Language Games to Learn Italian
Playing games to learn a language can significantly enhance your learning experience by making it more interactive and enjoyable.
When I was learning Russian, our university professor used to incorporate games into our classes, and this made a huge difference.
Playing helped reinforce my vocabulary, improved my grammar, and boosted my conversational skills through engaging and dynamic activities.
If you love board games as much as I do, alternating a traditional Monopoly with an Italian-focused games will surely help you accelerate your learning process, and you’ll be able to learn Italian faster than you think!
Italian Learning Games
Vocabulary Building Games
- Word Association
This is one of my favorite games to play when I am with my friends for long and finished our conversational topics! It is a fun and effective way to build your Italian vocabulary.
One person starts saying a simple word out loud, like casa (house), and the following person has to quickly move to a related word, like porta (door), then the next one goes with finestra (window), and so on.
Not only does this game help you remember individual words but also shows how they connected within a context. Remember, learning words in context is the best way to improve your vocabulary.
- Italian Pictionary
The only thing you need is a list of Italian words depicting objects, concepts, or items. The best part of this game is that if your do not have one, you can create your own!
Divide your group into two teams. In turns, one player draws a card and start drawing what the card depicts. Usually, this person has few seconds to sketch, which makes the game faster and funnier!
Meanwhile, their teammates have to guess the correct Italian term based on the drawing. This game is perfect to enhance vocabulary and reinforce comprehension.
Grammar Games
- Sentence Construction
When I was traveling, I used to have no Internet connection. Yet, this did not prevent me from playing! This game my friends and I used to play maybe has a name, but we just called it il gioco delle storie (the game of the stories).
It works like this: every player has a paper sheet where they write a short piece of story, in a specific order. For instance: first, everyone writes something about a subject – c’era una volta… (once upon a time) -, then they describe the subject, where they live, etc…
You can basically invent whatever you want, as long as all players respect the order.
Every time a piece of story is written, players fold the sheet such that the sentence cannot be read, and passes the sheet to the next player, who writes the next piece, and so on.
This game is also very useful to practice the use of the imperfective tense, which is the most common verb tense used in storytelling. I promise you, you will laugh out loud when, at the end, you will read the weird story that comes out!
- Luca Dice (Luca Says)
Very traditional game to play in large groups. It reminds me of elementary school! The leader gives commands in Italian, and players must follow only if the command starts with Luca dice. For example, Luca dice saltare (Luca says jump).
It is a perfect way to practice imperatives and verbs in general, both for the leader and the other players.
Listening Games
- Dare Games
If you are over the legal age for drinking, you can easily transform this game into a drinking game! If you are not, then you can do 3 push ups every time you have to pay your dare!
Notice: this is in no way an invitation to drinking!
Play an Italian movie that none of the players knows, preferably. Each person pick a random word and associates it to another player. Whenever that word is said during the movie, the player who was given that word has to pay their dare.
You will pay attention to the conversations in the movie and practice your listening skills without even realizing!
Bonus Games
I know I promised you only original and unknown games, but I cannot not mention these two famous ones!
- Bingo
Create bingo cards with Italian vocabulary words: the caller says the word in English, and players mark the corresponding Italian word on their card. The first player to get a line shouts “Bingo!” and wins.
Competition might spice the situation up. You want to win, so you play faster and focus more! Personally, I am not a competitive person, but the game environment does help you perform, so why not?
- Scramble
This game needs no explanations! It will challenge you to unscramble mixed-up letters to form correct Italian words, helping reinforce spelling and enhance vocabulary recall. It is a very effective game to learn new words!
Play With Your Italian Skills
Not only is playing games enjoyable, but it is also an effective way to learn Italian. Regardless of the type of game and its aim, these activities make learning interactive and engaging.
As you’re deeply engaged in gameplay, you’re concurrently effectively acquiring a new language, without any effort! Moreover, if you play with your Italian friends, this will also allow you to have a deeper understanding of the Italian culture.
Did you wonder why I did not mention
Now, gather some friends and start playing your way to fluency!
