How to learn Italian from scratch. How to learn Italian from scratch on your own

One of the most popular types of questions on services like “Answers to Mail.ru” or “Google Answers” ​​are questions from people who are interested in learning certain foreign languages, but decide, before starting classes, to “test the waters” and find out what what they need to mentally prepare for.

With this article I would like to address, first of all, precisely such people. However, it will be interesting in itself for those who want to broaden their horizons.

The article is divided into 2 antonymous parts:

1. The main difficulties encountered when learning this language.
2. Language characteristics, on the contrary, simplify (sometimes significantly) its study.

Characteristics will be given in comparison with other large European languages ​​(mainly English) for greater clarity.

I'll start talking about Italian with a few interesting facts. Modern Italian can be considered an artificial language, which developed after the unification of the country in the 60-70s. XIX century based on the Tuscan dialet. Even during the First World War, Italians from different regions could barely understand each other, and the introduction of official Italian began especially actively then.

Now I can say from my own experience that no one has problems with understanding. Dialets have not gone away, but are now used mostly in the context of personal, friendly (if friends are from the same region) and family relationships. The vast majority of the population speaks Italian without any problems, the only exception being provincial Italy, and even then mainly its elderly contingent, who communicate with each other almost exclusively in dialect (for example, the conversations of Trentino pensioners living in mountain valleys; an Italian from another country risks not completely understand).

As a matter of fact, many dialects are essentially independent languages. For example, it is very interesting that the Sicilian dialect is a direct descendant of Latin itself, and has no relation to Italian. And, for example, the Sardinian language is a completely independent language, having its own dialects.

Why is it easy?

Where does learning any language begin? From phonetics, of course. For those who know English, it will not be difficult to read Italian correctly - probably, in terms of phonetics, Italian is the most easy language in the world. There are only 21 letters (which is 5 less than in English) plus combinations of letters that form sounds that are easy to reproduce in Cyrillic (gn - н, gl - л, sc - Ш, etc.) and will never cause such despair for beginners, like the same English sound “th” or its Spanish counterpart “c”/”z” (without this word in Spain you will not be able to pronounce correctly, for example, the word “beer” (cerveza)), not to mention nasal sounds French, without knowledge of which you will not be able to correctly pronounce even the most basic words like “bon” (good).

With regard to the relationship between vowels and consonants, the situation is against the backdrop of the Russian language with a gigantic host phonetic rules seems simply elementary: vowels are pronounced exactly the same as on paper, consonants are not changed or softened, and the reading of some of them is regulated by a few very basic rules.

Why is it hard?

The incredible ease of Italian phonetics, unfortunately, backfires on Russian speakers, whose speech is “captive” of a huge number of Russian pronunciation rules, which are automatically put into play when speaking Italian.

The Italian ear is very sensitive. Often, when one sound changes, they refuse to understand the word as a whole. Acane has a particularly detrimental effect on this, the importance of which in the matter of mangling Italian words can be overestimated:

"doloroso" [DOLOROSO], but in no case [dalAroso].

"mortalita" [mortalita], nor not [mArtalita].

The softening of consonants sounds especially terrible in Italian:

"livello" [livello], here "l", sounds the same as in the word "crowbar", but not like in the word "downpour".

That is, the difficulty for a Russian speaker, paradoxically, lies precisely in the ease of pronunciation, that is, in the absolutely accurate reading of every vowel and consonant of Italian words.

In addition, do not neglect the meaning of double consonants, of which there are a lot in the Italian language.

It is strictly not recommended to pronounce at the pace of a high-speed train. If the surname of the famous musician Ramazzotti is written with two “t” and two “z” (Ramazzotti), then this is how it should be pronounced: not [ramazzotti], but [ramazzotti].

Why is it easy?

Italian is an analytical language. This means the absence of cases, the function of which is performed by prepositions. Despite the obvious lexical similarity with Latin, Italian is nevertheless very far from Latin in terms of grammar: in Italian there are no, as I already said, 6 cases that terrify students, there is no neuter gender and there are many other differences.

The absence of a case system always makes life much easier. Those who have studied German understand this. Although there are only 4 of them, even this number is enough to challenge beginners. panic attacks when looking at tables of case declensions of German articles, adjectives and numerals.

