Ciao, I’m Daniel, ‘founder’ (I hate that word…) of OnlineItalianClub.com.
As a long-time teacher of English as a Foreign Language I’ve lived in several other countries and interacted with people from all over the world.
I once spent a year teaching classes of Japanese school children, for example. Now I specialise in Italian managers…
Along the way, I’ve tried and failed to learn a variety of languages. Some I’ve made decent progress with.
I now live in Italy, where I teach English, run an Italian language school, and learn Swedish and Turkish in my spare time.
Here’s my advice on how to learn Italian (or any language for that matter).
1.) Where are you starting from?
Have you ever learnt a foreign language before?
Just the one, at school? Or several, over the course of your long and interesting life?
Your answer should tell you a lot about how to proceed.
If you’ve only studied at school, for example, you may have little or no idea as to how to organise your own studies, and what to prioritise, using which resources.
If you’ve previously learnt a language with some success, then you’ll already have a body of experience which you can refer to, and probably preferences as to how you like to learn.
Let’s assume you’re a beginner, with no significant experience of learning a foreign language.
Know that, starting out, you might make bad decisions – pay for materials that don’t suit you, for example.
Know also that most people beginning with their first foreign language will soon give up.
Setting inappropriate goals is typical (“I want to understand everything I hear”, “I need to be able to speak fluently!”).
Acquiring a new language to the point in which you are able to function autonomously takes time, perhaps two or three months of full-time study, or two or three years part-time.
You’ll certainly need hundreds of hours of lessons, and/or of focused and effective self-study.
If you were thinking more ‘today’, ‘tomorrow’, ‘next week’ – don’t be surprised if you fail to achieve fluency…
The trick to language-learning, if there is one, is to establish a sustainable routine of useful study activities that you feel able to continue with for the time it takes for your brain to sort itself out with the new skills.
A simple solution, assuming you’ve not done this before, is to sign up for a ‘proper’ course – by which I mean one taught in a classroom by an actual teacher.
You pay your money, and the teacher makes all the decisions for you, which partly solves the problem.
Assuming the teacher is at least minimally-competent, after (say) an academic year, you should have improved perhaps a ‘level’ and you’ll be one significant step along the path – without having taken any decisions other than to trust the teacher!
But courses of this type are a ‘collective’ solution, and won’t suit everyone. You may not enjoy them, for a start, and so might not stick it out until you see the benefit.
Or the level might be wrong for you, or the day and time, or there simply may not be any good course options in your area.
So, if not a ‘proper’ course, then as a beginner with little or no language-learning experience, look out for online or offline solutions that are:
a.) Interesting enough that you think you’ll be able to make a habit of using them
b.) Free, or reasonable value for money, or if expensive, then at least you get a trial period, or a money-back guarantee, or whatever
Whatever you choose, whether it’s a ‘proper’ course, or some alternative, be aware that progress is likely to be slow, that there will be ups and downs, and that you should measure your progress in months or years rather than in tasks, lessons, days or weeks.
And if you’re NOT a beginner? (And beginners who make good decisions soon won’t be either…)
Then look at the next point.
2.) Where do you want to get to?
Blah, blah, understand everything, express myself fluently, blah, blah.
Heard it all before.
It’s nonsense, because these goals are too subjective, generic and long term.
Do yourself a favour and set some better-defined near-term goals.
Start by taking a long look at the CEFR self-assessment grid (.pdf), which synthesises the level-system and the abilities which are typical of each level. It’s used by schools, universities, publishing houses – basically everyone these days.
Click the link CEFR self-assessment grid (.pdf) and you’ll see a grid with six columns, representing the six ‘bands’ – two ‘A’ bands (elementary), two ‘B’ bands (intermediate) and two C bands (advanced).
Look at the one on the left, which is A1, the ‘lowest’.
Scan down to see ‘descriptors’ which tell you what you should be able to do at this ‘level’ in these categories:
- Listening
- Reading
- Spoken Interaction
- Spoken Production
- Writing
Read them and you’ll see that the ‘descriptors’ are basically ‘can do’ statements.
