Italian in Italy

If you are traveling to Italy the option of taking Italian languages courses in Italy is a good one. Of course you must be staying for at least a week in a city for this to be worth it, but if you will be traveling slowly or stationary in one city for any extended amount of time this is a great way to learn quickly. There are courses in virtually every city that has a large amount of tourism, even small cities of 60,000 or so offer coursework.

If you will be in Milan, Florence or Rome you have the largest number of options. Also it is good to have some of the basics as far as grammar and vocabulary already mastered. These schools focus on Italian for foreigners and you will have multiple languages spoken by the participants, but the classes are conducted entirely in Italian. Already knowing some basics allows you to progress faster and to more clearly communicate the questions you will have. Even at the most expensive of these schools most of the instructors are not fluent in English, but most of them will speak some English.

The schools are definitely one of those situations in life where you get what you pay for and you should only consider those that are authorized by the Italian Ministry of Education. Italians regulate everything and if a school is in a popular city and is not authorized it is most likely a waste of you money. In virtually all schools private lessons are also available, but at a much higher rate than group classes, unless you have difficulty participating in class discussions or are having a specific difficulty or want to speed up your learning the small group classes are the best option. Plus you get to meet more people. The second thing you want to look for is class size, some of the more expensive schools limit class size to 10-12 students while the less expensive may have 20. In a normal classroom setting 20 students is fine, but when you are trying to speak and have the teacher correct your pronunciation, answer questions and make sure that everyone is understanding the difference in class size is enormous.

If you happen to also be a University student there are actually a small number of scholarships available (yes, to non-Italians) and although it might be a little difficult to incorporate taking classes at the same time if it is possible to arrive a few weeks before your University classes begin a month of taking Italian 5 days a week can make a huge difference in your experience in Italy. One caveat on this, you will be learning grammatically correct Italian with idiomatic expressions. There will be some differences in what you learn in school and what you hear people speaking on the street, just as in English when you are out having a casual conversation with friends your speech is not necessarily the same as what you would write in a formal letter. But it also gives you an excuse to have people explain things and almost all Italians are friendly about this.

After you have selected a school most will do a test of your Italian skills unless you are enrolling in the absolute beginner level, these tests are extremely straitforward and if you have learned the basics and can start a little higher up the difference in your learning curve can have you conversational in about three months. By conversational I mean having a conversation over dinner or an extended period of time, not “where is the train station?” After enrolling it is vital to attend class daily, or if you must miss a class to make it up with a private lesson. Progress is very quick, and missing one class can mean missing an entire verb tense.

Lastly, if you are going to be in a city for an extended period of time having other people that are learning the language to study with in an immersion environment will not only help you to progress faster but also make the experience that much more enjoyable. And it is pretty hard to not have a good time in Italy.

Best Overall Italian Course: Rocket Languages Italian

Italian is a beautiful language. I remember the first time I heard the language I was completely taken in. I wanted to learn Italian and visit the country, its people, experience the culture and lots more. However, I realized all this would not be possible unless and until I learnt Italian. I went through many courses online and at last found Rocket Italian. I found it to be one of the best Italian courses in the market.

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