How to learn Italian on your own. Self-learning Italian from scratch

I remember about 7 years ago, one of my acquaintances, who began studying Italian, constantly told me how difficult it was. Knowing the character of my acquaintance, I nodded, but believed that the problem lay not so much in the language as in the language itself: enthusiasm and perseverance can work wonders, and with the presence of these qualities, there were questions for the acquaintance. Having had experience in English and Greek before starting to study Italian, I still find it difficult and simple languages does not exist. There is little desire.

Let me make it clear right away that I did not write this article alone. Each aspiring “Italian” is individual and it is wrong to look at everything exclusively from your own bell tower. So I turned to Vika, asking her to help me write the article. As an active Italian tutor, she is much more aware of the difficulties that most students face.

Often many people start learning Italian precisely because it is considered uncomplicated. So they believe that little blood will be able to add another language to their assets, which in the future can be monetized with an increase in salary, a more prestigious job, etc. However, already in the first weeks of studying it they encounter significant difficulties.

Indeed, the Italian language is not as simple as it seems at first glance, and you should immediately discard thoughts about learning it successfully and quickly without effort. But if you like the language and are ready to work, and the chosen teacher has found the right approach, then studying will be not so much difficult as it will be exciting. Moreover, with each new lesson, you will be able to understand Italians, their songs and films better and better, and this is one of the richest and most cheerful cultures in the world.

But this is all a preamble. If we put “philosophy” aside, then what difficulties do students actually face when trying it for the first time? learning Italian? The first thing that immediately catches your eye is the pronunciation. Although there is an opinion that in Italian it is not difficult - and at the level individual sounds this is indeed so - the stress and intonation are not at all similar to what we are used to. Therefore, students, even those who diligently study the language, often have problems with pronunciation “like the Italians.”

Once you learn the rules, you can easily speak, read and write Italian

Another common difficulty is the use of articles. And the point here is not only that they are absent in the Russian language, but also that the use of articles in Italian is difficult to formalize with a few clear rules. Students who have experience learning English will feel much more comfortable with articles. If Italian is your first language, then you should be prepared to pay special attention to articles.

Another difficulty in learning Italian, which has some similarities with English, is the use of prepositions. Here, too, template rules do not always apply, and the use of many prepositions will directly depend on the words combined with them. Thus, many cases will simply have to be learned from memory, without reference to specific rules.

And of course, the main difficulty in learning Italian for beginners is the verb, or rather, a whole galaxy of tenses that simply do not exist in the Russian language. Moreover, in order not to make mistakes, in addition to the forms of tenses, you will have to thoroughly understand their use. There are 14 tenses in Italian: 8 indicative, 2 conditional and 4 subjunctive. There is, however, a facilitating factor here: many tenses are formed according to similar principles, and not all of them are complex.

Having mentioned the difficulties that students face when starting to learn Italian, it should also be said about what is easy about it. Of course, the first thing is spelling. Once you learn the rules, you can easily write and read Italian, which is extremely convenient. Italian grammar is also generally simple. It is harmonious, logical and almost not burdened with exceptions. Finally, Italian vocabulary is also quite simple, thanks to the huge number of words that are of Latin origin, and therefore used in one form or another in the Russian language.

Learning Italian with a tutor:

Regardless of the purpose of learning Italian, I can sincerely recommend Vika, my former tutor, who once taught me the basics of the language. Vika has been teaching courses for a long time, and has been practicing Italian classes via Skype for several years. Details about her and the history of our acquaintance can be read in the article.

Many people ask how to quickly learn foreign language, in our case Italian? I’ll say right away that miracles don’t happen, or rather, they don’t just happen. Therefore, you should not believe those who tell “stories” about how you learned a language in three months. During this time, of course, you can study the language a little, bringing it to the minimum level sufficient for communication. This requires a lot of diligence on the part of the student (this is the most important thing) and an effective methodology.

What methods are there?

I won’t go into technical details, which are difficult to explain in a nutshell, but I’ll just say that some people start learning a language with theory and grammar rules, which are then applied in exercises. This is a classic technique that was previously used almost all over the world. The student in it passively learned the rules without much opportunity to apply them, especially in the process of live communication. The results were unimportant, the training time was long...

