L'Italiano and Me

My take on learning the damn language

Some of what you’ll find under “Resources.” Photo mine.

Cari amici,

A friend asked me to write about my strategies in learning to speak Italian, so that’s what you’re getting today. Though I haven’t written about language lately, l’italiano and how I speak it are constantly on my mind.

There are two essential ingredients to language learning, in my opinion—time and effort. It really does boil down to that, despite our differences in capacity, age, multilingualism, and other factors that affect how well and how quickly we learn. Which means anyone who bemoans the lack of an immersion experience should take heart, because no matter where you are, you can put in the time and effort. And immersion isn’t necessarily a magic bullet. Certainly living in Italy has boosted my ability to speak Italian; however, I haven’t soaked up the language simply by being here. One reason for that is I don’t learn by listening (if you do, immersion will do you more good than it does me); another is probably my age (I don’t retain new information as easily as I used to). I’ve learned because I work at it, plain and simple. And when I don’t, I see my speaking skills regress.

What follows here is a compilation of my opinions, observations, strategies, and resources for learning Italian. In case you missed some of my previous posts about language or care to revisit them, I’ve listed them at the end of this piece. I’ve also repurposed some of the material covered in those posts. I want to emphasize that I’m not a language teacher; I’m telling you what works for me. And remember, every brain is unique; what comes easily to one person will be a struggle for someone else. And we all have good and bad days, which leads me to my number-one rule about language learning: don’t beat yourself up.

START WITH YOU

Know your learning style and use it. Chances are you already know something about your learning style, strengths, and weaknesses. If you’re a visual learner, you probably retain information best when reading, watching instructional videos with visual components or TV/films with subtitles, writing down what you hear, keeping a vocabulary journal, and doing grammar exercises. If you’re an auditory learner, listening to lectures or podcasts, participating in language exchanges, or conversing with friends and/or teachers may be your preferred tools.

In language learning it’s impossible to avoid one mode or the other; the point is to emphasize what serves you best. And when you’re doing something that’s not optimal for you, have realistic expectations so that you don’t feel defeated. For example, I enjoy my Italian/English exchange group as a social time and an opportunity to talk about a wide range of topics, but I don’t often go home with new vocabulary because I tend not to retain what I hear. So for me the group’s value is primarily in speaking and comprehension.

Become a creature of habit. If you have trouble following through on your study goals, make the time you spend learning Italian a pleasant ritual. Choose an optimal (for you) time of day and a comfortable place. Give yourself a study treat—coffee, a favorite tea (save the bourbon for later), a bit of chocolate, whatever—and set a  realistic time limit. Make it short enough that you might exceed it voluntarily, leaving you feeling like you totally rocked it. Hey, we all need a boost, even if it’s from ourselves.

Have a study ritual can help keep you motivated, an important factor in your success. According to many linguists/language experts, motivation is one of the principal factors that determine success or failure in learning a language. In an article in ELF Magazine, “The Importance of Motivation in Language Learning,” the author reminds us that “motivation is not constant; it is dynamic and we can experience high or low motivation.” Which means it’s important not to give up when you go through a hard patch.

If you do feel like giving up, it’s helpful to identify why, such as boredom (the wrong materials, methods, or teacher) or frustration (unrealistic expectations, self-badgering), so you can fix it. Sub-optimal environmental factors can make learning difficult and lead to feelings of futility. The point is, language learning is a fluid process with highs and lows that make the stock market’s performance between September 3, 1929, and Black Tuesday look like a flat line.

Be realistic. Recognize the limits of popular learning practices like Duolingo and watching Italian movies/TV with subtitles. Sure, they’re fun, and they’re fine as supplements, but they are not enough for serious learning.

If you’re avoiding studying because there’s no class or conversation group near you, turn to online resources like iTalki. In the digital age, physical proximity to learning opportunities isn’t the limitation it used to be, and it’s not necessarily a compromise. Case in point: A friend of mine spent months studying at the University for Foreigners here in Perugia, taking daily classes. When he went home, he signed up for  online group classes (twice a week, I think), and over the past two years I’ve seen his Italian improve a lot. In other words, there’s no singular, absolute way to learn.

