A Linguist’s Top Three Tips for Speaking the Italian Language

In this guest post,  a Canadian linguist who has taught Italian and worked in Italy -- Madeline Jhawar of Italy Beyond the Obvious -- offers some essential tips for becoming fluent.

parlare l'italiano

to speak Italian

by Madeline Jhawar

I picked up the following insights, not by studying the structure of languages for my degree in linguistics, but by living in different countries and learning to speak different tongues. You may be surprised to see that I never mention memorizing grammar or vocabulary.

1. Just communicate.

When my husband and I were living in Milan, his future brother-in-law came to visit us from Switzerland. He does not know Italian, but he speaks Spanish, French, German, English and Romansch. He forged ahead speaking to Italians using a combination of a concocted language, gestures and facial expressions. Most of the time (amazingly, we thought) he would make himself understood.

You may not have five languages to splice together, but a few words plus gestures and expressions can go a long way. It's initially hard to override your brain's natural tendency to want to translate word-by-word from your native tongue. However, I highly recommend figuring out how to say what you want to say with the vocabulary you have, however limited it may be. When you realize you can indeed communicate, even imperfectly, you'll start feeling a connection to Italians. If you make connections, you'll care, and if you care, you'll maintain your determination to keep learning their language.

2. Context matters. A lot.

In high school, I took German classes for three hours a week, with a textbook that featured a dog named Lumpy (pronounced loooompy) who did all sorts of things that I really didn't care about. Six years later I went to Germany to work as a tour guide. All of a sudden, people around me were using words I'd memorized but never really grasped. The previously confusing absence of prepositions, replaced with strange noun endings, clicked when I heard them in everyday life. Suddenly German was relevant. And I found myself wishing I'd paid more attention in class.

Even if you're studying Italian in a poorly lit classroom taught by an old priest with bad breath who spits when he talks -- as my Latin teacher did -- find a way to make a connection to the language. Learn words about subjects you care about, and use Dianne’s blog and book to guide you. Listen to Italian music; watch soccer games or subtitled movies. Read comic books, tourism magazines or even children's books. It doesn't matter how you bring Italian culture to life in your world, just that you do.

3. Focus on sounds.

After a certain age (somewhere between 12 and 20 or so), it's much harder to learn a new accent well enough to sound like a local. But there are many other sounds in a foreign language that we can copy even as adults. Pay attention to emphasis on the correct syllable of a word; notice the inflection of a sentence; use the language’s version of "hmm" or "um" (“ehhh” in Italian). Drop the pronouns like native Italians do – for instance, say “andiamo” rather than “noi andiamo” for “we are going.”

So how quickly can you become fluent? If you immerse yourself and follow these guidelines, you could gain basic fluency in about three months. And the reason I don't mention grammar and vocabulary? They'll come on their own as you’re focusing on other things.

If you’re thinking of a trip to Italy,  Madeline can customize your travel plans. (See a sample itinerary.)  

Comments

[Gary Chow]

I've been learning Italian on and off for the past 5 years. I did 3 semesters of formal study (one night a week over the course of the Uni semester) but now learn on my own by reading and watching Italian films and Tv programs. By far the hardest part is comprehending what other say to you. I find I know what to say some of the times but when the Italian speaker replies, I'm lost. Practice is the key, but here In Brisbane, Australia, it isn't easy finding a native Italian speaker, and when you do, it's likely they speak a dialect or in a corrupted way from living in Australia so long.

[Madeline]

@Richard so true, it's hard to unlearn mistakes after learning something the wrong way. I think the key is to try to achieve that balance where you're speaking, even imperfectly, and gradually improving -- as opposed to not speaking until a perfect grammatical sentence can leave your lips.

@Chris - totally agree! Actually I think #1, "just communicate" could also be "be determined" and your #2 is a great point related to immersing yourself in the language's culture -so important. I used the technique (if I can call it that!) I wrote about here to learn Swedish during the 20 months I lived in Stockholm and it was SO tough to get through that stage where you feel stupid. And everyone speaks English so well, it's hard not to flip into English to make everything easier isn't it. Thanks for your comments!

[Richard Palumbo]

MS. Jhawar makes some useful recommendations. But if you will be satisfied to go around saying "Io volere uno bicchiere de vino; noi compriamo ayer pomodore, ecc.". By all means don't study the structure of the language and please get in words from other languages. Once you learn something the wrong way, it's hard to change it. Volentieri insegnava e volentieri imparava.

[chris]

Hi Madeline, I can't argue with the 3 points you make. They are all valid and important stepping stones along the way to learning a new language. I grew up in UK but moved to Norway at the age of 33, and have now been here for 18 years.I had to learn the language from scratch. I think the 2 points I would add to your list that have been especially true for my experience are these: i)PERSEVERANCE - Refuse to give up during the first 6 months. All people learning a new language will go through a stage where you feel stupid and humiliated. Its the crucial stage of not having enough vocabulary and sentence construction skills to manage to articulate what you you want to say. The result is that you end up giving the impression that you are much less intelligent than you are. You feel humiliated. It's stage that probably kicks in after the initial excitement of moving to a new country starts to fade from 3rd -6th months. DON'T give up and quit at this point. You will emerge from that tunnel.
ii) Join groups in the local community from day 1. Make yourself communicate in the new language and culture. Join a church, hobby groups, evening class,anything that widens your network, gets you speaking with the locals and increases your vocabulary.

I think I can confirm the point you make about learning at a slower pace when you are older. It took me 10-12 months before I was fluent in Norwegian. But then I was 33 years old.