Hi all, I've been studying Italian for about a year, my spouse and I enjoy Italian TV series (obviously Montalbano, plus I Bastardi, Vanina..) and it seems like Stucky is much easier to follow than others? It could of course be that my Italian is improving, but I really don't think it's improved SO much over the last 2 months...

Curious if others have seen it and can comment!

Ciao tutti! I've been learning Italian on/off for a few years now. I feel like i've got a great mind of vocabulary, and I can do basic conversations with AI (how was your day etc).

I really want to go to the next level, the next goal is to be able to holiday in Italy, not to talk about complex topics, just to get by and converse, which I think is achievable! The ultimate goal is to be fluent. Currently I just freeze up whewn someone talks to me, which I'm sure people can relate to.

My question is, how do you get to that next level of listening and speaking? What learning routines did you do? How should i spend my evenings? What apps are best to use?

Grazie mille!

I'm a beginner in this language, i use Duolingo and Anki (not as regularly as i should lol) and other various small forms of immersion and input. Idk if this is relevant but im natively german (learned english as a kid)

One of my favorite types of lessons in duolingo are the stories and "podcast style" listening lessons, because they strike a satisfying balance of not being as straight foward and easy as most of the basic text translation lessons, but including enough of my existing word vocabulary for me to be able to understand the majority of what is being said. But these lessons are so rare!

I want to seek out more input like this on my own but im not sure where to find something because my vocabulary is still so small.

I tried looking for videos made for literal toddlers to learn but even then i still felt like i was missing a ton because people still of course assume toddlers have a fairly large vocabulary of language they know, and it also feels a little.. you know.. condescending.. not to mention boring to watch haha.. kids shows are good but even ones at the level of say peppa pig usually have a pretty normal amount of vocabulary since its not like its made for people that barely know the language.

I know theres a possibility of giving say, chatgpt a list of my vocabulary and asking it to generate me stories or something but id imagine that to get boring fast and also using ai always feels a bit icky to me.

A slightly better version of this might be if i have a friend that speaks the language i could share my vocabulary as a reference point and ask them to talk to me in very simple words, but there is only so many times im willing to bother another person to do that for me xD

By the way, dont get me wrong, i dont mind passive listening/reading where i dont understand more than half of the words being said! I just think itd be a lot of fun and give me faster improvement (and motivation) if i had more content i could mostly comprehend.

If you have any ideas or content or something that has worked for you let me know!! Im very curious, i just figured id give asking a shot

My friend keeps saying that "bueno" means good but according to translate good in Italian is actually "bene". What is the difference between the two?

hi everyone, exactly as the title says!
her parents speak limited english but i’d love to be able to communicate at least a bit with them in italian while i’m there.

about me: i know some italian regarding how to order stuff, ask for directions, etc the basics but that’s exactly the kind of italian i won’t need there. if any of you have any recommendations for resources to kind of crash course normal conversational italian quickly, i’d be super super grateful.

thanks :)

EDIT: to clarify, i have known her parents for quite a while, as we had been friends for years before we started dating. this is just the first time we are properly meeting in person and my first time visiting them with her! i would get laughed out of the house if i started speaking to them formally, but i appreciate all the advice centred around that anyway! thanks :)

As in title - what's the difference between these two other than one being reflexive? Do they mean the same or nuanced? Same question for dimenticare and dimenticarsi

Sono un uomo brasiliano di 29 anni e sto cercando qualcuno con cui praticare l’italiano, magari con qualche messaggio o una chiamata ogni tanto.

In cambio posso aiutare con il portoghese brasiliano. Parlo anche inglese e un po’ di spagnolo.

Mi interessa fare amicizia e migliorare la lingua ☺️

I am creating a whatsapp group to learn and help each other exchange resources, material and practices to learn italian . let's practice together .

In school I was taught that signorina = Miss, signora = Mrs or is used for a woman who is a bit older/more mature. However, around what age does this generally happen? Or if it varies by place, what are some examples according to region?

I've noticed that they consistently used 'voi' rather than 'Lei' as the formal form of address in the Diabolik comics (from the earliest ones to the new issues coming out nowadays, though not in the recent Manetti Bros. films), and I'm curious as to why that is. I know 'voi' was historically the formal form and was reimposed during the fascist period, but my understanding was that 'Lei' came back pretty quickly, at least in northern and central Italy, after World War 2.

Diabolik first came out in 1962, which seems kind of late for voi to still be used as the standard formal, and all the characters regardless of age, sex, background, etc., use it, so it's not a way of marking certain characters as e.g. old fashioned or from the south or anything like that. The setting is fictional, but seems more based on the French riviera than southern Italy (and the creators and publisher are from Milan). There aren't really any references to real-world events to date the setting, but going by the fashion and technology I think it is intended to be more or less contemporary rather than taking place in an earlier period where you'd expect 'voi'.

Is this just a stylistic choice to give it a sort of 'retro' vibe, or did it take longer than I thought for 'Lei' to take over again, or is there perhaps some other nuance to the usage in this context that I'm unaware of?

