Ask anyone, what is the best way to learn Italian? You will get a straight answer; learn subconsciously. Subconscious learning requires constant attachment to the language, in other words living in Italy. In reality, it is not possible for everyone. I guess that is the reason you are reading this blog. Italian language learning podcasts are useful and perhaps the most common way to learn Italian. But there are other ways as well. Don’t worry if you are not a podcast guy. I am going to tell you almost every possible way to learn Italian.
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Why You Should Learn to Speak Italian Language?
The Italian language is a language of art and taste. There are people around the world who just learn Italian for food exploring. But you are here to know ‘how can I learn the Italian language?’ Then before jumping into a course, know what the benefits of learning the Italian language are.
Political, Geographical and Economic Relevance
Career Benefit and Growth
More than a thousand U.S. firms have offices in the country, including IBM, General Electric, Motorola, Citibank, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Don’t just see U.S. parts, many Italian companies have offices in the United States, including famous brands like Barilla, Bulgari, Campari, Jacuzzi, Ferrero Nutella, Pirelli, Olivetti, Lavazza, and Prada, etc.
Arts and Culture
Travelling
You can enjoy Italy without knowing the language, speaking Italian allows you to experience the essence of Italian locales truly. There were around 5.6 million American tourists who travelled to Italy as their summer vacation. Who knows! You could be one of the tourists next year.
Ease of Access
The Foreign Service Institute ranked Italian as their category one language for a native English speaker to learn. The reason is simple. You will find more Latin connections in Italian than in English, e.g., antiqua>antico>antics came to English through Italian root via Latin.
Delicious Famous Dishes
Delicious foods and Italian are synonyms. Foods like Pizza, Bottarga, Lasagna, Florentine T-bone steak, Polenta, Risotto, Truffles, Focaccia, Coffee, Gelato are some of the many you will find tasteful in Italy.
The Best Ways to Learn Italian
There is no definite way to learn a particular thing. One can only tip you some ways based on experience and scientific research to learn a new language. Here are 15 proven tips to learn the Italian language.
1. Find Similarities
Thanks to Latin that most modern Italian words are directly from Latin. You will find essential connections in cognates of English, Italian, French and German language. The best when you learn Italian is to find these cognates to increase vocabulary (which also originated from vocabolario). Words like problem, temperatura, finale, impossibile are Italian for problem, temperature, finale, impossible!
By this, you will understand many words like Centro, Memoria, Energia, inscribe, numero, Chimica, and matematica.
2. Study the Greetings and Simple Phrases
Suppose you say hello in Italian, ciao! You will find a connection to study the language. Start small and short communications and aim for more significant phrases. Try saying hi, hi! Instead of Ha, ha! Or Come stai? instead of How are you? Or beh instead of eh. Sound as your tongue only speaks for Italian. Use Buongiorno, Buonanotte for good morning, and good night.
3. Learn Verbs, Your Companion to Dive Deep
It is sometimes not welcoming for English speakers to learn new forms of verbs in a different language. Once you get to love Italian verbs, you will talk in Italian more often than English. Learn words for am, is, are, was, were in Italian as sono è sei era erano.
Say sono americano, Lui (he) è americano, Sei (you) americano, Ero (I) americano, erano (they) americani. Look at this pattern for the root word rid (laugh)-
Rido (I laugh)
Tu ridi (You laugh)
Loro ridono (They laugh)
Noi ridiamo (We laugh)
Lui ride (He laughs)
4. Understand the Pronunciation of Words
It is an essential step for you to learn Italian. If you start studying Italian, the instructor should start with alphabets and pronunciation. Some tricky rules are hard to memorize, but you will get used to them in time. In English, ’ U,’ ‘G,’ ‘H’ etc. are pronounced differently in words ‘put’ and ‘but,’ ‘gentle’ and’ goat,’ ‘habit,’ and’ honor.’
There are rules like these in Italian. Say, for example, ‘genio’ is pronounced as genius ‘G,’ but ‘gatto (cat)’ or ‘gorilla’ are pronounced as gentle ‘G.’ Pronouncing words correctly will make you confident about the language.
If you are a pattern guy, you must have noticed that most of the Italian words end with a vowel.
5. List Your Necessary Words
It is only natural that you talk in English within 200+- words. The same is for other languages. You can make a perfect conversation by learning some keywords like
Salve, come va? Meaning Hello, how are you?
Grazie mille Meaning Thank you very much
Mi chiamo _ Meaning My name is _
Non parlo molto bene Italiano Meaning I can’t/don’t speak Italian very well.
So thus, make a list to practice such words and sentences every day. You won’t believe yourself after a month or a two.
