By Katie Harris
Learning Italian is hard…
I don’t have time to study…
Unless you live there, speaking Italian seems impossible…
If you can’t speak Italian yet, you probably have good reasons!
I used to have these reasons too, because they made sense: why else would I still be struggling to string together a sentence after two years of regular Italian lessons?
But since then, I changed my approach, which helped me start speaking Italian. And I’ve seen 100s of students do the same in our Online School.
Along the way, I learned that a lot of the reasons we think we can’t learn Italian simply aren’t true – or they’re not as important as you might think.
So if you’re struggling because Italian’s too hard, you don’t have time, or for any other reason… keep reading.
We’ll show you how to start speaking Italian anyway!
Psst, if you’re interested, enrolment to our Online Italian School is opening soon – we’d love to welcome you.
Learning Italian is Difficult as an Adult
Why does something so easy for a child feel so difficile for a grown up? Sometimes it seems impossibile!
Some differences might be related to biology (their little brains are like sponges), but luckily that’s not the full picture. Children have a special approach that can help you learn Italian, too.
While you, as an adult, are stuck behind books memorising rules, kids are out in the world babbling away. They learn by doing and they’re not worried about looking silly!
After spending the first two years learning Italian “the grown up way”, I had zero conversation skills to show for it. It was only when I started trying to speak (despite feeling like a toddler) that I started making real progress.
And you don’t need to know a lot before you jump in – communicating with the few words and phrases you know will help you learn faster than any grammar lesson can.
You Can Learn Italian in 5 Minutes a Day
Don’t believe the hype. Messages which make Italian seem too facile, easy, can leave you feeling disappointed, or worse, like there’s something wrong with you when it doesn’t work.
In our experience, it takes sustained effort over a long period of time to learn to speak Italian. But this is good news! If you haven’t learned Italian yet, there’s hope: you just need more patience, practice and the right approach.
It’s Impossible to Learn Italian if You Don’t Live in Italy
This one makes logical sense. When you live in Italy, you’re immersed in Italian so you end up magically fluent, right?
In practice, it doesn’t work like that. I know people who’ve been living in Italy for many years and still don’t speak the language. And some of our online students speak Italian fluently, despite never having lived on the Boot!
To speak Italian, what you really need is practice. You can get this from all over the world by talking to Italians in your area or taking online conversation classes.
I Can’t Learn Italian Because I’m Bad at Languages
If you’re not 100% comfortable with verb conjugations and grammar terms like “adverb”, you might feel like Italian isn’t for you. That’s how I used to feel! I was terribile at languages at school and for a long time I thought that was why I couldn’t learn Italian: I found those things boring and it took me a long time to learn and remember them.
But then I realised (thankfully!) that you don’t need to master that stuff to talk to people in Italy. In fact, trying to learn it perfectly will probably hold you back, because it keeps you stuck on the books. And by now you know that the best way to get better at speaking Italian is… say it with me now…
By practising speaking Italian!
Speaking Italian is Scary (and Makes You Feel Silly!)
If you’re worried about how you sound when you speak Italian, is it possible you’re putting too much pressure on yourself? It’s ok to be a beginner, everyone has to start somewhere.
I find it really helps to tell people:
Sto imparando l’italiano – I’m learning Italian
This way Italians will expect you to have long pauses and make mistakes – it’s normal! And once they know you’re learning, people tend to be very open and encouraging.
Another helpful tip is to find low-pressure situations to practise in first. You can try with a group of learner friends or with our lovely teachers and community at Online Italian School .
Learning Italian Isn’t Useful
If you’re reading this blog post, you might already have good reasons for learning Italian. I didn’t at first: I actually started learning Italian by accident because Spanish class was full!
Italian didn’t seem utile, useful, because it’s not spoken in as many places.
But years later, I’m glad that class was full because speaking Italian helps me experience the joys of Italy in a way most tourists can’t. Italians aren’t used to everyone speaking their language, so they’re often delighted or curious – it’s the perfect way to connect with the locals.
