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Learn Italian: The Ultimate Guide
For Beginners
Learning Italian is one of the most rewarding adventures you can embark on.
As an Italian speaker, you'll be able to:
Communicate with family or friends who speak Italian
Have more authentic travel experiences in Italy
Learn more about Italian cuisine, culture, history and art
Live or work in Italy
See the world and the people around you through the eyes of a new language
Not only that, but studies show that the language-learning process sharpens your
memory, helps you adapt to new situations more quickly, and even broadens
your attention span.
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Better yet, it opens up a new part of the world to you, together with the possibility
of friendships and relationships you might never otherwise have.
Learning Italian is one of the best decisions you will ever make.
Italian was the second foreign language I learnt and since then I’ve gone on to
successfully learn 7 more.
I got started with Italian by sitting at my friend Claudio's kitchen table in the
mountains in Northern Italy. I would chat with his mother for hours each morning
while he was at work. (Italians love to chat!)
At first, I was completely lost.
But soon I started to pick up on the patterns of the language and figure out how
to make myself understood.
In this post, I’m going to reveal everything I discovered about how to learn Italian
as a beginner.
So, rather than trying to figure it all out yourself, take the time to read this post
and learn from my mistakes!
Here’s what we’ll cover in this article...
If you’ve ever asked yourself any of the following questions, then this article is for
you.
Why Should I Learn Italian?
What Are The Key Features Of Italian?
What Do I Need to Know About Italian Culture?
Is Italian Hard To Learn?
How Can I Learn Italian Verb Conjugations?
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What Pitfalls Do I Need To Avoid As A Beginner Learner?
What’s The Best Way To Best Way To Become Fluent In Italian?
What Are The Best Resources For Learning Italian?
I’ll start by telling you about the fundamental aspects of the Italian language and
its culture. Then I'll look at one of the major challenges faced by all beginner
Italian learners - verbs. Finally, I’ll finish with my recommended action steps to
help you learn to speak Italian quickly.
WHY LEARN ITALIAN?
When you tell your friends you want to learn Italian, you might finding yourself
fielding a few questions.
“Why Italian?” they might ask. “Why not something more useful like Spanish or
Mandarin?”
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It's a fair question. While Italian is still a very useful language in international
business, admittedly, it's not as widely used as languages like Spanish and
Chinese are.
But there are still plenty of good reasons to learn Italian.
Over 65 million people speak Italian as their primary language. Most of them are
located in Italy, but there are smaller Italian-speaking populations in Switzerland,
Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina too.
And in big cities around the world, you'll also find plenty of Italian speakers and
active Italian cultural groups to connect with.
Let's consider a few more reasons this beautiful language is worth learning:
Italian Is An Important Language For Lovers Of Art and Culture: If
you’re interested in art history, Italian is the language for you. It will help you
discover more about the world of Da Vinci, Botticelli, and Michelangelo. Are you a
fan of classic literature? With Italian, you can read Dante’s Divine Comedy as he
wrote it in Florence hundreds of years ago. A fashion maven? Learn the language
of Giorgio Armani, Salvatore Ferragamo, Dolce and Gabanna. A lover of
opera? Imagine being able to listen to the beautiful notes of an aria from La
Traviata and being able to understand every word without any subtitles to take
your eyes off the singer’s face
Italian Sounds Beautiful: It may seem like a shallow reason to learn a language,
but Italian is a beautiful sounding language. And if you're going to learn it, you'll
have to listen to it a lot! Simple sentences in Italian can sound incredibly musical.
Many language-learners are drawn to Italian because of its rhythm and melody so
it's no wonder Italian is often called the language of love and the language of
seduction.
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Learning Italian Will Make Learning Other languages Easier: Once you learn a
foreign language, your brain starts to make new linguistic connections. Learning
any subsequent language, especially another Romance language, will be
significantly easier once you have mastered Italian. When studying Romance
languages, you will already know many of the words’ roots and the basic grammar
structures. But even if you study a language that has next to nothing in common
with Italian, you’ll still find it easier because of the new neural pathways and
connections that learning your first foreign language opens up for you.