6. Avoid Unnecessary Words
A bit confusing, right? How do I know which words are unnecessary? The answer lies in your curiosity. Suppose you are learning Italian to get a job in a Car Company. Do you think you need to memorize the fruit names to make a perfect conversation with your future colleagues? Your boss is never going to ask such a question, nor will your teammates talk about it. So be an optimizer in your wit.
You could be a professional traveller. So to enjoy the culture and make intercontinental friends, you need not to learn scientific Italian words. Is it clear to you now?
7. Talk and talk, don’t be Afraid or Ashamed
Do you remember how many meaningless words you said in childhood? You would not learn your mother tongue if you did not even try to say those words. That’s how it begins. Don’t be afraid to talk about what you learned in the language class. Instead, take it as a challenge to use the words and lessons in daily life. Online and Offline Italian Language learning Programs use daily modules to make it easy for you.
8. Make Mistakes but Correct Them Instantly
Don’t forget the saying’ failure is the pillar of success’. Well, not for those who do not understand the reason for failure. As a beginner, you will make mistakes in speaking. Instead of giving up on those, correct the mistakes and remove the confusion. There is no use of learning a new language if you do not vocalize it.
9. Mentally Prepare to Learn New Grammar
Italian grammar is not alien to English speakers. There are similarities in both. But you need to learn some new grammar rules to master Italian. Such as-
- Days, months, and languages are not capitalized in Italian.
- Unlike English, Italian compliments change with the subject, e.g., Ero (I was) americano, erano (they were) americani.
- Unlike English, Italians prefer to speak without auxiliary verbs, e.g. ‘what do you do?/what you do?’ is the same question in Italian ‘Cosa fai?’
- The Italian language has five inflected tense forms; present, simple past, imperfect, future, and conditional.
- Italians don’t bother about tense perfections. ‘I have been living in Germany since 1990/I live in Germany since 1990’ is the same in Italian Vivo in Germania dal 1990.
10. Take Time to Learn
Typically when you get to learn what you were keen to learn, you become excited. Understandably, excitement causes you to learn a whole lot of lessons in a single period. In reality, it is not possible to swallow everything in a day. In time, you may lose your confidence or enthusiasm to learn from a website, or the lessons may sound tedious.
Don’t give up. Mix up the plans and reschedule the lesson time, just like restarting your PC. Revise the notes to keep up the track, so you don’t get lost in advanced sessions.
11. Avoid Translating
Translating is a good habit if you are skillful bilingual. But during the process of learning, avoid translating Italian into English. It slows down your natural learning rhythm. If it becomes a habit to remember an English word while saying Italian, you can never speak freely or fluently.
Moreover, It can create confusion and cross-linguistic problems in the future. You may not get the appreciation you need from the Italian colleagues as you deserve. I know the urge is so strong when you are reading an Italian paper or a dialogue. But Believe me, mate, you don’t want that in the process of learning Italian.
12. Learn the Language not the Resource
It often happens that we lean on the resources or sites or instructors instead of the focal point. You want to learn, not to inquire, and fire someone. Spending time digging up a slightly better site or instructor is going to make you fall in dissatisfaction. You will always think the other was a better option. So you have to focus on learning the Language, not the Resource.
This determination clears your mind. Every paid online learning program has credentials based on strict rules and regulations. So forget about Resource, emphasis on the Language.
13. Grab a Textbook or an Article
Learning any language needs a touch of a book. This book could be a soft copy or hard copy, depending on your preference. But you have to attach to a book to learn Italian. Every Italian Learning program provides a guide book to learn Italian. It is necessary because books never make you bankrupt. It guides you in learning and helps preserve what you might forget.
14. Listen to Podcasts
You will see many Italian language learning podcasts online. Some of these podcasts are morning dialogues, lunch dialogues, flirting conversation, formal conversation and many more. Listening to Italian Podcasts can enhance fluency and proper word choice for communication. Some say it is an alternative to real-time partner practice. I mean, It is a boost to speak perfect Italian with a real-time partner.
15. Travel to an Italian Community
The best way to learn Italian naturally is to immerse with the Italian Community. If you get a chance to travel Italy or any Italian community then grab that opportunity. It is a big opportunity to learn Italian language subconsciously. Yes, that is the first thing I told you in this blog.
Speaking broken Italian might feel awkward. But hey! Locals are going to love you as you are trying to learn their language and culture despite being an outsider. Never miss such an opportunity.
Closing Note
Italian language learning is the same as any other language. You have to be patient while it feels boring. You have to go fast while it feels exciting. After purchasing a language package, plan your lesson time accordingly. I believe you will love Italian language.
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