Introduction:
Italian is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It is, by most measures and together with Sardinian, the closest language to Latin, from which it descends via Vulgar Latin. Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland (Ticino and the Grisons), San Marino, and Vatican City. It has official minority status in western Istria (Croatia and Slovenia). Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. It is the second most widely spoken native language in the European Union with 67 million speakers (15% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). It is also widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time.
Tips and tricks to know
- The first step that learners need to focus on is to stay positive and believe that they will be able to do it and overcome their fear, once they stopped procrastinating “what if I pronounced the word incorrectly? what if I embarrass myself in front of the whole class? etc.” that is when they can proceed.
- Learners should listen more and speak less at the beginning. Without our listening ability, it would be impossible for us to learn any of the things we have learned and we are learning in our lives. Listening plays a very important role in learning a new language. Listening will help you understand the correct pronunciation, stress, syntax. The real meaning of a speech is characterized by the tone and accent of the speech, along with the pitch. We acquire more data of a language through listening than reading, speaking, and writing.
- As a student, one must not forget to keep a notebook to write down the words that they have memorized, practice writing, translated words, etc. When you checked the notebook to see what has been covered, how you are coping up with the language, and how far you’ve come. I guarantee, you will feel amazing of yourself and you live for moments that made you feel worthy.
- It is very important to have a piece of thorough knowledge of the place and its history. Remember that knowing the culture is very essential when studying languages because understanding cultural background–art, literature, lifestyle will help you reach language proficiency and really live the language while you learn.
- Set small goals when learning the language because it’s exciting and motivating when you reward yourself each time you achieve the goals.
- Pronunciation doesn’t pop up to the beginner learner’s mind when they talk about learning a foreign language but to a certain extent, everyone knows that pronunciation is important, because if your accent is really bad people will have a hard time understanding you. However, most Italian learners tend to forget that the accent is the most basic level. Don’t be deceived though, being able to correctly pronounce Italian words is a powerful asset in your journey to fluency.
- Work on your Italian listening comprehension with short audio files and videos. Each one includes the Italian transcript and side-by-side English translation. Listening to Italian music and radio will also help in improving yourself while observing the differences and similarities from one person to another or from one region to another region. The more often you listen the more your listening skill and understanding of the Italian language improves.
- Socializing among Italian speakers and exposing yourself to an environment where Italian is very often used will improve your Italian speaking skills. To socialize, you can join the Italian language learning groups on Facebook or another social platform.
- Make friends with the Italians to help improve your communication skill with the Italian language. Having a face-to-face conversation with a native Italian speaker will improve your fluency as well as understanding.
- It is undeniable for learners to put in more effort, time to practice the Italian language so that they speak the language fluently. Mistakes are unavoidable, it is actually a stepping stone to help you identify the correct meanings, pronunciations. Think of it as a chance to help you learn from it.
- A fun way to learn the language is to watch Italian films as it is very helpful in improving the language. Learners need to watch it closely and check the way the words are pronounced and how it is written with the help of the movie’s subtitle.
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CONCLUSION
You can rely upon Multibhashi to help you learn the Italian language, understand and speak fluently in no time. Also, at the end of the course, they will provide you a checklist so you can evaluate yourself on all the parameters and see where you stand. They provide a course completion certificate as well.
