How to Learn Italian

Italian is considered by many scholars to be the language of the arts and gastronomy. This elegant language is spoken as a native language by more than 65 million people across Italy, Switzerland, Malta, Croatia, Slovenia, San Marino, and Vatican City. Another 75 million people speak this artistic language as a foreign tongue.

A large majority of native Italian speakers do not speak another language, and therefore learning Italian is essential if you are looking to converse with local Italians. In my experience, most Italians are impressed when foreigners speak their language, and they are very courteous about assisting with pronunciation and mistakes. Italy is a country rich in culture that can only be experienced first hand by someone who is conversationally fluent in Italian.

For business purposes, Italian is a very beneficial language to speak because Italy is consistently listed as one of the world’s top ten economies. Especially in the fields of art, design, fashion, furniture, or construction, the ability to speak Italian will prove to be a vital asset to you and your company. Many Italian businessmen, even ones who conduct business outside of Italy, often do not speak any language other than their native tongue. For this reason, companies who conduct a large amount of business in multiple European countries are often in search of Italian speaking employees.

Learning Italian is not as intimidating as many believe. I was able to learn the language in less than a year with the help of the 5 level Rosetta Stone Italian language learning software. The vocabulary is relatively simple, especially if you have a comfortable vocabulary in another one of the Romantic Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc. For me at least, the most challenging aspect of learning Italian was developing a proper accent. Rosetta Stone’s voice recognition software is designed to ensure that your Italian is spoken just as beautifully as the language was intended to sound.

From the fine wine, to the fine clothing, to the remarkable architecture, to the priceless art, to the placid countryside, Italy is referred by many as the epitome of pure beauty. With Rosetta Stone’s 5 level process, and a local restaurant providing waiters and waitresses to converse with, I was able to become conversationally fluent in 10 months. At the end of those 10 months, I visited Italy. The locals were thrilled with my enthusiasm for their culture, and they all complimented my accent claiming that I spoke almost as well as they did! Learning Italian and practicing for two weeks in Italy has by far been the most fulfilling experience in my life. Take advantage of the same opportunity I did and begin your quest to learn Italian!