your presentation is very interesting in italian duolingo

Voice speed

Text translation, source text, translation results, document translation, drag and drop.

Website translation

Enter a URL

Image translation

Duolingo Forum

Skip to content

• Unanswered topics
• Active topics
• duome.eu Forums Language Discussions I speak English I'm learning... Italian Sentence discussions

Dear anyone, Your duolingo forum registration isn't automaticaly transferred to duome forum so in order to join duome forums you need to register with your existing or any other username and email; in any case it's advised that you choose a new password for the forum. ~ Duome Team

La tua presentazione è davvero interessante. (en → it)

• Accept this answer

Post by sentence bot 🤖 » Tue Mar 07, 2023 9:14 pm

15+ Impressive Italian Resources to Maximize Your Learning

Anki, Clozemaster, Duolingo, Memrise, … The number of Italian resources out there is enough to make your head spin! However, if you use too many, you run the risk of getting lost and feeling overwhelmed.

A linear approach to language learning allows for better focus and yields the best results , so you should stick to a few select resources to learn Italian .

In this article, I’ve selected the best free and wallet-friendly Italian resources for you to try right away. Let’s get started!

The best Italian resources for desktop and mobile

Who doesn’t have a cell phone in their pocket these days? It’s only natural to start our list of Italian resources with the best apps for learning the language.

Mobile phones allow you to study whenever and wherever you want with just a tap of your finger. Even a few minutes of Italian learning during your break will add up to a lot if you do something every day.

With over 500 million registered users, Duolingo is one of the most popular language-learning apps. Its ease of use, addictive gamification system, and eye-catching design are the features that put it at the top of our list of the best Italian resources.

You earn shiny gems every time you complete a lesson. And if you like competition, you can sign up for public leaderboards and compete against other users to get to the top league by earning experience points .

Trust me when I say that Duolingo is addictive . You will be fighting your way into the Diamond League before you know it! Oh, and did I mention that the app is completely free? However, if you want to get rid of the ads or use the app offline, you can do so for a fee.

Duolingo is great for:

• beginners and intermediate learners (it may be too basic for advanced learners)
• improving reading and writing skills

Clozemaster

Clozemaster excels at contextual learning and spaced repetition . It’s very easy to use and features a simple yet very effective design that allows you to maximize your focus on what you’re learning.

Don’t underestimate the power of context in language learning. Context is essential to learning how to use a word correctly , and Clozemaster provides thousands of common Italian sentences. It offers a first-class spaced repetition system that helps you remember words long-term.

For this reason, it is a very powerful tool in your arsenal of Italian resources, because no other app out there can match its ability to track your learning progress over time .

Clozemaster comes from “cloze”, a type of exercise where you have to fill in the missing words in a sentence. Thanks to these active exercises, you can learn words and grammar rules naturally, just like a child would .

Its free version is limited to a number of sentences per day, but you can subscribe to its Pro version to unlock all the advanced features , or you can forget about any recurring payments with the lifetime plan.

Clozemaster is great for:

• all types of learners
• improving reading, writing, and listening skills

Memrise is another of my favorite Italian resources. I have earned over 35 million points on Memrise so far, which equates to over 25,000 words learned, and that tells you how much I love this app and its versatility.

Its main strength is its customization capabilities because its desktop application allows you to create your own stacks of flashcards . You can even upload your own audio files for each card.

Like Clozemaster, Memrise features a spaced repetition system that is perfect for studying single words and short sentences. If you make a mistake on a flashcard, the system will keep showing you that card until you get it right.

Its downside is that I’ve always found its language courses a bit lacking, but you’ll find hundreds of Italian courses created by its very passionate community. Memrise is free to use, but if you want to keep better track of your progress, you can subscribe for a fee or buy an unlimited plan.

Memrise is great for:

If you love flashcards , Anki will be as important to you as the air you breathe. It’s very similar to Memrise in that it also offers community decks , a spaced repetition system , and many customizable features , but you have to be a very dedicated learner to get the most out of this app, unlike an app like Duolingo that does everything it can to keep you on its platform.

It’s one of the most powerful Italian resources out there, but it’s also one of the most boring to use. If you rely on strong gamification to learn a language , you may find Anki boring because of its bare-bones design . On the plus side, if you forget to open it for a day or two, no green owls will shed tears because they feel abandoned!

Still, this is a very feature-rich app, and it is completely free to use on both desktop and mobile devices.

Anki is great for:

• very dedicated learners, no matter their language level
• improving reading and listening skills

Rocket Italian

Rocket Italian is a comprehensive Italian course with high-quality audio suitable for all types of learners. It consists of many Italian resources that force you to practice all areas of language learning, from reading and writing to listening and… speaking!

This is because this course offers a unique feature: it allows you to test your pronunciation thanks to its voice recognition software . If you want to learn Italian on your own, without a study partner, its voice software will be very useful because it will correct your pronunciation . How great is that?

And if you want to improve your Italian while learning a lot of interesting facts about Italy, there is also the Rocket Italian Travelogue course that follows Marco and Sofia’s journey through Italy — I was commissioned to write that course, so I know it like the back of my hand!