If You Speak Italian, You Can Have More Authentic Experiences When Traveling In
Italy: Perhaps most importantly, you should learn Italian if you want to travel to
Italy. Many travellers dream of seeing Rome, Naples, Milan, and Florence. But you
can’t fully appreciate Italy without seeing the smaller towns, too: the areas off the
beaten track, where most tourists don’t take the time to go. In the more touristic
parts of Italy, an English-speaker can get by with minimal Italian. The Italians
employed in restaurants and hotels tend to speak English to a relatively a decent
level. Those who do not work in tourism, however, speak minimal English. This
will come as a surprise to some seasoned travellers, because in so many parts of
Europe – Scandinavian countries in particular – most people speak English almost
flawlessly. Italy is different. Students do learn some English in school, but overall,
confident English speakers are not that common. So, if you want to have
meaningful conversations with real Italians, your best bet is to learn Italian!
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THE KEY FEATURES OF ITALIAN
In this section, we’ll look at the key linguistic features of Italian and what they
mean for you as beginner learner. You’ll learn about:
The Development of Modern Italian
Word Gender In Italian
An Introduction To Italian Verbs
The Italian Past Tenses
The Subjunctive
Italian Pronunciation & Spelling
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The Development Of Modern Italian
Like French, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, and many other smaller languages,
Italian is a Romance language.
These languages all originate from Latin, the language spoken long ago in Ancient
Rome and they all have a lot in common. That means that if you have any
experience with one of the other Romance languages, you’ve got a head start with
Italian.
One of the most interesting things about modern day Italian is how it came to
exist at all.
Italy is a relatively newly unified country by European standards. Before all the
regions of Italy were unified in the 19th Century, people in different areas spoke
vastly different dialects.
(Note: A dialect is a variation of a language spoken in a particular place, for
example in England, people speak British English, whereas, in Ireland, they speak
a slightly different dialect with their own unique local phrases and slang).
Many of the Italian dialects still remain today, especially among older generations.
However, in 19th Century Italy, these dialects were so different that a person from
Naples, in the South, sometimes wouldn’t even have been able to communicate
with a person from Venice, in the North.
So, when the regions were unified, it was decided that there needed to be an
official Italian language, which would be taught in schools and used in
government, and ideally would also eventually be used in daily life.
But which region’s dialect would be chosen as the 'official Italian'?
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After much debate, the country decided that the most beautiful and perfect
Italian was that used by the famous poet Dante Alighieri in the late Middle Ages.
And so modern, standard Italian is largely based on Dante’s Italian.
It is spoken in every corner of Italy as the primary tongue, even where people still
use their own dialects in their day-to-day lives.
To give you some perspective on how incredible this is, imagine if someone
decided that all the different accents English-speakers have are too varied, so we
should all speak Shakespeare’s English!
It goes to show what an incredible, fascinating, and downright crazy place Italy
can be sometimes.
Now, let's look at some of the fundamental parts of the Italian language.
We'll start with a concept that you might recognize if you studied a foreign
language in school: word gender.
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Learning Italian Word Gender
In Italian, just like in French, Spanish or German, all nouns have a gender
- masculine or feminine.
This means that every time you learn a new word in Italian, you'll also need to
learn the gender of that word.
When talking about people, this is easy. The grammatical gender is the same as
the gender of the person:
un uomo (a man - masculine)
una donna (a woman - feminine)
Other objects, however, do not follow any logical pattern. For example,
sandwiches and trains are masculine:
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un panino
un treno
Meanwhile, lamps and butterflies are feminine:
una lampada
una farfalla
Sometimes the gender of a noun can even be counterintuitive, although it isn't
that common. For example, ‘masculinity’ (la mascolinità) and ‘virility’ (la virilità) are
actually both feminine nouns in Italian!
In Italian, just as in English, articles are often used with words. In English, we have
two articles:
a/an
the
In Italian, there are four:
un
una
il
la
The articles that go with each noun in Italian also depends on the gender of the
word.
una and la go with feminine nouns
un and il go with masculine nouns.
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Most of the time there is no rhyme or reason to which nouns are masculine and
which are feminine. You just have to take note and memorize them as you go.
