ADVANCED ITALIAN courses and lessons based on English instruction

How come an Italian lesson in which the language instructor speaks English all the time is presented as "advanced Italian"?

What's the point of an advanced Italian course in which the instructor teaches almost exclusively in English? Question mark?

Quite frankly, this is something I don't get. If you can help me understand, you have my thanks!

Hi, everybody! I'm Luca and this video is geared toward those magnificent people who want to learn Italian.

In my videos I usually talk about the Italian language, but in this video I wanted to do something slightly different from usual. Namely, I wanted to talk about the Italian learning process.

If you want, take a look at my channel's page, so that you get an idea of the type of videos that I normally publish.

In this video I wanted to talk about a quite unsettling phenomenon involving the Italian learning resources that you can find on the Internet.

I wanted to tell you my opinion about this phenomenon, but first and foremost I'd like to know what's yours.

In other words, I'll tell you what I think about that and I'd like to know what's your take on that. So, if you leave a comment, I'll for sure gladly read it.

The absurd and unsettling phenomenon I wanted to discuss is this.

I have noticed that on the Internet you can find many resources for learning Italian that are labelled as "advanced Italian". That is, they are classified as resources suited for advanced level Italian.

In other words, you can find resources, such as videos, podcasts, or written content, with a title apparently including the wording Advanced Italian.

In other words, it is clearly indicated that such resources are designed for those people who have already reached the advanced level.

So what I'm gonna say in this video relates only to content classified as "advanced Italian language", and/or having a title including the phrase "advanced Italian", or any equivalent term in other languages. Content presented as resources geared toward advanced learners.

What's particularly distressing and delusional, so to speak, is that many of these resources aren't suited at all for advanced level learners.

Why do I say this?

Because many such materials are often (given) in English: you have an individual speaking English who may occasionally say just one Italian word or phrase.

What I haven't understood, and still don't understand, is why such resources are classified and labelled as resources for learning (quotations) "advanced" Italian.

You surely see what kind of content I'm referring to. It can be for instance videos, podcasts, featuring an individual speaking English who is saying one Italian word every now and then.

As I see it, and the European Union agrees with me in this respect, the advanced level implies that the learner can understand Italian.

Why do I say that the European Union supports my point of view?

Because the European Framework clearly indicates what are the requirements for the advanced level.

The main requirement is precisely the ability to understand Italian. That is understanding someone speaking Italian at a normal pace. This doesn't mean understanding 100%, it means understanding in general someone speaking Italian.

In particular, if you read the description of the level B2, which is the upper intermediate level, meaning it's a level which strictly speaking is not yet advanced, but intermediate to advanced, it is clearly indicated, as clear as it gets, that a B2 learner apparently understands Italian natives when they speak.

If we consider advanced levels, namely the levels C1 and C2, thus C1 Italian and C2 Italian, this is even more true. Basically, a C1 Italian level learner understands everything, they just don't speak Italian like a native speaker.

Someone who has reached the C1 level, though, and even more so the C2 level, can obsviosuly understand Italian native speakers speaking at a normal pace.

Like I said, this also applies to the B2 level, which is intermediate to advanced.

What I don't understand, and this is my question to you, is: What's the point of an advanced Italian course in which the instructor speaks English only? (Question mark)

How come an Italian lesson in which the teacher speaks English all the time is presented as advanced Italian?

Quite frankly, this is something I don't get. If you can help me understand, you have my thanks!

It's like saying: "Advanced Nuclear Physics for Beginners".

Do you s.. - do you see the contradiction?

Advanced course for beginners?

See that?

On the one hand you have the word "advanced", on the other the target are those learners who have just started learning a given subject.

Whatever! An Italian course for beginners taught in English is something, an advanced Italian course given in English is something different.

That is, from a logical point of view it's not clear why, if these are advanced learners, the course is given in English. Given that advanced learners do understand Italian, it's not clear why the course is not taught in Italian.

If I wanted to create a title for such courses, I could present them as "Advanced Italian course for learners who haven't yet reached the advanced level".

Do you see the contradiction?

And basically, at the end of the day, here lies part of the problem. People watch my videos and say: "You speak too fast, though". "But you speak (only) Italian!" And they are surprised. Because they are used to these advanced courses where the instructor teaches in English.

I for one take for granted that an advanced Italian course should be given in Italian. And that an advanced Italian lesson should be taught in Italian.

Why do I take it for granted?

Because advanced level learners do understand (spoken) Italian! I don't need to teach in English.

If I need to teach in English, it means that the learner hasn't reached the advanced level.

So I don't understand these individuals using headings such as "italiano avanzato" and various translations in English, Spanish, French, etc., who in fact teach in another language. To me such headings look a bit misleading.

Well, I for one think that those podcasts, those so called advanced Italian lessons, are not advanced Italian, but pseudo-avanced Italian.

You have the title "italiano avanzato", but in fact there's an individual speaking English. Or speaking Italian so slow that it isn't even Italian anymore, but a completely different language, because it's clear that, if we add unnatural pauses in our speech, it sounds as if we were speaking another language.

Here you can find a card to a video I made not long ago about this problem. Namely the fact that many teachers on the Internet speak unnaturally, extremely slow, adding completely unnatural pauses.

For me, in my humble opinion, in my humble understanding of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, such resources where the language instructor teaches in English or in another language occasionally adding some Italian sentences, cannot and must not be classified as advanced Italian resources.

Or rather, it's not that they must not be classified as such, because they clearly are by some people - they shouldn't.

Please let me know in the comments below what's your take, if you agree with me, if you also think that this is absurd.

Or, conversely, if you think that in fact such resources can be helpful in some cases.

I for one don't get what could be the advantage of an advanced Italian lesson given in English compared to an advanced Italian lesson taught in Italian.

If you have any idea, write it down below!

Well, I think I said everything I wanted to.

If you feel like it, please leave a comment below!