Conclusion.

Having been back in the UK for a considerable amount of time, it seems fitting to review my year abroad in terms of both language acquisition and as a year in general, to see if I have any nuggets of wisdom to share.

The main advice I would offer a prospective student would be to set a structured routine in regards to your own personal language revision. I achieved this for a number of moths at the very beginning of my mobility but, in part due to the disenchantment towards my situation, I gave up. This is my primary regret from my time abroad. The best revision tools, I found, were: listening to the radio (Italian pop songs are catchy as hell), reading plenty and often, watching my favorite shows with Italian subtitles and engaging with conversation as much as possible. This leads me nicely to the second most sage piece of advice I can offer, keep talking! Never stop. It's easy to suggest this with the wisdom of hindsight, but continually attempt to engage with the language. In supermarkets and lectures, in bars and shops, people will be willing to talk- you must engage them! Of course, the difficulty with this is not resorting to English. Some perseverance in this aspect will do your language acquisition no end of good.

Although my Italian has improved, predominantly with listening and reading, I feel my spoken Italian would be at a much higher standard if I had this foresight at the beginning of the year. As soon as I began to think critically about my learning again, the year was almost at a close. It really does pass by astonishingly quickly, so make the most of each and every opportunity that comes your way, but with a mind to continually be focused on language.

Lectures are your best friends. Attend them. Or at least make a great effort to attend as many as possible. This is more difficult than it sounds, as lectures are often not compulsory in Italy and the climate makes it desperately tempting to sit in the sun with a spritz. Have your spritz after lecture.
I now recognize that my lectures were an invaluable source of listening practice. Not only was I engaged with the language for up to two hours each lecture, I feel my vocabulary has expanded exponentially as a result of my attendance.

Somewhat controversially I would urge any prospective ERASMUS students to not worry too much about the exams. Yes, I sat most of mine in front of 50+ people. Yes, oftentimes they did not go as planned, and yes, sometimes the style of examination can seem unnervingly alien (one lecturer answered her phone whilst asking me a question, frequently changed the question she was asking and even offered questions that I could not answer up to the room). As long as you get something written in your libretto, you're good to go. Do your best, work hard and accept that sometimes things don't work out as planned. Have another spritz.

Most useful for my language revision has been Rubins (1981) cognitive strategies, in particular I made great effort in practice, memorization and monitoring. I found such strategies engaging and versatile. They are numerous ways in which one can practice learning grammar, without being hunched over a textbook for hours on end. Additionally, I would emphasis the use of Rubins social strategies in tandem with his cognitive strategies such a: asking questions to fellow, initiating conversations and engaging with as much media in the target language as possible. Such strategies have had greatest effect on my confidence in speaking. Although its still the element of my studies which I have greatest difficulties with, I feel in a much more competent position to continue into the final year of my degree, having employed such strategies to the best of my abilities.

In previous posts I have made heavy reference to the effect of emotion and anxiety on language learning as is an issue that greatly impacts my own learning. With reference to both Kagan and Tomkin. I would suggest perhaps speaking to someone about any anxiety related issues during your year abroad as I neglected to do this and I feel this had a huge impact, not only on my usually sunny disposition, but also on the way in which I thought about my studies. I feel, had I not wasted so much time allowing myself to wallow in misery, I would have been more proactive towards my Italian learning.


Although my writing has, at times, been less than cheery I must emphasis the positives of a year abroad, so any any potential readers aren't too disheartened at the prospect. Your language will progress, perhaps not to the extent you may wish, but there will be progression nonetheless. More so if you keep on top of revision and make the most of self-teaching practices. Furthermore, opportunities to travel, make friends and truly immerse yourself in another culture are endless. With this in mind, the year is open to innumerable possibilities for personal and linguistic furtherment.
Have another spritz.