LANGUAGE

Even though the site is for english speakers, if you’re a true italophile, you probably want to understand at least some of the language of the country that you’re obsessed with.

I’ll share resources for people that want to improve their language skills along with posts on fun phrases, sayings, dialects, and accents that the sixty million inhabitants of Italy are using today.

Here are some resources that I’ve found useful to get you started on improving your Italian skills …

• Duolingo – This freemium app isn’t perfect, but it’s great for certain learning styles. If you’re somone that likes scoring points, unlocking new levels, and competing against yourself and others, this gamified learning resource is for you. It’s free (the premium doesn’t add a lot), and very interactive. You won’t be fluent by the time you complete the course (their Italian course is less extensive than some other languages), but you’ll be proficient at reading and decent in your ability to communicate simply via the written word.
• Tandem – Tandem is an excellent resource for you to put the skills you’ve learned from Duolingo to good use. This app/website puts you into contact with Italians hoping to hone their English skills. The hope is that people work together to help each other to learn the other’s native language. It’s much more conversational, and you’ll get great feedback on how you can improve. There’s also the option to move from text to speech with partners if you’re comfortable. Once again, the service is free, but you can pay for tutors that will focus completely on you.
• Online Italian Club – This is another free website that is not going to put as much pressure on you to learn as Duolingo, but it is still very worthwhile. It’s less interactive than the resources above, but it provides a lot more lessons and opens up a much wider vocabulary. If you’re self motivated and disciplined, this is a good option.
• Learn Italian with Lucrezia – Of the several useful Italian language YouTube channels, I think that this is probably the most helpful. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles, but the instruction is clear, concise, and immersive. There are also lots of cultural videos interspersed that break up the monotony of learning new words. When used along with the resources above, your language skills are bound to improve!
• Reading – That’s it, there’s no link. Find a subject that’s interesting to you (for me, it was soccer), and then find an Italian website that comments on it (for me it was La Gazzetta dello Sport). Once you have at least some basic skills, you should be able to start reading headlines. The more you know about the topic, the more context will help, and you’ll learn A LOT of vocabulary in that way. Another easy way to do this is to read books that you’re already familiar with in english translated into Italian. While you’re exploring that material, make sure to have a source like Wikitionary, Reverso Context, or the ever improving Google Translate open to help you with vocabulary.
• Watching – There’s more Italian multimedia content available than ever before. Whether it’s watching the Italian news on YouTube, or binging a show on Netflix, this is one of the best ways of beefing up your ability. Subtitles help, but they sometimes get used as a crutch. If you have the luxury of re-watching a show that you’ve already watched with subtitles without them, or you just don’t care very much if you miss a few lines of dialogue, you will start picking up on things quickly. This is especially true on programs that use less regional dialects, speak more slowly, or where you already understand the context. Consider a show like Maggie and Bianca. It’s certainly not going to win the Italian equivalent of an Emmy, but this Nickelodeon style show features simple plots and clear speaking.

As long as you aren’t intimidated, you can become proficient in one of the world’s most beautiful languages in no time!