How to Learn Italian
Rosanna Lingard
For most of us, learning a foreign language is quite a challenge. It has taken me several New Year's resolutions and a lot of research and determination to achieve the reasonably advanced level of Italian I've got now and I?d like to offer you a few shortcuts.
The first point is, you must have a teacher. Despite the impression given by some courses? marketing blurb, it is extraordinarily difficult to learn a language on your own. Teach-yourself materials are handy as back-up but they really can't replace a human teacher.
Students of history or geography can learn a lot by reading and by listening to lectures. With a language, progress by these means is much slower, because you need to speak. You will learn the most, therefore, in a very small group or, better still, one to one.
I attended an Italian evening class for about 18 months. I had fun and I made some new friends but I learnt very little. There were too many of us and most people didn't take it seriously, coming more for the social side than the actual study.
I looked around for another course and discovered a language school offering one-to-one Italian lessons. In the year I have been there, I've gone from lower intermediate to advanced and I'm overjoyed! It's so satisfying finally to be able to make sense of it all and have a real conversation. It may sound selfish but I love being able to ask as many questions as I like, without worrying that other people are getting impatient. Equally, when I understand, I love not having to wait for other people to catch up.
Another major benefit of a one-to-one course is that you have some flexibility with the timetable. I've got a part-time job and three small children, and early afternoon is the best time for me to have lessons. It's not easy to find a group that meets twice a week in the afternoons but if it's just a question of co-ordinating with the teacher, it works very well.
When I?d mastered the basics and was equipped to cope, we started doing the entire lesson in Italian, which I really like. It's not just an academic exercise any more; I'm using the language to communicate with my teacher. This forces me to be resourceful and I get a huge buzz from making myself understood and from understanding what she says to me.
The best way to learn Italian, then, is to have one-to-one lessons with a native speaker who is also an experienced teacher. Stop struggling by yourself, don't bother with a big class. You and the right teacher, that's the way forward. I've surprised myself by making such quick progress and you might too!
If you are in or near Manchester (UK), contact this http://www.jmj-manchester.co.uk/) language school and start a personalised http://www.jmj-manchester.co.uk/learn-italian-manchester.html Italian course any time you like.
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