How to Learn Italian

When I was a child, a new friend invited me home after school. In her warm, fragrant kitchen, I found her grandmother, a chubby woman who loved to hug and dole out kisses. I loved this woman immediately, but there was one problem; I didn't speak her language. This did not seem to bother the good woman one bit; she just assumed I'd figure out how to learn Italian! Fortunately, Nonni (as my friend called her) gave me no choice; she was going to adopt me as an auxiliary grandchild, and she was going to keep talking regardless of whether I understood her or not. As I spent more time there, I was astonished to learn that I was beginning to understand her. How could this be? I did not know how to learn Italian, and I'd never studied it. All I was doing was listening.

Amazingly, research shows that listening is pretty much all you have to do. Children learn from listening to their parents. In the beginning we listen as babies to the sound our parents make when they speak their home tongue; we don't understand the individual words, but we sort out the sounds that belong to our language from all other possible vocal sounds. Eventually we begin to attach meaning to certain sounds we hear; your Mother may ask "Where is your nose?" and we touch our noses. Finally we begin to try making some of those sounds ourselves. If our Father or Mother understands our speaking attempts, they will respond joyfully and will reward us verbally. If they do not understand our speaking attempts they will show it in their body language meaning we need to try again until they do. This is exactly how to learn Italian too!

But suppose you don't have Italian parents, or even a neighborhood Nonni. It's not too late. If there is a nearby school, university, or community center that offers Italian classes, consider taking advantage of the opportunity. But if there's not, or classes don't fit into your schedule, choose a good audio-based language program to learn Italian. Make sure it's audio-based; you will never get a authentic Italian accent out of any text book learning. It is a good idea to learn Dostoyevsky by reading it, however when it comes to learn the Italian language then it is not such a good idea!

When you've learned some basic Italian words and phrases and got use to the sound of the language, then you must do everything you can to hear Italian spoken by authentic speakers and speak it yourself whenever you can. Try to watch as many Italian DVDs as you can with subtitles in the beginning and then without. Go to see an Italian opera, and try to understand what they're singing about. Go to your neighborhood pizza joint, and find out if the owners speak Italian; someone there would probably speak Italian as first language and would be happy to converse in it with you. If your community has a civic association or an Italian-American club, make new friends. They will be more than delighted to teach you how to learn Italian.

Italian is a dynamic, living language, the language of Dante just as much as it is the language of the Godfather. Learning it will give you a window on not only a beautiful country (which you may sometime want to visit), but on a wonderful culture made up of vibrant people. As you discover how to learn Italian, you'll find you've opened the door to a whole new world.

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