omni television

Start the New Year off right with a resolution to watch fifteen minutes of Italian TV every other day. This will tune your ear to the sounds of Italian, improving both your pronunciation (especially intonation - when to raise and lower your pitch and volume) and your listening comprehension. You'll also pick up lots of handy idioms. The visual cues will clue you in to a lot you'd miss on the radio and other audio-only formats. This is how many immigrants to Canada learn English, my parents among them.

A great source for Italian TV is the OMNI News Italian edition, because most of the stories are local, so they'll be familliar from the English media and therefore easier to follow. Felice anno nuovo!