Make language learning an integral part of your day. There are so many ways to learn outside of formal study time. For example, I often write my Instagram posts in Italian, and I don’t look anything up. (Ditto for messages and emails.) I write what I think is correct; then, if I have doubts, I check for errors. I never auto-translate what I read online; instead, I read the whole thing, then spot-check anything I’m not sure of.

Pay attention to language use (if you’re in Italy). One day, on a bus, I saw a sign that was like a mini-lesson in how to use propositions. But often I tend to gloss over specific usage once I have the gist of something, and that’s to my detriment, because there’s plenty to learn by paying closer attention.

To give you a simplistic example, if a shop has a “closed” sign in the window, I see the start of a word—“chius—” (closed)—and boom, message received. But how is that message actually written? It might be “[the bar is] chiuso,” or, instead, “siamo chiusi.” The grammar lesson takeaway is that shopkeepers might refer to the shop or to themselves when saying the business is closed. Why they choose either one doesn’t matter—but now you know, when you call to ask if a business is open, that you too can refer to the place or the people.

GET VOCAL

If you’re like me, you’re much more fluent in thought than in spoken words. At times it’s like there’s a disconnect between my brain and my mouth, so that even if I know exactly what to say, when I open my mouth something different (read: wrong) comes out. Most annoying. But also normal, because understanding a language and speaking it involve two different mental functions. This difference is significant enough that it’s been studied scientifically. If you’re not convinced you need to increase the amount of time you devote to speaking your desired language, the summary of one of those studies, cited in the article “Balancing Speaking and Listening for Language Learning,” might change your mind:

“Speaking requires individuals to integrate multiple cognitive functions at once and the authors suggest that reliance on working memory during speaking could increase the ‘binding’ between grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary, increasing connections among these linguistic elements as the speaker forms a sentence. Comprehension practice, on the other hand, may not integrate linguistic elements in the same way because learners are given the language, and learners may be able to use native speaker cues as shortcuts[.]”

My antidote for getting tongue-tied is to speak aloud more, and by that I mean at any or every opportunity, with or without someone to talk to. Here’s how.

Narrate your life. You can do this all the time, while you’re getting ready to leave the house (today I’m going to do such-and-such), while you’re out and about, etc. (Ignore those little frowns of concern from passersby, or wear ear buds so people think you’re on the phone.) If you cheat and narrate in your head, you’ll get less practice speaking, but you’ll still discover holes in your vocabulary. For example, the other day I was walking home in the heat with a carton of gelato in my bag, and I wondered, in Italian, how long it would take to melt—thus discovering a verb I didn’t know. So I looked up “to melt” when I got home and added it to my vocabulary notebook. (It’s sciogliersi, btw.)

For a variation on the above, if you have a pet, you talk to him/her, right? Do it in Italian. Go beyond “who’s a good dog?” and say what’s on your mind. Don’t just narrate your life, pretend you’re talking to a friend. Complain, explain, and dig deep to express more complex thoughts than your grocery list. When you stumble or come up dry, as you will, look up what you don’t know, say it aloud, and write it down.

Read aloud. It’s a simple and effective way to practice speaking, but remembering to do it takes practice. I can start reading something in Italian out loud, then realize several paragraphs later that I’ve reverted to silence. Reading aloud helps you cement proper pronunciation, and repetition helps you learn the rhythms of long words that are tricky to say.  

Repeat what you hear. Whether you’re listening to a podcast or watching a video, that pause button is your best friend, because it turns a passive activity (watching and/or listening) into an active one. Listen to a sentence or two, hit pause, then make like a parrot. This video is designed for this purpose, but really any video or podcast will do. This is a great way to practice proper pronunciation and tune your ear to various regional accents. Sure, you’ll benefit from whatever you’re hearing even if you don’t repeat it, but why not pump up the value of your listening time?

