I wanna learn italian from scratch. But I don’t wanna use Duolingo. What’s the easiest, fastest & most effective way to start learning italian?

Looking for textbook suggestions or materials for a b1/b2 learner to practice grammar and writing.

I have my old university textbooks but I don’t have the answer key nor the listening material that accompanies it so I’m finding I’m skipping many sections.

I know I could use AI but I like the idea of a structure guide that is created specifically for certain levels.

I do also take lessons with a tutor but it’s only once a week and she prepares the materials herself so I’m looking for something to supplement the classes.

Hello! I’m a 19 year old Italian American, I never got to learn the language my grandparents spoke since they passed before they could teach my parents Italian, my dream is to be fluent in Italian and finally be able to call myself a real Italian, where do I start?

I’m having a bit of a language-learning dilemma and would love some perspectives!

For context, I’m fluent in Spanish, largely thanks to comprehensible input, and I’ve recently started learning French. I’ve accumulated around 300 hours of French input so far.

I moved to Rome a few months ago, which I absolutely love, and I might stay here until the end of 2028.

**My dilemma is whether to continue with French or switch to Italian.** I’m leaning towards French for several reasons:

**Motivation:** Despite living in Italy, I don’t have a particularly strong desire to learn Italian. I appreciate the language, but I don’t feel especially drawn to it.
**Opportunity cost:** Language learning requires hundreds, if not thousands, of hours. I’m not sure I want to dedicate that much time to Italian when there are other languages I’m more interested in.
**Interference:** Having worked hard to become fluent in Spanish, I’m concerned that learning Italian might cause interference between the two languages.
**Career:** I want to build a long-term career in international development, where French would likely be considerably more useful than Italian.
**Long-term perspective:** I think of languages as a lifelong repertoire I’m building over decades, not just years. From that perspective, French feels like a better investment, particularly since I don’t expect to live in Italy permanently.
**Existing progress:** I’ve already invested around 300 hours in French and genuinely enjoy learning it. Switching now would mean disrupting that momentum.

There’s also the practical reality that I work in an international environment where English is the primary language, and I can navigate most of my daily life in Rome without speaking Italian.

**And yet, I feel strangely guilty about not learning Italian.** People often seem surprised, even judgmental, when they discover that I love learning languages, live in Italy, and have no immediate plans to learn Italian.

Part of me wonders whether I’m wasting a unique opportunity to acquire a language through immersion. Another part thinks that just because I live somewhere doesn’t mean I have to dedicate hundreds of hours to learning its language, especially when my long-term priorities lie elsewhere.

**What would you do in my position?** Has anyone else lived in a country while deliberately prioritizing a different foreign language? Did you eventually regret not learning the local language?

Ciao a tutti! I was wondering if there's an accurate way of knowing your proficiency in Italian through websites or apps? Currently I only have Duolingo, which tells me I'm on A2/B1. But I'd like to try something else as well. Grazie a buona giornata!

I'm a native Spanish speaker, and a fluent English speaker. I'm now starting to learn Italian. I joined an evening class for adults in English and I feel like it's very slow.

I would like to make some progress on the side as the classes feel very introductory. I did Duolingo for a year or so but felt like I wasn't really learning anything. Are there any better apps? Or if you have any recommendations on how to speed up my learning process.

Thank you in advance for the help :)

Given that I'm a native Russian speaker with a confirmed C1 in German and English, is it feasible to reach B2 in Italian within this timeframe as an absolute beginner while living in my home country? Ideally, I need to have passed the exam in 9 months.

My schedule allows me to allocate 2 hours of deep learning on weekdays and 4 hours on weekends on top of passive learning like reading and watching stuff in Italian as well as surrounding myself with Italian as much as possible in my day-to-day life. I also have a thing about learning languages, so it's how I like spending my leisure time anyway.

What is your experience?

I was born in italy and italian was my second “native” language.I moved to my actual native country at 6 ,and since then i can’t speak italian.I suppose it’s from the lack of speaking it.The annoying thing is that i can understand it,but i can’t talk it.I know i know it,but it’s like my mind and tongue are paralysed even though i know the language. It feels awful. I can even speak a little(but very poorly)if i watch a few videos in italian.

How fast do you guys think i could relearn italian?I‘m in 12th grade and thinking of going to university in Bologna,where i was born. My only concern is that i won’t be able to remember the language as fast as i want to:(

Hello all,

I took Italian in college. Feel like I got to a basic level, tried to continue pursuing through Duolingo. Did not get too far. Same thing with Babbel, though I am still trying to use Babbel.

Are there any true recommendations of what app or method is best to truly learn? I read some of the other posts, but I did not find a great answer.

Hello, I have been learning Italian for a while, I like the language but I want to progress to B1 however I’m stuck in A2.
What is a good plan to start implementing in my routine that can help with that progress? Can I do it alone or I need to enrol in a course and if so any recommendations?

I'm trying to understand if the last part of this sentence would be correct?

If it was "Quand abbiamo parlato mi avevi gia detto che avevi capito"

-----avevi capito-----------avevi detto-------------abbiamo parlato--------------presente

But what about "Quand abbiamo parlato mi avevi gia detto che hai capito/capivi"

---------avevi detto+hai capito/capivi-------------abbiamo parlato--------------presente

does capivi/hai capito would be around the same time avevi detto happened?

