THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ITALIAN
Welcome to our list of the best online resources for Italian learners. We've organized the websites and apps we chose by category to make it easier to find what you're looking for. Browse through them and click on a title or image to try one out to learn Italian today.
If you'd like some extra guidance, Mara made a video that breaks down these Italian resources so you know exactly where to start. It's also a great way to practice your listening skills, since she speaks in Italian in the video! But don't worry, there are subtitles in English if you need them, and you can slow down the video by clicking the gear icon in the bottom corner (set the Playback speed to 0.5x or 0.75x). Happy learning!
Memorizing Vocabulary
Techniques and apps for learning words and phrases
Online dictionaries
Reverso is a good online translation "dictionary." It uses the Collins database and provides examples from real translations across the web in its Context section. Plus, you can easily get to synonyms, Wikipedia articles, and more.
Sapere, which means "to know" in Italian, is a great monolingual Italian dictionary. Its bilingual dictionary supports translation to and from 10 other languages. It's also an encyclopedia and features articles, videos, and other interesting tidbits of information in Italian.
bab.la is totally free, and includes a good online dictionary with plenty of slang terms, a language forum, quizzes and other games and content to help you learn Italian.
Listening Comprehension
Techniques for improving your listening skills
"MosaSeries: L'Uomo Senza Nome" is a MosaLingua original audio series that's totally in Italian, and designed to help learners work on their listening skills. It's also a great resource for vocab acquisition and learning grammar through exposure. Plus, it's just as addictive as your favorite Netflix shows!
Listening to podcasts in the language you’re studying is a wonderful way to learn it. Luckily, if you’re learning Italian, there are quite a few podcasts available for free online. To help you out, we’ve dug up some that we really like.
A great weekly news podcast for Italian students, because the hosts speak slowly to make it easier for learners to understand them.
Movies and TV
Here’s a fun and effective way to practice and learn Italian: watch some of the best Italian movies, with or without English subtitles!
If you’re studying Italian and want to enjoy learning, we’ve picked out some of the best Italian TV series for learning Italian.
Take a look around our YouTube channel for tons of smart tips and hacks about learning Italian – and other languages, too! We publish new videos every Tuesday. Don't forget to turn on your notifications (click the little bell when you subscribe), because you won't want to miss a single second!
This article links to 100 Italian songs and includes exercises to help you understand the lyrics. You can even choose from the songs based on difficulty.
This is a fun way of learning Italian. Search for your favorite songs and try to guess the missing lyrics.
This blog is dedicated to Italian music and helping people learn the language via songs. The website is all in Italian, so it's probably not right for complete beginners.
Speaking
Online speaking courses
Are you intent on improving your speaking skills in Italian? This course has 8 modules that walk you step by step through all of the most important aspects of Italian pronunciation and fluency to help you gain the confidence you need to make the most of your conversations with native speakers.
Language exchanges and tutoring
Chatting with a language partner is one of the best and most entertaining ways to improve your language skills, from speaking and pronunciation, to vocab and listening, and even culture and confidence. We tested the most popular language exchange websites and created a guide to help you decide which one is best for you.
Find lots of Italian speakers who are interested in forming language tandems—partner up and chat with someone who wants to learn your native language in exchange for teaching you Italian.
Book affordable paid lessons with a tutor. Over 15,000 teachers are registered on the app and website, and you can even book a trial session to make sure you click with the tutor before you commit to a full Italian lesson.
Guides and tools for conversation and pronunciation
Download our free Italian conversation phrasebook. Inside, you'll find the most useful words and phrases so that you can start communicating in Italian right away. Definitely something you'll want to have handy on your next trip to Italy!
With Forvo, learn how to pronounce nearly any word you can think of in Italian! Native speakers volunteer to record themselves, so that all you have to do is search for and click on a word to hear it pronounced. Sometimes there are even several recordings for the same word, so you can listen to the accent you want to learn.
Reading and Writing
Newspapers and other media
The BBC's (British Broadcasting Corporation) website for Italian learners. They no longer update the page, but there are still some resources worth checking out, including a list of TV, news, and radio stations.
Learn the essentials of Italian language and culture, as well as a thing or two about the Italian Constitution, with Rai Italia. It's a subsidiary of Italy's national public television broadcaster, tailored to expats and Italophiles.
Euronews, Europe's #1 news channel, has 600 journalists who contribute to 12 editions, including one in Italian! Keeping up with world news in Italian is perfect, since it's an activity that you probably do every day anyway. Read their articles or work on your listening comprehension with their 24/7 live television stream.
Reading about subjects that interest you is a wonderful way to immerse yourself in the Italian language. Our favorite Italian books are broken down by subject and difficulty in this list.
Other Useful Guides and Resources
How to Learn Italian Fast
We put together a list of handy tips, tools, and even more resources for anyone who wants to learn Italian independently, and quickly!
MosaTraining: How to Learn Any Language
This course was designed to give you the tools and techniques you need to learn any language (including Italian!). Learn the secret techniques used by polyglots, practice the most effective learning methods, and stock your proverbial toolbox with every resource you could possibly need to learn a language quickly and have fun doing it.
Io Parlo Italiano
This online learning platform was originally designed to help immigrants learn Italian, but it’s a great resource for anyone who wants to learn the language.
Italiano Automatico
The Italiano Automatico website and YouTube channel have lots of content and advice for people who want to learn Italian. The creator, Alberto, who also stars in Italiano Automatico YouTube videos, is very likable and enthusiastic about teaching Italian. He has learned several languages himself, which is part of the reason why he is so passionate about helping others learn his mother tongue.
LearnAmo
Graziana and Rocco are two engaging Italian teachers with a nice YouTube channel and a website that features plenty of practice resource recommendations (books, podcasts, grammar lessons, etc.) for learners at every level. They speak clearly in their videos, which makes learning Italian with LearnAmo very enjoyable!
We hope these resources to learn Italian will be of a big help to you. We’re constantly searching for the best resources to help you improve your Italian skills and updating this page, so be sure to come back from time to time. And finally, if there are any great tools or resources we didn’t mention but that deserve to be on the list, click here to let us know about them.