The one thing you will notice about Italy vs other European countries is that in the more tourist-frequented cities and "must-see" destinations a lot of the Italian people will automatically speak English to customers.
When it comes to greeting new people, Italians shake hands and exchange three kisses on the cheeks
However, wouldn't it be nice if you could converse in the native language while visiting Italy, to give your waiter or taxi driver a break from doing all the hard work?
"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."
- Nelson Mandela
Nowadays there are more ways than ever to learn the basics of any language, and Italian is no different! In this post, we will explore some of the traditional ways of learning Italian (with a tutor) as well as some of the more modern ones (apps and online) so let's begin.
Try Italian Lessons with a Superprof Tutor
When an article does not follow them, Italian prepositions are called “simple prepositions”.
One of the main reasons people like to study languages with a tutor is because after meeting with you they will have a clear strategy for you to reach your language learning goals and will be there to support you every step of the way.
Most of the tutors at Superprof offer you the option to take in-home or online lessons. This means you can learn whichever way is more comfortable for you, in your own space, at your own pace and at whatever time suits you. Lessons start from just €15 per session and you can take as many as few as you want.
I haven't even mentioned the best part yet, most of our tutors even provide the first lesson for free, yep that's right so all you have to do is go to the homepage type in the lesson you are looking for, select a location and then all of the tutors will pop up most of him provide the first lesson for free and the prices for every other lesson will be available beside their name.
A great idea when you taking lessons with a tutor is to create a phrase and word notebook.
Must-Watch Italian Movies and TV Shows to Improve Your Italian
How to Create a Personalised Italian Phrasebook:
This does not need to be anything fancy just a copy or notepad, with two different coloured pens, one for the Italian words and one for the English translation. Every time you learn a new phrase you know you will use again write it down phonetically, correctly and then in English.
Below are a few essential everyday words and phrases we at Superprof thought you might want to get started.
| English | Italian |
| Yes | Si |
| No | No |
| Hello | Buongiorno |
| Goodbye | Arrivederci |
| Hi | Ciao |
| Please | Per favore |
| Thank you very much | Grazie mille (grazie) |
| How are you? | Come stai? |
| Excuse me | Scusi il disturbo |
| Nice to meet you | Piacere |
Indumenti e accessori (clothes and accessories):
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Una maglietta: a t-shirt
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Una camicia: a shirt
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Una sciarpa: a scarf
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Un cappello: a hat
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Una gonna: a skirt
If you’re going to learn Italian, you absolutely must learn about food!
Il cibo (food):
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Il primo piatto: starter
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Il secondo piatto: main course
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Il contorno: side dish
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Il dessert: dessert
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Una bottiglia di vino: a bottle of wine
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Una bistecca al sangue: a rare steak
It might be handy to learn words for transport in order to get around.
Transporto (transport):
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La macchina: car
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La bicicletta: bicycle
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L’aereo: aeroplane
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Il treno: train
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Il taxi: taxi
Hopefully, these three lists of Italian vocabulary will be a good start towards boosting your Italian language skills. But what will help you a lot more than the short lists I have provided is either taking lessons with a tutor or trying some of the online apps like Duolingo or Babbel.
Best Online Resources for Learning Italian!
Did you know that Italian verbs can be categorized into three types?
Thanks to computers, tablets, and smartphones, learning Italian has been made much easier. Furthermore, for those on a budget, there are plenty of ways to learn Italian for free.
I particularly recommend Duolingo or Babbel.
For me, Duolingo was the app that worked best, learning a language on Duolingo is fun because lessons are split into bite-sized skills that feel like games. As mentioned this app is available to use for free, with ads and limitations however there is a plus version that comes at a price.
Babbel however, doesn't have a free version, so it might be worth considering what you can afford before you choose which app to go with.
Another great tool is Podcasts, in particular the free Coffee Break Italian podcasts, which offer different levels of tuition, dependent on your ability. Where ever you get your podcasts whether it's with Apple, Spotify or the Google Play store it doesn't matter, make sure you download Podcasts in Italian and repeat them aloud.
when you’re out and about in Italy, google or apple translate are perfectly adequate for conversing when in a bind.
At the end of the day even though a lot of Italian people speak English, it's just really nice to speak back to them in their own language and learning a second language makes you more employable, and gives you a lot of different advantages when it comes to getting into college as well as having many cognitive benefits.
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