And there’s a gigantic Italian diaspora, so you can practise wherever you go – I’ve chatted to friendly Italians in Cambridge, Belgrade and Shanghai!
You Don’t Have Time To Learn Italian
No ho tempo! I don’t have time. This reason probably has the most truth to it, because if you want to learn to speak Italian, you will need to dedicate a lot of time to it.
But are you sure you don’t have the time? Research shows that despite our busy lives, many of us spend over five hours of leisure time looking at screens, between social media and TV.
Whether that’s you or not, if you can carve out 30 - 60 minutes of your day, you do have time to learn Italian! And if you’re on the go, you can break it into shorter chunks, 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there.
Sometimes “not having time” for learning Italian is actually code for “I don’t want to spend my leisure time on it” – understandable if your idea of learning Italian is memorising boring rules from a boring book.
So once you’ve found the time, it’s important to learn Italian in ways that you enjoy. Team it up with a nice coffee or glass of wine and you’ll look forward to your Italian me time every day!
We’re Here to Make Learning Italian Easier
If you’d like to practise speaking Italian with us, we’d be thrilled to welcome you to our Online Italian School. Join our fun and friendly membership where you can:
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Practise speaking in a supportive environment (it’s ok to make mistakes!)
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Get personal feedback from our lovely Italian teachers
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Learn online, from wherever you have an internet connection
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Find a lovely community of like-minded friends who enjoy Italy as much as you do
To find out more, check out our Online Italian School here .
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Before we get started, we just wanted to let you know that registration for our Online Italian School is opening in a few days. Places tend to sell out quickly, so if you’d like us to notify you when doors open, click the link in the description.
K: So let’s talk about some common-held beliefs that might be getting in the way of you learning Italian. Our first one, in fact, is:
M: L’italiano è difficile (x2)
K: Italian is difficult.
M: L’italiano è difficile
It definitely feels difficult sometimes, but mostly just for adults! It seems effortless for children – do you know why that is?
K: Well, there might be a biological difference, but the jury is still out on that Linguists are still arguing about it. But there’s an important practical difference we can all learn from to become better at Italian. While adults are stuck behind books memorising rules, kids are out in the world babbling away.
M: Their super power, they’re not afraid to make mistakes!
K: After spending the first two years learning Italian “the grown up way”, I ended up with no conversation skills to show for it. It was only when I started trying to speak (despite feeling a bit silly and making mistakes) that I started making proper progress.
M: And you don’t need to know a lot before you jump in – communicating with the few words and phrases you know will help you learn much faster than any grammar lesson can.
K: Next, the opposite…
M: Imparare l’italiano è facile (x2)
K: Learning Italian is easy!
M: Imparare l’italiano è facile
K: Sometimes people go the other way and expect to be able to learn Italian in 5 minutes a day, or after a few months of using an app. We have the marketing departments of big language learning companies to blame for this I think.
M: Yes, and these kinds of messages can be quite dangerous for your motivation, because they leave you feeling disappointed, or worse, like there’s something wrong with you when it doesn’t work.
K: Yes. In reality, it takes time and consistent effort to master a language. So we should be very patient and very forgiving with ourselves.
M: And that doesn’t mean it has to be difficult or boring! You can find ways to learn that are light, and that you enjoy, it feels like a hobby you look forward to everyday.
K: Next…
M: Imparare l’italiano è impossibile se non vivi in Italia (x2)
K: Learning Italian is impossible if you don’t live in Italy
M: Imparare l’italiano è impossibile se non vivi in Italia
K: This makes logical sense. When you live in Italy, you’re immersed in Italian so you just end up magically fluent, no?
M: In practice, it doesn’t work like that. We know people who’ve been living in Italy for many years and still don’t speak the language. And some of our online students speak Italian fluently, despite never having lived here.
