Learn Italian in Italy..

WittyKitty1

I've studied italian in secondary school, but alas, it's not the best..

I've been out of school 5 years now and I don't want it to go to waste..

I'd love to spend the summer in Italy learning Italian, but I have no one to go with as my boyfriend isn't really up for anything I want to do, he has his own plans etc.. so I'm looking for groups that might organize things like this.

Is there any type of groups here that go over, or any time of summer schools over there that anyone knows of?

dory

Not sure of language schools but don't go with a group from Ireland you'll end up speaking English all the time.

When I was looking into this for Russian I just Googled Russian language schools in a certain city, lots of Universities have summer programs. Other options are to use a website like workaway.info and find a place to volunteer. You'll find some local person who can teach you and you'll get lots of practice.

shane9689

do some study in your own time with books but the Best thing to do is just show up in Italy... loads of Italians will be looking to learn English, so advertise yourself to do an exchange... i do it here in Ireland all the time and ive been to other countries learning spanish. I found just going (on your own) and forcing yourself to have to speak is the best way to go about it. you meet amazing people (so you wont get lonely, trust me) and you'll learn how to actually converse the language.

did you do any other Italian besides in school? 5 years is a long time, and having a conversation in Italian is abit different than learning grammer in a classroom.

WittyKitty1

Not really- I have a lot of italian friends and have been invited to italy every summer for the past few years but could never go.. Now that i'm out of school/ college I don't want it to go to waste..

I have basic italian, I can hold a very simple conversation but can understand it more than speaking it (if that makes sense)

Did you stay long in those countries ?

shane9689

I spent a month learning and speaking only Spanish in Mexico and i plan to spend 2 months in Spain and Italy this summer on my own for the most part.
I advice contacting your Italian friends then! see what they're up to.

http://www.sharedtalk.com/ <<< theres loads of sites like that around, use it to contact people over skype and video chat etc... just so you get used to speaking italian again.

https://www.couchsurfing.org/ theres also couch surfing for when you are there. It isnt just used for finding places to stay, its often used for culture exchange aswell. You can find groups on there dedicated to language exchange...just type in the city that you want to go to and see what you can find in terms of people looking to exchange languages, or who are just available for a chat, they make the best tour guides too! If you're afraid of meeting strangers over the internet (its not as scary as people make it out to be), then you can view their profile...there should be a list of reviews left by other people saying what they thought of that person.

Its all well and good knowing Italian but your brain has to develop the connection between the theory and the practice of constructing sentences. You'll find you'll understand people but will struggle to respond because you're brain isn't used to processing in Italian (atleast that's what i found).

anyways, there's piles more stuff out there if you look for it.
either way, whatever your plan, i advice getting a start brushing up on your Italian now before you go, it will make your trip more enjoyable

If any of that isn't your thing, then there are loads of language schools i'm sure over there teaching Italian, bit of google search, its easy to find them...but personally i don't see why waste the money if you aren't planning on a profession that requires Italian, it can easily be learned alone. And travelling alone, or with just one other person isn't lonely as one may think, it actually helps you get immersed in the local culture rather than sticking with speaking English with someone you already know.

The Corinthian

My mother tells me that when she moved to Italy, it took her about six months to become relatively fluent in Italian. Now while I suspect this is an exaggeration, I do know that being able to get to a point where you can communicate, socialize, conduct business in Italian is generally considered easy.

It's the more complex grammar, vocabulary and often Byzantine formalities of the (especially written) language that take a very long time.

You can also improve, learn and/or practice your Italian in Ireland. The Central Library in the ILAC Centre Dublin 1 has conversation exchange meetings every Monday. The Italian Cultural Institute has classes or may also suggest other means of improving, learning and/or practising your Italian - or even to avail of Italian state programmes to do so. And there's even a forum here that covers the language.

I'd follow some of the above (especially the exchange meetings) before planning any step to go and spend time in Italy.

If you do decide to go to Italy, I'd recommend going to a central or northern city, mainly because you are more likely to actually hear Italian spoken. Dialects are still spoken everywhere to some degree and even when they're not, local vocabulary, pronunciation and grammatical variations will exist.

Financially, Italy is much cheaper to live in than Ireland, however jobs are even harder to come by and pay a lot less - so take that into account.

Anyhow, in bocca al lupo.