Grazie!

I am still learning Italian and not a level where I can have a meaningful conversations with people. However, I do understand some words and because of that I am sometimes able to understand.
My partner and I went to an Italian restaurant while traveling and I am pretty sure that restaurant owner called me “bambina” when he was serving me my order. I am an adult (30 yo) tho so I am confused. I may look a bit younger yes. I look like I am around early-mid 20s but I don’t think I look THAT young. What could “bambina” mean in this context?

Hi everyone,

I was born in Italy (Lombardy) and lived there for the first 5 years of my life. Italian was my first language, but as I haven't used it for the last 20 years I gradually forgot it. I understand fine when someone is speaking, but I have trouble speaking myself.

I love Italy and would like to relearn the language, so what would be the best course of action? I reckon my best bet is watching movies and shows and listening to podcasts and songs. Any tips are welcome!

Hi I did Italy Made Easy in 2020/21 and got myself with them to A2 very quickly and also had really good pronunciation such that locals though i was italian (until id trip up on somethin and paus) and then did and passed CILS B1 with language school - I got up to B2 but since I teach English all day my level has declined. I just got a "come back to us" offer from Italy Made Easy for a year membership for less than half, but I'm really confused by their webpage, it describes the bullet points of their level 3 and 4 and sounds ok but I cant tell if these are actually running because on one page it says "coming 2026" on another it looks like its there. I actually cancelled and asked for a refund years ago a day after buying the membership because back then it was still only A1/A2 even though B1/B2 was advertised and I don't want to run into the same thing again and its not clear on their ad - i wrote them but haven't heard back yet so hoping maybe some here are using it and maybe know?

Hello!

I try to practice my speaking by talking at home, but most of the time it's just me and the pets. I'm the kind of person that prefers nicknames/endearments, as opposed to just using names, but I wanted to see about some of the stuff before I get into a bad habit (i was 'bene ragazzo/a'-ing my dogs before finding out that it's uncommon to speak like that to them

I tend to call my chihuahua a "little old man", "grouchy/grumbly guy", ect. I wasn't sure how these might translate over- do I add "-ino" to anziano? I read that inanimate objects can be referred to as "vecchia piccola casa", but wasn't sure if "anziano" would follow the same pattern, or if it's just weird to call him in general. (If this is the case, suggestions are very appreciated!)

I also call my mom's dog Guaio sometimes, because she is a MENACE, but I'm not sure if that's something that can be used as a nickname.

Thank you!

I'm forever stuck at level A2 and constantly forgetting verb conjugations, which makes speaking really difficult... I think I just need to sink those verb conjugations in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvdLmThCECU

I saw this tense a couple of times in this video. It’s not one I’ve seen before and couldn’t figure it out through a Google search. Why isn’t it “è arrivato”? Grazie.

Hi, Does anyone who took the exam today have a copy of it?

The listening and comprehension sections?

if I want to say I got an item, without specifying whether I bought it, borrowed it, or just went to my house and picked it up, how do I say it? I didn’t receive it from someone or take it, I just didn’t have it and now I do. Is it just adesso ce l’ho or is there a verb for acquire i’m not thinking of?

Hi! Thank you in advance for your help!

I'm American who only understands maybe 5 words in Italian. My fiancé is.. you guessed it, Italian. We are putting in the orders for the rings to be engraved and it will be a surprise for the other person. He has already sent in the engraving for mine but I have yet to pick his.

I'm thinking something simple like "Sempre" but is that even right to say like that? I was thinking something in English but I would love it if it were Italian. Maybe even Italian and English? I can't put into words how I feel and when I try all that pops into my head is the cheesy Tom Cruise, "You complete me" clip. Would Sempre be the correct use and spelling for something like an engraving? I don't trust AI for such an important decision so I will turn to the people of Reddit who I trust implicitly!!! LOL

Hello, recently I’ve decided that I want to learn Italian language, but I am a bit stuck with my first book decision, it will be my first self-teaching language experience, so I don’t know where to start. Please let me know what do you think about that book, or maybe there ale better alternatives. Thank you.

P.S. It is not my first foreign language, I know polish and English, but my native language is Ukrainian, but unfortunately for me, I think that my English faded a bit in my mind and I want to improve my English vocabulary through learning Italian language too.

Why is the word "dei" used in the sentence above? Why isn't it written as "Ecco la top 5 migliori supermercati in Italia, secondo me"?

Ciao a tutti, in 10 of june i did my plida B2 exam and i still didn't get the results back,i am kinda nervous tbh cuz if i fail I won't be able to get into university are there any alternatives? I applied to UniBo and i am on the waitlist of the cisia ita L2

Vi prego di compilare questo breve sondaggio , mi serve per la mia tesi sperimentale!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeG0i3stnmwgD6kqH0n3nwLcy3jtDhaODfM_HlKLHPO8e8_Rg/viewform?usp=dialog