"learned". 
At the next session, you will listen to a tape recording of music. 
However, some of the frequencies that your ear can already hear well 
have been filtered out. The frequencies left on the tape are those you 
have to learn. This modified recording is then entered into an 
electronic device that was developed by Professor Tomatis. It 
continuously switches the sound on and off. The sound that comes out of 
the Electronic Ear is fed into headphones, and adjusted to a 
comfortable level. It is a strange sound, but not unpleasant. You will 
listen to this "music" for about two hours per session. During that 
time, you may sleep, play chess, knit or draw. 
THE SYLLABLE HURDLE 
Languages not only differ in the frequencies they use, they also differ 
in the length of the syllables. Pronouncing them within the right time 
frame is the second most important factor in speaking a foreign 
language well. On average it takes 75 milliseconds to pronounce an 
American syllable, much longer than the emission time of a French 
syllable (50 milliseconds). If you want to learn French, for instance, 
you will have to learn to pronounce the syllables more quickly.
According to Tomatis that means that your ears have to react more 
rapidly. This can be achieved by retraining the ear. So, you will take 
the "syllable hurdle" at the same time as the "frequency hurdle". 
THE LINGUISTIC REBIRTH 
There is more to languages than words alone. We also need to learn the 
order in which to put the words, etc. That is called the structure of 
the language. Professor Tomatis also developed a method to learn the 
structure of the language more easily. 
A few paragraphs earlier, we talked about the phrase "mother tongue", 
stressing the importance of the word "tongue". Now let's look at the 
word "mother" in "mother tongue". It has been known for quite some time 
that the very structure of our "mother tongue" was ingrained in us 
while growing in our mother's womb. During the last five months of her 
pregnancy, we were able to hear the voice of our mother. Her voice 
sounded, however, quite different from her real one. Her voice had to 
pass through the amniotic fluid around the fetus, and this acted as a 
sound filter. It lets only the high pitch sounds, the ones above 8,000 
Hertz, through. 
Through the Tomatis method, we can simulate this process. All you have 
to do is to listen to a text, spoken in the foreign language, and 
filtered through an 8000 Hertz filter. That imitates what you would 
have heard in the womb. After several sessions, we will gradually add 
lower pitch tones to simulate the "birth" into the new language. 
Once born into the new language, you will begin to speak it. You will 
start by repeating words, after a model. Later, you will repeat full 
sentences and learn to control your pronunciation and intonation. How 
to control your voice most effectively is the subject of the next 
section. 
THE LEADING EAR 
We are all aware that some people are right handed, while others are 
left handed. But not many know that we also have a dominant ear. Some 
hear mostly with their right ear, whereas others listen mostly with 
their left ear. Professor Tomatis discovered that it is most 
advantageous to listen predominantly with your right ear, especially 
when you want to learn a language. That is because your right ear is 
directly connected with your left brain, the center for language 
abilities. If you listen with your left ear, the information is fed 
into the right brain and has to be rerouted to the left brain before it 
can be processed. That takes time. In addition, by this route, the 
sound gets deformed slightly, especially the high pitch tones. It would 
thus be a major advantage if we all could become "right hearing". 
THE COOMEN EXPERIMENT: THE PROOF 
In 1976, the efficacy of the Tomatis method was tested in a school in 
Coomen, Belgium. A class of 30 high school students was divided into 
two groups, well balanced for their listening abilities, as determined 
by the listening test. None of these French speaking students had 
previously learned English. The first group was taught English as usual 
for the entire school year. The other group received Tomatis training 
for three months, followed by six months of regular English lessons. At 
the end of the school year, all students were tested by an independent 
judge for comprehension as well as for pronunciation. The Tomatis group 
clearly outperformed the control group. Following the school vacation, 
the two groups were tested again, and the difference had become more 
pronounced. The Tomatis group retained what it learned, while the 
control group forgot a great deal. The results of this test prove the 
validity of the Tomatis method. Since then, many students and 
professionals throughout the world have benefited from the Tomatis 
approach. Some Centers, in particular in Japan, specialize in helping 
their clients to overcome their difficulties in mastering a foreign 
language. 
LANGUAGE TRAINING IN A BIG COMPANY 
Since 1989, Eurocopter, one of the largest company in the world 
building helicopters, uses the Tomatis Method to train its employee to 
learn languages. The nature of its international business requires that 
people that are sent abroad, speak fluently the language of the foreign 
counterparts.  Eurocopter has devoted a significant budget to educate 
its people. Between 1989 and 1995, 580 people took the Tomatis Language 
Training, and their progress was carefully monitored. 
While the European Council estimates that it takes about 700 hours to 
become fluent in a foreign language, Eurocopter had set a rather 
aggressive objective to achieve fluency in 620 hours. However, 
employees who received the Tomatis method, along with a regular 
schedule of classes, reached this goal after only 520 hours. A 
substantial economy of 180 hours. 
25 % of the employees surveyed found the approach very effective; 63% 
effective; 14% moderately effective. None of the employees found it 
ineffective. 
After they had completed the training with the Tomatis Method,  92% 
felt that they had a better perception of the language 88% had a better 
understanding of the language  85% had a more expressive intonation  
86% perceive the sounds of the foreign language better  77% had a 
better sense of the rhythm of the language An unexpected benefit was 
that 83% of the people felt that they now communicated better with 
others and that they were motivated to take responsibilities. 
In an environment where foreign competition is everyday harsher, 
speaking a foreign language may give you an edge over other 
competitors. The Tomatis Method is certainly worth exploring for anyone 
who wants to gain that edge or enjoy the pleasure of speaking like the 
natives while traveling abroad. 
-- 
======================================================
*Lutrin* || curatore F.A.Q. ---> *it-alt.media.tv.quiz*
======================================================

<"
felicity...@gmail.com
"> scrive:

===
Sono americana e comincerò a studiare italiano e musica in autunno
al mio ritorno all'università. Ho studiato un po' di italiano
all'università dove ero prima (ho cambiato scuola).
Apprezzerei ogni consiglio che possiate darmi riguardo al mio italiano.
Dopo l'università spero di vivere e trovare lavoro in Italia. Potrei 
anche aiutare quelli che desiderino far pratica di inglese.
===
Complimenti, davvero. Soprattutto per quell'ultimo congiuntivo
(desiderino). Niente male per una che è all'inizio.
Ciao
Enrico

 by Jan Gerritsen, Ph.D.
grazie lutrin per un'articolo molto interessante!