Note that A1 is the first band of six, so what you read in that column would be the goals for a beginners’ course lasting between 80 and 120 hours.
If you’re just starting out, you won’t be able to do any of these things, yet!
But these five boxes in column one make a great set of goals, for your first year (part-time) or month (full-time) of learning.
They’re much more ACHIEVABLE then the more subjective and over-ambitious goals that I mentioned above.
For example, A1 Spoken Production:
“I can use simple phrases and sentences to describe where I live and people I know.”
If you’re just starting out, then that seems manageable, don’t you think?
Ditto with the others – focus your learning on acquiring the language components and the PRACTICE you need to do these things, to the point when you can read the descriptor and say, yes I CAN do that.
Wherever you’re starting from, beginner or otherwise, a practical and free goal-setting process is to identify your current ability in each of the five skill areas, then look at the next one up and decide something like…
“OK, I’m a B1 at speaking, which means X, and my next goal is to be a B2 at speaking, which means Y, and that should take me approximately a year of part-time study, or much less time if I focus only on that, so what I’ll need to do is…”
3.) What resources/opportunities do you have?
Here’s a rule of thumb for evaluating learning opportunities, which could be anything from a course to a website like this one.
You could choose, pay for, prioritise any one of a number of options.
But which?
For me, whatever I spend my ‘learning’ time and money on (I don’t ever ‘study’), has to be:
- APPROPRIATE – it has to work for me, in the sense that if I don’t click with it I’m unlikely to continue using it. And it has to get me closer towards my goals
- AMPLE – there needs to be lots of it! Say your goal is to improve your listening, or learn irregular verbs. One exercise, or a dozen, is a start. A hundred, or five hundred is better
- and above all, INTERESTING – boredom is the enemy! Look at people who are successful in their field, whatever that may be. Invariably, they find it fascinating. If you want to get better at something that takes time to learn, choosing the most boring learning opportunity is not a good bet
OK, here’s an important tip…
Assuming you have different options – say a course, various apps and websites, a bookshop full of learning aides – which should you choose?
Well obviously it needs to be appropriate to where you are now, and where you hope to get to.
But besides that?
Nobody knows, including you.
Try stuff, see if you like it.
If you do, then keep doing it. Feel free to ditch anything that bores you, unless it’s really, really necessary.
4.) When/how long to ‘study’?
The more hours you put in, the faster you’ll see results.
But whatever you do has to be sustainable, or you won’t keep it up, in which case you’ve wasted your time, or at least will need to find a viable alternative.
Start slow, then add more as and when, is one way around this.
Plan one or two ‘learning sessions’ a week, which could be something traditional like grammar exercises or more groovy like listening to Italian music and learning the words (remember your learning goals, though…)
If you have extra time, use it to find other learning opportunities that might also work for you. As well as X, try Y and Z.
Maybe Y is a bore, but Z could be cool, so plan a session of Z each week as well as your existing two sessions of X.
Let your learning activities grow naturally to fill the time you have available.
One thing that’s worked REALLY, REALLY WELL for me is to ‘substitute’ things I do in my normal life in English, such as for example reading the newspaper and listening to the radio, with the same or similar activities in the languages I’m learning.
So instead of listening to the BBC while I’m cooking Sunday lunch, I’ll listen to the national radio station of the country whose language I hope to improve.
The idea being that no ‘extra’ time is required.
Does it work?
Sure does!
Is it easy?
Nope, especially not at first.
I really missed the media in my native-tongue, and found it hard to adjust to another country’s output and style.
But in time, I got used to it. So now I learn while I wash the dishes and prepare the kids’ lunches.
And people wonder at how much progress I’ve made!
You read it here, first.
5.) What’s working/not working?
Some study systems, let’s call them, work well for a while, say when you’re a beginner. But you might get so into them that you miss other opportunities.
Perhaps your learning behaviour is so shaped by the app you use or the course you take that you lose sight of the fact that, while you may have ‘earned’ lots of ‘points’ or ‘finished’ a course or a ‘level’, you may not actually be any further towards speaking and understanding the language.
