Reddit reviews If..., Volume 2: (500 New Questions for the Game of Life) (If Series)
We found 3 Reddit comments about If..., Volume 2: (500 New Questions for the Game of Life) (If Series). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
If 2: 500 New Questions for the Game of Life
Books like The Book of Questions and If... might have some questions you can use to spark a conversation. There's a good chance you'll be able to get them from your local library, so check that out. Otherwise, browse some of the stuff that gets posted to r/askreddit and use what seems appropriate. You could do a search for 'best icebreakers' or 'get to know someone' type posts to narrow the subject matter down a bit, too.
Depending on how favorably she takes to it, maybe ask some questions about her childhood. "Did you have/want any pets when you were younger?", "What did you like the most about your elementary school best friend?", "What class did you enjoy the most?", "Who was your favorite singer/group in middle school?" etc.
Sure! As mentioned, I do think the book I linked before is the best one, but here are some others that I personally own:
And there's this one, which I don't own but it might also be good:
Lastly, I have the Q&A a Day journal and enjoy filling it out on my own. There's a Q&A a Day for couples that might be fun to fill out with your SO, among many other couples' journals.
I think it'd be cool to have one copy of whichever journal for each person; they could be filled out independently and you could compare answers with your SO!
I'm no expert but your situation sounds familiar to me... :)
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For working on your ability to understand it when spoken at a natural pace, try this:
Find a video on YouTube of native speakers, speaking "natively" (hard to clarify what I mean ... I mean not from a movie or sitcom since they don't necessarily speak in the way you'd hear in real life, pausing for comic effect/etc). For instance, just to pick an example from a YouTube channel I like, this short documentary about the Bugatti EB110 or this one about the Ferrari F40. Pick something relevant - either related to the work you do, related to something you're interested in, and/or something from the region where you live to really nail understanding the accent/regionalisms.
Now, *listen and transcribe*. It's OK to leave gaps, if you can't catch a word, but rewind and try to get it a couple of times. (If you definitely can't get it, post the link and the timestamp here, one of our friendly native speakers will probably be happy to help.) What this will do is train your ability to actively listen.
Personal experience note: A lot of people, myself included, once they get to a "getting the idea" level, have trouble getting past that level to the "getting everything" level. I'm working with a teacher right now who is only talking to me as he'd talk to native speakers, not doing any 'dumbing down for the foreigner', and he might tell me about something that's going on in Italy and then ask me to give him back a summary of what he just said. So I'm currently getting a crash course in this transition from "getting the idea" to "getting everything."
(If, at the beginning, you end up missing a lot because of how quickly they're speaking, extract the audio from the video using one of the "YouTube To MP3" services, load it into some software like Audacity, and slow it down like ten or fifteen percent or whatever you need to start being able to transcribe it. Then work it up to 100% speed.)
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For coming up with the right vocabulary in "real time", what I'd suggest is keeping a journal. Write about your day, write about what you did at work, whatever. Maybe just something funny that happened. If you're completely drawing a blank on what to write about, pick a 'writing prompt' from a book like this or its sequel or its other sequel. One, I'm a firm believer in the idea that if you can't get your thoughts out while writing at your own pace, you're screwed as far as getting those thoughts out while speaking conversationally. Two, and trust me on this, this will help identify weak points in vocabulary and grammar that you didn't even know you had.
You're fortunate that you live in Italy and have native speakers to use as a resource - Ask them if they'll help you out by reading over your journal entries and correcting them, even to the level of "I get what you mean but a native speaker would say it like this". (Make sure you understand the corrections - also you might find it additionally helpful to re-write it with the corrections.)
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(Do the transcriptions and the journal in long hand. Buy a notebook and a pen. I say this because it really does help make these mental connections better than typing does, it's not just because I'm old... :))