Books For Learning Italian
Fernanda Rabbe
Understand your preferred style of learning and choose a book that matches it. For example, some people like thorough and detailed grammar explanations; others prefer learning through vocabulary exercises.
Another option is to think about the skills you need to improve and pick a book to help you strengthen that area. For instance, some books focus on grammar, while others deal specifically with reading comprehension.
When you download the Fluent Forever app, it will train your ears and mouth to master Italian pronunciation in a matter of weeks through hundreds of minimal pair tests. You can read more about these tests and our teaching method here.
Testing your Italian skills is a great way of keeping yourself accountable and motivated to continue learning with your book. There are many free online Italian language tests available, like the ESL Italian test.
As we mentioned earlier, vocabulary organized in themes is easier to learn than word categories. Mastering Italian Vocabulary contains over 5,000 words and phrases ordered in the former system.
Besides having more words than most other vocabulary-focused books, it also contains highly relevant phrases, including some slang. Just note that the price of this book is a bit higher than other options.
Despite its name, Italian Short Stories for Beginners might be best suited for starting intermediate learners. As soon as you have a nice heap of vocabulary under your belt, you can get your hands on this book to learn with short stories.
Besides thoroughly reviewing some essential vocabulary and grammar, it features plenty of idioms and phrases typically used in Italy. Additionally, many of its examples delve into aspects of Italian culture.
Last on this list is Grammatica avanzata della lingua Italiana. If you have a good knowledge of Italian, this book will help you polish the overall linguistic skills of this language with thorough exercises and extra information boxes.
Local bookstores often have language learning sections that divide books per language, so you might want to check them out. You can also order your Italian books in digital or paperback format from independent bookstores.
Beyond books, there are several other resources and methods to complement your language studies. Remember to check out our Best Way to Learn Italian guide for a comprehensive list of tools, resources, and tips.
Language apps and 1-on-1 tutoring are two of the best and most popular methods to learn a new language. On both fronts, Fluent Forever provides a proven, science-backed methodology to help you master Italian, fast.
The app teaches you Italian pronunciation, essential vocabulary, and grammar through pronunciation tests and personalized flashcards, while Live Coaching gets you practicing with a native Italian speaker certified in language teaching.
There are many ways to study Italian. Some prefer games and use a language exchange app. Others rely on online Italian lessons with native tutors. And many people like to use the traditional learning tool: books for learning Italian.
Advanced Grammar of the Italian Language is perfect for students who already know Italian and want to become more fluent (from level B1 to C1). The book goes into depth about different forms and sentence structures. It also covers aspects you might not typically find in Italian books for non-native speakers.
This manual is a user-friendly guide for anyone looking to improve their Italian language skills and knowledge of Italian culture and society. It also includes exercises specifically for students who have a C1 level in Italian.
Alice is a web content writer and technical translator who is specializing in inclusive language. She is Italian but has been living in Barcelona, Spain, since 2012. Her work as a web writer results from many enriching experiences and collaborations with people and communities from very different international backgrounds. In addition to Italian, she speaks Spanish, English, French, and a little Catalan... and dreams of learning Portuguese. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or, if you speak Italian, have a look at her professional blog.
Using her experiences as a teacher and frequent traveller to Italy, she wrote the Conversational Italian for Travelers series of books, which follow the character Caterina on her travels through Italy, while at the same time introducing the fundamentals of the Italian language.
This series of books is truly different from other Italian language books. The Conversational books are friendly, humorous, and combine travel tips with language lessons. These books also provide a method for people to understand and remember Italian phrases so that they can create their own. Everything one needs to know to travel to Italy is in this series of books!
The website learntravelitalian.com, which is the home of the books, provides FREE interactive dialogues recorded by native Italian speakers, cultural notes, and Italian recipes to make learning the language really come alive.
A methodology created by a student of Italian, as she herself learns. But, this student is not only passionate about learning Italian, she is a scientist - a truly unique combination! Kathryn Occhipinti has created this book and the many fabulous add-ons to the series, in a truly comprehensive and practical format.
My family (Marinelli) hail from Agnone, and I first visited here as a child of 8, quickly coming under its spell. This is now my passion project and having had previous careers in acting, development, film production and design, I seem to have found a way to harness my skills and experience!
Maybe you've collected resources to master another language; books, courses, and language exchange buddies. But what if you could follow a few simple principles and master a language by just having fun with a few technical tools? Say goodbye to your textbooks!
This year, my number one personal goal is to become proficient in Italian. In this case, proficient means B2 or conversationally fluent. To reach that goal I'll spend about 700 hours reading and listening to Italian content. No classes, no textbooks, no studying at all. I aim to acquire Italian by having fun.
In this article, I want to show you the tools and approach I'll use to tackle this ambitious goal. I've done something similar in my "meta" series about how to take smart notes, where I showed my note-taking process. I have no illusions that my approach is the definitive one to acquiring languages. But, I've succeeded with this method before and know many who also did.
First, we'll look at my reasons for learning Italian. No matter what I set out to learn, I always make sure that I have a clear picture of my why. Without knowing my intrinsic motivation, it's hard to keep going when the going gets tough.
Next, we'll look at my tools; my method and the software I'll use. Having a method or set of daily activities is a crucial tool in my arsenal. My workflow is ultimately what will make me fluent in Italian, not the apps that I use.
Finally, we'll dive into what my day-to-day will look like. No matter how shiny tools are, I won't succeed if I don't use them. Through trial and error, I've found what works best for me and is sustainable day after day.
The clich is true: the best way to learn a language is to fall in love. In my case, I fell in love with an incredible Italian woman. She happens to be a polyglot who speaks perfect English and is learning my native tongue (Dutch), but I want to understand her on a deeper level. I believe that culture and language are portals to knowing someone more deeply.
Between 2007 and 2011 and spent over 50 hours per week mastering Spanish. I was enrolled in a university program to get my dual degree in Spanish philology and applied linguistics. That meant I had to master Spanish, as our entire curriculum was in Spanish. And I loved it, no matter how tough it got. Now I want to see if I can repeat this experience in a less extreme way.
Another reason to tackle Italian is to test my approach to language acquisition. Through the method I describe below I mastered two languages: English and Spanish (Dutch is my native tongue). I want to make sure my successes are not a fluke by testing my principles even more.
I don't believe in studying a language, only in acquiring it. You can't take a skill-building approach to a language; it needs to become a part of you. And the only way to make a language a part of you is by spending a lot of time with it. That's why I say acquiring languages and not learning languages.
The principles you'll see explained below are controversial in the language learning community. Many members prefer to follow classes, use textbooks, and study grammar. I say: don't do any of those things and take a more natural approach instead.
Most of my principles are informed by the linguist Stephen Krashen. It's true that I've simplified his findings a lot and don't worry too much about nuances. What I do know is that I acquired two languages to fluency this way and know dozens of others who also did. By contrast, I know less than a handful of people who achieved high levels in their chosen language by studying it.
But what you do from moment to moment defines whether you'll keep showing up. If you don't have fun doing something, it's not likely you'll keep putting an effort in. So, my main principle for language acquisition is: fun first.
As you'll see in the principles that follow, fun first is the principle that informs them all. I can't be bothered following boring classes or textbooks. All I want is to learn a language by exposing myself to it, while aiming to have as much fun as possible.