Many people come to Italy for their dream holiday, to live a few months out of the year for retirement and, due to today’s growing global economy, for business. Italy boasts as one of the top five tourist destinations in the world with over 46m visitors per year. For visitors and business people alike being able to communicate in one of the worlds most romantic languages is an important way to enjoy Italy.
Here are ten ways in which you can learn Italian easily online:
- The Foundation for Learning – Learn at Your Own Pace
It is important to find a place online that would allow you to explore and learn at your own pace. If the course is too fast, you will drop out because you feel frustrated. If the course is too slow you will drop out because you are bored. A quality safe environment where you decide how fast or slow to go depending on your level and time is fundamental to learning a foreign language. It is also important that you learn proper pronunciation and good sentence structure. Being able to communicate clearly will make a big difference when you are trying to catch that train!
- Set Goals
Set goals for yourself so that you achieve quality milestones. Feeling that you have achieved something pushes you further into understanding the language on a deeper level.
- Determination
When you do start learning Italian, the importance is to have some determination. You want to learn the language for a specific reason hence you need to set yourself up to learn.
- The Need for Practising
It is important to keep the momentum going and therefore you need to practice what you learn on a daily basis. It is vital that you keep repeating the words, phrases and sentences you learn audibly or in your mind to remember the pronunciation as well as the structure. By visualizing the words, you will also be able to retain them for longer period.
- The Importance of Application
If you do not have an Italian friend or family member to assist with using the language every day, you could use an alternative way. Try translating sentences from English to Italian or finding an online speaking buddy to language swap.
- Practical Exercises
Make your sentences practical such as asking for directions or ordering something at a restaurant and so forth.
- Pronunciation and Clarity of Speech
What you would like to achieve here is to be able to communicate clearly and most importantly, effectively. The importance is to speak slowly and clearly to be understood and not necessarily to speak fast and incoherently. You should realize that it is not necessary to come across as an Italian, but simply to be understood.
- Learn by Listening
Make sure that when you are around Italian folk, you listen to what they say in full sentences. Sometimes it is easy to figure out the meaning by listening to the sentence and when you do recognize a word in it, it might give you the full understanding.
- Listen to Expression
There is a certain way in which the Italians speak. Listen and watch as they speak as they often use their hands when in conversation. Mimic what they do as this will assist with the expression of speaking Italian.
10. Learning Anywhere
Best part of learning Italian online is being able to learn while at home or on the road. Take it with you and practice wherever and whenever you can.
The author
Piermario Cesaraccio is a native Sardinian running an Italian school in Alghero, Sardinia. He loves to promote the town of Alghero and the region of Sardinia (biggest island in Italy and in the Mediterranean sea) to all the visitors coming to the island to explore and learn Italian in Italy.
Learn Italian with Lucrezia 