Take lessons that prioritize speaking. Group classes are great for some people, especially when learning grammar basics; however, they usually offer few opportunities to speak. One-on-one Italian conversation lessons or exchanges, in person or online, can fill that gap.

LEARNING STRATEGIES

Review what you know (or think you do). From time to time, I go back to lower-level exercise books or vocabulary lists, and I’m always surprised to find I’ve forgotten some basics I thought were cemented in my brain. (To some extent, at least for those of us “of a certain age,” language learning can be an “out with the old, in with the new” experience.) Another good reason to do this is to remind yourself how much you do know. Positive reinforcement can help keep us motivated to stay what’s often a very long course.

Vary your learning methods. If you like workbooks, great—but join a conversation group too. We all tend to default to what we enjoy most, and while it’s true that doing something we enjoy is a good learning strategy, variety can help us learn by making us face the challenges we’d rather avoid.

Group related words. One way to expand your vocabulary is to avoid learning words in isolation. The workbook Le prime 3000 parole (see “Resources,” below) is perfect for this because it groups associated words, and in some cases tells you which other words derive from the same root. You can do this on your own, too—when you’ve mastered a word, go on to its “cousins”; for example, if it’s a verb, learn the noun and adjective forms, and so on.

Learn synonyms. A simple but great way to diversify your vocabulary. For example, I always say quindi, but I really need to switch that up with dunque or perciò. And instead of always relying on niente to say “you’re welcome” in an informal exchange, I’m trying to sub in figurati or ci mancherebbe instead. Again, even if you can’t conjure these words from your memory banks on the fly, if you’ve studied them you’ll recognize them when someone lobs them your way, saving you from having to say, ad nauseum, “Come?”

Expand your vocabulary with news stories, or better yet, workbooks that draw from them. Current events can be great sources of vocabulary that you won’t find in traditional language textbooks, in which stilted conversations between travelers and the ever-present Signor Rossi will make you despair. For example, my B1-B2 workbook taught me that gli spinelli are joints, and I’m not talking about your knees. This kind of stuff really is useful (unfortunately). I can’t tell you how many times drug problems come up in conversation (leading to my quick adoption of the word for drug dealer, spacciatore.)

Take notes. When you’re speaking or thinking about how to say something in Italian, write down the words you don’t know. (Yes, it’s hard if not impossible to do mid-conversation.) Same goes for words/phrases you tend to get wrong in some way (you forget the gender, or the word you say is close but no cigar, or accented incorrectly, and so on). One of my current challenges is getting stuck on partial words. I might know how a word begins, or maybe I can see its general shape in my head, but the rest of it? Chissà!

Banish those mental blocks. All of us, at one time or another, have them—certain words or phrases that won’t stick no matter what we do. I call them “demon” words, and my only advice is to make a list of these troublemakers and study it, daily if you can. Don’t forget to say those suckers out loud! For these, and for less diabolical words, I suggest choosing one or two to focus on for a period of time, then use them as often as you can. If you’re not speaking, write out some sentences and read them out loud repeatedly.

Focus on your personal repertoire of conversation topics. This is a new idea that came to me recently, when I was engaged in a fairly complex topic of conversation involving legal stuff. I needed vocabulary I didn’t have and struggled with the complex sentence structures needed for clarity. This annoyed me greatly. As a result, I’ve decided that for topics like this (there are several that crop up repeatedly), I’m going to write out what I’d typically say and then practice it. Why keep failing when I can, with some time and effort, slay this dragon?

Use devices to train your memory. One example: a good way to remember the singular imperative forms of regular “-are” and “-ire” verbs is to pair them, and one such pairing occurs in a common way to begin asking a question (“excuse me, listen”). For the familiar (tu) form, say, “Scusa, senti”; for the formal (Lei) form, say, “Scusi, senta.” (Hat tip to teacher Marilena Papa for this trick!) Following that pattern, it’s easy to remember that the singular imperative forms of cercare, for example, are cerca (tu) and cerchi (Lei), and for aprire, apri (tu) and apra (Lei).

