9 tips to improve Italian Vocabulary
Learning Italian is no different from any other language. Having a good knowledge base of Italian words will see you do better in your lessons. Whether you are in a traditional classroom or learning through an Italian podcast, you will be able to understand the core material of the lesson faster and will get more out of your learning. Another more structured way to learn how to speak Italian faster is to create a core list of Italian vocabulary words to memorize. You may start with a list of ten Italian words, and perhaps each week working on a new list of ten. Use an Italian dictionary and create flashcards for yourself, or better yet use an iPod or iPhone application to do it for you.
If remembering new words is difficult, you can forget about those words you started learning when you first began your journey with Italian! Your studies continue to move forward, but every now and then you need some additional practice with previously-learned basic words and phrases. You’re trying everything from memory techniques to dictionaries, but the results aren’t showing. It’s time to add some new ideas to your old routine!
- Read-Think-Speak in Italian: To help yourself in your new endeavour, consider Vocabulary Stickers. Instead of just remembering the names of objects you see on a daily basis, these stickers are already made—all you need to do is place each one on its corresponding objects. This is a great activity that you can do on your own and improve your vocabulary very quickly.
- Italian To-do lists: You’re probably a very busy person and have lots of things to do. Why not write down those things you need to do in Italian? It might feel a bit strange and difficult at the beginning, but it’ll bring some good results because you’ll learn new vocabulary every day without too much effort.
- Basic Italian words: From saying hello to introducing yourself to asking for the bathroom, you’ll want to know how to make a conversation run smoothly — whether you’re on an international adventure or just chatting up your new Italian-speaking friend. Always start with the basics and move upwards.
- Mix Italian with your Hobbies: The most effective way to remember Italian vocabulary is to focus on the words and expressions that interest you the most instead of wasting time on the vocabulary you find boring or will never actually use. You can tailor your Italian vocabulary to your careers, hobbies, passions and everyday experiences and fill in the gaps where you want more words.
- Learn Italian culture every day: One of the best ways to do that is by cosying up with Italian culture. It’s really a wide-ranging and far-reaching topic and there’s almost no limit to what you can find out about it. For example, you can learn about Italian food. You can absorb just as much Italian vocabulary by studying up on different Italian recipes, cooking preparations and techniques as you could from a textbook.
- Subscribe to Italian Media: Today’s internet is every language learner’s dream. Never have people been so blessed with so much multimedia content to choose from. All you need to do is pick resources that resonate with you. With YouTube alone, you have great picks, from language lessons and grammar insights, to food and travel vlogs that will satisfy your Italian fix. Treat these resources as food to nourish you daily and your mind will be full to the brim with language learning.
- Change your phone settings to Italian: In order to do this, you’ll need to open your device’s settings, go to the language section and pick Italiano (Italian) from the list. Now, at first, you’ll feel a sudden urge to undo what you’ve just done and go back to English. Resist this urge. The beauty of this trick is that it gradually teaches you to think in the target language.
- Follow Italian Blogs that interest you: This a great way to immerse yourself in the Italian language and culture. When blogs are written by native speakers and target an Italian audience, the vocabulary you find there is extremely useful. This is where you’ll see “real language” in action! At the end of the day, you should be learning from it. Are you a fitness fanatic? Then find a blog that promotes a healthy lifestyle!
- Keep a journal: Write a thought every day. If you can’t think of the right word to use to describe something, look it up and take a few moments to process it and become “friends” with it. By using the words that relate to you personally in sentences — words that really add value to describe your experiences means you are more likely to remember them later down the road.
Finally,
Sometimes as a language learner, you may not be able to grasp the grammar of a sentence, but by recognizing a few Italian words, you can easily piece together the speaker’s meaning. When you have a good Italian vocabulary this is much easier to do.
There’s an amazing new way to learn Italian! Want to see what everyone’s talking about!