How to learn Italian?

Hello everybody, and welcome to Italian learners. Today I’m talking about the first steps to learn Italian, almost (not completely) on your own.
Let’s start with things you must avoid doing :

1. Don’t rush
2. Don’t be shy
3. Don’t overload your brain with too much information

1 DON’T RUSH

Means that you need to begin from scratch with the alphabet and basic sentence building.

You can use many videos on YOUTUBE to master the Italian alphabet and pronunciation, and I personally suggest you buy ”FACILE FACILE A0” if you are an absolute beginner.

2 DON’T BE SHY

You don’t need to perform a perfect conversation from the beginning, find a partner to practice with and start talking as much as you can.

3 DON’T OVERLOAD YOUR BRAIN WITH TOO MUCH INFORMATION

You might be tempted to research tons of grammar rules at first, but this will lead you to read a lot of notions and retain nothing. Instead plan your study schedule and set a number of hour you want to dedicate to Italian.

Once you cooled down, the need to learn as fast as you can, here is what you need to do in order to progress constantly and ineluctably.

FIRST STEP: SET YOUR SCHEDULE

Brainstorm a little bit, sit at your desk and plan the amount of time you want to use in studying Italian. If you are at the very beginning I suggest 3 hours per week maximum.

SET YOUR GOALS

What level of Italian do you want to reach? A1 – A2 – B1 – B2 – C1 – C2 ?

Are you studying just to travel in Italy, or are you studying it for your job or to study there?

If you’re willing to get a certification you need a teacher that helps you to pass the exams and learning the language by yourself won’t be enough.

On the other side if you’re learning the language solely for personal interest you might need a teacher once in wile or at least a speaking partner.

This goal affects the study schedule you want to create.

GRAB THE MATERIAL

Once you’ve setted the goal and decided how much time you want to study, you can decide which material suits your needs.

You can buy your books. From my experience, I’ve always used the ” FACILE FACILE A1 ”, ” FACILE FACILE A2 ” and ” FACILE FACILE B1 ”. In these books, you’ll find a few grammar rules and exercises to start practising Italian. You also need to grab at least a tailored narrative book (letture graduate in italiano) because, in the meantime you learn the grammar and do the exercises you need to put together the rules and gain an acquaintance with sentence building.

Choose a website or a blog where you can find interactive exercises.

Choose a Youtube channel (no more than two) where you can find the grammar rules explained by an expert. My suggestion are : ” Vaporetto italiano ”, ” Learnamo” and ” Easy Italian ”.

FINAL TIP: WRITE, WRITE, WRITE

Every time you learn new words and structures, write down some phrases for the sake of practice. Create a scenario in your head and try to write down a brief conversation, this will help you to get through conversations once you land in Italy, wether is for your free time or for your job.

I hope these tips will help. Did you find them useful?

And you? What are your experiences? What are your worst nightmares in learning Italian? Are you facing a tough chapter in the process? Let me know in the comments!