Another memorization trick: often, words ending in -ma are masculine: problema, programma, sistema, cardiogramma. That said, some feminine words end in -ma, such as mamma, fiamma, and lacrima. How do you know the difference? The masculine words are those that derive from the Greek, for what it’s worth. Also note the medical/organizational themes of the examples, clueing you in that other words in those categories probably follow suit.

Practice verb tenses by swapping in your own words in the following sentences. (Grazie di nuovo, Marilena!)

• Il gatto mangia il topo. (The cat eats the mouse.)

• Il topo è mangiato dal gatto. (The mouse is [being] eaten by the cat.)

• Il gatto ha mangiato il topo. (The cat ate the mouse.)

• Il topo è stato mangiato dal gatto. (The mouse was eaten by the cat.)

• Il gatto mangiava il topo. (The cat was eating the mouse.)

• Il topo era mangiato dal gatto. (The mouse was being eaten by the cat.)

• Il gatto aveva mangiato il topo. (The cat had eaten the mouse.)

• Il topo era stato mangiato dal gatto. (The mouse had been eaten by the cat.)

• Il gatto mangerà il topo. (The cat will eat the mouse.)

• Il topo sarà mangiato dal gatto. (The mouse will be eaten by the cat.)

• Il gatto mangerebbe il topo. (The cat would eat the mouse.)

• Il topo sarebbe mangiato dal gatto. (The mouse would be eaten by the cat.)

• Il gatto avrebbe mangiato il topo. (The cat would have eaten the mouse.)

• Il topo sarebbe stato mangiato dal gatto. (The mouse would have been eaten by the cat.)

• Io penso che il gatto mangi il topo. (I think the cat eats [is eating] the mouse.)

• Penso che il topo sia mangiato dal gatto. (I think the mouse is being eaten by the cat.)

• Penso che il gatto abbia mangiato il topo. (I thought the cat ate the mouse.)

• Penso che il topo sia stato mangiato dal gatto. (I thought the mouse was eaten by the cat.)

• Pensavo che il gatto mangiasse il topo. (I thought the cat ate the mouse.)

• Pensavo che il topo fosse mangiato dal gatto. (I thought the mouse was eaten by the cat.)

• Pensavo che il gatto avesse mangiato il topo. (I thought the cat had eaten the mouse.)

• Pensavo che il topo fosse stato mangiato dal gatto. (I thought the mouse had been eaten by the cat.)

ESSENTIALS

It’s hard to decide what to focus on when everything seems equally important. Here are my suggestions for where to begin.

Basic grammar terms. It’s a common lament from Americans—they didn’t learn English grammar in school, and now, as language learners, they’re facing an extra layer of confusion. Why? Because their textbooks and teachers talk about the parts of language—direct vs indirect objects, participles, prepositions, conjunctions, and so on. It’s a drag, but learning to speak “grammar” will really help you learn Italian (or any language).

Those all-important linking words. These babies establish the relationship between the main idea (or clause) and the subordinate or parallel one, and they’re essential to comprehension. Take note, all you intrepid souls preparing to take the driving test, because these words can do you in. An incomplete list:

• But, however (ma, però)

• Yet, still, though (eppure)

• Even so, anyway (comunque, tuttavia)

• Although (sebbene, nonostante, seppure)

• Given that, since, because (poiché, dato che, giacché, siccome, perché)

• So that (affinché, cosicché)

• Provided that, as/so long as (purché, finché)

• Despite (malgrado, nonstante)

• Therefore, thus (quindi, dunque, perciò)

• That is, namely, i.e. (cioè, ossia, ovvero)

• If, in case (qualora)

• So far, to date, until now (finora)

Verbs, because they drive every sentence. Ignore people who say you don’t need to learn certain verb tenses like the subjunctive, remote past, or future. At least familiarize yourself with them, even if you can’t or don’t use them; otherwise you will miss important nuances of meaning. In everyday speech you’ll hear the congiuntivo (subjunctive) and futuro often, while the passato remoto (aka past absolute) is more typically found in writing. (Now and then you’ll hear it used in conversation to indicate an action in the distant past, like the birth of a historical figure.) It’s everywhere in books, including novels. For those of you who search Italian ancestral records, that fu you see all over the place (like Giovanni fu Francesco, meaning Giovanni was born to Francesco, who, at the time the document was written, was deceased) means was, and it’s the third person singular passato remoto form of essere.