I see this all the time online, especially with people who made great progress as beginners using a certain learning tool. When it comes to real-life language use they’re still nowhere, but don’t realise.
No ‘learning opportunity’ (app, course, book, radio show) keeps paying out forever, however valid they are.
As you learn, you’ll change, you’ll become more able at certain things and so will need a greater challenge. You may need to focus more on areas that you’re weaker at.
The time will come when you’ll need to ditch what isn’t working so well any longer, to try something new.
Personally, I think of myself as having a ‘portfoglio’ of learning activities, which ideally I’ll keep adding to and refining as circumstances and opportunities change.
Just like an investment portfolio, it needs to be looked at occasionally and decisions made.
6.) How much progress have you made?
It AMAZES me how few people test themselves, rather than say relying on feedback from a teacher or an app.
But as virtually everyone these days uses the CEFR levels, it’s not hard to find out if you’ve made progress, and how much.
Forget grammar for the moment – there’s always more of that to worry about and you’ll never get it 100% right anyway…
Focus on the skills.
Can you understand? How well? What sort of texts?
Can you read? Ditto.
Can you write? What sort of texts?
How confident do you feel doing these things?
The grammar is a component, but it’s what you can do with it that matters.
Here are a few simple ways you can measure your progress:
- Self-evaluation – put a note in your diary for a date in, say, six months’ time to go back to the CEFR checklist and self-evaluate. When that time comes, be as objective as you can. Can you do these things? And these? Write down your ‘level’ in each skill area. Now set another note in your diary for six months further on. Repeat twelve times (six years…) By now you should be advanced, so stop.
- Course books – these are designed for specific levels. Maybe your local library has some? Take a look to see if there’s test material (and answers, obviously). Test yourself at level X, then Y. If you got 70% in either, the next one up is the level you should be working on
- ‘Easy readers’ – simplified texts for learners, usually with audio. The audio is a particularly useful resource. Try easier levels first to ‘tune in’. Work up gradually. You’ll likely know when you get beyond what you can comfortably do. Step back a level, that’s where you are now. The next level up is what you have to aim for
- Exams – international exam bodies often have free sample papers to download. Use them to test your reading, listening, grammar, etc. at each level
- Ask a teacher – if you have one, and if you don’t, private lessons don’t cost a lot. Don’t assume that the teacher will actually give you an intelligent, valid answer, though. Narrow it down a bit for them, say by downloading the ‘speaking’ section of an international exam at your level. Then ask that that be the focus of the lesson. Try it, with you as the candidate and the teacher as the examiner. Ask for feedback. Were you successful? If not, why not? What do you need to do to improve?
7.) What should you do next?
If you’re already learning, then great. Keep right on with what’s working and drop anything that isn’t.
Plus, set a note in your diary for a day six months from now when you will evaluate your progress and rebalance your ‘learning portfolio’.
You’ll be fine.
But a lot of people reading this aren’t currently learning Italian, though they aspire to.
Welcome newbies!
Starting can be hard, but is often the most exciting, stimulating and fun part.
You won’t (yet) know what’s best, which materials and approaches will work well for you, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and so on.
But if you keep at it, you’ll figure it out – both the language itself, and the best way to keep improving your skills in it.
Once you begin, it’s just a question of time, and approach of course!
Try something, drop it if it’s boring and try something else.
Evaluate your progress.
Look for opportunities that will help you move ahead.
Above all, have fun!
Otherwise what would be the point?
(Comments on this page are welcome but will be moderated before they are published, so be patient!)
Andy Postance says
Hi Daniel, interesting of course and a good reminder. You said something a while ago that has changed my approach. I had become a bit of a grammar fiend with some perverse belief that it was all that really mattered. Then you (I think) wrote that without grammar there will be some that don’t understand you but without vocabulary NO ONE will understand..
I’ve switched to 80 per cent listening reading and speaking. Sooo much more enjoyable.
Daniel says
Not sure that WAS me, Andy. The problem with focusing on vocabulary is that there’s just so much of it, so knowing what to prioritise (beyond the beginner stuff…) is very hard, which affects the return on investment.