The situation improved significantly when it became clear that we needed to start with the language, with practical exercises, and not from theory and rules. This second inductive technique allows the student, under the guidance of a teacher, to actively explore the language himself, identify the mechanisms that operate in it, and extend them to other cases of using a particular rule. This allows for a much deeper understanding and quick learning language. Learning takes place through exercises and dialogues, allowing you to immediately apply knowledge in practice. Thanks to this, the student develops the habit of using the rules automatically, without even thinking about it.

And here we come to the most important thing: CONVERSATION

To speak Italian in real conditions, on the street, with passers-by and anyone else, just exercises from the textbook are not enough! Some students do them well, but when they have to say something on their own, they seem to forget most of what they learned! That's why I often have students speak Italian instead of doing exercises. At first they are a little lost, but after some practice they suddenly realize that they can express themselves, ask a question to a passerby and understand what their Italian friends are talking about during dinner. And then they are very happy!

Of course, good speaking practice should be carried out correctly and professionally, with the rate of speech and the complexity of words increasing gradually in accordance with the student's preparation.

There is one problem in learning foreign languages ​​- we do not see the end point and it seems that it is an endless process. Actually this is not true.
Take a look at the process of learning Italian and you will see it.

1. You need to learn to read a foreign language. The Italian language has some reading rules that you need to learn. You can't memorize them. You will quickly remember them when you watch a few video lessons on voicing Italian words or read text with Russian transcription. These basic techniques will teach you how to read Italian and comprehend Italian words.

As for the production of Italian pronunciation, according to linguists, Pronunciation is the very last detail to pay attention to for several reasons:

Each country has many of its own dialects and each person has their own pronunciation of words.

Even the most avid polyglots still have an accent. This is a physiological feature.

Isn't it great to speak with an accent, reminding your interlocutors that this is your second foreign language that you speak? Don't be afraid to be proud of yourself. It's a good feeling.

2. You need to master the grammatical structures of the Italian language. You need to know exactly what to change or add to a sentence to get the phrase you want. Go to section "Italian grammar in 1 day" and you will learn how easy and simple it is to do it.

3. Replenish vocabulary. There are many sections on our website that will help you enrich yourself with new Italian words.

Use Tops in Italian. Topics are useful because in them the necessary verbs have already been selected for nouns and words, phrases and expressions are used on the most popular topics for communication.

Use it Russian - Italian phrasebook. They, like the topics, already contain the most popular phrases intended for colloquial speech.

Read quotes from great people in Italian and proverbs and sayings. Short interesting phrases don't tire. Pay attention not only to words, but also to grammatical structures of sentences.

4. Learning to perceive Italian speech. To do this, use sections such as: " first phrases in Italian", short video, dialogues, audio and video podcasts , films and TV series, radio online, television online , songs with subtitles. Listen to the phrases slowly, returning to them again and again. The more words you learn to hear, the faster you can easily watch films in Italian.

5. We communicate in Italian. From the first days of studying Italian grammar, compose small sentences and combine them into a story. If you still find it difficult to speak Italian, then use all kinds of chats and forums where you can leave your articles and comments in Italian. If you are already ready to communicate, then communicate online, look up all unfamiliar words in the dictionary or speak in other words. Go to section

When I arrived in Italy, I didn’t know a word of Italian. Calming myself with the fact that master's studies are in English and Costa Smeralda is an international resort, during the first weeks I did not even bother myself with any kind of study of the language of the great Dante.

After some time I realized thatItaly and English language practically incompatible with each other. From that moment my acquaintance with Italian began. I started saying hello and goodbye in Italian, learned the names of some drinks that I usually ordered at the bar (my “Due birre grandi, per favore!” is still remembered by all my friends. And no, I’m not an alcoholic), I learned how to ask for a package in the store . I held on to this “knowledge” for several more months.

I realized that I urgently needed to learn Italian when it came time to look for a place for a summer internship. I won’t say that they didn’t want to take me anywhere, after all, knowledge of English and Russian is very valued here, but... why does a company need an employee who can’t even call a taxi if necessary?

Initially, at the University secretariat, I said that I wanted to do an internship at the Airport. And not just a simple one, but in the golden General Aviation (the so-called terminal for private flights). I came to the first interview with the director in full confidence that I would be hired right away - I’m so cool, I studied so much and speak two languages ​​fluently...