Rocket Italian doesn’t offer a free version, but you can try a few lessons for free to see if it suits you.

Rocket Italian is great for:

• improving reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills

I discovered Glossika when it was still selling PDFs with separate MP3 files, and I instantly fell in love with it. It now has a very well-established online platform that allows you to learn Italian thanks to a spaced repetition algorithm with 3,000 sentences of increasing difficulty .

If you feel that the spaced repetition technique has been over-represented in this article, it’s because it really does work wonders to improve your fluency !

Since Glossika is a sentence-based course and does not offer Italian grammar explanations , it is best to use it if you already have a basic knowledge of Italian .

Glossika is great for:

• intermediate and advanced learners (it may have a very steep learning curve for beginners)
• improving all skills

Supplementary Italian resources

The following Italian resources are best used in conjunction with a comprehensive language course because they specialize in a particular aspect of the language.

Forvo is a massive collection of word pronunciations for any language you can imagine. Let’s say you want to look up the pronunciation of the Italian word crepuscolo , “twilight”. You simply type the word in the search box and let the system find the pronunciation.

Forvo is an invaluable Italian resource because it uses recordings made by native speakers , not robots, so the pronunciation of each word is as accurate as possible.

The Fable Cottage

The Fable Cottage hosts a wonderful collection of bilingual English-Italian fairy tales with high-quality audio . Some stories are free to read and listen to, but you must become a member to access all available fairy tales.

If you like cute drawings or plan to teach Italian to your children , this is a wonderful additional resource!

Clozemaster blog

Clozemaster is not only a very effective interactive platform for learning Italian, but it also offers its own blog with many in-depth Italian resources for your vocabulary and grammar skills .

For example, you can learn some very useful Italian expressions and sayings to spice up your everyday conversations, or how to wish an Italian friend of yours a happy birthday ! If you love grammar, you will find a bunch of free lessons on many common Italian verbs like avere , essere and stare .

Coniugazione.it

Coniugazione is the Italian word for “conjugation”, and this is what coniugazione.it is all about. Here you will find thousands of Italian verb conjugation tables. Just type any verb in the search bar!

Drops Italian

Drops is a mobile language app that focuses on vocabulary . You can learn thousands of words organized by topic with the help of catchy animations and an intuitive interface.

On the downside, Drops doesn’t provide context for the words you learn , but it’s still a valuable resource for learning Italian during a coffee break.

LingoPie Italian

I bet you like to binge-watch your favorite TV shows. If I’m right, you’ll also love LingoPie , which allows you to immerse yourself in the Italian language by giving you access to thousands of TV shows and movies from around the world .

Each show has closed captions so you can follow along with every word spoken. LingoPie offers a free trial, and you can subscribe to the service for a fee.

ItalianPod101

If you love learning while you drive, ItalianPod101 is a very helpful Italian resource. It’s a huge collection of podcasts , and when I say huge, I mean thousands of audio lessons covering as many topics from level A1 to C1. No matter what your level is, you will find something new to learn.

Graziana Filomeno and Rocco Dabellonio are the minds behind LearnAmo , a YouTube channel that hosts a wide range of Italian resources on grammar, culture, dialogues, and many other interesting facts .

Their videos are entirely in Italian with subtitles in both Italian and English. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner, your listening skills will benefit from the content, also thanks to Graziana’s very clear diction .

LearnAmo is also a multilingual website (each page has an English, an Italian, and a Spanish translation) that is completely free to navigate!

Italian newspapers and magazines

Newspapers and magazines are great Italian resources for improving your vocabulary. Here are a few.

If you don’t feel like you’re ready to start reading national Italian newspapers but want to keep up with what’s happening on the peninsula, The Local could be the perfect solution for you.

The news is written in English, but if you head to the Italian section of the site, you will be met with hundreds of interesting articles about the Italian language .

You can subscribe to get rid of the ads and get full access to the hundreds of lessons it offers. Don’t forget to check out the Italian word of the day every day!

Corriere della Sera

Corriere della Sera is one of the most important newspapers in Italy, but if you dig deeper, you will find that it offers a wealth of hidden Italian resources .

There is a spelling helper that gives you the correct spelling for commonly misspelled words, a thesaurus that you can use to enrich your writing, and even an Italian dictionary .

Focus is a well-known Italian monthly magazine with articles on science, sociology, and current events . You could say it’s the “Italian brother” of National Geographic.

The topics it covers are always very interesting and written in layman’s terms , which is why it’s so popular in Italy. You can either browse the website for free or buy the paper edition.

If you love reading books in your native language as much as I do, you will love reading books in a foreign language as well. Books are excellent Italian resources, and they are very underrated!

However, you may want to start easy and work your way up with Italian short stories for beginners and intermediate learners , which are just the right difficulty for your language level.

If you already have some experience with Italian and you like a challenge, you can start by reading the Italian translations of your favorite books — this way you will already be familiar with the plot and you can focus solely on the language aspect of the book.

You can also read my guide to reading books in Italian for more useful tips!

