8 Tips For Learning Italian Online: A MosaLingua How-To

Italian is one of the most beautiful and most studied languages in the world, despite the fact that it is mostly only spoken in Italy. However, learning Italian, or any other language, is often seen as being something hard and tedious to do, but, thanks to the internet and to technology, it is now possible to learn Italian online alone and for free! You just need motivation and some self-discipline.

8 Tips For Learning Italian Online

1. Don’t Rush!

In other words, start at the beginning (as simple as that): the alphabet, the pronunciation of letters, the formation of syllables and the construction of simple words and phrases. Learning Italian at the right level, bit by bit, is fundamental. As time goes by, you’ll learn new words, and you’ll acquire more Italian vocabulary. But don’t be afraid of starting with simple words and phrases.

My advice is to shun traditional learning methods, which are fastidious and not very stimulating. You should rather use methods available on the internet such as the one offered by this Italian advert, http://www.italiano.rai.it, which can be used as a tool with ready-built phrases.

2. Get Used to How The Language Sounds!

Yes, listening to a language is essential to help you learn it, and to do so quickly! You can watch YouTube channels, the news and maybe even cartoons, which include simple vocabulary pronounced slowly, in Italian. For cartoons, look up cartone animati.

Where can you find these? Easy. Public Italian TV channels are part of RAI. You can explore the channels available on RAI or RealTime, which offer programs that have already been broadcast on TV.

Along these same lines, check out L’Uomo Senza Nome. It’s an original and gripping audio series that’ll help you improve your Italian listening comprehension in a fun way. Little by little, over the course of 24 episodes, you’ll work on your listening skills, learn tons of new and useful vocab, and pick up important grammar and conjugation.

Learn more about MosaSeries: L’Uomo Senza Nome

3. Learn With Music

Music is an excellent way to learn a language. On YouTube, for example, you’ll find Italian music with lyrics, which you can listen to and sing (or, at least, read) along. Be attentive to the words, the spelling, and the pronunciation. And to find a song with lyrics, add con testo to your search.

4. Make a Vocabulary List

It will eventually become essential to have, bit by bit, a vocabulary list. Write words you didn’t know in a song, text, or the like. Then look them up in a good dictionary. You could either write them down in a textbook or in a language learning app such as MosaLingua. Apart from its own flashcards recorded by a native speaker, it allows you to create your own flashcards to memorize.

5. Review What You’ve Already Studied

Unfortunately, if you want to memorize Italian vocabulary, you won’t be able to do so without regularly reviewing vocabulary previously studied. Reading the same text or listening to a song (with lyrics) a few times over helps when learning a language. All will seem more familiar, and, slowly but surely, you’ll assimilate it. So, select an activity you think you will enjoy doing over and over again, and do it. This can be listening to podcasts, texts, TV shows, subtitled movies, etc. For example, most of our articles are translated into Italian, you thus have a text and its translation. To find out whether an article has been translated to Italian, look at the bottom of an article you’re interested to read, the available languages are shown before the comment section.

6. Use Italian Apps Daily

Nowadays, you can easily use technology to help you learn a language, so use apps for learning Italian on your smartphone or tablet. These tools are literally at a hand’s reach and are great for making use of otherwise wasted time (waiting at the queue, while commuting, etc.) Among the available options, I highly recommend using MosaLingua!

7. Do a Bit Every Day

It really is useless to study vocabulary for a couple of hours, only not to review it for an entire two months. Doing a little bit every day is the best way to learn vocabulary and varying the tools you use daily will ensure you won’t get bored with them. You could use music one day, read an article the next, etc. Learning Italian must, above all else, be something you enjoy!

8. Put it Into Practice!

It’s simply a must for learning Italian. Whether you want to do it by yourself at home, or in the streets, you can do exercises such as choosing an object and naming it (maybe even describing it) in Italian. It’s an excellent exercise for memorizing words and thinking in Italian, and it can be a fun game. You can also use the best language exchange sites to test your oral comprehension and practice the language with a native speaker.

Take each available moment as an opportunity to learn!

*This guest article was written in Portuguese by Brazilian blogger, Carla Guanais.

“After dreaming of living in Italy for years, I finally made this dream come true in October 2010. Since then, I’ve been writing on my blog Sonhos na Itália (Dreams in Italy), which includes articles on my life in the Boot, articles with tips and articles on tourism.”