But don’t worry! It’s not as hard as it sounds.
As you start to build your vocabulary, you’ll quickly notice some patterns and
shortcuts that help you.
For example, in Italian, almost all nouns end with an a or an o. Words that don't
end in one of these two letters are words that have been adopted into Italian
from other languages.
Once you notice this pattern, you'll see that there is an easy way to determine the
gender of most words.
Nouns that end with the letter a are almost always feminine
Nouns that end with an o are normally masculine
Like most grammar rules, there are exceptions, such as:
La mano - the hand (feminine)
However, these exceptions are few and far between, so you’ll be safe with the 'a/o
rule' the vast majority of the time.
An Introduction To Italian Verbs
Another of the main differences between Italian and English is the way verbs are
formed and used
In English, verbs don’t change form very much. For example, in the present tense,
English simply adds an ‘s’ to the ‘he/she’ form, giving:
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I love
you love
he/she/it loves
we love
you (plural) love
they love
However, in Italian, there are other changes, depending on who carries out the
action. This process is called conjugation.
Verbs are conjugated differently depending on who is doing an action and when
the action is being done. For example, the Italian verb amare (to love) would be
conjugated as follows in the present tense:
io amo (I love)
tu ami (you love)
lui/lei ama (he/she love)
noi amiamo (we love)
voi amate (you love)
loro/Loro/essi amano (they love)
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The Italian Past Tenses
Italian verb tenses are a little different from English, too, but this isn't too difficult
once you get the hang of it.
When talking about the past, Italian has two different tenses which essentially
distinguish between:
An event that occurred just once at a single point in time
Something that was true for an extended period of time or that happened
regularly.
English has lots of different ways express these things, whereas, in Italian, the
rules are more specific. This can seem confusing at first but it's actually much
simpler than in English. It’s different, but you'll become accustomed to the Italian
tenses very quickly as you practice.
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In fact, it’s probably much easier for English speakers to master Italian tenses
than it is for Italian speakers to get to grips with the complicated tense system in
English.
The Subjunctive In Italian
It's also worth mentioning that the use of the subjunctive is common in Italian.
If Italian is your first foreign language, this problem sounds like something
strange and intimidating, but we actually have the subjunctive in English too.
The difference is that the subjunctive has almost died out in English and is only
present in expressions like “God Save the Queen” (not “God saves the Queen”) or
“It is important that you be on time” (not “are on time”).
There are several common Italian phrases that must always be followed by the
subjunctive tense. It's definitely worth practising these as they tend to come up
quite often in conversation. Here are a few examples:
Sembra che (it seems that)
È bene che (it is good that)
È giusto che (it is right that)
È strano che (it is strange that)
Bisogna che (it is necessary that)
In Italian, unlike in English, the subjunctive forms of verbs are often different from
the normal (indicative) forms.
Here's an example of a sentence using the subjunctive present form:
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È necessario che (tu) parli più chiaramente. (It is necessary that you speak more
clearly.)
There are different conjugations for subjunctive present, imperfect, past, and
pluperfect.
As with other verb conjugations, the endings depend on whether the infinitive
form of the verb ends in –are, -ere, or -ire.
The subjunctive is essentially one more set of conjugations to memorize, but once
you get the hang of it, it allows you to express things that are otherwise difficult to
say.
In a nutshell, the subjunctive, (or congiuntivo in Italian), expresses possibility.
If translated into English, it would sound very old-fashioned, but once you get the
hang of it, there’s a lot of beauty to the way you can use it and the things it can
express.It is the form
It is the form for phrasing feelings – doubt, uncertainty, hopes, desires, and
suggestions.
The subjunctive is one of the more complicated parts of Italian, but you’ll be
happy to find out that the next element of Italian - pronunciation - is really easy!
Italian Pronunciation & Spelling
Italian is completely phonetic, so once you learn a few rules, you’ll be able to
easily pronounce any word you see written down.
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The first rule of Italian pronunciation is to pronounce every letter. There are no
silent letters to throw you for a loop like there are with French!