Community-driven Italian resources

The following Italian resources are the perfect way to interact with other Italian learners or native Italian speakers.

Reddit is a social platform where you can post articles, pictures, and videos in a wide variety of communities . Communities can be about any niche you can think of, from pets to travel to business.

You wouldn’t think such a generic social platform would be a valuable resource for learning Italian, but if you head to the right communities, you will find a goldmine .

Take all the time you need to browse through the Italian community for news about the country and its culture , and the language community to ask questions and get feedback from natives and first-hand tips on how to learn Italian . You will find many native Italian speakers who are eager to help you.

Above all… be a writer, not a lurker ! Actively participate in the forums and write in Italian without fear of making mistakes. You never know when you might come across a potential Skype buddy!

HiNative is an online platform that allows you to ask questions about any aspect of the Italian language (or any other language). You will receive invaluable feedback from native speakers . And if you want to return the favor, you can do so by answering questions about your own native language.

I hope this article on the best Italian resources has given you a clearer idea of what steps to take next in your learning journey!

If you still need to organize your backpack, you can have a look at our guide on the best way to learn Italian .

Clozemaster  has been designed to help you learn the language in context by filling in the gaps in authentic sentences. With features such as Grammar Challenges, Cloze-Listening, and Cloze-Reading, the app will let you emphasize all the competencies necessary to become fluent in Italian.

Take your Italian to the next level. Click here to start practicing with real Italian sentences!

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Expand your vocabulary in another language

Get Clozemaster and take your language skills to the next level.

“Clozemaster is THE best app to learn a language after Duolingo.”

• ★★★★★ Rated 4.9/5 based on 170+ reviews
• 7-day free trial
• 30-day money-back guarantee
• 4,000+ happy students

Duolingo expert review + alternatives to master Italian

• App reviews

Duolingo, Inc.

• Users report frequent translation errors and an inability to recognize synonyms , leading to frustration and incorrect feedback.
• Many users find the grammatical support limited or nonexistent , making it hard to understand language rules.
• The app is noted for being useful in starting with the basics of a new language, offering a structured and gradual learning path.
• Constant prompts for upgrades , ads, and gamified elements like hearts and gems distract from learning and annoy users.
• The app often fails to accurately recognize spoken words, with some voices being indistinct and difficult to understand.

Duolingo provides a highly gamified language learning experience, but the focus on actual language acquisition often takes a back seat.

Available on

Web, iOS, Android

Levels covered

(A0) Total beginner, (A1) Beginner, (A2) Elementary, (B1) Intermediate, (B2) Upper-intermediate, (C1) Advanced

39 languages taught

Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Yiddish, Zulu

Pricing, free trial, refunds

First-hand review

Walk-through, user interface and design.

Starting with the UI, I have to say Duolingo has always impressed me with its design and appealing presentation. However, beyond a good design, I’m focusing on how the app improves my speaking skills, which is the main aspect of this review.

User Path and Leaderboard

The main interface showcases a path that organizes lessons in a linear, progressive way. You need to follow this path to complete the course.

This approach may limit the user’s ability to select freely the topics they want to review. Users may find it restrictive if they want to revisit specific lessons or jump ahead to areas they are particularly interested in or need more practice with.

There’s also a leaderboard which I was obsessed with during my earlier usage of Duolingo. The gamification elements, like badges , really kept me engaged for a long time.

I tried to learn with Duolingo for a long time , and after using the app for about five or six years, I found the leaderboards and badges engaging but ultimately insufficient, as I haven’t used it at all in the past year and I felt it didn’t do much in order to improve my conversational skills.

There is a lack of depth that somehow manages to remain hidden behind all its vibrant colors and engaging characters.

This lack of depth becomes apparent when learners attempt to apply their knowledge in real-world situations, only to realize that their conversational and grammatical skills are not as robust as the app’s interface led them to believe.

Engagement Tools and Settings

Duolingo does a great job of keeping you engaged through activities like quests and in-app purchases. The app also allows you to personalize your experience through a vast array of options in the settings section.

Lessons Structure: Focus on Translation

Historically, Duolingo has emphasized translations and typing rather than speaking. On this occasion, when I tried a lesson, it presented me with exercises such as matching pairs , listening , and then translating and typing . These exercises are useful for beginners who need to understand the meaning of words, but they fall short when it comes to enhancing speaking skills.

Lack of Speaking Exercises

The emphasis on translation isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s limited . Repetition and translation are great for learning vocabulary; however, for improving speaking skills , verbal exercises are essential.

During this lesson, I found that only one out of fifteen questions required actual speaking . Most speaking attempts depended on the user’s initiative, not the app’s instruction.

Improvements in Speaking Activities

A small portion of the lessons included speaking exercises, which I found more dynamic and engaging . These exercises made me think more and didn’t just involve simple translation. Another notable improvement was an exercise focused on phonetics.

Spaced repetition

Does the app offer plenty of repetition to acquire vocab and grammar naturally?

Customization

Can users customize settings, interface, content, etc.?

Focus on learning

Is the interface and content focused on the course content instead of fluff and gamification?

