Learning Italian

One of the most common pieces of advice newcomers hear from people already living in Italy is ‘learn the language’! Of course, in some parts of Italy – tourist centres and the larger cities for example - English is spoken widely. But in many parts of Italy people do not speak English at all or are too shy or embarrassed to do so, even if their own level is not too bad.

Another reason is that if you are going to make a country your home, then the least you can do is try to communicate with people in their own tongue. It helps when dealing with bureaucracy, trades people, your neighbours, people in shops, bars and restaurants and even your accountant.

But learning another language is easier said than done. Although there are many good linguists in the UK, it is fair to say that they are in the minority and most British people leave school without being able to communicate in another language. You may have a smattering of schoolboy or schoolgirl French and that is probably the extent of it. You may also have picked up a phobia about languages. “I’m hopeless at languages” is a common refrain. What to do?

What Kind of Learner Are You?

Many people embark on language learning by buying a grammar book and grimly trying to study it. This approach is quite wrong. Not everyone learns a language in the same way and it is best before you even begin to find out what kind of language learner you are, then you can study in the way that best suits you. A lot of research has been done on learning styles and one common subdivision is into visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinaesthetic learners. Roughly speaking, that means people who prefer to learn using pictures and visuals, written words, those who learn best by hearing things and those who like to move around and to experience what they are learning. Putting it another way:  if you are learning the Italian word for ice cream – gelato – a visual learner would prefer to see a picture or film of someone eating ice cream, an auditory learner would prefer to hear a conversation or song with gelato in it, a read/write learner would prefer to read an ice cream menu and a kinaesthetic learner would prefer to make ice cream or –even better – eat it! You can do an online test to discover your learning style here: http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire Then just make sure that your language learning course or materials fits your preferred style.

What’s Your Level Already?

You’d be surprised at how much Italian you already know even if you are a complete beginner – pizza, spaghetti, buongiorno, si, no and so on. This can be tremendously encouraging, as can the fact that Italian uses quite a few English loan words, for example: stop, weekend, internet, computer… you may find you already know several hundred words!

In addition, it is also encouraging to know that you can make quite a few words using guesswork and existing patterns. For example, many words ending in –tion in English end in –zione in Italian – generation – generazione, station – stazione, nation – nazione. It doesn’t always work of course, but spotting and using these patterns can give you a head start.

To find out more officially where you are on the ability spectrum try taking the Italian test on
http://www.italian-test.com/italian-test.htm

Before You Go

There are a number of ways you can start learning Italian before you go. Evening classes, online and tv/dvd courses, language learning courses like Rosetta Stone http://www.rosettastone.co.uk/ or Accelerated learning  http://www.acceleratedlearning.com/ watching Italian films and programmes on satellite tv, reading Italian magazines and books from the library and getting an Italian epal online.

It is better to practise little and often. Ten minutes every day is better than a three hour slog once a week. Keep it fun and use stuff you like. If you are an avid gardener or pet owner then read about that. Just because you are learning a language doesn’t mean you suddenly have to become interested in philosophy or politics if you aren’t usually!

When You Are in Italy

Don’t be scared! Use the language as much as possible. If you don’t understand say so and ask the person to repeat it. No-one will laugh at you and even if they do it’s not the end of the world! Listen to what native Italians say and try and copy their pronunciation and phrases.

Many people want to learn English so see if you can fix up a free conversation class speaking half the time in English and half in Italian so you both benefit.

Buy Italian newspapers, watch Italian TV and go to the bar. Listen, listen, listen!

You may want to enrol on a language course at a school or university. One famous language school is the Università per Stranieri in Perugia, Umbria. http://www.unistrapg.it/italiano/

The language will come if you use it. You’ll have good days and bad days so be gentle with yourself. Progress when learning a language is never a straight upward line but a wavy one with pauses and plateaus. But stick at it and you will get there.

Buon divertimento!