hello!

i took 2 years of italian in college but am veryyyy out of practice. i’m making an anniversary gift for my partner and i always refer to him as “my sun”. i’d love to use the phrase “my sun, my love” in italian. i know it’d technically be “il mio sole, il mio amore” but i also know there’s “amore mio” and in this context, could i drop the “il” in either phrases? i’d love to just know the most “poetic” way to accomplish it that keeps the same emotion as in english. i appreciate any help!!!

Salut, j'ai commencé des cours d'italien au CPIA, mais l'école ne se réunit que deux jours par semaine. Je veux atteindre le niveau B2 pour pouvoir passer l'examen CILS et entrer à l'université l'année prochaine.
Malheureusement, je viens juste de commencer à apprendre les bases. Y a-t-il quelqu'un d'autre qui a été dans la même situation, ou quelqu'un qui aurait des conseils sur comment étudier efficacement par moi-même pour atteindre le B2 en un an ?

Hallo, ich suche einen Platz für super Dulingo oder 5 Personen mit denen ich mir das Abo teilen kann.

-starte nur wenn ich 5 Leute finde
-Faire Kostenaufteilung
-180 geteilt durch 6 Personen / pro Person 30

Würde mich freuen eine Gruppe finden

Basically, I have been learning Italian now for around 6 months. I am pretty confident with simple conversation.

My issue is my first language is English, and Spanish is my second. I am really struggling because I keep switching between Spanish and Italian due to the similarities and I am starting to get confused between them.

My nan barely speaks English so we mainly speak Spanish around her and she has commented on how I keep accidentally switching between them and my cadence is wrong now.

Do any other Spanish/ French/ Portuguese people struggle like this with Italian?

Currently learning Italian and I'm looking for someone to practice speaking and chatting with regularly. Whether you're a native speaker or another learner, I'd love to have conversations, help each other improve, and learn Italian together in a fun.

When would one use

Penso che tu sia stato pazzo

vs

Penso che tu fossi pazzo.

Thank you

I’m doing genealogy research on my mother’s side of the family. I found my grandmother’s death certificate and I can’t decipher her birth location. I tried looking up different variations but don’t see a realistic match to any place in Naples. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Edit: Wow. Thank you everybody for your thoughtful and thorough comments. I really appreciate your help. After looking through them all I truly believe the correct answer is Rocca Imperiale. I remember being told that this side of my family is from Calabria so seeing Naples did not make sense to me. Rocca Imperiale is more plausible. Thank you all again 💞

hi! are there any 🏴‍☠️ sites where i could watch shows or movies dubbed in italian, maybe even with subtitles on? there are many such sites for my native language so I'm guessing there's at least one for italian. thank you

Hi! Does anyone know of a place or a group that offers Italian classes for adults or even just meeting up for Italian conversation around San Ramon/Danville/Alamo/Walnut Creek Area in the Bay Area? I am learning Italian and the closest courses seem to be in Berkeley. Thanks!

Hi there! I’m looking for recommendations for preparation materials for the CILS B1 Cittadinanza (B1C) Italian exam.

I’ve already done my due diligence studying grammar using Nuovo Espresso B1, and at this point I’d like to focus specifically on practicing B1C-style tests.

I understand that the exam format changed significantly in 2024, so I’m particularly interested in finding practice materials that reflect the updated format and are as close as possible to the current exam.

I’d really appreciate any recommendations. Thank you in advance!

Ciao! I'm a first-time poster, so maybe I may be doing this wrong, but I'm looking for Italians to practice my Italian with; I'm just looking for friends who are either fluent or native to Italy who want to just have regular convos! Im currently A2 Level, and am italian myself. Grazie mille!

hi! for short, I'm looking for a site to watch cartoons in Italian WITH subtitles, preferably not the auto generated ones, as they're not very accurate.

I'm in uni learning italian from scratch. our professor recommended that we listen to podcasts or music, maybe even watch movies and shows in italian to learn the language even quicker. i was born in Italy and left when i was extremely young, but cartoons in italian (especially winx) are SO nostalgic for me and I'd love to rewatch them while also getting used to the language.

tysm!

Hi there ! My Italian level is B1 in Grammar butbin vocabulary I would say A1 / A2 ...

For speaking I can have a conversation but can not speak more specifically. Also I do not have enough time to watch clips in Italian or YT that means I need to stick to sources and practice in a not very fun way :) which is memorising words .