Personalization

Are the materials automatically tailored to the user’s profile?

Sentence accuracy

Are sentences free from typos, grammar errors? Do they sound natural?

Sentence relevance

Are sentences realistic and useful?

Variety and depth

Is there enough variety of materials in terms of topics, formats and levels?

Audio quality

Are audio materials easy to listen to in terms of recording  quality and speech rate?

Speaker's quality

Do speakers speak correctly, clearly and naturally?

Speaking practice

Does the app offer plenty of speaking practice?

Ease of use

Is the app easy to set up, use and navigate?

Interface and design

Is the user interface neat and visually appealing?

Performance

Does the app load fast? Is it free from glitches and crashes?

Grammar notes

Do the courses come with grammar notes?

Learning path

Do the courses follow a well defined path?

Speech recognition

Does the app recognize user speech?

User-generated courses

Can users actively generate materials from their interests?

Offline access

Are the courses available offline?

Conclusions

Would i take these courses.

I would use Duolingo for practicing basic Italian but not for improving speaking skills due to its limited focus on speech exercises.

How to get the most out of the app

Combine Duolingo with other resources focusing on speaking practice to ensure a well-rounded learning experience.

Alternatives

Is duolingo free to use.

Yes, with optional in-app purchases for premium features.

Does Duolingo focus on speaking skills?

Limited focus on speaking, more on translation and typing.

Can I choose specific lessons to review in Duolingo?

Lessons must be followed in a set order.

Does Duolingo work offline?

Yes, but only for downloaded lessons.

Is Duolingo good for beginners?

Yes, it's ideal for beginners.

Create a free lifetime account to get access to all the free courses and other resources.

Suggestivo: Misleading Translations in Italian

“O la va o la Spacca”: Take Bold Decisions in Italian

Truncation in Italian

• 30 audio courses
• 10 chats with AI tutor / day
• Secret coupon inside
• No credit card needed

Is Duolingo Good for Italian? – My One-Year Review

Although I have always loved Italian, learning the language really became important to me after my daughter met and married an Italian man while working in Torino, Italy. When we first met him his knowledge of the English language was already impressive and since living here in the U.K., he has achieved fluency. At the same time, my daughter has become a highly proficient Italian speaker and they are now passing on their love of the language to their young son .

I felt it essential, therefore, to achieve a better understanding of the Italian language in order to communicate with my son-in-law’s family in Italy when I visit them again. I also feel that, if I am visiting them in their country, I should make an attempt to speak their language rather than force them to speak English. I would also like to encourage my grandson as he becomes a more fluent Italian speaker. At the moment, at the age of 2 and a half, he is streaks ahead of me in his understanding and communication but I plan to remedy that!

At school, I studied French and some Latin, but the teachers emphasised grammar to the detriment of communication and I can’t remember the lessons being very enjoyable. When I started studying Italian seriously a little over a year ago, I knew I wanted to take a completely different approach to the traditional methods of study, which is why I opted for Duolingo.

Why Duolingo?

To be completely honest, I became attracted to Duolingo for two reasons: it is free, and it is fun.

The lessons can be completed in minutes and they look appealing with their colourful animated characters, most notably the iconic green owl. Each character represents a native Italian speaker: a male, a female and a child who read out the sentences. I find this is a positive way of getting our ears attuned to various Italian voices – although I do find the gruff older gentleman’s voice a bit difficult to understand at times!

Duolingo vs Super Duolingo

The downside to not paying for Super Duolingo (formally known as Duolingo Plus ) is the necessity to watch advertisements which appear at the beginning and end of each lesson. However, most of the ads only last a few seconds, 30 at most, so it is easy to walk away, make a cup of tea, then return to start another lesson, if you so choose. You are also only allowed a certain number of mistakes before you are timed out. The time-outs usually last four hours.

Were I to sign up to Super Duolingo , I would be allowed unlimited mistakes, the possibility to track my progress, and access to lessons offline. However, for my purposes, the free version works just fine.

Note: If you are interested in giving it a try, Duolingo does offer a two-week free trial.

How to Use Duolingo

Most of the exercises on Duolingo require you to simply translate from English to Italian and vice versa. Here are some of the most common ones that you will encounter as you progress through the course:

‘Tap What You Hear’

This exercise involves inserting the correct words in the blank space. You do have to listen carefully because the difference in pronunciation of some words can be very subtle.

‘Select The Matching Pairs’

This exercise requires you to listen and tap the correct pairing. Five English words must be paired with five Italian words from the neighbouring column.

‘Translate this sentence – Italian to English’

This section is pretty self-explanatory – simply translate the Italian phrase into English using the available words. Not all the words are required to make the sentence; some are completely redundant and are only there to throw you off.

‘Translate this sentence – English to Italian’

Here you are given an English sentence and you must tap a series of Italian words to form the correct sentence. For example:

‘Speak this sentence’

If you enable your microphone, you can tap the ‘Click to Speak’ icon to record yourself speaking the Italian sentence given. The words turn blue if pronounced correctly – although I have noticed that it will usually accept my pronunciation even if it isn’t spot on!

