5 Incredible Online Courses to Learn Italian
We’ll start by giving you the 5 best Italian courses.
Ripeti Con Me is definitely one of the best online Italian courses on the Internet.
It focuses on speaking and repetition, as well as essential and useful Italian vocabulary.
This way you’ll learn in an intuitive way, just like children and teenagers when they’re picking up their native language.
Italian grammar is not explicitly taught but you’ll pick it up in a more natural way.
Pimsleur is great when it comes to online Italian courses. It’s a good option if you have a beginner level.
Lessons are very interactive since it focuses on active participation.
Michel Thomas’ Total Italian is another great option. You’ll start by learning the basics of Italian and will end up with a base to work towards fluency.
This course doesn’t focus on grammar but rather on conversational Italian.
Even though he’s not Italian, checking his course is definitely worth it.
Rocket Italian is one of the most effective online Italian courses. After you’ve learned the basics of Italian, you’ll be able to work on “language and Italian culture”.
This course also focuses on Italian pronunciation. Each lesson is 20 minutes long, so you can listen to it on your way to work or school, or whenever you have 20 minutes to spare on Italian.
Rosetta Stone‘s method is based on the “acquisition model”: observation of the facts and understanding from context.
It basically gives you pictures and you have to select the right answer. This is how you can learn vocabulary in a fun way.
However, it doesn’t teach you grammar and doesn’t help you with other language skills like speaking.
So, if you’re looking for a course to learn vocabulary only, this is a good option!
Read more about 5 incredible online Italian courses.
The top 13 best apps to learn Italian
Let’s now focus on the top 13 best apps to learn Italian:
As we already mentioned, the top number 1 is Ripeti Con Me. Then we have Pimsleur, Michel Thomas‘s course, Rocket Italian, and Rosetta Stone, which we told you about earlier.
There’s also Glossika. It’s a series of audio lessons just like Ripeti Con Me (even though Ripeti Con Me is an improved version of Glossika).
This course builds your speaking confidence by getting you used to a native voice. And it challenges you all the time. It focuses on repetition with a sentence-based method.
However, it’s not suitable for absolute beginners
Italki is an excellent option because it’s a “learn Italian” app where you’ll find native speakers willing to teach you Italian.
This means you’ll be able to take 1-to-1 lessons from the comfort of your home.
An Italian teacher can tailor lessons to focus on what you prefer. You won’t get that kind of amazing help from a textbook or software.
Duolingo is one of the best free language learning apps.
You can choose a daily goal for the number of minutes you want to spend on the app every day (5-20 minutes).
This helps to minimize the risk of students becoming overwhelmed and giving up on studying the target language.
Babbel is another great Italian language app.
It includes lots of images to help you remember words as well as realistic dialogues.
However, the free version only includes the first lesson of each course, after which there is a subscription fee.
Then you have Memrise, Mondly, Mosalingua, and FluentU. We recommend all of them.
Read more about the top 13 apps to learn Italian.
The best intensive Italian courses
We’ll first focus on the best intensive Italian courses online. We’ll then focus on the best intensive Italian courses in Italy.
We can’t emphasize enough how good Ripeti Con Me is. Just try it and you’ll see!
Preply is another good option.
It is a platform where you can choose a tutor for online intensive Italian lessons. This means you’ll get to practice with a native speaker and that’s definitely going to be intensive.
ABC School Firenze offers personalized lessons to learners who are unable to head to Florence for their intensive program.
FluentU gives you access to real-life videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news, and inspiring talks.
Centro Culturale Conero offers intensive Italian online lessons for learners who can’t study at their location in Italy.
It provides you with a learning experience as if you were in the classroom.
Here are some great intensive courses in Italy:
Scuola Leonardo da Vinci provides intensive Italian courses in Florence, Milan, Rome, and Siena.
It offers a program of cultural events on the weekends, with many interesting activities.
Madrelingua Italian Language School is in Bologna, one of the main cities in Italy, and they usually offer intensive courses on location.
Ente Lombardo Lingua e Cultura Italiana (ELLCI) is located in Milan, the second-most populated city in Italy. The school is near many cultural points of interest.
Istituto Venezia is located in Venice, arguably the most beautiful and romantic city in Italy.
Istituto Linguistico Mediterraneo is both in Pisa and Viareggio.
The school offers many options for cultural immersion including social events and trips to Florence, Rome, and other amazing places. Find out more about the best intensive Italian courses.
Read more about the best intensive Italian courses.
The best Italian Crash Courses
Once again, we highly recommend Ripeti Con Me! You will improve your Italian just by listening and repeating sentences!
SBS offers slow-paced podcasts for Italian learners. This makes the language more easily understood by language learners.
The podcast episodes feature opinions, news stories, and entertaining commentary on a wide variety of topics.
Udemy offers an Italian crash course that’s designed for quick learning.
It teaches grammar, pronunciation, reading, and writing as well as basic Italian phrases and everyday communication skills.
Rick’s Rome course is absolutely free! The first lesson comes with an interesting and detailed vocabulary list, which teaches learners greetings.
Rick also has a blog and podcasts that include cultural information.
You could also learn Italian with a book on Kindle, or you can learn Italian on YouTube.
However, the best option would be to learn Italian by going to Italy.
Read more about the best Italian crash courses.
How to choose the best apps and courses to learn Italian?
Choosing the best app to learn Italian truly depends on your goals and learning approach.
If all you want to do is order a cup of coffee in Italian, a basic vocabulary guide may be all you need.
However, if you want to really immerse yourself in Italian culture, you’ll need to choose Italian apps that properly teach you to speak, read, and write the language daily.
In the beginning, I recommend that you choose a free app that gives you a basic overview of Italian.
After that, you might want to consider investing in a complete Italian course to help you master the language.
There is no single app or course that will turn you into an Italian expert overnight, but each of the applications and tools listed in this article will help you get closer to your goal of mastering the beautiful Italian language.
Alla prossima!
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