How to Speak Italian

This page contains advice on how to speak Italian. Italian is spoken by over 180 million people worldwide, and has many regional variations.http://www.flightline.co.uk/learn-to-speak/italian/ This page, however, aims to teach you a standard or neutral form of Italian. For more resources in Italian, please visit our page on the Italian language.

Nadia offers instruction on how to say hello in Italian. There are two different ways to say hello. The less formal way is used among friends and people of the same age. To say hello under these circumstances, say “Ciao”. For those people you do not know, or those who are older than you, the proper way to say hello is “Buongiorno” during the day time or “Buona Sera” in the evening.

1. First, look at why you're learning Italian and how much time you have. Learning a new language can be a big time commitment, so consider how much time you can spend learning Italian.
2. If you're going to Italy for a vacation, a few key phrases that you study phonetically for ten minutes a day may suffice.
3. Knowing how to say just a few words will help you communicate and understand what others are saying to you.
4. To speak, read, or write on a higher level, lessons with audio and written elements are necessary.
5. To get the best return on these lessons, studying regularly is important.
6. No matter what your level of Italian is, take advantage of any chance you get to practice your Italian, however the occasion arises.
7. Speaking (and understanding what is said to you) may be hard at first, but it will get easier with every word.

The first step to learning how to speak Italian is knowing how to pronounce the words. Once you know how to pronounce the vowels and certain consonants, you can say any word in Italian.

1. Indo-European Languages has a list of how to pronounce vowels and consonants.http://www.ielanguages.com/italian1.html#pronunciation
2. The "r" in words is always trilled.
3. Italians stress the second to last syllable in words, even if the word only has two syllables. So "Signore" would be pronounced "Seen-YORE-ay", and "Scusi" would be pronounced "SKOO-see".
4. Watch Internet videos for information on proper Italian pronunciation.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KqIZPUy_MU

For valuable resources about how to learn conversational Italian phrases, visit the BBC website for essential Italian phrases.http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/quickfix/

1. Listen to the phrases being spoken as you read along.
2. Download the MP3s to listen to whenever you can.
3. Practice saying the phrases yourself.
4. Record yourself so you hear how you sound.
5. Print vocabulary pages out to take with you!http://www.bbc.co.uk/print/languages/italian/quickfix/index.shtml

To learn how to say other phrases in Italian, visit these helpful How To pages:

• How to Say Hello in Italian
• How to Say Goodbye in Italian
• How to Say Please in Italian
• How to Say Thank You in Italian
• How to Say My Name is in Italian
• How to Say Excuse Me in Italian
• How to Say How Much is It in Italian
• How to Say What's Your Name in Italian
• How to Say Good in Italian
• How to Say Nice to Meet You in Italian
• How to Say I Had a Good Time in Italian
• How to Say I Want to Buy in Italian
• How to Count in Italian
• How to Say I Don't Speak Italian in Italian
• How to Say I Don't Understand in Italian
• How to Say How Are You in Italian
• How to Say Do You Speak English in Italian
• How to Say Where is The Phone in Italian
• How to Say Where is The Bathroom in Italian
• How to Say This Food is Good in Italian
• How to Say Where is a Good Restaurant in Italian
• How to Flirt in Italian
• How to Say Goodnight in Italian
• How to Say Italian Travel Phrases
• How to Say Italian Food Phrases

For introductory lessons in speaking Italian, visit BBC's "Italian Steps", a great introductory 24 step course on Italian.http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/lj/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/lj/syllabus.shtml

1. Listen to the online dialogues.
2. Watch the dialogue once with the text in English.
3. Watch again with the text in Italian.
4. Test your comprehension with the exercise "Guess the Words".
5. If you've understood the vocabulary, go to "Build Sentences".
6. Complete your half of a dialogue, both speaking and writing, at "Speak and Write".

The BBC offers lessons and transcripts about their 20-part TV series, "Italianissimo". You can use this information to increase your Italian vocabulary.http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/issimo/ Use the following suggestions to get the most out of the lessons:

1. Click on one of the topics listed on the page.
2. Study the "Key Language" for the topic.
3. Click on the words in dark green for detailed grammar explanations.
4. Watch or listen to the clip of the conversation for the topic.
5. Read the transcript of the conversation in Italian.
6. Read the English translation of the transcript.
7. Listen to the conversation again and see how much you can understand.