‘Multiple choice’

Here you must pick the correct translations from the three words provided.

Whenever I complete a lesson, I make a note of my mistakes on a piece of paper (very old-school, I know) but I discovered that, if you click on the ‘dumb-bell’ icon, Duolingo keeps a record of all your mistakes which you can revisit at any time.

Each unit covers various topics and consists of several lessons that become more challenging as you progress through them. After completing several units and listening to a few stories you progress to a new level. There are 51 units in total consisting of 5 levels each, along with 66 skills (i.e. specific topics such as questions, adverbs, etc.) and four course sections.

The stories are dialogues that aren’t the most thought provoking but they are fun: you have to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the questions at the end of each story. Again the dialogues help to attune your ear to natural Italian speech.

Duolingo also introduces fundamental grammar and new vocabulary in the ‘Tips’ section at the beginning of each lesson. It is important not to ignore this section because it is very helpful to help you understand and master each unit.

As you progress, you also receive experience points (XP) as a way of keeping you motivated. You can set a daily goal of XP you want to attain and compete with other users for a position on the XP leaderboard.

Whenever you complete a lesson, you will also receive Lingots (known as Gems on mobile), which is Duolingo’s virtual currency. You can use Lingots to buy a variety of app features, such as a streak freeze, heart refill, and streak wagers.

Duolingo also encourages you to maintain a learning streak. If you skip a day, your streak will reset. My current streak is 456 days but some of the most committed users have a streak of over 2000 days!

You also have the option of taking part in virtual meetings which are held every day, allowing you to talk to Italian learners all over the world.

What would I change about Duolingo?

Given that Duolingo is mostly run by volunteer contributors, not everything about it is perfect. For example, you may come across the occasional phrase that isn’t grammatically correct. One that surprised me in particular was the translation for “I am from England”: instead of choosing Sono inglese or Vengo dall’Inghilterra , they opted for Sono dell’Inghilterra * which sounds unnatural in Italian.

I also find some of the sentences unpractical for day-to day use. At one point, I was asked to translate the absurd phrase “ Are my shoes electric? ” into Italian. Unless they have developed some kind of new footwear in Italy that I’m not aware of, I doubt I’ll ever use this phrase in my lifetime!

I was also a little disappointed to discover that podcasts are offered in the French and Spanish versions of Duolingo but not Italian. Hopefully these will be offered in the future.

Finally, as helpful as Duolingo is for memorising new phrases and vocabulary, listening and reading, the app itself doesn’t help you much with speaking. For that, you will need to seek the help of native speakers, either by making use of Duolingo’s Classes , or by using external platforms like italki .

At the moment, I will continue studying Italian with Duolingo in the same manner as I have for over a year now as it suits my lifestyle but I realise that just studying Duolingo everyday isn’t going to make me a confident speaker.

Duolingo is an excellent accompaniment but reading in Italian , engaging in conversation with native speakers , and watching films in Italian will speed up the learning process.

I am planning a long stay in Italy in the spring. My hope is that I will be able to have a rudimentary conversation with my new Italian family. I already know that I have increased my vocabulary and that I am understanding much more since starting to study with Duolingo so we will see how I cope. I’ll keep you posted. Ciao for now!

Pros of Duolingo – most features are free – fun and visually appealing – easy to complete a lesson in just a few minutes per day

Cons of Duolingo – podcasts aren’t available – some of the sentences are strange and unpractical – you may come across the occasional grammatical error

Christine is a retired Library Technician and a lover of foreign cultures and languages. She was especially attracted to learning Italian because of the music, the culture, the food and her extended Italian family. Living in Wales, she has also been embracing the beautiful Welsh language which she is studying with Duolingo and making great progress.

Fabio Guarino is a Linguist and Language Specialist who operates as a Freelance Content Writer and SEO Marketer. He considers himself fortunate to be able to blend his passion for his native language, Italian, along with English and Spanish, with his career.

Ethics statement: Below you will find affiliate links. If you buy something after clicking the link, we will receive a small commission. To know more about our ethics, you can visit our full disclosure page. Thank you!

Lingopie (affiliate link) is the Netflix of language learning application that uses real TV shows and movies to help you learn a new language. You can choose a show to watch based on your fluency level, and use the interactive subtitles to get instant translations to help you learn quickly.

Are you interested in improving your Italian in a fun and stress-free manner? Then we highly recommend Serena Capilli's short stories in Italian (affiliate link) , designed for beginners, advanced beginners, and lower intermediate learners (A1-B1 CEFR). These stories have been optimised for English speakers in search of a fun, laid-back learning experience! Read our full review here .

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience.

Duolingo Italian Review: Builds Your Vocabulary Fast, But Won’t Make You Fluent

The owl has long been seen as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge .

So it’s no surprise that Duolingo —one of the most popular language-learning programs out there—chose the owl as their mascot.

But can the program actually teach you Italian ?

The short answer: yes.

Duolingo will increase your vocabulary, introduce you to Italian grammar and get you to about an A2 level of Italian. But it won’t make you fluent.

