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Italian, along with Portuguese and Spanish… has always been on my list of languages to learn

If I am really serious about learning Spanish (my goal is to become fluent in Spanish), I limit my knowledge of Portuguese and Italian to basic, tourist conversations (asking for directions, ordering in restaurants, buying a metro ticket etc.) – because we don’t spend much time in Italy, Portugal or Brazil

As we spend 20 days in Turin, I started Italian a week before

After my two articles on learning Spanish and Portuguese, I bring you the same methods for Italian: Michel Thomas, MosaLingua and CoffeeBreak Italian

Michel Thomas: learning to express himself

Michel Thomas has always been a method I turn to when learning a new foreign language. It is a revolutionary method and in 8 hours of listening, you are able to express yourself correctly, with the right accent and good grammar

It’s a 100% audio method, you don’t need to take notes.

First of all, it gives the student confidence, entering the language through its similarities with French. While gradually acquiring a solid understanding of the grammar and structure of the language, the user becomes able to build his or her own sentences after a few hours of active listening.

He just needs to be concentrated, follow the lesson well and answer the questions asked by the teacher (he asks to translate simple sentences and introduces a few new words every 5 minutes)

According to Michel Thomas, you can guess Italian words (thanks to the similarities with French), but if the grammatical structure is wrong, the Italian speaker will have trouble understanding you

Two fake students are taking the course with us, so we feel like we are in a class

The plusses :

• You learn to express yourself correctly in Italian, with a basic vocabulary in only 8 hours.
• This method emphasizes grammar and good pronunciation. It gives a lot of confidence to the students.

The – :

• This method does not rely on oral comprehension, so you can surely talk to Italians, but you will not be able to understand their answer.

Price : 75€ the beginners CD box set, available on Amazon

MosaLingua : excellent learning method

MosaLingua exists as an application, or as a Web version.

With MosaLingua, you can learn (and especially remember) an impressive number of new words in record time

You can choose the cards (words) to learn according to your needs, access the dialogues of everyday life, add your own cards to learn

This method also allows you to work on your oral comprehension because you learn new words first by listening to Italian. It is by turning the card over that we discover its meaning

The numerous dialogues are also presented first of all 100% listening, without translation or transcription. You can therefore listen as many times as you want, before turning the card over to understand its meaning

What I like about this method is their system of spaced repetition: we revise at the moment we are about to forget. So there’s no need to revise every day. To find out when to have you study a particular word, the system shows you a word and then you have to tell it if the meaning of that word is difficult, good, or very good. Depending on your answer, the system will have you review the word the next day, in a few days, or in a month

The +

• it is really the most complete method, it allows you to speak, understand, write and read Italian quickly.

The –

• to criticize, you can’t go beyond level B2. But hey, if you want to be bilingual in Italian, this isn’t a method you need, but a lot of books & Netflix.
• the grammar is absent

Price : You can learn with MosaLingua on your computer, your iPhone or your Android. The application costs 4,99$, the Web version 60€/year

Mosalingua contacted us to propose you a promo code (it’s an exclusive offer for you, we don’t get any bonus). By clicking here and using the code MOSATOUR-20 you will get an annual subscription for the Web version: 47,93 € instead of 59,90 €. Don’t hesitate to take advantage of it!

CoffeeBreak Italian

This is an excellent podcast for learning Italian. The teacher is Scottish and polyglot. He is fluent in Spanish, French, Italian and of course… English

As it is a Scottish podcast, the course is taught in English

This method is therefore reserved for those who are fluent in English. Because it is already difficult to learn a foreign language, learning a foreign language with a teacher who speaks another foreign language isn’t the easiest method

The Scottish teacher is also accompanied by a fake pupil (who picks up faster than us), and a real Italian teacher. The student has to repeat after the teacher, translate his sentences. The Italian teacher repeats the answer (to imitate her singing accent). There is a lot of conversation in Italian between the two teachers, and it is only afterwards that we explain sentence by sentence what it means

What’s cool about the podcast format is that you can listen to it at the speed you want, to make it easier to understand the conversation in Italian for example

The +

• the teacher is cool, the conversations are numerous, enough to inspire you to speak with a real Italian on your next trip.

The –

• However, with this method, if you don’t buy the course that goes with it on their website, you won’t be able to write Italian – because everything is oral. But hey, that’s how they make money, because the podcast is completely free.
• It takes a lot of time to listen to all the beginners’ classes. You easily spend 20 minutes learning how to say hello, good evening, goodbye… whereas with Michel Thomas or Mosalingua, in 20 minutes, you can already say hello, ask for a table at the restaurant, point to your neighbor’s dish and order the same thing: “vorrei la stessa cosa, per favore”.

Price: if you just listen to the podcasts, it’s free (the link is here). To access the more advanced features (transcription + editing), it costs 75£/level