K: To speak Italian, what you really need is practice. And you can get this from all over the world, by talking to Italians in your area or taking online conversation classes. Next, my favourite, because I really believed this one!
M: Imparare l’italiano è solo per i nerd (x2)
K: Learning Italian is only for nerds. Italians say the word “nerd” too!
M: Imparare l’italiano è solo per i nerd
K: I used to think that I had to be a “languages person” to learn Italian. And I was not! I was terrible at languages at school and for a long time I thought that was why I couldn’t learn Italian: I found all the grammar stuff boring and it took me a long time to learn and remember it.
M: Me too!
K: This is interesting, because you run away from grammar (if I mention a word like “adverb” you basically leave a Matteo shaped hole in the wall!).
M: It’s true!
K: But you use complicated tenses in English – more accurately than many other Italians do when they speak English, even though they know all the theory and you don’t.
M: I guess I just kind of learn by doing, listening and speaking mostly.
K: And I realised the same thing in Italian. I didn’t need to master all that stuff from books before I could talk to people in Italy.
M: Yeah. Fluency isn’t about memorizing every grammar rule perfectly; it’s about communication. If you listen a lot and practice speaking, you can learn how stuff is used in real life.
K: But what if you’re afraid to speak?
M: Imparare l’italiano fa paura (x2)
K: Learning Italian is scary, literally “it makes fear”, fa is “it makes” and paura is fear.
M: Imparare l’italiano fa paura
K: It can be intimidating at first, especially when you’re afraid of sounding silly. But you have to stop being so hard on yourself and give yourself permission to be a beginner. Everyone has to start somewhere. I find it really helps to tell people:
M: Sto imparando l’italiano (x2)
K: I’m learning Italian
M: Sto imparando l’italiano
K: This way Italians will expect you to have long pauses and make mistakes because it’s normal!
M: And Italians are usually very encouraging.
K: Another helpful tip is to get used to speaking by finding informal situations to practise in. You can try with a group of learner friends or with our lovely teachers and community at Online Italian School.
K: Next…
M: Imparare l’italiano non è utile (x2)
K: Learning Italian isn’t useful
M: Imparare l’italiano non è utile
K: Not everyone knows this, but I actually started learning Italian because the Spanish class was full.
M: Unbelievable! I suppose a lot of people think, "Why learn Italian when I could learn a more widely spoken language?"
K: But I’ve since learned that this is a good reason to learn Italian. Because not a lot of people learn it, Italians warm to you in ways that they don’t with other tourists. You get these lovely connections with locals that you wouldn’t get otherwise. Finally…
M: Non ho tempo per imparare l’italiano (x2)
K: I don’t have time to learn Italian
M: Non ho tempo per imparare l’italiano
K: This one’s probably true actually! Learning Italian is a big commitment and you have to be ready for it. But we have to ask… are you sure you don’t have time? We’ve all heard these shocking statistics about how, between social media and TV, we spend hours of leisure time staring at screens. Apparently the average is over 5!
M: Even if you don’t watch that much, if you can find 30 minutes a day, and make it a fun part of your routine, maybe with a coffee and a glass of wine, you’ll end up learning a lot of Italian and feeling really pleased with your progress.
K: And if you’d like a done for you option, with fun daily lessons where you can read stories and listen to natural conversations, we’d love to see you in our Online Italian school!
M: You’ll also get to practise speaking in a supportive environment (where it’s ok to make mistakes!) and get personal feedback from our team of friendly teachers.
K: We’d love to have you join our community, to find out more, click the link in the description.
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Is Learning Italian Hard?
Vocabulary
Difficile = difficult
Facile = easy
Impossibile = impossible
Sto imparando l’italiano = I’m learning Italian
Utile = useful
Non ho tempo! = I don’t have time!
Flashcards: Is Learning Italian Hard?
Remember the vocabulary from this lesson by downloading the flashcards.
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