In this in-depth Duolingo Italian review, we dive into the features, pros, cons and frequently asked questions about the program’s Italian course.

Is Duolingo Good for Learning Italian?

What is duolingo, duolingo’s features and functionalities, the duolingo tree: making italian approachable, quizzes and exercises: making italian enjoyable, experience points, lingots and streaks: making italian motivational, crowns: making italian customizable, discussions and forums: making italian social, pros of duolingo italian, it has a great interface, duolingo’s gamification is motivational, duolingo is always improving, you have access to all languages for free, cons of duolingo italian, you shouldn’t use duolingo by itself, duolingo doesn’t teach grammar thoroughly, it gives impractical example sentences, duolingo exercises can feel too repetitive, there’s a lack of content for advanced students, alternatives to duolingo, faqs about duolingo italian, what level of italian does duolingo get you to, how long would it take to learn italian with duolingo, and one more thing....

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Yes, Duolingo is a great resource to use for learning Italian.

It will help you increase your vocabulary, learn Italian sentence structure, pick up basic to intermediate grammar patterns and get in daily practice. But it won’t make you fluent.

Duolingo is best used in combination with other resources.

Duolingo is probably the most popular language learning app, with 300 million active users.

Duolingo was born out of the desire to make the Internet approachable for non-English speakers.

The two founders—Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker—wanted to build something that could instantly and accurately translate websites and make it feel like actual bilingual speakers worked on them.

Not some automatic translation software that spews out nonsensical and, sometimes, tragic translations.

Duolingo uses interactive game elements and principles to help you remember words.

And according to research , spending 34 hours on Duolingo is equivalent to taking a semester in a university language course.

At present, Duolingo teaches 90 different language courses, with Italian being one of the most studied programs. There are almost 40 million interested learners.

Duolingo Italian has 43 units with around 5-10 lessons each, promising you hours of enjoyable study.

Lastly, Duolingo is free forever (on the app and the website), which is one of their major selling points.

There’s Duolingo Plus , which comes ad-free for $7.00 a month, but you don’t get a sense that the company is really pushing for it. You also get unlimited “hearts,” which are basically lives that you lose each time you make a mistake.

One of the first things that you need to know about Duolingo is that you only need five minutes a day to reap its benefits.

The lessons are bite-sized and can be devoured on the go. It takes so little commitment that it demolishes all those “I-just-don’t-have-time” excuses.

The Italian “Duolingo Tree” maps out the different topics you’ll be going through in the course.

You see an array of icons and the one that lights up in color is where you are in the course.

The Italian tree starts you off with the most basic vocabulary, like donna  (woman) and lei  (she), with the topics getting more challenging as you progress.

With Duolingo, you never feel overwhelmed—complexity is very gradually built from one lesson to the next.

One of the most important elements of the Duolingo experience is its high level of interactivity.

You’ll be doing something every five seconds. The lessons are gamified little exercises or tasks.

For example, you might be asked to pair Italian words with their English counterparts.

Or you might be shown an English sentence and asked to give its Italian translation by tapping on a specific sequence of Italian words.

These repeating exercises are really the heart and soul of the platform.

Since Duolingo intends to develop all four linguistic competencies (reading, writing, speaking and listening), there are even times when you’re asked to speak into your phone’s mic and repeat after a prompt.

Then, the voice recognition software checks if your pronunciation is correct or not.

Duolingo is gamified language learning. Every question you answer correctly is converted into Experience Points (XP).

When you’ve finished a lesson or practiced a skill, your XP increases accordingly. (You can set a daily XP goal in the Settings section.)

There’s a leaderboard so you can gauge your performance vis-à-vis other students.

Gems known as  “lingots” are the platform’s currency.

You earn lingots for completing tasks like maintaining a 10-day practice streak, reaching your practice goals or inviting friends to use Duolingo.

Lingots can be used in the virtual shop where you can buy “power-ups” like “Streak Freeze” or “Double or Nothing.”

“Streaks”  refers to the number of days you’ve consecutively met your XP goals. While XP reflects how long you’re studying in a day, “Streaks” tells you how often you’re studying.

This is really the most important metric for you because it reflects just how consistent you are at studying Italian.

One of the challenges for platforms like Duolingo is to reconcile the different goals and objectives of many different Italian language learners.

Some casual learners simply want a fun time working through the Duolingo tree. Then there are those serious learners who want more in-depth content.

Duolingo has resolved this with “crowns,” which essentially add a new dimension to learning.

Students can breeze through the different lessons if they like, but they can also retake the same level. Each time they do so, the exercises get a little bit more difficult.

You work through the same set of targeted vocabulary, but the tasks required get increasingly difficult.

So, maybe the sentences involved get more complex.

Or instead of tapping presented words to form the translated sentence, this time you need to type the Italian words yourself.

Every time you repeat and finish a level, you gain a “crown.” The max for each level is five crowns.

There’s probably no more robust Italian language learning community than the folks at Duolingo.

You can throw a query out there and have no shortage of replies from fellow learners.

There’s always a healthy discussion going on in the forum and simply reading the threads can be a very educational experience.