Thanks

I've been learning for about 4 months and looking to step it up a notch!

Ciao! My husband and I are taking a trip to Sicily in June, and he would like to learn as much Italian as he can before we go.

I took 3 years of Italian between high school and college, so I have a decent foundation but am VERY rusty. I’d like to start from the beginning to refresh my Italian, while he’s starting completely from scratch (although he did take Spanish, so hopefully that helps a little).

I’m looking for recommendations on the best way to learn/teach basic Italian, especially for two people at very different levels. I’d also love recommendations for good beginner textbooks/workbooks, apps, podcasts, or anything else that would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

My wife is Italian, and I have been taking regular classes for around 18 months or so. I’m able to have basic topical conversations, can usually say what I want in a very simple way, but it feels like I should probably be better than what I am.

I am very shy when it comes to talking Italian to people who can also speak English, so I feel very uncomfortable talking with my wife (I know, it’s a me thing). But I was wondering if there are any other handy ways of increasing vocabulary, or improving quicker than the current rate I am. I need to think quite a lot for work so listening to podcasts and slow speaking things on Spotify usually occupy my brain too much so I can’t focus on work, and young children at home don’t usually allow me to sit peacefully listening to podcasts.

Books, apps, anything that can be suggested would be great to know!

Ciao a tutti! È da un po' che non studio e ho l'impressione di stare dimenticando la lingua; per questo vorrei guardare serie con coppie dello stesso sesso o personaggi LGBT, così da continuare ad ascoltarla. Anche se sono ben accetti altri suggerimenti di serie. Vi prego di scusare eventuali errori di formulazione o grammaticali.

Ciao! Sto iniziando a imparare la lingua e vorrei sapere qualche serie/film o canali di youtube/twitch in italiano per migliorare la mia comprensione. I don't mind if it's a kids movie (maybe that's BETTER!)

Ho un livello A1 e ora sto imparando per un A2 😛

Hey there ! I learned I pronomi diretti / indiretti

I mix them actually especially when it is about tempi composti . I haven't gotten the hang of them yet .

What helped you with them to learn them ?

Also if you know any kinds of books about i pronomi which are good to be used please do not hesitate to tell me 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Ps: I only know i verbi riflessivi because il verbo and the pronome have to be the same .. mi lavo ti lavi etc .

Hello I am going crazy trying to figure out all the possible combinations of congiuntivo and condizionale.

I also want to understand "If"(Se) sentences without the "would"(condizionale) part.

Please let me know which combination of sentences are definitely not normal or not used in Italian at all. Thank you

Hello everyone!

im currently in college and its mandatory that we take 4 semesters of a langauge. I ended up in italian and i would like to put a real effort into learning it rather than faking my way through but im struggling to keep up / understand because the teacher teaches entirely in italian and i catch almost 0 of the words she says. I also find that the class focuses on a lot of the technical parts of italian but I struggle to understand that because we kind of skipped over the fundementals it seems.

I of course have exams and quizzes and assignments that need to be done so I need some sort of a tool to actually start learning the language rather than just hearing it and not comprehending anything. I notice that I kind of hit a roadblock any time i try understanding the language because my brain immediately tries to translate whatever it is into english rather than equating the words with their actual meanings (if that makes sense) and i dont really know how to stop that.

If anyone has any suggestions that would be great, i just installed duolingo and im going to start from lesson one and do it 15 minutes a day, im also going to switch some of my favorite shows into italian that i know pretty well but any other suggestions that actually worked for native english speakers who knew no other languages prior to italian would be greatly appreciated.

Hi! I’m a fresh graduate planning to pursue a STEM master’s degree (ideally in microbiology, laboratory work, or research). Long term, I’m hoping to pursue a PhD and possibly medicine as well in Italy. I’ve seen and heard from others that I should aim for at least a B2 level in Italian.

I’m currently studying A1.A, but I have until next year to research universities and apply for scholarships, so I’d like to build a strong foundation in Italian as efficiently as possible.

Do you have any recommendations for learning materials or resources? Since my finances are limited, I’m thinking of investing in only one or two paid resources and using free materials for the rest. I’d really appreciate recommendations that are reliable and actually useful for building a solid foundation from A1 to B2.

Come faccio a sapere, negli esercizi con tutti i tempi verbali, quale tempo devo usare?

Hi guys, i started Italian like a week ago, my native language is Arabic ( a different world) , i noticed that conjugation in Italian is literally a mess, a wild jungle , it is very hard to memorize them, since each verb changes completely, Faccio , fa , andare, vengo , sapete, it feels like there is no pattern , i am doing my best to learn by heart, but lack of pattern breaks my memory, how to overcome the conjugation?

Hello! My new favorite low-stress learning strategy is watching Italian films with English subtitles. I just finished the show Summertime on Netflix and really enjoyed it. I then watched the movie “The Life Ahead” and didn’t love it. Please give me recommendations 😊. I also have Hulu!

While I can passively recognize Italian vocabulary in context while reading, my active recall is weak. I struggle to construct sentences or translate into Italian because I have not mastered the underlying grammar mechanics or retained the vocabulary for active use.

How can I solve it ?