One of the key letters to focus on as a beginner in Italian is the letter 'c' which
works a little differently than in English.
In Italian, the letter c followed by a vowel makes what English speakers think of as
a “ch” sound (like in the English word 'cheese').
On the other hand, when an h follows a c, like in the word chiaro (clear), it makes
a hard 'k' sound.
Another sound to watch out for is e at the end of words. In these situations, it
makes an 'eh' sound. Listen to the pronunciation of the word difficile and notice
this e sound:
Once you get the hang of these key sounds, you’re all set with Italian
pronunciation. You'll be able to accurately pronounce almost any word you see
written down, right from the beginning!
For this reason, spelling is also quite straightforward. Armed with the same
knowledge you used to master pronunciation, you’ll be able to flawlessly spell any
word you hear spoken.
See? Not difficile at all! Obviously, being able to spell Italian words and pronounce
them correctly is a big step towards mastering the Italian language, so that fact
that you can get the hang of this so quickly is a major head start!
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
ITALIAN CULTURE
Believe it or not, you’ve made it through the hardest sections of learning Italian -
the fundamentals! Now for the fun part – getting to know a little more about
Italian culture!
What do you think of when you imagine Italy, that boot-shaped country jutting its
heel into the Mediterranean?
Perhaps you picture rolling Tuscan hills and valleys full of olive trees, ready to be
harvested? Maybe you picture the olive oil that comes from those olive groves
drizzled onto fresh dough and baked into a delicious pizza? Maybe you picture an
old Italian nonna preparing homemade pasta?
Or perhaps your mind goes straight to the famous Italian monuments -
the Duomo in Florence, or Teatro alla Scala opera house in Milan? The Colosseum,
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Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the canals of Venice or the ruins
of Pompeii? The list is never-ending.
But beyond the stereotypes that come to mind when we think of Italy, there is an
amazing culture unlike any other in the world.
There’s so much to be said, but let’s stick to four particularly interesting elements
of Italian culture:
Food
Cinema
History
Art
Italian Food
There’s no denying it: the stereotype is true - pizza and pasta dominate Italian
cuisine.
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There’s more to the story, though, so let’s look a little deeper.
When dining at a restaurant in Italy, you will typically be offered two main
courses:
Primo piatto – The is the first course and it's traditionally pasta or risotto. You will
almost never encounter pasta served in meat sauce in Italy. There is typically not
any meat until the second main course.
Secondo piatto – The second course in Italy is the meat dish. Meat or fish is
prepared in a wide variety of ways, depending on the region of Italy or the
preferences of the chef.
Additionally, you can expect to be offered antipasti (starters
like bruschetta), contorni (sides, usually vegetable-based), and dolce (dessert).
An Italian meal usually ends with a caffè (a shot of strong espresso) or a digestivo,
which is an alcoholic drink like grappa or limoncello to aid in digestion.
You’ll also find that the different regions of Italy all have their own very distinctive
cuisines.
The stereotypical Italian style is closer to Southern Italian cuisine. The style in the
North of Italy is still undeniably Italian, but it takes a lot of inspiration from French
cooking, which makes sense given that it’s geographically closer to France.
Northern Italian cooking uses more butter while Southern Italian cooking uses
more olive oil. Pizza originates from Napoli (Naples), which is in the South.
Different regions also have different specialities. Often the specialities feature
ingredients that are specific to the region. In Lombardia (Lombardy), you'll
find gli gnocchi al Gorgonzola, while in Sicilia (Sicily) you can try spaghetti al nero
di seppia (squid ink spaghetti).
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Italian Cinema
Since the early days of cinema, Italian filmmakers have been considered some of
the most innovative in the world.
After World War II, Italian movie makers developed a new genre referred to
as Neoclassicism. These were politically-charged films that touched on the post-
war poverty Italy was facing at the time.
On a more lighthearted note, as you may have already known from the
name, Spaghetti Westerns were an important part of Italian cinematic history.
They were popular in the 1960s are they're basically over-the-top Westerns
embellished by Italian creativity and exaggeration. They were typically dubbed
into English to give them broader international appeal.