Pronominal verbs are conversation keys. Knowing these little constructions will really boost your comprehension and speech. These verb + pronoun/s combinations give the verb a different meaning than it has normally, without the pronoun/s. For example, the pronominal verb andarsene means “to leave,” while andare means “to go.” The difference is tonal as well: “I’m outta here” vs “I’m going home.”

Another example is farcela, which means to manage to do something (as opposed to fare, which means “to do” or “to make”). For more, check out this video.

Ditto for reflexive verbs. “Reflexive” means that the action of a verb is reflected on the subject; in other words, the action is “to oneself.” Sometimes the meaning changes entirely, as with aspettare, which means “to wait,” and aspettarsi , which means “to expect.” So if you tell someone you’re waiting for your brother at the station, it’s “Aspetto (or sto aspettando) mio fratello alla stazione,” but if he shows up at your house instead, you might say to him, “Non mi aspettavo di trovarti qui” (I didn’t expect to find you here).

It's worth mentioning that non-reflexive verbs can, in everyday-speak, be used pseudo-reflexively to emphasize what you did and/or that you were really into it. For example, if you’re going out for pizza and you’re really hungry and/or the pizza will be especially delish, you might add the reflexive pronoun mi: “Stasera mi mangio una pizza.”

LEVELING UP

Are the basics pretty solid? Are you ready for more? Although I’m sad to tell you that with Italian, the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know, the flip side of that is getting to learn some fun stuff. I’m talking about the color, the texture that will amp up the coolness factor of your spoken (or texted) Italian.

Speak more naturally. Textbook Italian is fine, appropriate, and universally understood. Speaking the way your friends and neighbors do, though, is a nice way to assimilate, if that’s your goal.

What am I talking about? Well, idioms, of course, such as:

• “avere la pelle d’oca” (literally, to have the skin of a goose; figuratively, to be emotional)

• “gettare la spugna” (literally, “to throw away the sponge”; figuratively, “to give up”), which in textbook Italian is “arrendarsi” or “mollare.” This one’s easy, it’s the same as “throwing in the towel.”

• “passare la notte in bianco” (literally, “to pass the night in white”; figuratively, you didn’t sleep at all)

Notice anything surprising in that first idiom? There’s no article (no “the”) before oca, and there are plenty of expressions like that, so many that I’ve developed a fear of using articles when I don’t need to (of course, if you do, you’ll be understood perfectly). For example, per strada means “in/on the street,” and fuori casa or fuori legge mean “out of the house” or “outside the law.”

Then there are colloquialisms, everyday forms of speech that are never used in formal Italian (especially written). For example, when people want to know how you like it wherever you are, they’ll probably ask, “Come si trova?” (literally, “how do you find yourself?”). And when friends ask if you want to do something, like go to the movies with them, they’ll use ti va instead of the verb volere (to want): “Andiamo al cinema, ti va?”

Mini words that pack a punch. You know that feeling when you’re talking away and suddenly you’re stuck with an awkward construction or you end up with a sentence that just sort of dangles and/or seems incomplete and you don’t know how to fix it? More than likely you’ve left out a particella—specifically, ci or ne, those little multipurpose powerhouses. Get yourself a good grammar book, dig in, and be patient, because learning all the ins and outs of these two is a bear. To help you, here are two videos, one about ne and one about ci.

GOOD PRACTICES FOR SPEAKING

Be proactive. Pay attention to what people say to you! Don’t tune out things you hear habitually; there can be differences in how people express the same basic thing that are important to know in everyday interactions/social situations.

