My Italian Has Improved. Here’s How…

I don’t speak fluent Italian. I don’t even come close. My grammar is suspect and my pronunciation can be way off.

But I’m better at communicating in Italian now then I was six months ago. In fact I’m probably better now than I was three months ago.

I haven’t formally studied in a school, or focused on “teach yourself” books and CDs, what I’ve tried to do it make Italian part of my day whether I’m in Italy or not.

If I’m in a restaurant (as I was on Saturday night) and the staff speak Italian I speak Italian to them. If I meet Italian tourists in Ireland, or if I overhear them talking to each other I say “Ciao”, welcome them to Ireland and wish them a good holiday.

I might have the same conversation with several groups, but it’s still a chance to practice.

It must be working because the last time I was in Abruzzo friends complemented me on my Italian. It wasn’t only that my abilities had improved but my confidence and my ability to hit the ground running had improved greatly. Normally it takes me a day or two to get back into the swing of it, but this time I was up and running in no time at all.

It felt great.

I do have a few other secret weapons that I use to help.

I’ve an Italian word a day calendar sitting in my kitchen and each day I’m introduced to a new word and a sentence to keep it in context. It’s a bit early for the 2011 edition of Living Language: Italian: 2011 Day-To-Day Calendar but I think the 2010 edition is still available.

Using a similar approach, I subscribe to an Italian word of the day RSS feed from Transparent Language. The idea is the same, each day I get introduced to a new word and a sentence that uses it in context. I think having a sentence or a phrase is key, as it’s easier to remember a phrase than an isolated word.

Sticking with Transparent Language, I subscribe to the feed of Italian Blog, written by Serena. This blog is great because it introduces you to a collection of words at a time, often including songs, poems and most importantly if you want to feel Italian, gestures.

Serena introduced me to the artist Sergio Cammariere and his album Dalla Pace del Mare Lontano in this post about Cantanti Italiani. His jazz rhythms and clear diction make his albums a great aid to improving your Italian.

My final tip, and definitely one not to be missed, is to buy a copy of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language by Dianne Hales. Dianne quite simply loves the Italian language. If you ever needed a kick start embracing La Bella Lingua then this is the book for you.

I’ve followed Dianne’s blog Becoming Italian Word by Word for quite a while now and as a result I thought her book would be the perfect read when I was last in Abruzzo.

I was right.

The book not only is great for introducing you to collections of related words and phrases but it does a wonderful job of awakening your Italian soul.

It’s peppered with many cultural references ranging from Dante Alighieri and the birth of modern Italian, through The Renaissance and its great masters, past that most Italian of art forms, Opera, and on to food, film and some choice bad language.

Dianne’s passion for all things Italian is evident in every page you read.

This is not a study book, although you will learn a lot from it. Rather it’s a book that you will want to read and read again and each time you’ll discover something new about Italian and Italian culture.

I bought the hardback edition, but a paperback version will be available from 20th April based on Dianne’s post 10 Reason’s to Fall in Love with the Italian Language.

I’d like to study Italian more formally. Ideally I’d like to do it in Italy. But as it isn’t possible for me to take that route yet these are the informal methods I’ve used and so far, perhaps slowly, they seem to be working.

Grazie mille to all my informal Italian teachers.

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