 
Inviato da X-Privat.Org - Registrazione gratuita 
http://www.x-privat.org/join.php

 wrote in message 
news:1151962824.6...@v61g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...

Ciao Felicity.
Un'amica (female)
un amico (male)
un articolo (male)
Bruno 

 assoluto
L'hai provato? Posso chiedere come, dove, per che lingua? Una scuola?
Un corso con CD?

 (desiderino). Niente male per una che è all'inizio.
Anche un indicativo sarebbe stato corretto, però.

Enrico C ha scritto:

Anzi, forse un congiuntivo viene più spontaneo a un discente. Io avrei 
detto "coloro che desiderino", forse per mantenere uniforme il registro.
Ciao, FB

 Una scuola?
un *centro* più che altro
per saperne di più, puoi cercare in libreria il volume del dottor 
Tomatis SIAMO TUTTI POLIGLOTTI. Questo benefattore dell'umanità ci ha 
lasciato nel 2001 come ho già ricordato: se vi trovaste un giorno nel 
luogo in cui riposa, non mancate di portare un omaggio sulla sua 
sepoltura, se lo merita tutto.


Enrico C ha scritto:

Uh, ti ricordi il metodo con l'insegnante che ti grida in faccia alla 
"Ufficiale e gentiluomo"?
Ciao, FB

 wrote in message 
news:1152131396.0...@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
Enrico Gregorio ha scritto:


=================================
Fors'anche più indicato.
Mi pare non sussistano le condizioni per l'uso del
congiuntivo, al di fuori di una leggera "congiuntivite".
Bruno

 congiuntivo, al di fuori di una leggera "congiuntivite".
(1) Posso anche aiutare quelli che desiderano ...
(2) Potrei anche aiutare quelli che desiderino ...
Io una piccola differenza la vedo; periodo ipotetico?
Ciao
Enrico

 wrote in message 
news:060720061547230749%greg...@math.unipd.it...

Non riesco a percepire differenze di senso.
Comunque, dovessi usare il congiuntivo, userei l'imperfetto:
"Potrei anche aiutare quelli che desiderassero..."
Bruno 

Enrico Gregorio ha scritto:

Certo: coloro che desiderino possono ben non esistere.
Ciao, FB

 NON SI SENTE)
In effetti, i cinesi hanno qualche problema con la "r".
P.s. Su Usenet scrivere una frase in tutte maiuscole equivale a urlare.
Va be' che è un suono che non si sente...  ;o)

 "Ufficiale e gentiluomo"?
A me venivano in mente i monaci buddisti che ripetono il suono "Om"!

 Va be' che è un suono che non si sente...
Lo è se TUTTO il messaggio è scritto in maiuscolo (come tu ben sai)che 
deve essere invece giustamente adoperato per conferire la giusta enfasi 
a parti del post da mettere in rilievo. Senza contare che ci sono 
newsreader come XNews che non interpretano i *plain tag* (* per il 
grassetto, / per il corsivo __ per il sottolineato, ecc...) (e 
postando da google groups invece che dal tuo solito 40tude puoi ben 
rendertene conto) ecco allora che il modo migliore per mettere in 
evidenza i punti salienti di un messaggio sta proprio nell'uso misurato 
del maiuscolo.


 del maiuscolo.
Ma anche qualora il reader non intepreti gli *asterischi* come neretto,
la stessa presenza degli asterischi segnala un'evidenziazione al reader
umano!
A parte questo, prima ancora delle prassi di Usenet, pensa all'effetto
grafico di un testo tutto alto  di più di una riga: non ti pare
pesante e meno leggibile? Secondo me, il maiuscolo può andar bene al
più per una parola o due, non per intere frasi, ma l'*asteriscato*
resta più scorrevole ed elegante. :)

 In effetti, i cinesi hanno qualche problema con la "r".
A "Notti mondiali", Mazzocchi ha fatto sentire pił volte un commentatore 
cinese---poi sospeso, pare---che seguitava a ripetere "Tņdi, Tņdi, Tņdi" 
(Totti).
Ciao, FB

 (Totti).
Sul Corriere online forse ci sono ancora le telecronache dei gol
dell'Italia in varie lingue, compreso il cinese:
http://www.corriere.it/Speciali/Extra/2006/Germania2006/articoli/pop_telecronache.shtml
Ciao,
Epimeteo
---
"... in silenzio soffro i danni del tempo,
le aquile non volano a stormi,
vivo è il rimpianto della via smarrita
nell'incerto cammino del ritorno...
shizukani tokino kizuni kurushimu
murewo kundewa tobanai taka
furuki oshiewo tadotte
kokoronomamani konokanashimiwo norikoete..."
(cit. incomprensibile)

 Non hai la versione con i caratteri giapponesi?
だくひ
http://spencer.blackmarket.net/dic_word_detail.asp?id=73522
Sayonara,
Epimeteo
---
"No, no, no non crederle,
non gettare nel vento
in un solo momento
quel che esiste fra noi...
No, no, no, ascoltami,
tu per lei sei un giocattolo,
il capriccio di un attimo..."
(cit. negativa)