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Did you know that any child can learn to speak Italian (or any language for that matter) from a very young age?
Whether it’s just to learn about a new language and culture, study the Renaissance, travel to Tuscany, or just for fun, learning Italian is very rewarding and in this day and age, there are Italian language courses for everyone!
However, neither private tutorials nor language schools are free. If you want to become fluent in the Italian language, you're probably going to have to open your wallet at some point. With so many choices, you need to make sure that you're spending your money wisely.
However, thanks to new technologies, there are a number of free ways for you to teach your child Italian. By 2015, two-thirds of Britons had a smartphone and over half of all households had a tablet. If you're one of them, you can and follow a language course without spending a penny. Language learning has never been so cheap!
This trend has had a huge impact on education as Jérôme Serre, the founder of Edu-Pad, explained in an interview in the French newspaper “Express”:
“We wanted to break away from traditional education. “You do the lesson and afterwards I do exercises to validate that skill.” Perhaps this worked in the past but it doesn’t work with the Google generation.”
If you want to know everything there is to know about Italian vocabulary and teach your children, check out our favourite educational apps to learn Italian online!
Learn Italian free for beginners
This app is very popular and with good reason. This app is available for free on both Android and iOS that have fun games for young children learning Italian. You can track how your child is progressing with their Italian course thanks to tests for beginners, intermediates, and experts.
There are a variety of different programmes available:
- Basic Italian phrases and expressions for young learners
- Pronunciation practice and how to speak Italian
- Listening to natives speaking Italian
- Reading in Italian for beginners
- Conversation practice
- Games and quizzes
Both younger and older children can start off with the basics of Italian before moving onto more complicated concepts.
The benefits:
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Learn vocabulary with images
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Listen to Italian words pronounced by native speakers
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Earn “trophies” and “achievements” when you complete a challenge
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Track your progress
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Activities for a range of different levels
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Free/Cheap
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Learn thematic vocabulary
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Vocal recognition for pronunciation
The disadvantages:
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Ads on free apps (which are sometimes not suitable for children)
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Apps struggle to adapt their exercises to a user
In short, this app by Gonliapps is a great way for children under 12 or beginners to learn basic Italian.
You don’t need to go overboard. You can learn at your own pace and just do a few exercises a day in order to be able to communicate in Italian after just a few months.
Italian Bedtime Stories
Is trying to get the kids to go to bed a bit of a nightmare? How can you learn Italian with bedtime stories and an app?
This is a great app for both parents and children. I’ll Tell You a Story (Italian Bedtime Stories) has over 1,000 different fairytales and stories that you can read to your children or they can listen to on their own.
The app, which is free on Android and iOS allows you to read the stories, watch videos of native speakers reading the stories, or read on your own in order to practise Italian pronunciation.
It includes stories by plenty of different famous authors including:
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Charles Dickens,
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Jean de la Fontaine,
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Giovan Battista Basile,
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The Brothers Grimm,
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Hans Andersen,
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Charles Perrault,
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Mara Menino,
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Marcella Geraci,
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Niccolo Machiavelli and many more...
Reading bedtime stories together on your tablet could become a daily activity for you and your children and a great way for you to share your favourite stories with them.
The benefits:
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A wide range of stories
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A “read” mode which is great for bedtime
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A good mix of authors
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The pictures accompanying the stories
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The chance of downloading the audio so you can use the app offline
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The range of languages available (it’s not just Italian)
The disadvantages:
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Limited
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The visuals leave something to be desired
The app is mainly a way for a young student to get acquainted with literature in Italian and learn a few stories that aren’t commonly told in the UK. On the other hand, while it’s useful for their listening comprehension, this app won’t make them an expert in Italian grammar or teach them much about the different conjugations.
Why not check out the best websites for learning Italian online?
Dino Lingo
If you want to learn Italian, why not start with an app that’s famous worldwide?
Dino Lingo offers lessons in a variety of different foreign languages and can help children hone their linguistic skills. It’s available for on both Android and iOS at a cost of around £35. If you were wanting to learn Italian for free, this probably isn’t for you.
There are a variety of different programmes available:
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Lesson 1: Learn to count in Italian
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Lesson 2: Learn Italian food vocabulary
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Lesson 3: Learn toy and vehicle vocabulary
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Lesson 4: Learn Italian verbs and nature vocabulary
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Lesson 5: Learn Italian body and clothing vocabulary
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Lesson 6: Learn movement vocabulary with Italian music
The app is a genuine programme that allows total immersion in Italian and Italian culture. It’s recommended that you learn a bit of Italian before using the app so that you can navigate the menus without too many problems.
The benefits:
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The extent of the lessons available
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An off-line mode so that you can learn anywhere
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Well-designed exercises
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Cartoon images and animations
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Subtitles in Italian
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Complete video library
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Repetition for learning words
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Thirty-minute sessions
The disadvantages:
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The cost of the app (around £35) is quite expensive.
There are so many courses offered by Dino Lingo that you can easily see the app lasting your child several years, even longer if they have younger brothers or sisters. You can also adapt the exercises to their level which is helpful when it comes to tracking their progress. It’s a fun way to learn Italian!
In addition to the apps, Dino Lingo also has full courses for learning languages. You can buy textbooks, study guides, posters, CDs, and finger puppets. If it turns out that your child loves the app and is really enthusiastic about learning Italian, these might worth buying. However, they are a few hundred quid...
Learn & Play Italian
Smartphone and tablet apps don’t just teach kids a few phrases. They also can help them develop independent learning skills and improve their memory from a young age. This is true even if the app is just used as a learning support outside of their regular classes.
This is the main goal of Learn & Play Italian which comes with a few fun games to help students improve their cognitive abilities.
The app is available on Android and iOS. While there’s a free version, you’ll have to pay if you want to get rid of the ads.
There are a variety of different programmes available:
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Memorising and revising the Latin Alphabet
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Exercises for learning Italian nouns
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Exercises for learning Italian verbs
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Learning how to count in Italian
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Phonetic transcriptions of Italian terms
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Italian spelling tests
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Writing in Italian
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Reading Italian texts
To help your children learn a foreign language, this app uses the Glenn Doman method. Doman is an American writer who developed exercises to help babies learn maths and reading.
Thanks to a visual dictionary, children can study and practise their Italian vocabulary on a daily basis until they’ve mastered it!
The benefits:
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Different topics: Vegetables, fruits, animals, nature, school, travel, etc.
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Translations
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HD Quality
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Practise reading and listening
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Children will love the bright colours
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The scoring system encourages you to challenge yourself
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Associating notions with images, sounds, and words
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Evaluating your level in the language
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An off-line mode so that you can learn anywhere
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Vocabulary read aloud by a native Italian speaker
The disadvantages:
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Less functionality in the free version
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Buggy images
The app is a great tool to start learning Italian before primary school (if they’re going to a primary school where it’s taught). It’s a great way to teach your child some Italian before a trip or a family holiday, too.
Your child will be able to learn in just a few months without even realising that they’re studying.
Becoming a master of Italian and a bilingual speaker has never been so easy! Learn where you can start Italian Lessons.
Find a private tutor for Italian lessons near you:
- Italian lessons London
- Italian lessons Manchester
- Italian lessons Birmingham
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