Italian History
Italy is, without a doubt, one of the most historically rich regions in the world. It
has seen prosperity and destruction, beauty and terror, and the rise and fall of
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great civilizations. Every city and village has its own fascinating story spanning
centuries.
Whether you’re interested in recent history or ancient history, Italy has something
for you to explore.
History is full of fascinating stories, on the world stage and in the local town
square. Spend a little time in Italy and you might be surprised at how willing the
locals are to share their stories about life, death and the history of their villages
and towns.
Italian Art
Even if you’ve never taken a course or read a book about Art History, you
probably already know what a huge role Italy has played in the creation of art as
we know it today.
Many of the most iconic and recognisable paintings in the world are of Italian
origin and Renaissance Italian art is especially popular.
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Even if you are not familiar with the history of art, an afternoon at
the Uffizi Gallery in Florence admiring the work of Da Vinci, Botticelli, and
Michelangelo is not to be missed.
Italian sculpture is as impressive as Italian painting. You will be astonished by the
towering, incredibly realistic statues that Italian sculptors have brought to life
from local marble.
Modern Italians take great pride in the artistic prowess of their forefathers and art
history is an essential part of the Italian liceo (high school) curriculum.This means
most people in Italy are quite knowledgeable about the artistic treasures their
country holds and it's a great topic to chat about with them.
This means most people in Italy are quite knowledgeable about the artistic
treasures their country holds and it's a great topic to chat about with them.
Appreciating Italian Culture
The key to fully appreciating all that Italian culture has to offer is learning the
Italian language.
Of course, it’s possible to understand and appreciate it without learning the
language (and many people do), but speaking Italian is necessary for befriending
and communicating with Italian people, for reading documents and watching
films in their original form, and for feeling at ease when travelling in Italy.
It's not that you can't appreciate Italian culture if you don't speak Italian, but once
you've learned the language you'll certainly be able to enjoy and appreciate it
much more.
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IS ITALIAN HARD TO LEARN?
It's easy to assume that learning Italian will be too difficult, and never even give it
a try. But actually, Italian is one of the easiest foreign languages for a native-
English speaker to learn.
At first, Italian may sound super-fast and completely indecipherable but don’t be
intimidated. It takes time to adapt to the sounds of any new language and Italian
is no different.
When you first start learning Italian, it's important to listen to the language as
much as possible. After a few weeks of study, you'll find that the jumble of sounds
begins to untangle into words, phrases, and sentences.
Italian really isn’t a hard language, and if you put your mind to it you can master it
without terrible difficulty.
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One huge advantage you have when learning Italian is that it uses the same
alphabet as English.
It’s easy to take this perk for granted but really is a huge help. It eliminates a
whole step of the process that you have to go through when learning languages
like Japanese, Chinese or Arabic.
Another of the reasons that Italian is particularly easy to learn is that everything is
phonetic. Once you've learned the basic pronunciation rules (which can be done
easily in an hour or less), you can accurately pronounce any word you see written
down.
Another thing that makes Italian relatively easy for English speakers is the
number of words that the two languages share. These words are called cognates
and they are the same or similar in both English and Italian.
Cognates between English and Italian exist for several reasons.
In some cases, words were taken from Italian and integrated directly into English,
and vice-versa. Other words are similar or the same because they come from the
same Latin root.
Here are some examples of common English/Italian cognates:
Miserabile (miserable)
Moderno (modern)
Eloquente (eloquent)
Naturale (natural)
Originale (original)
Errore (error)
Concerto (concert)
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Melodia (melody)
As you study Italian, you'll quickly notice some patterns among English/Italian
cognates, and this can help you make an educated guess about how to say certain
words in Italian.
For example, words that end in –al in English are often the same but for an –
ale ending in Italian:
Finale (Final)
Naturale (Natural)
Originale (Original)
Words that end in -ble in English are often the same but for an –bile ending in
Italian:
Possibile (Possible)
Impossibile (Impossible)
Responsabile (Responsible)
Words that end in –y in English generally end in –ia in Italian:
Democrazia (Democracy)
Psicologia (Psychology)
Autonomia (Autonomy)
There are also many other words in Italian that are the same as in English but
with added vowels on the end (because in Italian it is extremely rare for words to
end in consonants).
