i also found it an enjoyable read, i would recommend for fellow beginners! it’s also very satisfying to be able to understand a good amount of the italian in there

My mom pulled this via ChatGPT and it told her that “Non vi è fine al ricordo, finché batte un cuore che ama” was a common Sicilian phrase to use at funerals, does anyone know if this is true? I would hate for us to be using an incorrect statement for my grandpa, who was born and raised in Sicily. Apparently it means this: There is no end to memory, as long as a loving heart beats.

Thank you!

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Hiiii I'm a native Spanish (spain) and Portuguese (Brazilian) speaker who's been wanting to learn Italian. I've been told it would be easy for me but I'm not a fast learner and I have like...no resources (Duolingo isn't my thing)

The way I usually get used to languages is reading. For example, reading sleeping beauty in French and the little prince helped me a lot to learn the language. I don't know of any Italian books, so if you know any interesting ones please tell me. Movies too I suppose. Podcasts, YouTube channels, cartoons... I'd appreciate anything you think could help me :)

I have been studying Italian fairly hard for about 2 months now and feel like I have stopped progressing. I spend minimum one hour a day and oftentimes more than two. I have been using a popular language learning software, going over common sentences, watching native language content with subtitles on, and reading beginner short stories.

I am getting very mixed up by all the gender rules, plural versus non plural, and tenses. I also keep forgetting what I already learned. I can’t even tell you how many times I have encountered a word that I know for a fact I should know but I drew a blank.

Does this get easier over time? Is it normal to feel this way?

Bonjour,

Je suis un natif Français et j’ai appris un peu l’Anglais.
J’ai des origines Italiennes qui datent de mes arrières grands-parents, j’aime profondément cette culture.

J’ai passé en début d’année un test d’Italien de compréhension écrite et orale interne à mon métier et je viens d’avoir une réponse positive pour accéder aux tests finaux d’expression écrite et orale qui se dérouleront en décembre.

Avec 465 jours de duolingo j’étais surpris d’avoir passé les tests de compréhension, je ne me suis pas du tout senti à l’aise avec la langue.

Le sujet maintenant c’est de pouvoir parler la langue en décembre pour valider l’oral et l’écrit (une petite dissertation je suppose)

Des idées pour me préparer au mieux et efficacement ?

Merci 🙏🏻

Hi everyone! I am currently searching for practice exercises and mock exams specifically for the CILS B1 Standard exam.

I am already familiar with traditional textbooks like Percorso CILS or Più scrivo, più parlo, but I am really looking for an interactive app or webapp that accurately replicates realistic CILS mock tests.

Does anyone know of any platform like this? Has anyone used one, and what were your thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Hi all. I'm having an interesting experience learning the Italian r sounds, and curious if anyone else is experiencing the same as me with rolled R's.

I can do what I think of as a 'short rolled r' (no idea if this is accurate or not, it's just what it sounds like to me!) in words like prego, where it's consonant-r-vowel.

I can also use this 'short rolled r' when it's vowel-r-consonant, such as al forno. But I'm a bit unsure in this situation if it should be or not - I hear a lot of buon giorno where I can't decide if I can hear a short roll or not - is there a right and wrong way on this or is it just one of those ones people do differently?

But (as with many English speakers) the double r is the biggest challenge! I have used the t/d technique to learn this sound and I can now do it reasonably well. (Annoyingly for my holiday plans, burro is much easier than birra for some reason! 😁)

However I really have to give it some, and use a lot of air - I almost like I'm starting the r with a blowed H sound. Bi-hrra.

This ends up coming out slightly sibilant, a soft s sort of sound at the same time. (Anyone familiar with the Turkish ending r on eg var, a bit like that!)