Let's make a visual comparison:

English: My brother's younger sister gave her mother 2 pieces of bread.

Italian: Mia sorella minore di mio fratello ha dato 2 fette di pane alla sua mamma.

As you can see, in the Russian version we did without prepositions at all, while the analytical structure of the Italian language means their very active use, which, of course, is easier to learn even for speakers of the “megasynthetic” Russian language.

Why is it hard?

Another one opening theme, which it would seem should not cause problems - articles. The rules for their use are seemingly simple, but in fact, speakers of Russian and other languages ​​who are not “burdened down” by this language tool make a lot of mistakes here, which greatly disfigures Italian speech.

There’s a lot that you just have to cram. Use as a guide English language It won't help matters - there are too many differences.

I'm going to the theater: Vado a treatro (no article).

I'm going to the cinema: Vado al cinema (with an article).

Let's not go into detail, but we can especially focus on the fact that in Italian, articles are obligatory for possessive pronouns, which contrasts with most European languages. Let's compare:

Russian: I see my car.

German: Ich sehe mainen Wagen.

French: Je vois ma voiture.

Spanish: Veo mi coche.

English: I see my car.

Italian: Vedo la mia auto (la - article, mia - mine).

As you can see, only in Italian when used possessive pronoun It is worth paying attention to the corresponding declension of the article referring to the noun.

Why is it easy?

The word formation of many Italian nouns (in particular, household items) is an excellent example of how the language often “does not bother” and follows the most straightforward path.

Many words are a banal combination of “verb + noun” in almost completely unchanged form, which greatly simplifies their memorization:

portare (carry) + cenere (ash) = portacenere (ashtray).

portare (carry) + container (container) = portacontainer (container ship).

portare (carry) + bagagli (luggage) = portabagagli (trunk).

lavare (wash) + stoviglie (dishes) = lavastoviglie (dishwasher).

aspirare (inhale) + polvere (dust) = aspirapolvere (vacuum cleaner).

spazzare (sweep) + neve (snow) = spazzaneve (snow blower).

asciugare (to wipe) + mani (hands) = asciugamani (towel).

And many other words.

In addition to the ease of word formation of such nouns, their ease lies in the fact that they are unchangeable, that is, the transition to the plural is grammatically reflected only by changing the article.

Why is it hard?

The subjunctive mood (congiuntivo), the use of which in Romance languages ​​is approximately functionally similar, presents difficulties for Russian speakers. Strongly (very strongly) generalizing, the subjunctive mood means that the information presented is either doubtful or emotionally charged. Sometimes Italians deliberately replace the subjunctive mood with the indicative mood in order to give their words greater force and authenticity, but in doing so they make a grammatical error.

In practice, using the subjunctive mood means that you must always remember the appropriate forms of the verb when expressing hope, expectation, emotion, dissatisfaction, etc.

For example:

The information is presented as a fact:

Black car = L "auto e nere.

Now let's add a little "personal factor":

I think his car is black = Credo che la sua auto sia nera.

Both in the first phrase and in the second there are 3 persons, singular. the number of the verb “to be”, but as you can see, in the second version it has changed: it is not the fact that the car is really black that is stated here, but only our opinion, that is, that we believe that it is black.

Complicating the situation with the use of the subjunctive mood is the fact that it is used in a huge number of the most used phraseological units, for example, after the words “although”, “so that”, “in order to” and so on, and you need to get used to it, otherwise the speech will not only be illiterate, but even “difficult to understand.”

Why is it easy?

You study almost all other romantic languages ​​at the same time - their vocabulary is so similar. In addition, in learning Italian you will be greatly assisted by a knowledge of the English dictionary, which also contains many Latin elements.

Here are just a thousandth of these words:

Russian - English - Italian

allow - permit - permettere

stunning - splendid - splendido

huge - enormous - enorme

page - page - pagina

apartment - apartment - appartamento

terrible - terrible - terribile

accurate - accurate - accurato

casual - casual - casiale

diary - diary - diario

pen - pen - penna

powerful - potent - potente

and many, many other words.

What's even more interesting. In addition to vocabulary, you will also find a huge number of grammatical similarities - with other romantic languages. Their number is incalculable: from the most general to the conjugation of irregular verbs.

