Do You Know The Best Way To Learn Italian ?
Saturday, July 4th, 2009Depending on where you live in the world, your reasons to learn Italian may differ. In the United States, for example, there are many people that have Italian family and heritage that can motivate them to learn to speak Italian. Being bilingual can improve your career prospects and is a skill that few others will have.
In Europe, speaking Italian would make a difference if you are a tourist that wants to get away from the usual haunts and discover the real Italy. Retired people that decide to settle in Italy would also benefit with Italian language skills.
So if you want to learn Italian, what’s the best way to do it in the shortest possible time ? Everybody hates having to learn vocabulary and verbs and dull stuff like that so what’s the best way to learn Italian ?
Learning vocabulary and grammar is pretty dull and people don’t learn to speak their native tongues through rote or reading books. We learned to speak our mother tongue through repetition but more importantly a genuine desire to use the language.
If you have ever noticed how a baby learns a language then you will see this process in action. The baby listens to his mother early on. The words are repeated until he/she understands what is said. Pretty soon the baby wants to take part in the conversation (It may involve food or something that the baby has a desire to influence in some way). Indeed, the baby has a genuine desire to take part in the conversation.
He/she may make fumbling attempts to speak the language initially. He/she watches as his/her mother forms the words and tries to copy her. Eventually he/she can say a few words. They may not sound exactly right but he/she refines the pronunciation by watching and listening to people around him/her until it sounds right.
Eventually he/she will be able to say a few simple sentences. At this stage, he/she probably knows all the basic elements needed to learn a language. From this stage on his/her speaking abilities will improve at a fast pace.
He/she will put new words and verbs into these simple sentences. He/she be encouraged by those around him and learn more from conversations he has. All the time he will be trying the new words and conjugating verbs as he/she speaks. He/she will make mistakes and will be corrected. He/she will always be learning new things about the language throughout his/her life.
To duplicate this method when learning a second language, you want to learn through immersion. Immersion learning starts by going to a country where the language you are learning is the first language.
As scary as it may sound you are a baby again (in terms of language skills that is), in a country where all the words make no sense. (well it’s probably not that bad, as you may already have some idea of basic words and you can still communicate through body language and pointing) But the main learning strategies are established in this method.
You are exposed to the language all the time. In order to communicate you have to speak it. In order to speak it you have to have the desire. And believe me, if you are living in a country where you don’t have the language you have the desire.
Learning a second language is never easy and you will feel a bit silly at times. However having a genuine desire to communicate should get you through. If you take classes in a Italian speaking country you will also have the support network to help you through these tricky times.
So in my opinion the best way to learn to speak Italian fast is to go to a Italian speaking country and take a course. If possible stay in the country after the course has finished. Ideally, you should work and live there for a few months. This will do wonders for your understanding of the language. Continue to study the language. You never stop learning.