You’ll get tips on how to study Italian or be pointed to some useful resources that can get you a needed leg up.

You can also click “Report” after answering a question during your lesson if you think something is incorrect about the way Duolingo graded your choice.

One of the best things about Duolingo—and what makes it so popular—is that it’s free.

Yes, there’s a paid version that comes with no ads and unlimited hearts, but Duolingo isn’t very pushy about it.

Plus, the ads that come with the service are minimally invasive.

But as a free service, Duolingo is definitely one of the best.

The first time you use Duolingo, you immediately get a sense of its smooth graphic interface.

The layout is very intuitive.

The fonts are easy on the eyes. The colors pop but aren’t jarring to the senses. The audio is relatively crisp. The sights, sounds and movement of the elements clue you into what’s happening.

Oh, and then there’s “Duo”—the Duolingo mascot—who occasionally pops up on your screen to shout some words of encouragement.

He’s the easily recognizable green owl who’ll be your companion as you knock out one Italian lesson after another.

Duolingo makes learning Italian feel like jumping through little hoops… and liking it.

There are levels, leagues, leaderboards and lingots. There are streaks to be protected, skills to be developed and a virtual shop to be visited.

Bars are filling up, displayed numbers are telling you something.

The reward system can get you easily hooked.

You also always know your progress in the course.

You know if your skills need practice. You know how you measure up against other Italian learners. And the way it presents this information is fun and motivational!

Granted, Duolingo Italian has a lot of room for improvement. (More on this later.)

But as a brainchild of founders with computer backgrounds, you can be sure that the platform uses the latest in machine learning and AI research to improve and keep users motivated.

And because Duolingo has some of the most vocal and passionate users, it can quickly get robust feedback on what needs to be changed.

So expect a continuous flow of improvements on the product.

Many language programs come as individually packaged courses.

So if you’re going to learn Italian, you’d have access only to that course and have to pay or install a different app to study another language.

Well, Duolingo gives you the whole shebang for free.

So, if you’re spent on Italian, you can study Russian for a bit or maybe try your hand at Japanese.

Then, suddenly, you’re sucked in and before you know it, you’re learning multiple languages at the same time.

Many Duolingo users are serial learners and the program makes it easy to give it a shot.

Duolingo has changed the game and is a hard benchmark to beat.

But that said, it’s not the perfect product either. There’s always room for improvement.

Here are a few things that the program could do better.

To be fair, there’s probably no single language learning platform or product that can be everything for everyone.

Duolingo works as part of a healthy mix of other learning materials that would have to include things like Italian textbooks , audiobooks , videos , songs , movies , language exchange websites and so on.

Duolingo has a part to play.

If you want a slew of vocabulary-building exercises that keep close tabs on your performance, then Duolingo is your best bet.

But for other things—like actual conversational practice— the platform might not be the most ideal tool.

I recommend pairing it with tools that let you put your skills to practical use, like language exchange apps or immersion programs like FluentU .

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.

P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

Try FluentU for FREE!

Yes, there are keys to Italian grammar at the start of every lesson, but these feel too “buried.”

(Many users don’t even know that they exist.)

Duolingo could do with a lot more short-but-spunky grammar explanations that are embedded in the individual questions themselves.

When you get an item wrong, you seldom know why. You’re shown the correct answer, but many users are still left guessing why their answer is unacceptable.

Duolingo can do a little more in these instances and use them as teaching moments.

I understand that the platform wasn’t designed for explicit grammar instruction, but a little more grammar explanation—like a well-placed, single-sentence pointer—can be a huge time-saver.

Duolingo doesn’t advocate simply memorizing “survival phrases,” and claims that sentence examples should be relevant and useful in the real world.

But s ome Italian example sentences are so remote from reality that you’d be hard-pressed to think of a suitable moment to use them.

They’re more useful as vocabulary teaching tools than actual commonly-used groups of words. (e.g., Lei é una donna. — She is a woman.)

Sometimes, the sentences sound like they’ve been machine-generated.

Example sentences do get better later in the course, but many users might have dropped off before getting to them.

Repetition is at the heart of learning.

But there comes a point when repetition is too much.

In the case of Duolingo, you might find the exercises begin to rub you the wrong way.

Working with the same words, phrases and sentences over and over can be demotivating.

This is alleviated by algorithms that shelf words you’ve already mastered, but I’m not just talking about vocabulary sets.

I’m also referring to things like that all-too-familiar sound you hear when you get an item right or that distracting buzz you get when you answer incorrectly.

Duolingo could mix things up better and add more variety not only to the content but even to the very mechanics of their exercises.

Duolingo is a very good vocabulary builder, but don’t expect to be fluent when you finish the course.

You’ll learn a lot, but the program won’t take you beyond the intermediate level.

Content development for Duolingo Italian may not have been as brisk as other major languages like Spanish, French, German and Portuguese.

For instance, these languages have “stories”—a feature that challenges your reading and listening comprehension and can seriously address the lack of variety we talked about previously.

Unfortunately, Duolingo Italian doesn’t have this feature yet.

Like Duolingo, Babbel has a structured, well-designed learning path for Italian that starts from the basics and gets progressively more challenging as you improve.