As you can see, learning Italian has several pitfalls, but the main thing is that, in general, it is not difficult and very interesting. Having mastered this language, you will be able to better appreciate, without exaggeration, the boundless richness of the culture and history of Italy and, which is very important for me personally, to understand the meaning of beautiful Italian songs and sing along to them. Good luck in your studies!

Learning Italian from scratch. Easily!

You will need

• - Italian language textbook (self-instruction manual),
• - audio CDs,
• - notebook,
• - pen,
• technical means - optional.

Instructions

Give yourself time every day for an hour to an hour and a half. Plan your class schedule for the week ahead and correlate all other things with it. In order not to forget about classes in a series of household chores, use reminders, a planner on the computer, organize your schedule so that by the time of class you have all your work done. Prepare yourself something cozy workplace, in which you will not be distracted.

Buy any textbook or Italian. The difference between them will only be in the form of presentation of the material - in some textbooks it is more interesting or more modern, in others the material will be drier. Beforehand, if possible, familiarize yourself with it, in what form the information is given, and what explanations and exercises are used. But, by and large, with any textbook you will have to do the same repetitive actions - study the rules, grammar, do exercises to consolidate them and words. So don't waste a lot of time on this. Use the Internet to read tutorials and reviews about them.

Set yourself short-term goals. For example, learn 50 - 100 lexical units per week. This will help you track small successes and maintain motivation, a sense of self-satisfaction, and will allow you not to depend on the brightness of book illustrations.

Buy discs so that you can listen and repeat the material after the speakers. It is advisable that they come from the same set as the textbook. You can also use the Internet for this; there are many educational audio recordings available for review.

Alternate learning the rules with practice - do exercises, watch Italian channels, listen and translate songs, memorize and sing songs yourself. Getting emotional pleasure from classes is very important; it significantly contributes to memorizing new material.

As you progress in your skills, read literature in Italian. Start with simple and short tales. First use bilingual with parallel Russian. Gradually, by practicing reading and memorizing words, you will stop paying attention to translation, and the need for it will disappear.

Use online lessons on the Internet. Meet Italians with similar interests. Visit Italian Internet resources, take an interest in what is happening in the country, read the news. By receiving information in the target language from all sides, the brain adapts to the language faster and more easily; this imitates the situation of “immersion”, when mastery occurs faster.

Helpful advice

For additional classes and consolidate knowledge, use time on the road, and, if possible, time before bed.

Sources:

• Italian language tutorials.
• learn Italian

Learning a foreign language on your own is not such an impossible task. The main thing is to be patient and find free time. But you need to repeat the classes regularly. Otherwise, it will be quite difficult to achieve success.

Instructions

To learn Italian on your own, stock up on teaching literature. You will need phrase books, bilingual dictionaries: Russian-Italian and Italian-Russian, audio and video courses. Phrasebooks will help you learn the most common phrases, polite addresses, and stable language structures. With the help of audio and video courses, you will be able to understand how speech sounds, what intonation shades it has, where logical stress should be placed, etc. Dictionaries will give you the opportunity to study vocabulary. But in order for you to master Italian, you need to set aside a certain time for yourself and set a schedule. For example, according to research by scientists, it is advisable to spend 1.5 hours a day and at least 3 days a week on learning new things. Divide this time so that on one day you work with a phrasebook, on another with a dictionary, on the third with visual and audio lessons.

Books written in the original language are another way to learn the language. Take for study a work that you know well. Read the original in English and try to translate it, writing down unfamiliar words. Don't be alarmed if at first almost everything seems completely new to you.

Movies with subtitles will also help you learn the language. They will teach you how to match the original sound with the spelling of a word. This way you can quickly expand your vocabulary.

There was a great desire to learn Italian language? Do you want to listen to Luciano Pavarotti and understand him in high tones? Or order at an Italian restaurant with confidence that you are ordering correctly? Statistics show that Italian is the fifth most studied language. Currently, more than 70 million people speak Italian. Another 150 million speak it as a foreign language. Therefore, Lingust simply could not ignore him. And this is what he offers you.

