How to Learn Italian at Home
Italian is spoken by about 70 million people. It is the official language of Italy and one of three official languages in Switzerland. While many people in Italy speak English, learning Italian is still important when you travel there. Not all signs and menus are translated, and in smaller towns there are fewer English speakers. If you don't speak Italian in these towns, you will have trouble communicating basic needs. Italians are more welcoming to visitors who speak Italian. You can teach yourself Italian at home, rather than attend formal classes.
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Things You'll Need
- Italian self-teaching guides
- Pen or pencil
- Notebook
- Italian audio lessons
- Italian-English dictionary
- Italian grammar workbook
- Italian vocabulary workbook
- Italian verb workbook
- Computer with Internet connection
Instructions
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Obtain a beginning Italian self-teaching guide. Look for one with several practice exercises. Buying more than one beginner's books gives you a wider variety of lessons, varied explanations of grammar and different tips on learning verb forms.
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Work through the beginner's books. Spend at least 30 minutes a day working on your lessons rather than cramming a long study session in once or twice a week. The more you expose yourself to the language, the better it will stick. While working, practice speaking dialogues and vocabulary out loud to get used to saying the words.
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Take notes as you work through the lessons. Write down vocabulary words and practice memorizing them. Look up words you don't know in your dictionary and write these into your notebook.
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Listen to audio lessons. These teach you pronunciation and vocabulary. Some of the better audio lessons require you to listen to dialogues to test your comprehension and partake in conversations. Listen to these lessons as often as possible, preferably every day.
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Work through the grammar, verb conjugation and vocabulary workbooks once you finish the beginners' guides. These books review what you learned in the beginner's books and go into more detail about the Italian language. Again, spend at least 30 minutes a day on these.
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Stream an Italian radio station on the Internet and listen to it a few times a week for at least five minutes. Try to understand the idea of what is being said and write down words you hear that you know. You won't understand everything, but this this will expose you to spoken Italian and test your language skills.
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Search for Italian current affairs Web sites (in Italian, not English). Read a few paragraphs of a story out loud to practice speaking. Then try to translate as much of the story as possible (use your dictionary to help). Do this a couple times a week to improve your reading skills and vocabulary.
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Tips & Warnings
Practice Italian around the house, even if you only talk to your pets.
Quality audio lessons can be expensive, so see if your local library has any you can borrow (the Plimseur lessons are quite good).
Watch Italian movies with the subtitles off to test your comprehension.
Don't be afraid to speak Italian in Italy. This is the best practice you can get.
References
- Photo Credit italy image by Hubert from Fotolia.com