But “80 per cent listening reading and speaking. Sooo much more enjoyable” – I’m with you there! And indirectly, it’s a way of learning both grammar and vocabulary, and much more.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
Pina says
I know you start your emails with buondì. I had a conversation about that with an Italian from the north of Italy as I was born in the south. I travel to Italy for at least 4 weeks per year. Buondì Is not really used widely in Italy. In the south you never hear it. Traveled to Piemonte last September and did not hear it either. The gentleman I had the conversation with says his older relatives in the Trento area say It.
I would think salve would be a better greeting than buondì.
Daniel says
Better in what way, Pina?
‘Buondì’ is what people say to me – in the bank, in bars, in the streets around where I live.
Other common greetings include ‘Buongiorno’ (formal), ‘Salve’ (neutral) and ‘Ciao’ (informal).
Take your pick.
Sieglind says
I like buondì because it’s so much like the Aussie G’day 🙂
Daniel says
Me too, Sieglind. And because it neatly skips the formal/informal conundrum you get with ‘Buongiorno’/’Salve’/’Ciao’. And because it’s ever so slightly rebellious….
Roberto says
Yeah, it’s used widely, polite and courteous. Methinks, it is used more in the North of Italy.
fulvia says
That’s so much true!!!.I live in Rome and very few people do use it!
ciao and buongiorno are the most common way of greeting someone, depending on situations.
I personally use Salve, sounds good for all occasions: not too distant, not too informal , besides it means “good health”, salve coming from salute (health ) so it’s a good way to start any conversation. once someone told me it is a bit old fashioned…still a good hello!
Julie Shuttleworth says
I agree with everything you say Daniel, I’ve been learning Italian (post retirement) for over four years and have reached B2/C1 through private teaching and doing four short language courses in Italy (highly recommended!) . I’m also helping with a U3A (University of the Third Age) beginners group. It’s got to be enjoyable or you’ll never stay motivated. My advice would be: don’t plough your way through traditional grammar books, often they are not that helpful. In my beginners group, we’ve used a wide range of resources – from tripadvisor reports of local hotels (in Italian!), packaging (eg Italian pasta, biscotti etc), a recording of’Riccioli d’Oro e i Tre Orsi’, all backed up with more formal grammar and vocabulary exercises. Italian GCSE papers are available online, -very useful, even for near-beginners.
It’s often a case of ‘unlocking the language’ rather than formal, structured learning, although obviously what works for one person doesn’t work for another. As you say, you have to be realistic, don’t be too hard on yourself, but you will get there if you persevere.
Daniel says
Sounds like your students are getting a really good experience, Julie!
Gary says
Julie, would you mind sharing the Italian short courses you mentioned? Thank you.
Sid Gray says
Yes, I have been learning ( or have I ?) for more than 13 years and am currently in a U3A class called ‘Speaking Italian” because that’s what I feel I need to do more of My difficulty arises, I think, because I need the visual stimulus as well as to hear the language. When I’m in conversation I sometimes think I’ve heard a word I don’t understand, and It turns out that I’ve heard 3 words ( which I DO know, all run together!.
Philip Renz says
Hi Daniel, I know you might not answer to this as I’m a bit late to join la festa haha but I’d like to share my minimal experience with learning Italian and languages in general. I was born in a german-english home in Barcelona. So I speak 4 languages natively (Spanish, Catalan, English and German). For years I have been listening to Italian Trap music and I believe much of the vocabulary is very similar to Spanish and Catalan. So I’m really interested in learning Italian. I have done some free apps and stuff like that online, but I haven’t really gone with it longer than a week although I’m really interested. I haven’t stopped listening to the music though and I liked what you said about not focusing too much on vocabulary because there is just so much of it. And in my experience I completely get why you say that. Many times I wonder, what’s this word in Italian? and then when I find it out it’s usually very similar to spanish haha. Anyway so getting to the point: What do you think should my next steps be to learn the language and how can I keep myself motivated to keep learning. I used tandem app for a while which I think is genius but I just randomly stopped. Grazzie!