On the lesson pages of this section of the site you will find a specially created for beginners from scratch version of the tutorial from Celeste Zawadska & Maria Majdecka () by learning Italian. Its purpose is to familiarize students with Italian pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary to such an extent that, having mastered the self-instruction material, they could speak spoken language and independently read journalistic and works of art medium difficulty. For this purpose, the tutorial contains both dialogues on everyday topics and adapted excerpts from works fiction. The self-teacher's dictionary covers about 3,300 words from various areas of everyday, socio-political and cultural life. Well consists of 52 lessons + phonetics lesson. The keys to the lessons contain translations of Italian texts and assignment solutions. The key is activated when you drag the mouse over it: .

1. First, we get acquainted with the meaning of words and idiomatic phrases and expressions (it is not recommended to memorize words and phrases taken out of context);
2. Having become familiar with the vocabulary, we begin to read the text and try to understand its content. If there is audio for the text, a mini-player appears on the page, listen to it several times and carefully monitor the pronunciation (if you don’t see the player, then your browser does not have flash player installed, install it, or some browser add-on is blocking flash, or you have a very old browser.);
3. We assimilate grammar material and perform oral and written exercises; then we check the correctness of their execution using the keys and eliminate the mistakes made;
4. Having become familiar with the vocabulary and mastered new grammatical forms, we proceed to independent oral and then written translation of the Italian text into Russian. The translated text must be checked using the translation placed in the keys and errors made must be eliminated. The Russian translation can then be used to “back” translate from Russian into Italian;
5. The final stage of the work is re-reading the text, reproducing its contents aloud and recording the reproduced text on a voice recorder to compare it with the textbook text. In the case of collective learning of the Italian language, the authors advise playing dialogues several times by role, changing roles each time, and also using descriptive texts to conduct conversations.

Go to -› list of lessons ‹- (Click)

Reasons to learn Italian

• Why do you think Mozart composed his operas in Italian and not German?
• Many people consider Italian to be the most beautiful language. You can check this opinion and compare it with the French language.
• In Italian greatest number words to describe the food - they love it so much.
• Watch films by Fellini, Visconti, Pasolini without subtitles.
• You can read “The Divine Comedy” (La Divina Commedia) as Dante wrote it.
• According to UNESCO, more than 60% of the world's artistic treasures are in Italy.
• Italy is a real magnet for tourists. In 2004, Italy topped the list of favorite holiday destinations in Europe, increasing the number of tourists by 339% over the year!
• Italians are a quirky people, very sociable and will happily show you around their country as long as you (try) to speak Italian to them!
• Italian is the closest language to Latin language, the common ancestor of all Romance languages. There are a huge number of words of Latin origin in the English language; this will make it easier to learn the vocabulary of both languages.
• The Italian language has the most accurate correspondence between letters and sounds (Russian language does not count, of course). A little further from it is Spanish.
• Increasing business integration with suppliers and customers from Italy requires knowledge of the Italian language, because... they have difficulty or are reluctant to speak English.
• Art, fashion, design, opera, cooking, etc. If you are planning a career in these areas, knowledge of Italian is a must!

Surely you found something interesting on this page. Recommend it to a friend! Better yet, place a link to this page on the Internet, VKontakte, blog, forum, etc. For example:
Learning Italian

Whatever you say, learning a foreign language from scratch is still a lot of work! Especially mental and, most often, emotional. This is exactly what happened for me. IN school years I, like many, started learning English. It was primitive, at the level of knowledge of the alphabet, personal pronouns, standard phrases like “My name is Natasha” and “I live in Moscow” or scanty poems about the fact that I have eyes and I can see a book and a pen in front of me, I see the ceiling and floor, I see a window and a door. You know, many years have passed, but I still remember the poem. Apparently the weekly repetition worked. And what?

I’m ashamed, but when I first came abroad, I couldn’t communicate with foreigners. At all. No way. Well, just hello, goodbye and thank you. This was the maximum.

I was eaten up by a feeling of shame, because next to me there is a sister who speaks excellent English, German, Spanish and Portuguese. And every conversation we had with her ended with the optimistic phrase “Learn English!” on her part. But I didn't want to. I had no desire for this.

In the worst weather in the summer of 2010, I left for Italy. Two weeks of walks through the most beautiful cities: Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples. We looked under the road from one city to another. Graceful “Roman Holiday” with Audrey Hepburn, exciting “The Italian Job” with greetings from Venice, sunny shots of “Under the Tuscan Sun”, which have become the most beloved and symbolic images of Italy. In the evenings in a small room (oh, this piccolo!) I turned on the Italian TV channel Rai and listened, listened, listened...