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What all of this means for you is that you actually already know hundreds if not
thousands of words in Italian. And you get all this vocabulary for free without any
memorization or study!
HOW TO LEARN ITALIAN VERB
CONJUGATIONS
Many learners consider Italian verb conjugation to be the most difficult and
frustrating part of the learning the language. There are lots of different verb
forms to learn and for this reason, verbs intimidate a lot of learners.
However, this fear is truly unwarranted.
I know Italian verb conjugation seems like a lot to take on, but in truth, it's just a
case of mastering a few simple patterns and getting lots of practice using them in
conversation.
The more you practice, the more natural the verb system will seem and soon
you'll be able to flawlessly conjugate verbs without thinking about it.
Italian verbs in their infinitive forms fall into three categories, based on their
endings:
–ire
–ere
–are
To conjugate verbs in Italian, you simply remove the –ire, –ere or –are and replace
it with the appropriate ending.
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For example, let's take a look at how to conjugate partire (to leave) in the present
tense.We start by removing the –ire from the end of the verb, which lives us with:
part
This is the 'root' of the verb. Next, we add the appropriate endings to conjugate
the verb. In the present tense conjugations would be as follows (note the endings
in bold):
io parto (I leave)
tu parti (you leave)
lui, lei parte (he/she leaves)
noi partiamo (we leave)
voi partite (you [plural] leave)
loro partono (they leave)
The endings of the conjugated verbs will change based on the ending of the
infinitive, the person or people doing the action and the verb tense, which means
there's quite a lot of them to learn!
There isn't really any 'magic bullet' solution when it comes to learning Italian verb
conjugations.
But don't worry too much, it seems more intimidating than it really is.
I found it useful to make conjugation charts when I was starting out. I’d put the
endings on one axis and the people/subjects on the other axis. That way, I could
easily find the type of verb I was looking for and add the correct ending I needed.
I also focused on paying close attention to the verb forms used in everything I
read and listened to. For example, if you practice by reading short stories or
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articles in Italian, it's a good idea to always try and notice the verbs in the text and
pay attention to which endings they use.
When I was learning Italian, I had a “master” chart that I kept handy as I was
practising. It included all the common types of conjugations written out on one
page. As I was reading or writing, I'd simply refer to this verb chart when I came
across an ending I couldn't remember.
Eventually, I got to the point where I could just visualize the chart if I wasn’t sure
how to conjugate a certain verb while speaking or writing.
And finally, I didn’t need to visualize the chart at all.
With enough practice, Italian verb endings become natural and you stop thinking
about them. You’ll get to the point where you just know what “sounds right” as
you most likely already do in English.
There are just a few irregular Italian verbs that don’t follow these patterns but
luckily, they're rare enough that you can just memorize them separately without
too much trouble.
The reason that most learners struggle with Italian verbs is that they try to
memorize everything and get frustrated and overwhelmed.
But in fact, regular verbs don’t come down to a matter of intentional
memorization.
With enough careful attention and practice, you'll find your brain starts to
remember and understand them on its own.
This is because the brain recognizes patterns.
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Since Italian verb conjugation follows a very specific set of patterns, our brains
quickly get used to them and they become second-nature. It's simply a case of
reading, hearing and using the verbs enough that the patterns become obvious.
From a neurological perspective, it is similar to the way our brains perceive
patterns in music. Once you catch on to melodies in a piece of music, you know
what sounds right and can often even predict how a song or melody will progress.
5 PITFALLS TO WATCH OUT FOR AS A
BEGINNER ITALIAN LEARNER
The hardest foreign language you'll ever learn is your first one.
Once you know how to learn a language, it becomes a lot easier to make
consistent progress.
As a beginner learning Italian, there are some common pitfalls you need to watch
out for.If your goal is to learn Italian and quickly and efficiently as possible, these
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tips will help you avoid some of the most common mistakes that many new
language learners make:
If your goal is to learn Italian and quickly and efficiently as possible, these tips will
help you avoid some of the most common mistakes that many new language
learners make:
1. Don’t Translate
If you are reading or listening in Italian, resist the urge to translate in your head
and say the sentence to yourself in English.