In relaxed social situations, ask people to correct you, and don’t hesitate to ask for clarification if you don’t understand something. For you visual learners out there, ask how to spell whatever word or phrase you can’t quite grasp. Do this within reason, though, because if you say “come?” after every third word, the conversation will die pretty quickly.

Be brave. Language learners are often hesitant to trot out their (self-defined) poor Italian because they’re afraid or embarrassed to make mistakes. Yet making mistakes is one of the best learning tools, which is why I love it when people correct me. And never fear—Italians are very tolerant of language manglers and usually delighted that you’re making the effort.

Be language-sensitive to social norms. Yes, be brave, but mind your manners. Why? Because you’re learning not just how to speak but how to engage socially. This is especially true for Americans, who are so used to everyday familiarity that they risk offending Italians with their casual approach. Use Lei instead of tu unless you’re friends with someone or have such frequent interactions that the other person has switched to tu. (Often they’ll ask to darci del tu, but not always.)

Always greet someone before getting to the point; it’s the best way to create goodwill and make them receptive to your Italian. Don’t use ciao or buondì unless you’re friends or frequent acquaintances or someone says it first; say buongiorno or buonasera, then proceed. Another perfectly acceptable greeting for anyone is salve, which is sort of halfway between ciao and buongiorno on the formality spectrum.

How you say goodbye can matter too (though less so, in my experience). I often encounter shopkeepers and such who send me off with arrivederLa instead of arrivederci. I make a point of responding the same way; or, if I’ve already said arrivederci, I try to remember to use the formal form with this person the next time I see them. (If you see them regularly, they’ll probably switch to arrivederci at some point.)

Don’t ignore pronunciation. Maybe you can’t roll your Rs perfectly (try relaxing your tongue and using a lot of breath), but anyone can bounce their double consonants or master pesky sounds like gli and strings of consonants or vowels. And making the right sounds is important. Besides making your Italian easier to understand, proper pronunciation helps with the rhythm and flow of sentences and can boost your enjoyment of the language.

Fine, you say, but how can I practice effectively? You could take a pronunciation course—Lucrezia Oddone, of Learn Italian with Lucrezia, and Davide Gemello, of Podcast Italiano, both offer them (disclaimer: I’ve not taken either one). One-on-one conversation practice, in person or with an online teacher, can help too. And don’t underestimate the value of practicing at home—again, the “language as an everyday activity” mindset. Yesterday I walked around the house saying naturalizzazione a million times because I’d stumbled over it repeatedly in a conversation the day before. Result: I can say it without stumbling today (but you can bet I’ll blow it again if I don’t practice it now and then).

A mirror is a great pronunciation aid. Italian sounds are much easier to make when they’re brought forward in the mouth. We Americans tend to swallow our words, which are filled with muddy vowel sounds that Italian doesn’t have. The vowel sounds in Italian are pure, whether open or closed, and to make them you need to use your lips and teeth. Try it—look in a mirror and exaggerate the movements of your lips and tongue when speaking Italian (especially words you stumble on). It’s sooooo much easier to make the right sounds this way.

Maybe you’ll never lose your accent, and that’s fine. But trying to speak correctly does create goodwill. I’ll never forget the day my friend Francesco fumed, repeatedly, about a woman who said “gratsee” in thanking him. It really bugged him that she didn’t make the miniscule effort required to pronounce this extremely common (and not difficult) word correctly.

ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH, OR ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE?

This shit is hard. Yale law professor and author Amy Chua once said, “Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery.”

Be brave, because you are.

Forget the apps and programs that claim you can learn Italian in seven minutes a day or in three weeks or whatever. You’re you. Go at your pace, using methods and materials that work for you and (most important!) that you LIKE DOING. Fall off the horse, get back on. Miss a day or a week or a month, start again. Channel Scarlett O’Hara and tell yourself tomorrow is another day. Because you know the “one day at a time” mindset that helps people recovering from addiction stay the course? It works. Un giorno alla volta. Andiamo avanti, un passo alla volta, insieme.