Daniel says
I’d suggest you do what you’re already doing. Simple as that!
chrissie says
i used to be able to get a translation of the texts by clicking something in the top right hand corner. That has disappeared and I can no longer get a translation of any texts. Any idea how to help me
Daniel says
It’s your browser that offers the translation service, Chrissie, not our website. So if you no longer get the option, you need to check your browser settings. Try googling something like “Translation settings for (name of browser” and following the instructions.
Michelle says
Chrissie, (with Google Chrome), if you right click anywhere on a page there is a translation link. Sometimes on italian sites it will read “translate to english”. Click on that, if you get a pop up “this page cannot be translated”, click on OPTIONS, and then update the from/to languages and it will translate the page into either language, even if both languages are used on the page originally.
Gillian says
Mostly I just muddle along. I’m in my third year of learning Italian now. All my life I thought I was bad at at languages, due to early fail grades at school & lack of application. This late-life interest has been a revelation that has overturned my life-long view of myself. Yes, I don’t have a good memory, and I have to do more repetitions than others, but bits do stick. I can learn a language.
I take a scatter gun approach. Regular classes based on mainstream grammar steps, Duolingo, easy listening news, simple readers, TV shows with subtitles, Skype lessons. Daniel seems to be heavily into immersion, but it’s unlikely I’ll visit Italy again. This learning process is purely for my own interest, and whatever I learn will die with me in the not too distant future.
I like the puzzle aspect of learning Italian – decoding the language, puzzling over how bits of it work. The frisson when I recognise a pattern. The cleverness when I recognise/use imperfetto or subjunctive. Or even when I realise too late that I SHOULD have used it.
I love it all – my mistakes and my achievements.
I keep muddling along because of the personal rewards. I am truly a self-directed learner. It is amazing to learn new things. Stupefacente. Daverro.
minou says
Daniel — a global thank you — your advice/ideas have saved me from so many pitfalls!
Annika says
Hi, Just came across this site the other day and I am finding it very useful. Last time I studied Italian was 20 years ago and I have now decided to pursuit it again. I am originally from Sweden but have lived in Canada for a numbers of years. English is my second language and I always wondered how difficult Swedish would be to learn. I have been studying Italian daily for the past month and hopefully I have “created new habits’ that will continue throughout the year. My husband is originally from Sicily and we are planning to visit Italy next summer. My current goal is to be able to understand the gist of the conversations and answer simple questions and follow directions etc. during our visit. I am taking my language learning..one step at a time… by mixing various resources that works for me.
Daniel says
Benvenuti, Annika!
“I always wondered how difficult Swedish would be to learn”
Not so much, I’d say. The grammar is similar to English (no continuous tenses) and easier than Romance languages like Italian. The pronunciation isn’t so hard, though the way people speak and the way people write differs (they deny it, but it’s true…)
Getting to an intermediate level in Swedish, for an English speaker, should in my opinion be faster than reaching the same level in Italian.
So you have some work to do, sorry! Hope the website helps.
May Martinez says
Hi Daniel,
Thank you very much for your invaluable website.
What a brilliant tools to learn Italian language, I found it very helpful..
Your tips, ideas and advice are absolutely spot on.
Grazie mille, May
David says
This would have to be one of the most helpful, comprehensive and sensible pieces of advice I have read about learning a new language, thank you!
MARIA J LOPEZ says
Daniel, thank you so much for this great, interesting job you’re doing here! I have just started to navigate on your site because I’m interested in learning Italian… and I must confess my surprise (for good, of course). We have a lot of good materials to start with our learning. I hope I am able to take advantage fo it for long. Congratulations, and greetings from Spain.
Alexander says
Dear Daniel, first of all, thank you for such a great language project!
I have a question concerning the checklist of every level: how to use it properly? At least, why are there 2 columns of “Reviewed on/Score”? And how can I evaluate myself to put Score in a box?
Daniel says
If you add the date you first looked at an exercise, and assuming it’s the sort of exercise that corrects your responses right/wrong, your score, you then have a record of your progress through the material. If you wanted you could review things you have done in the past and compare the results.