Some people say you know you’ve learned a language when you start to dream in
it, and this is the very definition of not translating.
Translating is an excellent skill to develop after you become fluent in a foreign
language, but during the language-learning process, it will only hold you back and
lead to confusion.
Your goal should be to think of Italian words as words themselves, not as some
code to decipher.
2. Don’t Memorize Random Italian Vocabulary Lists
It’s a waste of time to aimlessly memorize vocab lists, especially as they tend to be
lists of obscure words that are often not relevant to you.
I will always remember memorizing a list of body parts from my Italian textbook
and asking myself, “When am I ever going to use most of these words?”
Don't fall into that trap.
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As your Italian improves, chances are you will be able to make an educated guess
as to the meaning of words from their context. And if you're really stuck, you can
always ask:
Come si dice in italiano...? (How do you say ... in Italian?)
So don’t memorize lists of random vocabulary, instead focus on choosing the
words that you're most likely to use in real conversations. This way you will learn
more useful words in a more organic way.
3. Don’t Be Afraid To Make Mistakes
A fear of making mistakes is one of your greatest enemies as a language-learner.
It can be intimidating to speak a new language at first, but it’s much better to try
and fail than not to try at all.
In most circumstances, people will still understand you even if you make some
minor mistakes.
And if they don’t understand you, they’ll ask clarifying questions which expand the
conversation and are great practice for you.
Sometimes they'll even be kind enough to explain the mistake you made and give
you pointers on how you can avoid it in the future.
When it comes to improving your spoken Italian, two old sayings really do ring
true: “Practice makes perfect,” and “If at first, you don’t succeed, try again!”
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4. Focus On The Language, Not The Resources
One of the things that new learners tend to waste the most time on is trying to
find the 'perfect' resource to learn with.
Don't get me wrong, finding the right materials is an important part of your
learning but you still need to focus the language if you're going to make any
progress.
There are countless ways to learn, no matter where you are in life. So take a little
time at the beginning to find something you like and enjoy using, then just get
started!
Focus on learning the language rather than always looking for the perfect
resource – there is no 'one size fits all' solution. No matter what Italian learning
materials you use, you'll need to put in the time and effort to practice and that's
what will make the biggest difference to your Italian fluency.
5. Don’t Give Up
Once you’ve been learning Italian for a while, you may feel like you begin to
plateau at an intermediate level before you’ve ever become truly fluent.
It is imperative that you don’t give up at this point. I've experienced this sense of
levelling off in every language I've learned, but in every single case, just when I felt
like I'd never make it to fluency, I've had major breakthroughs.It's
It's simply part of the process.
Don’t give up on your Italian – when you hit a plateau, it’s a sign you’re almost
there.
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5 STEPS TO LEARN TO SPEAK ITALIAN FOR
BEGINNERS
Now that you know what pitfalls to avoid, you’re ready to really get started on
your path to Italian fluency. As a beginner, it's often difficult to know where to
start or what you should focus on.
In my experience, there are few simple shortcuts that you can take to quickstart
your learning and start making progress with your Italian in a short space of time.
1. Get A Good Italian Textbook
A good textbook will help you consolidate what you have learned in your
conversations or from your teacher. Textbooks are great for clarifying your
understanding and teaching you the fundamentals of Italian.
Take some time to find a textbook you like and will want to use. I always go to my
local bookshop and take a look at the content, look and feel of the books before I
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buy one because I know I need to choose something that will keep my motivated
to practice regularly.
2. Learn The Fundamentals Of Italian
Don’t avoid grammar at the beginning because it intimidates you. Learn the
fundamentals early on so there won’t be any gaps in your knowledge as you
progress.
Imagine the Italian language like a pyramid of building blocks. The fundamentals
are the blocks at the bottom - the base. They might not seem as exciting as the
blocks at the top, but they are the foundation and without them, the structure
cannot stand.
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3. Memorise Key Italian Phrases
Have you ever flipped through a guidebook for an interesting destination and
seen a glossary of key phrases towards the back?