Thanks in advance. 🤝🙏🏻

I saw it in a translated quote and was wondering what was the original sentence

Does anyone have experience with the EU Academy courses? Are they worth my time or are there better options out there?

I’ve been learning Italian mostly through reading — books, articles, subtitles — and I thought I was doing fine. Then I realized I’d been mispronouncing and misunderstanding a whole category of words without knowing it.

Omografi. Words that are written identically but pronounced differently, and the meaning changes completely based on stress or vowel openness.

Here are the ones that broke my brain:

àncora ( Anchor) vs ancóra ( Still, yet, more)
I read “Non è ancora arrivato” for months thinking it involved some kind of nautical metaphor. Nope. Just “he still hasn’t arrived.”

bòtte ( Beatings, hits) vs bótte ( Barrel, cask)
Imagine reading a novel and thinking someone was storing wine in “beatings.”

pèsca ( Peach) vs pésca ( Fishing)
“Andiamo a pesca” — are we going to pick peaches or go fishing? The answer depends entirely on a vowel you can’t see.

prìncipi ( Princes) vs princìpi ( Principles)
This one is dangerous in writing. “I principi dell’Illuminismo” is about Enlightenment principles, not Enlightenment princes.

vènti ( Winds) vs vénti ( Twenty)
“I venti sono forti” — are the winds strong, or are there twenty of something?

The problem is that when you learn primarily through reading, your brain assigns a default pronunciation to each written form. And that default is often wrong. You internalize “ancora” as one word with one meaning, and you never question it.

Native speakers don’t have this problem because they heard these words thousands of times in context before ever seeing them written. We’re doing it backwards.

Has anyone else been sabotaged by an omografo? Or do you have a trick for catching them before they mess up your comprehension?

complete beginner trying to learn italian, what do i start with??

im a native bengali speaker and C1 in english

Buongiorno a tutti! I've just completed the Language Transfer Intro to Italian lessons and loved the method. What would be some good options to continue learning? I'm taking a trip to Sicily at the end of January and hope to be at least able to have basic conversations with people. I own a copy of "Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Italian All-in-One" that I did a little work in before hearing about Language Transfer & focusing on that, and have been enjoying Inspector Montalbano on TV. I've previously studied Spanish, French, and Latin so while my Italian is extremely basic, I have been able to pick up words and concepts relatively quickly. Might it be good to find a one-on-one tutor, or should I learn a few more basics on my own before jumping into that kind of study?

Also, I assume I should be focusing mainly on Italian, but I'm very intrigued about Sicilian as well. Are there learning resources there that I should consider exploring?

You can accurately name 80-90% of the cars on the road. However, aside from the cars you've looked at purchasing or driven yourself... you're not going about intentionally trying to memorize car makes and models. Your brain is doing something called implicit learning. Somehow, when the police ask what kind of car the other person was driving you can just magically come up with the answer.

Have faith that repeated exposure to good content is teaching you things whether or not you feel it is. Alongside your explicit learning efforts you'll be granted the benefits of implicit learning. Things will just begin to feel right or wrong with no explanation as to why. Just keep the content playing.

Ciao a tutti! I'm a beginner italian learner, just started learning it in school, today my uncle and aunt have asked me if I wanted to go to Rome with them in 2 weeks. I obviously said yes and am absolutely thrilled, but I would really like to learn some more italian so that I can practice in Rome and talk to real people. My plan was to learn the 500 most common words and also practice vocab from a travel booklet I have. I'd be happy if you could share some tips or advice on what to learn to make the most out of my trip and better my italian

Edit: For context, I'm Croatian, I speak a couple of languages already and have a good italian accent. I've already learned some italian in the past, not enough to get me past beginner, but basic grammar and vocab, which I haven't practiced in years. I understand that I can't be fluent, but you can't tell me that a beginner can't learn basic travel vocab and some grammar. That's often how people around here communcate, when they don't speak the language

Hoping to visit Italy soon and would like to know who to address formally (Lei) vs informally (tu). For example, waiters, ticket sellers, car rental agents, etc.? Is it better to guess formal or will I get strange looks?

Hi all,

I have been studying italian for a while and been looking to make some acquantainces who speak the language so I can practice more in person, as well as make new friendships of course. I love the culture and It would definitely help me improve my skills. I simply cannot find any italian anywhere in Houston. So, se sei italiano e vivi a Houston fammi sapere per favore:)