The Language Level

There are four language levels in Just Italian:

How is the level determined?

The language level is just a setting. You can change the level at any time.

In the tutorial you do at the first startup of the app, Just Italian estimates your language ability and proposes a level for you. We recommend you to accept this level, but you can change it at any time.

What levels are there?

Just Italian offers the language course in four levels:

• If you are absolutely new to a language, then you are at level Greenhorn. This means you still need to learn very basic things like "Good evening!" or "What's your name?".
• Users who have already learnt a few words and phrases, but are not yet capable of holding conversations, use the level Beginner.
• After having learned Italian for a while, you are able to talk to other people in Italian, as long as the topic is kept simple. This is the level Intermediate.
• Users who can have more complex conversations with ease are at level Advanced.

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These levels loosely correspond to the CEFR levels A1 (Beginner), A2-B1 (Intermediate) and B1-B2 (Advanced). However, this is not an exact correspondence.

What effect does the language level have?

The language level determines the difficulty and complexity of the sentences and phrases that are shown to you (only for new cards):

• Users at the levels Greenhorn and Beginner need to practice simple and common phrases like "I am hungry", "The next month" and "Of course!". The phrases for "Beginners" are a bit more complex than those for Greenhorns.
• Users at the level Intermediate have a basic understanding of the language, and have mastered a basic vocabulary. They practice regular phrases like "Tomorrow it might rain, but I'm not sure about it".
• Advanced users have a solid vocabulary and a good understanding of the principles of the language. They are shown more complex phrases, which lets them practice the language at their level.

There is one more difference: Users at the levels Greenhorn and Beginner are automatically subscribed to the word course "Most Important Words". This lets them build up a basic vocabulary, by subsequently learning all the everyday words.

Users at the Intermediate and Advanced levels do not see any word cards by default. However, they can subscribe to the word courses they are interested in. For example, if you are planning a business trip to Italy, it might make sense to learn the vocabularies of "Travel" and "Business" ahead of the journey.

When should I change the level?

Our recommendations are:

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• If you feel that the phrases shown to you are consistently either too easy or too hard, then it might make sense to change the level.
• Change the level by one at a time. If the cards are too easy, then do one of the following changes:
  • Greenhorn to Beginner
  • Beginner to Intermediate
  • Intermediate to Advanced
• If the phrases are too hard, then do one of the following changes:
  • Advanced to Intermediate
  • Intermediate to Beginner
  • Beginner to Greenhorn
• After having done the change, give it a few weeks of daily practice to see if the new level fits you better.
• Note that changing the level only influences the level of the new cards that are shown to you.
  • If you already have cards in your learning queue that are much too difficult, it might make sense to long skip them to a later date. For example, you could long-skip those cards such that they are not shown to you for three months.
  • If you already have cards in your learning queue that are too easy, you can either rate them as too easy, or you can hide them forever using the HIDE button.

What do I need to do to get to the next level?

Use Just Italian every day! Every minute counts - five minutes per day is okay, but 10 or 20 are even better. If you practice diligently for several months, you will see that the new cards start to appear easier and easier for you. More and more often, you know the translation of a card before you have turned the card for the first time!

If the new cards are consistently too easy for you, you might be ready to change to the next level.

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Just Italian observes your learning patterns. Should the new cards be too easy for you, it might suggest you to change the level.

What to do if Advanced is too easy for me?

The Advanced course offers a lot of sentences. Try to practice the cards in a fast way - if you need several seconds until you have come up with a translation, then there is still room for practice. If you practice diligently and you try to go through the cards in a rather fast way, you can still practice your Italian in an effective way, even if you are a very advanced speaker.

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We have users who are proficient Italian speakers (CEFR level C1 or C2) who use Just Italian daily to practice their Italian.

Using the app daily is like speaking complex Italian every day. With time, you become more fluent and do not need much effort anymore to talk.