How to Increase my Italian Vocabulary?

Italian, Italiano or lingua Italiana is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. Italian is, by most measures together with Sardinian, the closest language to Latin, from which it descends via Vulgar Latin. Italian is the national, or de facto national, 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). 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%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian is a major European language. It is one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe.

It is never enough!

The Italian language contains over 250,000 words. If we include the dialetti (dialects), the total number rises to nearly a million. You should never stop learning new words because there are so many. If you are unsure where to begin, simply select one of the dialects and begin exploring it!

Keep practising 

Your studies are progressing, but every now and then you need some extra practise with previously learned basic words and phrases. Everything from memory techniques to dictionaries can be used.

Utilise the internet to its fullest use 

Surf online and find a lot of relevant online literature to read, or search for interesting audio/video resources, YouTube videos, articles, magazines, blogs anything that can introduce you to new words, apps,  

Read a lot of relevant, meaningful, authentic literature 

Read newspapers, children’s books, magazines, anything that can introduce you to new words. 

Listen to the news in Italian.

Chances are you will find appropriate pronunciations on a channel broadcasted internationally!

According to research, the following two methods are highly effective methods of learning vocabulary. Students generally perform better on tests and can recall words more easily and for longer periods of time. There is also a social aspect to it where you can share ideas and debate the meaning of certain words.

• Look for Spaced Repetition Systems, or SRS, systems online that work to remind you of previously learnt information,  right at the point you begin to forget it. Anki is a very popular standalone program that helps you recollect a lot of information into your head in the shortest amount of time by repeated practice. Another great flashcard app that can lead you ahead is Memrise. Websites such as Anki and Memrise allow you to create your own decks, or learn and play around with some pre-existing decks on your phone or desktop, ensuring that you always have the cards on hand. Even when you don’t have time to go over your notes! You from practising during your commute or even while waiting in line at the grocery store. For beginner students, ten to fifteen minutes per day is sufficient.
• Write a journal, diary or maintain a notebook Capture and record new words and phrases as and when you come across any that you haven’t known before. Typically you put the Italian word or phrase and then the English to match up with it with a romanized pronunciation. You can also add pictures or sentences to serve you relevance and context. 

Listen to authentic Italian audio resources online.

Look to study from and practice with relevant error-free, credible audiobooks audio clips, music, podcasts, news, narration,  online. 

Watch Italian videos online

Watch Italian movies, documentaries,  talk shows, chat shows, video games, YouTube, and much more.

Join Italian classes to learn with a Teacher

There are plenty of benefits to studying Italian vocabulary with a teacher. A teacher can help you catch patterns, help you pronounce words properly, apprise you of synonyms of words you’ve learnt before; you also learn to use the right synonym with the right context, given there may be many for a single word, correct your usage then and there, provide feedback, making your learning process more smoother thereby increasing your confidence. With a teacher, you can practice your vocabulary and expressions as often as needed, in order to be comfortable with your understanding. To develop more confidence, substitute new words or use new vocabulary in a more complex manner with your teacher. Therefore, learning with a teacher is a great and effective way to learn vocabulary.

A student once asked, “what is the best way to learn vocabulary in a language?” A wise man answered, “by not forgetting them.”

Italian is the main working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. In modern Italy, people communicate mostly in regional dialects, although standard Italian is the only written language. It is estimated that about half of Italy’s population does not speak standard Italian as a native language. Like all Romance languages, Italian has a fairly uncomplicated sound system. Italian has 7 vowel phonemes, i.e., sounds that make a difference in word meaning. Italian has 24 consonant phonemes, i.e., sounds that can differentiate word meaning. It can further help you learn other Romance languages. 

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