Fodor's has some intermediate Italian phrases for socializing.http://www.fodors.com/language/llresults.cfm?lid=3&cid=13

1. Shall we have a drink together? - Beviamo qualcosa insieme?http://www.fodors.com/language/livlang/sounds/Italian/i228bvmq.wav
2. Would you like to go with us to the theater? - Vuole venire con noi a teatro?http://www.fodors.com/language/livlang/sounds/Italian/i231vlvn.wav
3. It was nice to have met you - E stato un piacere aver fatto la Sua conoscenzahttp://www.fodors.com/language/livlang/sounds/Italian/i237sttn.wav
4. Is there anyone here who speaks English? - C'e qualcuno qui che parla inglese?http://www.fodors.com/language/livlang/sounds/Italian/i253cqlc.wav
5. Make yourself at home - Faccia come a casa suahttp://www.fodors.com/language/livlang/sounds/Italian/i255fccc.wav

Corso Di Lingua

RAI International Online offers an advanced course on Italian called Corso di Lingua.http://www.italica.rai.it/lingua/corso.htm

1. On the first page, choose the language you want the course taught in - choose Italian if you're really advanced!
2. On the next page, choose the style you want the information presented - either with cartoon drawings or real life pictures.
3. Then choose the curriculum, either "Situations", "Linguistic Function", or "Storytelling".
4. On the next page, click the blue "play" symbol on the top right corner of each box to start each lesson.
5. Once on a lesson, click the icons on the top left toolbar in order to listen, read, and study the phrases and words presented.
6. Finally, click the upper left pencil icon in order to practice writing and constructing phrases on your own!

BBC's Italian Journey

The BBC also offers advanced level transcripts of an Italian travel documentary, called "Italy Inside Out".http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/journey/

1. Select an episode transcript to focus on.
2. Download both the Italian and English versions of this transcript.
3. Read the Italian version first.
4. Then read the English version and see how much you understood.
5. Study the phrases and sentence construction.
6. Select another transcript, and repeat!

Once you've mastered some basic phrases, learning Italian slang phrases can be a lot of fun. For more on this, check out the BBC's Cool Italian page.http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/cool/

1. Listen to the Cool Italian phrases.
2. Print out a transcript of the expressions.
3. Practice saying the cool phrases yourself - and don't forget your hand gestures!
4. Tape yourself to hear how Italian you sound!

1. Podcasts like LearnItalianPod are another great resource.http://www.learnitalianpod.com/

2. This podcast is free to listen to.

3. Play each installment of the podcast either on the main page, or download and save it to your desktop.

4. Listen to every podcast until you feel you've understood what's going on.

5. If you want to do more advanced lessons, or read transcripts, then you must subscribe to this podcast for a small fee.

While studying Italian, it is extremely useful to always reference online dictionaries and grammar guides, such as the following:

1. English-Italian Dictionaryhttp://www.wordreference.com/enit/
2. Italian Verb Conjugatorhttp://www.verbix.com/languages/italian.shtml
3. Italian Grammar Guidehttp://www.uvm.edu/%7Ecmazzoni/3grammatica/grammatica/index.html
4. Indo-European Language's Italian page has a wide range of lessons and vocabulary lists, from beginning to advanced. Without audio files, however, it's best used in addition to other lessons.http://www.ielanguages.com/italian.html

1. Check out Mahalo's Guide to the Italian language.
2. Read Italian magazines and newspapers, like La Repubblica. This will help you practice your comprehension skills, as well as give you a window into life in Italy.http://www.repubblica.it/
3. Also check out RAI, a great website that provides live streams of many Italian radio and tv shows.http://rai.it/
4. Check out your local university to see if they offer Italian classes, or if there is a professor or student who can tutor you.
5. Create or buy flash cards to test yourself. Have pictures or English words on one side and Italian words on the other. Flash cards are an excellent way to study Italian on the go.
6. Rent movies in Italian. Turn off the subtitles or try to understand what they are saying before you look at the subtitles.
7. Listen to Italian music; try to understand the lyrics.
8. Go see an Italian opera; see how much you can understand without looking at the subtitles.
9. Visit Italian restaurants or delis where you live; if there are Italian speakers on the staff, practice your Italian!