For instance I didn't have to take a language in my high school. Most middle aged and older Italians don't speak much English at all as when we were of school age, we only had to take languages for 3 years in middle school, and after that only some of the high schools had a language requirement. There is a series of videos on Youtube called OneWorldItalian which is progressive in difficulty, and even though they are 'home made' and not high tech they are very helpful. I teach Italian and I always tell my students that repetition is the best thing they can do to try and remember things, and watching videos and movies in Italian is extremely important to get your brain accostumed to another language.

All i can suggest is try to pick the right place and time to try your language skills on someone, in other words, as MrZukini said, don't hold up the line at the gelato shop! I think it is commendable that you are trying to learn the language! A few months won't be enough to allow you to understand many things, but I think people will try to help you along. Just don't hold up the line at the gelato shop! Learn what you can, try to utilize it as best you can, and enjoy. I even once helped translate between a frustrated landlord and a Japanese couple that could only speak very broken English, and I am by no means fluent. Some of my most wonderful experiences in Italy have come from these encounters.the elderly woman at the bus stop in Positano who shared her experiences of the US troops coming ashore at Salerno, the stately white-haired gentleman in Amalfi who had a remarkably similar recollection, the laborer hauling bags of cement up the endless steps in Lone who was full of questions about the American health care system, the shopkeeper in Venice who wanted to discuss politics.these are people I never would have been able to speak with if I didn't attempt to speak the language. That would result in them responding far more rapidly and elaborately than I sometimes could comprehend, but overall, it served me very well.īeing able to have a reasonable ability to communicate in Italian can enrich your experience tremendously, since you'll find that you can interact with everyday people who aren't in the tourist industry. Once you've got that down, adding vocabulary is very easily accomplished.Īs I later learned, people would often mistake me for a native speaker because of my accent and pronunciation. It doesn't teach you a lot of vocabulary, but it does teach you how the language is put together. Pimsleur drills you endlessly on pronunciation, syntax, grammar, and tense using conversation and repetition. I found that to be an interesting way to learn. Before I took my first trip to Italy in 2011, I obtained a copy of all three levels of the Pimsleur Language Method. Personally, I took Italian as my compulsory foreign language when I was in high school (has it already been 40 years?), and my grandmother spoke a fractured blend of English and Southern Italian dialect around the house, so I was able to understand it a bit as a teenager. This fellow actually has a pretty extensive YouTube library of free lessons as well. It's funny, I just came across this video on YouTube a couple of days ago, which addresses the latter part of your post perfectly: Is it worth it to try and learn more and keep up with my studies? Do most of the people prefer you speak in English if you don't know Italian well? Do they mind if your Italian is broken and possibly wrong at times? I would love to learn it well and maybe go back in another year or two after still learning it better. However, it is fun to look back at how far I have come, and I feel I know most of the basic things I will want to say and ask. I am 58 and have never tried to learn another language, so it is not coming easy for me. I am doing the Duolingo program on line, try to do abut an hour a day, I watch Italian YouTube language videos, I bought some learn Italian CDs that I listen to in the car, etc. I decded 3 months ago I was going to do my best to learn the Italian language as much as I could before June. We will stay at various places in the country, ending with a week in Cetara on the Amalfi Coast. I have been planning and researching the trip since last june.

My husband and I will be in Italy for a month June, 2017.

Learn to speek italian