The “Fastest Way to Learn Italian”?

 

Search for “learn Italian” in google.com today and you’ll find an advert at the top of the page, above the “real” search results, for a service promising a “Fun and Easy way to learn Italian”.

Fun and easy is good, but better still the advert follows with: “Try Keewords today. It’s Free!”

Click on the link http://www.keewords.com/en/languages/italian/ and you will be happy to discover that not only is the service fun, and easy, but it’s also “The fastest way to learn Italian”.

Personally I thought that the fastest way to learn a language was to fall madly in love with a native speaker of that language who, while being in every other way perfect, is sadly completely unable to speak your language (I’ve tried this: it really works!)

However, on its “How It Works” page, the website insists otherwise:

Memorize and repeat

The best way to learn a language is to memorize and repeat words and their meanings over and over again – workout for the brain in other words. This kind of self-learning is recommended by teachers, interpreters and students around the world. There is simply no faster or easier way to learn a language.

http://www.keewords.com/en/how-it-work/

Strange then that the “Terms and Conditions” page contains this clause:

No Warranty
Our Service is provided to you “as is” and we make no warranties or guarantees, either expressed or implied, oral or written, with respect to the Service and, including without limitation any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

I’m not a lawyer, etc., but I think this means that you are being warned not to believe anything that’s promised anywhere else on the website.

But, what the hell, it’s free, right? It said so in the advert.

Call me a cynic, but the Visa logo at the bottom of the page and its alternative text

Cards Accepted: VISA, Mastercard, American Express. We also accept direct bank payments through Handelsbanken, SEB, Swedbank and Nordea.

made me wonder whether there might, in fact, be some form of payment involved.

Searching through the site itself, looking for a pricing plan or confirmation that there was no charge, the word “free” was not evident anywhere else (only in the Google Adsense campaign advert).

It doesn’t actually seem possible from the site to verify whether “the fastest way to learn a language” involves a charge to your plastic friend, unless you go through the registration process and surrender your e-mail, which I decided not to do.

So, if you’re feeling trusting and haven’t maxed out your cards yet, why not give Keewords a try? I’d be curious to hear from any OnlineItalianClub.com readers who do. Or from the company itself, for that matter.

But what I’d really like to know is, in YOUR opinion, what method or approach to language-learning is most effective?

What are the fastest, easiest, and most fun ways to learn Italian?

Take a minute or two to fill in the comment form after this post to share your tips and ideas on this with other people from around the world who are learning Italian.