They gave me two weeks. No, not even probationary period. Two weeks to learn the language and return for a second interview in Italian. These were probably the most exciting and at the same time the most beautiful two weeks of my life.

• During these two weeks I walked a lot. Just like that, through the streets. I was walking and listened to what people were saying, tried to catch familiar words by ear.
• Watched movies in Italian (or rather, I was reviewing those that I had seen before translated into Russian in order to understand the essence of the picture).
• I went for a walk in the park with Italian music in headphones. I listened to ten of the same songs over and over again in order to learn them by heart. Language expressions, grammar, stable phrases - everything is in music!
• Spent time on the beach with an Italian textbook or fashion magazine in addition. I also bought it in Russia" Practical course Italian Language" from the author Dobrovolskaya. A very decent publication, in my opinion.
• I asked all my Italian friends talk to me only in their native language, both in person and by telephone.
• If you are not physically in Italy, I advise you to find a pen pal on the Internet for language practice. I heard that this method is very popular now.

All these actions bore fruit. No, of course, I didn’t speak Italian as a “native”, but I began to understand people, the fear of communication disappeared, I could answer basic questions and created a good basic dictionary in my head.

At the second interview I was still given a place. Small, but a success, isn’t it?)

Work has begun. And here one undeniable thing helped me a lot - there was not a single Russian-speaking person in my environment! Neither at work, nor at home. I plunged into conditions where the only Russian interlocutor was my mother on Skype for 5 minutes a day. My work colleagues, wonderful guys who spoke perfect English, tried to give me as much Italian language practice as possible. I made phone calls to various Italian institutions with a prepared speech on a piece of paper, I worked with Italian-speaking crews, answered all letters without exception.... And it bore fruit! By September 2014, I was already able to express myself quite fluently (sometimes with minor grammatical errors), and periodically fell into a stupor if I didn’t know a word (after all, I was still thinking in Russian in my head).

LECTURES (LESSONS) ONLINE LEZIONI ONLINE

Is it possible to study Italian on your own? Grammar lectures and online lessons will help you learn Italian for free. Free online course for beginners.Each online lesson includes grammar with examples, grammar exercises, texts and dialogues in Italian and vocabulary development.

concept of article, definite and indefinite article singular, regular verbs, conjugation of verbs of the first, second and third conjugation.

letter combinations chi, che. Articles in the plural. Irregular verbs dare, stare, andare. Verbs ending -CARE, -GARE

agreement of adjectives and nouns in gender and number. Verbs dare and are. Question words. Prepositions a, per, da.

Special cases pronunciation. Auxiliary verbs ESSERE, AVERE. Turns c"è / ci sono. Ordinal and cardinal numbers. Arithmetic operations and numbers in Italian. Count in Italian.

Personal pronouns. Combined forms of preposition and article (preposition + article). Using the prepositions a and di with verbs and nouns.

Acquaintance. Greeting and parting formulas. Truncating verbs, nouns, adjectives.

Verbs of the second and third conjugation. Ordinal and cardinal numbers (tens, hundreds, thousands). Dates. Merging of prepositions di, su with articles.

Word hyphenation rules. Irregular verbs of the second conjugation. Modal verbs dovere, potere, volere, sapere. Indefinite adjectives and pronouns ogni, qualche, alcuno, qualcuno, qualcosa. Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns mio, tuo, suo, nostro, vostro, loro. Rules for using the article. Adverb, adjective and pronoun molto, poco.

Irregular verbs of the second conjugation: venire, tenere, salire, rimanere, bere, uscire. Stressed and unstressed personal pronouns (me, te, mi, ti, lo, la, le, li, ci, vi). Reflexive verbs. Education plural adjectives and nouns ending in -co, -go, -ca, -ga (-che, -ghe, -chi, -ghi).

Indefinite adjective tutto. What time is it? Stressed and unstressed forms of the verb piacere. Adverbs anche, neanche, nemmeno.

Regular verbs V difficult times. Past tense (nearest past) passato prossimo. Transitive and intransitive verbs. Unstressed forms of personal pronouns in the past tense. Reflexive past tense verbs. Choice auxiliary verb in passato prossimo. Article meanings. Basic meanings of the definite article.