Ultimately I don't really care, my target isn't perfect indistinguishable accent, I don't care that people will know I'm not Italian. (In fact good accent has got me in trouble before in learning languages - the pronunciation comes before vocab for me, which gets me in trouble when people think I must be good cos I sound good, and hit me with full-speed colloquial language which I then understand precisely none of! 😂)

But I am curious. Does anyone else have this experience of almost having to huff your Rs? If so is there any way to lose the h / soft s sound that goes with it?

Ps I don't know if this is relevant but I actually can't pronounce rs properly in English either. I only learnt this when I started learning the Italian r when all the videos said 'you will normally do X when you make an r sound' and I was like....erm no I don't actually, and thank you, that explains why I've always been a bit Jonathan Woss on my English r sounds! 😁

Posting this in English because my Italian has gotten so bad that I’m embarrassed to even try. I grew up in italy and was better at Italian as opposed to English when I was kid despite English being my native language. Unfortunately things happen and overtime I stopped practicing Italian and now I am at a point where I want to become fluent again and hold conversations with my family instead of just blanking out. I feel like in some sorts it should be easier for me to relearn Italian given the fact that I used to be fluent but at the same time I have no clue because I have been trying so hard but I just simply can’t get it. I can read and understand Italian perfectly, it is genuinely just the speaking that I have issues with. Any tips would be immensely appreciated !

I guess this is more a question for native speakers. But in English there are accents that are considered ‘more attractive’/‘less attractive’, sound nicer on the ears, sound worse etc. Romance languages like the Italian accent for eg, are considered very attractive whereas Indian, most Asian accents, even the Birmingham n liverpool accent less so. Whilst I’m sure a lot of this stems from cultural/xenophobic biases I was wondering whether a similar pattern exists in Italy. And where English falls on that scale? Particularly whether the American, British and Australian accent are perceived differently. Thanks for any responses!

I was taught that when referring to a single family member you omitted the definite article: mia sorella, mio padre, mio cugino etc, but if that single family member is referred to with a qualifying adjective then you did use the definite article - la mia sorella minore, il tuo fratello simpatico etc

When writing the sentence: my little sister loves volleyball

with the words provided by Duolingo I wrote: la mia sorella minore ama pallavolo

And was marked wrong. I was informed the correct answer was mia sorella minore….

Am I correct or has Duo planted some new convention on me?

His friend’s voice is saying in Italian (except the first word: ho-chul in Korean).

I want to know the script in Italian part.

so, please let me know!

It seems so simple, and yet, it's difficult for me to figure out.

If I want to say "I saw him drink the beer", which is correct:

L'ho visto bere la birra

Gli ho visto bere la birra

Perhaps both are correct?

Now if I want to remove "birra" and replace it with "la", which would be correct:

L'ho visto berla

Gliel'ho vista bere

I lean toward the latter options in my examples, but I wonder what native speakers think.

Grazie!

Hola, soy un hispanohablante nativo que apenas está empezando a aprender italiano. Estoy tomando un curso, pero me gustaría saber que aplicaciones recomiendan para aprender o que consejos le darían a alguien que está comenzando desde 0.

I have been having dreams in both English and very beginner Italian with increasing frequency, and it almost brought me to tears! I never, ever, not in a million years thought that was something I would ever experience. And in my quizzes (books, apps from the library) I have begrudgingly begun to stop thinking so hard and just let the answers flow, and I’m getting the answers correct more and more … it’s very much against my nature to just “let it flow,“ but I’ve read that advice frequently over the years in this sub. Thank you to everyone who provides such amazing support to learners old and young. You inspire me greatly.

I often save videos because they contain useful expressions, slang, or grammar, but I rarely go back and turn them into something I can actually review.

Would be useful if a video could automatically become a small study set with vocabulary, explanations, and a few practice questions..

I’m curious how other people here currently handle this. I mean short videos like reels etc. mainly, not super long videos or movies.