Tante belle cose. Alla prossima—

Cheryl

RESOURCES

WORKBOOKS I LIKE

Alma Edizioni publishes my  favorite workbooks. There are many more, but I can vouch for these three:

• Le prime 3000 parole, by Roberto Tartaglione, Alma Edizioni

• I verbi italiani, by Sonia Bailini and Silvia Consonno, Alma Edizioni

• Le preposizioni italiane, by Alessandro de Giuli, Alma Edizioni

Italiano per Stranieri: 202 Esercizi (various levels), with an accompanying answer book, Italiano per Stranieri: 202 Soluzioni e Grammatica di riferimento, ab Edizioni

Congiuntivo, che passione! by Loredana Chiappini and Nuccia De Filippo, Bonacci

FOR BOOSTING COMPREHENSION

The CIDEB Imparare Leggendo series, various levels, books with audio component (either CD or online), such as Mistero all’Abbazia (B2) and I Promessi Sposi (C1)

Books in both Italian and English; for example, In Altre Parole by Jhumpa Lahiri, Dante’s La Divina Commedia, and Shakespeare’s plays

Dizionario delle collocazioni: le combinazioni delle parole in italiano, by Paola Tiberii, Zanichelli (about how to combine Italian words for clarity and accuracy)

Barron’s 501 Italian Verbs, Sixth Edition

ONLINE TEACHERS

(Cities are given because regional accents vary.)

Learn Italian with Lucrezia (YouTube, podcast, Instagram), Roma: I’ve watched Lucrezia’s videos for years. Her grammar lessons are super clear and useful, and she’s great at providing good conversational tools. For listening comprehension, her vlogs offer glimpses into Italian daily life, travel, and food.

Learn Italian with Vaporetto Italiano (website, YouTube, Instagram), Ferrara: Like Lucrezia, Francesco offers a mix of types of content; for whatever reason, his grammar lessons really stick with me. He also talks about literature and reads portions of books aloud.

Podcast Italiano (website, YouTube, podcast, Instagram), Torino: Davide is a young polyglot whose podcasts and videos include conversational stuff, theory and techniques of language learning, cultural and language differences within Italy, and much more.

Italiano con Teacher Stefano (website, YouTube, Instagram): I catch him occasionally on Instagram and think he’s worth mentioning, but I haven’t explored everything he has to offer. His website doesn’t say where he’s from.

INSTAGRAM FOR LANGUAGE FUN

Aurora Ricotti-Ottmann (auroras.onlinelanguagelessons): a Torino native, Aurora lives in London, where she teaches and makes fun videos about language learning. She puts her theatrical training to use enacting Laura, an Italian woman who is regularly defeated by the garbled English of gum-chewing store clerks, and Sarah, whose attempts to speak Italian meet with ridicule.

The Bello Bros (thebellobross): poking fun at sports, Italian culture, language, etc. I love their “If English was spoken like Italian” videos.

Ruben Bondì (cucinaconruben): a young Roman chef who talks a mile a minute, sometimes tossing in Romanesco dialect, and always cooks with lemon.

Contenuti Zero (contenutizero): a crazy mashup of history featuring Dante, various composers, Hippocrates, Ulysses, a pair of “sports broadcasters” narrating gladiator events at the Colosseum, and more. I particularly enjoy Dante’s stressed-out monologues, delivered at warp speed via cell phone to a long-suffering Beatrice.

MY POSTS ON LANGUAGE:

• Double Speak

• Ciao Bella (Lingua)!

• Read, Listen, Speak

• Language Geeks Unite!

• Proverbially Speaking

• Everything Is Beautiful

P.S. My book! Which you can buy here or on the usual sites, or, better yet, order it from your local bookstore. Another fab option is to ask your library to stock it. If you read it and like it, please tell your friends and/or leave a few lines of praise on any bookish site. You’d be surprised how much a rating or review helps authors. Baci!