Obviously, the Score section is not relevant for listening tasks that have a transcript but no questions. You could add your own comments i.e. ‘easy’, ‘difficult’, ‘do again’
Steve says
Hi, I’ve been trying to learn Thai for 25 years! Without basically learning the alphabet and vowels as if I were an infant, I’ve kind of hit a ‘ceiling’. I’ve taught English for many years to many age groups and levels. I learned French and German at school. Got better at French by spending a bit more time there. I’ve always been interested in learning Italian as my best friend as a kid had a mother who was Italian, so I heard it often in their house, where I spent a fair bit of time. I will be starting out as a novice. I may try to use an app I used in the past to try and improve my Thai called iTalki. Your site seems interesting – thought I’d just say hello. Do Italian embassies or consulates around the world offer any kind of Italian lessons in the way that Alliance Francaise outlet provide short courses? Just wondered
Barry Gould says
Hi Steve,
I am studying Italian through La Societa Dante Alighieri in Cape Town.
La Dante is an Italian cultural and language organization present in around 60 countries worldwidwe.
We started of with face to face classes, but when covid came along, we moved onto Zoom, so you could follow from anywhere.
Regards barry gould.
Paul Mee says
I studied Italian on a local council sponsored language for a couple of years,the teacher we had was reasonably good, degree in Italian,lived in Florence for 10years teaching English to children,he always holidayed in Spain,and said he knew no Spanish and he always spoke to locals in Italian and was understood,! we always holidayed in Italy but one year went to Spain ,and unthinkingly I asked a bus driver where he was going and when was he leaving to my surprise he understood me and I understood his reply so I guess he was telling the truth
Alex K. says
Hello Daniel! I’ve learned English as an adult (in the U.S.) by practicing TOEFEL exercises which I found much more engaging and exciting compared to learning grammar rules (which most people end up forgetting anyway but still speaking/writing correctly) and memorizing vocabulary as per an old school “translation” method. I found your website by searching online Italian language tests like TOEFEL and found your language proficiency test very engaging and preferred by me learning experience as well, except that I only found one 40 question test. Could you recommend an Italian language electronic (on/offline) testing program desirably with the correct answer keys and explanations of mistakes/weaknesses after taking those tests. I’ve noticed that this is much more motivating for me as well as much easier to memorize how to speak correctly than trying to translate from one of the languages I think in by recalling new vocabulary and then applying the correct grammar rule to say that in a target language.
Daniel says
Sorry Alex, but I’m not aware of such resources for Italian. There are exams, but few free practice tests.
I can see why you enjoyed using exam material and explanations for learning English, but the market for English language exams like TOEFL IBT and IELTS is huge and global.
For learning Italian, you probably need to rethink your approach…
Linn Harrar says
Daniel I love your site! There are so many lessons to use. I love the conversations and dialogs. I have bought many of the e-books and do enjoy them. I am progressing slowly but steadily. I started at the very low A1 level and I am now up in the mid A1 range. I do take your advice on learning. I still cannot carry on a conversation with my neighbors (I live in Abruzzo near Giulianova) but I’ll get there! I also love your emails & hearing about Bug.
Trinity says
I see a lot of learning content on this site, but I’m having trouble figuring out the sequencing of lessons, grammar, listening, etc. within each level. It doesn’t seem to match the study checklists. Can you help?
Daniel says
OnlineItalianClub.com is not an app, like Duolingo, with a pre-defined learning path. You need to define your own aims, then take some responsibility for what, when and how you learn. Everyone’s aims and priorities will be different. They always are.
Self-study requires the ‘self’ part as well as the ‘study’. If you’ve never, ever learnt a language before, then try Duolingo, and when in a year or two you realise you can’t speak and don’t understand, come back to us.
Or if you’re willing to figure out how to help yourself, start with this article: https://onlineitalianclub.com/how-to-learn-italian-or-any-language/.
Mirian Pachler says
Ciao!
Studio italiano per 6 mesi, ho fatto B1 begginer. Va benissimo.
Qui comincerò dal zero.
Grazie mille!
Daniel says
Benvenuta!