However, I didn’t start learning Italian on my own right away. Several important and fateful meetings took place, which turned into golden keys to the doors to the world called “Italian language”. I share these “meetings” with you. Heartily.

A young man with the interesting name Zhivko greets hotel guests with a wide, disarming smile. A melodious Italian conversation flows around, and in pure Russian he invites you to sit down: “Welcome to Italy! Coffee?" And within a few minutes a steaming, aromatic cup of espresso appears on the tiny table. This is how my Italian morning began at the Playa Hotel, located on the Viserbella promenade, which is a 10-minute drive from the city. July that year turned out to be very hot, even in the morning hours the Italians themselves hid under awnings, miniature umbrellas and behind bar counters. “Just like at my house,” Zhivko admits, and this is where our acquaintance begins.

At the Playa Hotel, which mainly hosts Italians and only a few rooms are usually occupied by visiting foreigners, everyone speaks their own language. English does not help in communication; in Italian at that time I could only say 2 words – Ciao and Grazie. Therefore, it was Zhivko who became my personal translator. I was alone in the Russian hotel.

Later we met him in the hotel restaurant. On a separate table, assigned to me for the entire rest period, there was a menu. Of course, everything is in Italian. Under each name of the dish, Zhivko wrote a translation in pencil. Even if there are mistakes, such attention is still worth a lot.

I remember one day I really wanted milk. Still, coffee in the morning, afternoon and evening is unusual for me. “Milk is a latte,” Zhivko explained and smiled again.

I remember those days with warmth, because each of us may find ourselves in a situation where in a foreign country you simply need a person nearby who can speak your native language. I already have it. Although now we will be able to speak Italian. If you ever find yourself in the Viserbella area, say hello to Zhivko from Moscow.

And another inspiration from the Italian language

I don’t remember exactly what TV season, Channel One started showing the show “Ice Age,” in which pairs of professionals and amateurs skated on the ice. Among them was my favorite couple. They performed one of the program numbers to the amazing and probably most famous song (Adriano Celentano) “Confessa”. The performance itself under the spotlight was mesmerizing, but I was even more captivated by this amazing hoarse voice. Can you guess what I wanted to do? First, understand what this song is about. And, secondly, sing it yourself. But for this you needed to know Italian.

And then one day, one warm summer evening, I made up my mind. Okay, I'll learn English! Because it is necessary. And I will learn Italian. Because I want to. This difference between “need” and “want” played a very important role for me. I know the second language better than the first.

Don't force yourself, friends! Let learning a new language bring satisfaction and joy from what you get. And, most importantly, teach for yourself, not for others. After all, how nice it is to hear the words “Brava!” in response to small but successful attempts to pronounce a phrase in Italian.

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I have always been fascinated by people who speak several foreign languages. By the way, I never dreamed of becoming a polyglot. However, when traveling to countries where English is not the native language of the majority of residents, the "foreigner" factor comes into play.

You will most likely be perceived primarily as a tourist who came to gawk at their country and only visits strictly certain places of interest in a particular city.

The “foreigner” factor assumes that you will perceive information only in your native language/English, without absolutely understanding what is going on around you. The likelihood of getting into stupid situations, being deceived and limiting information also increases by an order of magnitude.

But if you know the language of the country where you are going, the attitude towards you will become noticeably warmer: you will understand more and better, you will be able to communicate about anything and, most importantly, you will learn how and how the people of this country live.

For me, the main point of learning a language is not translating “mom washed the frame,” not passing exams, not cramming for tests, but communication.

Motivation

So, I decided to study Italian. Italian, IMHO, is a very beautiful and melodious language: the merging of prepositions with articles alone is worth it. But Italian also has difficulties in learning, first of all, conjunctions, articles, and verbs. However, any other language has its difficulties.

My experience of learning Italian began about 3-4 years ago. Although this course was informal, that is, the emphasis was not on academic learning, but rather not on informal communication, I failed. First of all, I was embarrassed to speak. Secondly, I misunderstood the rules. Thirdly, on initial stage I spent too much time studying grammar. But one plus still remained - I learned the alphabet, learned to read and learned how the endings of verbs of three conjugations change.

