Is There A Best Way To Learn Italian? Am I Just Bad At Learning Languages?
So you want to find the best way to learn Italian, but you’re not sure where to start. Maybe you’ve never tried to learn a new language before. Or maybe you have, but your language learning traumas, challenges, and trip-ups in the past have given you the idea that you’re just not made for language learning. But what if that simply weren’t true? Don’t listen to the stories you tell yourself that you’re not good enough or you can’t do it!
It’s natural to feel discouraged by past negative experiences or the fear of trying something new and failing. But the reality is that you’re likely not bad at learning languages. You just might not have been exposed to the best way to learn Italian — one that works for you and your particular learning style. Everyone learns differently, and there’s no wrong way to do it.
Besides, making mistakes is all part of the learning process. Learning by doing means trying, failing and trying again. If you can feel comfortable with not immediately understanding things, it’s easier to stay relaxed, curious, and to enjoy the process.
There are plenty of reasons, too, to give learning Italian a try (or perhaps another try). Learning Italian is a worthwhile investment that will open you up to a whole world of speakers — 63 million of them, in fact. With Italian in your repertoire, you can travel the planet and experience the rich history and culture of communities in Europe, the Americas and even Africa. And you can more readily engage with Italian-language media, from films to television shows to literature and podcasts from around the globe.
Finding the best, most effective and fastest way to learn Italian that also fits your schedule, budget and learning style isn’t as difficult as it might seem.
Finding The Best Way To Learn Italian
When it comes to the best way to learn Italian, there are many options to choose from, each with their own advantages and limitations:
Classroom learning and tutoring — You’ll get more regular, personalized feedback from an instructor and be able to practice speaking, but it can take a regular commitment of time and often money, and you might not be able to work at your own pace.
Immersion learning — You’ll be challenged and required to adapt more quickly to a new language and culture, but the investment is quite extreme and requires money, time and the willingness to overcome major adversity.
Software and apps — You can work at your own pace and choose content that works for you, but you don’t get as much practice in conversations with actual speakers, and you won’t get individualized interaction with native speakers.
Italian-language media — You get to hear and read the Italian language as it’s used by native speakers in real-life situations (and often for free), but you don’t get to practice speaking or learn the underlying rules and nuances of the language.
Is Immersion Really The Best Way To Learn Italian?
Whatever language you’re learning, no experience will help you better master Italian than physically putting yourself in situations where you have no choice but to speak the language. Yes, you’ll be uncomfortable and confused at first. But you’ll also be forced to grow and to rise to the challenge. The idea is that, without English to fall back on, speaking Italian will become a real necessity, a sink-or-swim matter of survival. You will have to learn how to speak Italian because there will be no other option.
If you want to find the best way to learn Italian fast, immersion is the way to go.The most important thing that immersion provides is a constant stream of your target language. You will hear it all the time and read it everywhere. Whether it’s living with a host family in Milan or working at a hostel in Naples, moving to a Italian-speaking community will get you on the fast track towards fluency.
But immersion the language learning method that takes the most initial investment; after all, you’ve got to put yourself in a new cultural context and learn how to navigate a new home away from home. You can’t forget the high costs of moving to a new place and the stress that naturally accompanies it. If you’re someone who doesn’t deal well with adversity and hardship — and you have an established life you’re not willing to leave behind — then immersion might be too extreme of an option for you.
Why Is Babbel One Of The Best Ways To Learn Italian?
If you want a mix of some of the best elements of each of these methods of learning Italian, Babbel might just be the app for you. Babbel is designed by a team of language experts, educators, and designers who know all about what it takes to get the most out of learning a new language — so you are guaranteed a top-quality Italian learning journey that’s effective, engaging, and yes, even fun.
Unlike many other language apps, Babbel works so well as a language learning tool by immersing you in the types of dialogues you’d have in real life, right from the very first lesson. Whether it’s ordering at a restaurant in Pisa, booking a hotel room in Padua or making a new friend in Palermo, Babbel will help you practice having the types of actual conversations you’d have with native speakers in the Italian-speaking world.
Learning with Babbel is easy and intuitive, and with lessons that only take 10 to 15 minutes to complete, you can learn at your own pace and choose the courses that are relevant to you. Whether you’re too busy for a language class, a complete beginner, needing to brush up before a vacation or business trip or wanting to relearn everything you forgot in high school, Babbel can be customized to fit your needs.
Babbel’s Italian courses are affordable, accessible online and on mobile devices, and proven to strengthen your writing, reading, listening, and speaking skills. The Review feature brings back information you’ve been learning when you’re most at risk of forgetting it, ensuring that it gets locked in your long-term memory.
Try a free Italian lesson with Babbel and see for yourself how quickly you’ll be on your way to speaking Italian with confidence — like you’ve always wanted to!
Get started