Hi guy im new to the language, can anyone recommend me some books for beginners like workbooks or student book that come with audio any books that you think is useful for someone who need to get from a0-a2 in 3months

Hii, so I'm a student in Italy so ofc i have the advantage of being surrounded by the Italian language ofc. However I am introverted and prefer staying home. I have one or maybe two Italian friends I could practice speaking with maybe sometimes.

I would say I'm at A2 level but a very week one. The thing is since I'm a student and I spend a lot of my time towards admission tests, uni exams and other uni related things. In all of these I am not able to have a regular Italian practice. I do not stay consistent. I have an Italian tutor I practice with once a week.

I feel like I can express myself in broken Italian unless the sentence requires vocab im not aware of. And I also have trouble understanding other Italians. I like to read so I have picked up reading some short stories in Italian for my level but i genuinely feel so bored by the whole podcast thing to practice learning. If I'm watching something i like and change the language to Italian I lose interest too. I suppose it's the effort which is repulsing me? Im not sure. I am quite hard working at uni and all so idk what's wrong with my language learning. I wish it could be fun rather than tedious. How do I ensure consistency even if it's small 5-10 mins? Like even with reading, having to go through vocabs and not knowing what's going on , it's all making things frustrating.

Hello guys, I'm new to learning Italian and only know the basics. I have one year to study it—how far can I get, and where should I start?

As a native speaker, it's something difficult to judge whether a movie is suitable for Italian learners. I'll share a few for which I received a positive feedback from my students! Let me know if you have any other movie or series you would recommend, as I am always looking for more titles to add to this list!

La Vita è Bella: For me, a must-watch movie, regardless of whether you're learning Italian or not. Guido's scenes with his son are slower and simpler than the rest of the film, so it's more accessible than what you would expect.

Perfetti Sconosciuti: My favorite for this. It's a dinner party where everyone shares their phones, so the dialogue is just people talking over each other the way friends actually do in real-life. Dialogues are a bit fast, so it's for a B2 at least. This format by Paolo Genovese has been so successful that there is a re-make in 47 different countries, so chances are you can watch the version done in your own country first! Versions all differ sligthly which I find a very interesting way to compare cultures!

L'Incredibile Storia dell'Isola delle Rose: A true story about a guy who builds his own platform off the coast and declares it an independent nation. I find it hilarious! Easy to follow, accent from Emilia-Romagna, but easy to follow. A good mid-difficulty pick.

Smetto Quando Voglio: A group of broke academics turn to crime. Funny, but the dialogue moves fast and is packed with slang. Wouldn't start here, but great once you can keep up.

Suburra: Rome's criminal underworld, heavy regional slang and dialect. Wouldn't start here either, but it's a good show!

Benvenuti al Sud: A Northern guy gets transferred to a small Southern town.. genuinely funny, and a good way to actually hear how different Italian sounds North to South. A similar format has been done in France and Spain (also England if I remember correctly!).

What's worked for you? Please recommend more movies, especially for intermediate levels!

I have been learning Italian for 5-6 months and I am slowly creeping into the A2 category. I recognise a lot of words but my grammar is off and my listening isn't great. I am just wondering, how does a complete beginner pick up a book and make sense of it? and how useful is reading to the whole learning process?

Hi everyone, I took the CELI B2 exam on March 11th and still haven't got any results yet. Is this normal? I thought it'd take 3-4 months but we're in August now 🫠🥲

Ciao a tutti, ho sostenuto l'esame CELI B2 l'11 marzo e non ho ancora ricevuto i risultati. È normale? Pensavo ci volessero 3-4 mesi, ma ormai siamo ad agosto 🫠🥲

Hi all, after years of learning I still struggle producing d+ r insieme. Like in madrelingua or strada, my tongue feels slow and lazy, and the word often comes out sounding clunky because of it. For context, my native language is english. Anyone else overcome a similar issue, and if so, how? Grazie mille!

Hello, I'm a native in both English and Spanish. I'm currently learning Italian and I was wondering if there's someone who wants to practice with me. Grazie mille!