Key phrases are the things that you say often in daily life – everything from “hello,”
and “please,” and “thank you,” to “How much does that cost?”.
Learning and using these key phrases gives you a chance to put the language into
action right from the very beginning. It also gets you accustomed to the way the
language feels in your mouth when you speak.
Try to identify the words and phrases you'll need most often in your Italian
conversations, then focusing on learning these first.
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4. Don’t Get Too Hung Up On Italian Grammar
Grammar is, of course, important and you should give it sufficient attention, but
don’t get so hung up on it that you stress yourself out or neglect to speak in case
you make mistakes.
Even if your grammar is poor, people will be able to understand you anyway. No
one will judge you for imperfect grammar. They will be impressed and thrilled
that you are making the effort to learn the language at all!
And the more you use the language, the quicker your brain will start to pick up on
all those tricky grammar points anyway!
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5. Find Italian People To Speak With
The more you practice speaking Italian, the quicker and more effective your
learning will be.
Speaking with real Italian people has benefits that cannot be reaped elsewhere.
After all, the soul of a language is the people who speak it. Through conversations
with Italian speakers, you'll learn Italian slang and colloquialisms that will bring
the language to life. And it will help you learn how to speak Italian like in a real,
natural way.
You will also benefit from the real-time feedback you receive from your speaking
partners. If you make mistakes, the person you are talking to can correct you and
help you understand how to fix your weaknesses.
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RESOURCES TO LEARN ITALIAN ONLINE
Now that you’re ready to start learning Italian, these are my recommended
resources to learn as quickly as possible.
Italian Books For Beginners
Italian Short Stories for Beginners – One of the best ways to improve your Italian
and expand your vocabulary is to read Italian books. I’ve written a series of short
stories designed especially for beginners. If you enjoy reading, you’ll love these
stories, which are packed with special features to help you understand and –
above all – enjoy reading Italian! Available on Amazon Kindle and paperback: CLICK
HERE TO LEARN MORE
Learn How To Speak Italian
italki – This is my favourite website for finding teachers and affordable tutors to
help practise my Italian. I use italki literally every day to get that all-important
speaking practice that helps me stay fluent.
Italian Audio For Listening Practice
Conversations - Do you struggle to understand fast, spoken Italian? Conversations
helps you understand real Italian & transform your listening skills in less than 90
days.
Glossika – Glossika Mass Sentences is an incredible resource for serious Italian
learners who want to learn to understand and speak their new language quickly. I
use Glossika with every new language I learn, and it helps me get used to all the
different sounds and grammatical structures of the language.
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FluentU – FluentU is an extensive library of Italian videos, with interactive bi-
lingual subtitles, looping functionality, a hover-dictionary … and much more! If you
love watching Italian TV and movies, you’ll love FluentU.
Learn To Write In Italian
HelloTalk – HelloTalk is one of the few language learning apps I actually use and
recommend! With a user base of millions of people, you can quickly find friends to
start practising with! It’s worth upgrading to the paid version of the app to get
access to all the cool translation features.
NOW YOU’RE READY TO START LEARNING
ITALIAN!
Follow these tips and you’ll be speaking Italian in no time!
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All Rights Reserved.
All your hard work and determination will pay off big time when you're having
real, life-altering conversations with Italian people you never could have
communicated with before.
By learning Italian, you’re learning more than just a new language.
You’re learning to think about the world in a new way, you’re learning how culture
plays an important role in the development of a language, and you’re opening up
your mind to new possibilities and people.
As anyone who has ever successfully learnt Italian can tell you, the moment you
realise you are having a conversation – when you are expressing yourself
confidently and can understand what people are saying to you – is an amazing
feeling.
My final piece of advice to you ... get started!
There's no better time to start your journey to fluency in Italian than right now.
With strong motivation, a clear plan and a little hard work, there's nothing that
can stop you!
Buona fortuna!
I hope you’ve found this post useful!
If you have any friends or family learning Italian, please take a moment to share
this post with them, or on social media – it would mean a lot to me! (You can click
here to send a Tweet!)