Study Italian language for free
(photo
by Dave Kellam used
under terms of Creative Commons license.)
Our
free Italian lessons are an online adaptation of the Defense Language
Institute, Foreign Language Center's Italian Headstart.
This Free online Italian language program includes 5 themes, 33 lessons, 45 dialogues, over 300 exercises & quizzes & around 12h of audio (MP3 format).
Student Guide:
You are about to begin a course designed to enable you to communicate in situations which you are likely to encounter in Italy. The emphasis of the course is on speaking and understanding Italian, and you will be working extensively with audio files.
1. We discourage
you from trying to
read the
Italian without listening
to the audio
files. If you
attempt to
read first and
then listen to the
audio files, you will
quickly discover that in many
cases what you hear
doesn't sound
anything like what
you see,
and you
will have wasted valuable time.
2. You should
never repeat anything
you don't understand.
This does not mean
that you must
be able
to translate
everything word for word;
it simply means that
you should be able
to attach a
meaning to what you
hear and repeat.
3. At first
it will seem
as if you
are never going
to be
able to
make some of
the sounds
you hear.
Remember, you are overcoming 20,
30, 40, or
more years of speech
habit and your muscles
will need some
retraining. It's
almost as
though you
suddenly had
to start
writing with your
other hand; it can
be done, but it will
take some
practice.
4. Lastly, and
most importantly, practice
speaking Italian
at every opportunity.
Use what
you have learned. Don't
be afraid to experiment
with the words
and structures you learn.