Benny Lewis
An Irish polyglot who travels the world and learns new languages. He sees his mission as showing people that languages ​​can be learned quickly and effectively.

A little time passed, I again got the idea of ​​learning Italian. I bought some kind of textbook, and it lasted me exactly five days, after which I threw it on the far shelf, where it collects dust to this day. I was frustrated by the endless boring exercises and rules, so it's no wonder that Italian became a pipe dream for me.

This summer, I was wandering around the Amazon website and came across a book by an Irish polyglot, “Fluent in three months,” where he shared his technique. Having become acquainted with his story, in which he tells how he learned eleven languages, I learned for myself main idea- a method in which there is no place for speaking practice from the first day of training is, by default, complete bullshit and a waste of time.

I received another signal of fate when I read the book “The Language Exit Point or How to Quit a Foreign Language.” I confidently recommend this small but very useful book to those who have suffered through the courses and are still embarrassed to speak English. foreign language.

Elena Shipilova
Creator of distance learning foreign language courses Speak As Soon As Possible and the website speakasap.com, whose mission is to make people multi-speakers.

What motivated me? The idea that on a trip to Italy I will be able to talk without problems with the staff of a hotel, restaurant, cafe. That I can read and understand what they write about. And that if I succeed with Italian, in the future I will be able to take a swing at French, since they are similar. It is difficult to maintain motivation, but it is possible. After about 10-12 days of realizing and following your goal, a sincere interest in the language appears.

Benny Lewis claims that a foreign language can be learned in 90 days, which is exactly the period available to Americans coming to Europe as a guest. My goal was more modest - to understand the principles of the Italian language, learn to speak and explain myself in 90 days.

My experiment began on June 6th. Did I succeed? Yes, no doubt. During these 90 days, I learned a lot of things that I would not have been given in expensive courses. And most importantly - I can talk!

General rules and guidelines before starting to learn a language - what I understood during these 90 days

You won't know the language 100%

Yes Yes exactly. That’s why you give up studying it, because under your vague formulation “I want to know... the language” anything is hidden: grammar, reading, fluency in phraseological units... Surely you vaguely understand what it means to “know a language perfectly” , but are aimed at the result C1/C2, which in the European Framework of Reference for Languages ​​means “advanced level”.

But you will never know a language perfectly, because the language changes and you have too little time. If you want to master a language immediately, completely and completely, you will spend a lot of effort, but you will get scanty benefits. It is much more important to master the basics of grammar and learn many words that will definitely be useful to you in communication and reading.

Therefore, at the very beginning, discard such motivation as “to know perfectly.” Let your goal be “actively use the language”

Need to set a deadline

Parkinson's First Law states: “Work fills all the time allotted to it.” Accordingly, if you have a blurred time frame for when you should begin to express yourself more or less tolerably, you will most likely never use it. Instead, you will continue to study new and new textbooks and techniques.

So make just two decisions about timing:

1. I will use the language for 90 days, and then it will become easier and genuine interest will appear.
2. I will speak the language from the first day of training.

Your goal is to get the point across

The use of language is, first of all, communication. It doesn’t matter what it is: personal or virtual. If you are learning a language to only translate or read and never communicate, you can continue to learn the language using traditional methods.

As Benny Lewis points out in his book, you should be speaking your target language from day one. Here you can give in to panic and stop studying anything at all: “I can’t do anything at all and I don’t know anything!”

You're right. You Bye you don't know anything. But let's understand why speaking is more important than the ability to read, translate and write fluently in a language. You probably know people who have studied a language for several years at school or university or in courses, but when they meet a native speaker they are speechless. No wonder. After all, speaking a foreign language is almost never taught in our educational systems.

It is through conversation that most communication occurs - conveying your thought, opinion or question to the interlocutor. It is through conversation that you feel the language, and it is through conversation that the instant use of language occurs, which is not taught in textbooks. Therefore, strive to talk as much as possible from the first day of study.

Be a child

Dear mothers, please remember how you taught your child to speak? Do you remember? I give Bonk's textbook a check that you didn't shove Rosenthal's reference book or Ozhegov's dictionary under his nose so that he could learn to speak.

