One of the best things about learning Italian is that a lot of the words are very similar to English. In fact, when you start learning it, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to notice that you can already say loads of Italian wordsby simply saying English words in a hammy Italian accent. Similare (pronounced sim-ill-ar-ray) is one example – no prizes for guessing what itmeans!

You can also get insider recommendations from Italians about the best places to go in their town – no more frozen pizza and reheated pasta at tourist restaurants! When you have a go at speaking Italian, you’ll come away with much better holiday memories. You can get to know some of the locals and you’ll feel more confident wandering away from tourist areas. You’ll get to hang out with Italians Grazie, continuo a guardare– Thank you, I’ll keep looking [when you’re getting hassle to buy something] Learning a new language takes time and commitment.If you’re not clear on your reasons for wanting to speakItalian, somewhere down the line you mayfind yourself wondering if it’sreally worth it. Even if you’re really committedto learning Italian at the beginning, your determinationmight fizzle out somewhere down the line. Don’t worry if these words sound very similar at first, with practise, you’ll be able to differentiate them.For example, in the word “respons ible”, the letter “i” is pronounced as a kind of lazy “e” sound, which is produced with the mouth and tongue in a completely relaxed position. In the phonetic alphabet, it’s represented with the upside down ə sound (called the schwa). We don't say cosa vuol dire quello? implying something the other person said. We just say Cosa vuole dire? = “what do you mean by that?” You never know, maybe learning these phrases will motivate you to go on and become fluent in Italian. Mezzo chilo di pesche, per piacere. ( mehdz-zoh kee-loh dee pehs-keh perh pyah- cheh-reh) (Half a kilo of peaches, please.)

Importantly, don’tfeel like you have to learn all the verbs at once. Focus on the ones you’ll use the most, then learn the others gradually as you go along. This was centuries ago. But, in many ways, Italy and Italian politics still seems the same. Give them TV shows and full shelves at the supermarket and they won’t doubt. They won’t doubt the government nor its politicians. If Italian politics seems confusing, it’s time to unravel the skein. At the root of Italy’s political instability is the readiness of Italian lawmakers to abandon the parties for which they were elected, “ the article states, “of the 945 deputies and senators elected at the last general election, 147 had changed parties by the end of 2020.” Voters vs “la poltrona,” what’s more important? Numbers are usually one of the first things people learn and with good reason – they pop up everywhere! From buying things to asking about public transport, you’ll need to master numbers if you want to get by in Italian. Italian pronunciation is relatively straightforward compared to many other languages, especially when you take into account the spelling system.

Another Italian sound which may be new to you is the smiley L (known formally as the palatal L). When you see the letters gli together , as in fami gl i a, it’s pronounced similar to an L sound, but instead of putting the tongue tip behind your teeth (like in the English one) you spread the whole tongue out across the roof of your mouth. If you smile when you say it, it helps to put the tongue in the right position, which is why we christened it the smiley L. So don’t get discouraged if you were born without this skill – most people can learn with the right techniques.

With the right strategies, you can actually turn these moments into opportunities to learn moreItalian. Unfortunately, there are also irregularverbs, which you have to memorize. You’ll find that the more you practice them, the easier it is to use them in conversation: Common Irregular Italian Verbs in the Present Indicative Tense Subject PronounHere are 5 fluency phrases that will help you turn communication breakdowns into opportunities to learn more Italian: gli (gli specchi, gli stivali, gli scienziati, gli zaini, gli psicologi, gli pneumatici[but also i pneumatici], gli gnomi, gli yogurt)