How does a child learn language? He just uses familiar words. He has no idea about cases, genders, compound or complex sentences, participles, verbs or tenses. So how can he speak Russian at three years old, but by the age of four or five his questions are making his head spin? 25 frame? Ilona Davydova?

Right! He's just talking. He speaks, ignoring the mistakes. Adults correct him, and he remembers what is correct. He speaks every day. He asks the meaning of the words. Thanks to the absence of fear, complexes and embarrassment (“What if that little guy from the third floor laughs at me for saying “palakhod” incorrectly?), the child begins to use language. The sooner he begins to read, at least syllable by syllable, his lexicon will inevitably become richer. Then - conversation plus reading, and now the child already speaks the language quite well. But when our hero has already grown up, teachers intervene in the matter and turn him into a “literate person” (although, judging by how many spelling and punctuation errors you see on social networks, there is a suspicion that this did not help everyone).

So, you must put aside all fears and embarrassment when speaking in the target language. If the process of reading and writing is more inward, then communication inevitably leads to contact with another person. So you shouldn't be shy. Two more rules follow from this principle.

You talk like shit

The first corollary of the principle “Be a child” is that you should speak without any embarrassment and as bad as possible at the beginning. Don't worry, it won't be perfect the first time. Most likely, at first your speech will consist of groaning, grunting, simple words and lots and lots of errors! But this is great!!! After all, it is thanks to mistakes that a child, and other people, learn.

Your success and progress in colloquial speech is directly proportional to the number of errors. The more you do at first, the easier it will be later. First you will remember how this word is said, how it is used at that time, and then each time the learning curve will tend to increase. Your memory will simply get angry at these mistakes and, in the end, it will remember how to speak correctly.

Fuck the rules (only at the beginning)

While talking, you will frantically remember this or that rule that needs to be applied in the conversation. But at the beginning of training this should not worry you. Rules are necessary, but only after you have already “conversed,” that is, after 5-6 speaking lessons, you will be able to learn the simplest grammatical rules.

In the beginning, you can always learn the simplest words, pronouns and constructions, such as: “I”, “you”, “he”, “how are you”, “hello”, “good”, “I’m working”, “my name is”, “what’s your name”, “how old”, “I’m studying”, “I like” and feel free to use them. Then, when you become confident that speaking is not scary, you can plunge into the fascinating world of simple grammar (at first, only simple present, past and future tenses).

There is always time

“I don’t have time” is the coolest excuse. But there is always time. I learned the language in the evening, “stealing” 30 minutes from social networks and then, when returning from work on the bus. When you study remotely with a native speaker and pay him at the same time, you willy-nilly find time for this.

Use the time you spend in transport in queues. Less Facebook, games and idle pastime, and time, as if by magic, will appear.

Tools

In fact, any book will be useful after second week of speaking practice. You should choose a book that explains grammar as simply and clearly as possible. Everything else can be burned and forgotten. You study one lesson a day from the book, memorize the words. Write down what you don't understand and ask your teacher.

This site has ready-made lessons that will allow you to get a small base in seven lessons. Language marathons are also regularly held there, which will allow you to learn and study a lot in a month.

I studied grammar one lesson at a time, trying so hard not to get hung up on complex topics or complex grammatical structures. I took the basic principles, did the exercises, and asked my teacher what I didn’t understand.

Application for learning words. Gives reminders about a word with its translation. Available as an extension on Chrome. A nice bonus: if you are reading on your phone and see an unfamiliar word, you can highlight it and Biscuit will instantly translate it into English and save this card for studying it.

English-Italian dictionary (via in-app purchases). I liked the fact that all tense forms of the verb are indicated there.

Application for keeping a diary. Around the end of my mini-challenge, I started journaling in Italian to improve my writing skills.

Songs

Of course, the Italian stage is very well known to the older generation, primarily through Celentano and Toto Cutugno. Among the modern ones we can remember Bocelli, Ramazzotti and a couple more. But when you discover the world of Italian pop music, you simply listen to it.

But you need to listen with benefit. To do this, print out the words of your favorite song and try to translate it. Avoid the temptation to copy-paste an entire song into Google Translate at once. First, read the text carefully, then find familiar words and grammatical structures, and then start translating.

If this song is your favorite, then hum it, this way you will automatically remember the words and grammatical structures.