However, there’s a much stronger focus on grammar and the lessons go more in-depth with exercises.

They include the typical translation exercises but also practice conversations. Babbel also offers live online classes (“Babbel Live”) and a podcast.

You might choose Babbel if you want to stick with a resource that will get you to a higher intermediate level. Babbel has courses for complete newbies (A1) all the way up to upper intermediate (B2).

However, Babbel is not free and a subscription only gives you access to one language.

Like Duolingo, Memrise is completely free and is best for vocabulary building.

You can find countless premade flashcard decks—official decks made by Memrise and those made by other students—that use a spaced repetition algorithm to put new words in your long-term memory.

The Memrise official Italian courses start at Level 1 and go through Level 7.

Other decks you can find include the most common 1,000 Italian words, Italian adjectives, verbs, etc.

However, unlike Duolingo, Memrise has basically no (or at most, very limited) grammar lessons, since the courses are flashcard-based.

If you have another resource for grammar and just want to focus on rapidly growing your vocabulary, Memrise might be a better choice to Duolingo.

But if you’re starting from scratch, Duolingo will introduce you to the sentence structures you need to know first.

Most sources online agree that Duolingo can get you to an A2 (or possibly B1) level of Italian alone.

Of course, this also depends on the resources you use in conjunction with Duolingo and how often you practice outside of your study sessions.

There are currently 43 units in the Duolingo Italian course. Each has about 6-10 lessons.

Completing one unit a week would get you through the entire Italian course in 43 weeks, whereas two units a week would take 21-22 weeks.

All things considered, Duolingo Italian is an awesome tool that will build your vocabulary, teach you basic grammar and help you reach an upper beginner to low intermediate level.

Since it only takes five minutes a day, there’s simply no excuse for not working with Duolingo.

I highly encourage you to include it in your resource mix!

If you're as busy as most of us, you don't always have time for lengthy language lessons. The solution? FluentU !

Learn Italian with funny commericals, documentary excerpts and web series, as you can see here:

FluentU helps you get comfortable with everyday Italian by combining all the benefits of complete immersion and native-level conversations with interactive subtitles . Tap on any word to instantly see an image, in-context definition, example sentences and other videos in which the word is used.

Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab, and review words and phrases with convenient audio clips under Vocab .

Once you've watched a video, you can use FluentU's quizzes to actively practice all the vocabulary in that video. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.

FluentU will even keep track of all the Italian words you’re learning, and give you extra practice with difficult words. Plus, it'll tell you exactly when it's time for review. Now that's a 100% personalized experience !

The best part? You can try FluentU for free with a trial.

Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

Related posts:

Enter your e-mail address to get your free pdf.

We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe

Duolingo for Italian in 2023 – EVERYTHING You Need To Know

• Posted by by Matt
• Last updated: May 21, 2023
• 9 minute read

If you’re thinking about learning Italian, then you might be wondering whether Duolingo’s Italian course is the course for you.

La bella lingua is spoken by over 66 million people worldwide. It’s an official language in several European countries and currently boasts over 6.5 million learners on Duolingo!

It also happens to be the first language I properly learned on Duolingo — so needless to say I’ve spent a lot of time with the course over the years!

But does that mean Duolingo is good for learning Italian?

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Italian on Duolingo.

We’ll look at:

• How Duolingo’s Italian course is structured
• Special features
• Other features you need to be aware of
• The pros of Duolingo’s Italian course
• The cons of Duolingo’s Italian course

Ready to dive in?

This page may contain affiliate links. This means that we may receive a commission for any sign-ups or purchases made, but at no extra cost to you . Learn more

What you’ll find in Duolingo’s Italian course

If you’re new to Duolingo, then it’s worth pointing out that all of Duolingo’s courses are structured in pretty much the same way.

There might be one or two slight differences depending on which platform you’re using. However, for the most part, they all look and work the same.

The below represents what you’ll currently find on Duolingo’s IOS app!

The Italian course follows what is referred to as the  learning path .

Basically…

The path is broken up into a set of  units …

Each unit has a set of  levels …

Each level has a series of  lessons …

And all of this is organised into a set of  sections …

The basic goal is to work through the tree by completing every lesson… in every level… in every unit… in every section.

As of April 2023, Duolingo’s Italian course has a total of 51 units , spread across 4 different sections .

As you move through the path, you’ll get opportunities to complete some  timed challenges  by tapping on the adjacent  characters …

Once you’ve completed a level, you’ll then get the opportunity to tackle an extra-hard challenge to make it legendary …

The exercises in the Italian course are basically the same as in all the other courses. Some of the common exercises you’ll come across include:

• Complete the translation
• Mark the correct meaning
• Picture flashcards
• Select the missing word
• Sentence shuffle
• Speak this sentence
• Tap the pairs
• Translation
• Tap what you hear

Does Duolingo’s Italian course have any special features?

Although English speakers can learn nearly 40 different languages on Duolingo, it’s important to point out that not all of the courses are created equally.

Some courses have special features that others don’t.

Some of these include  stories , the  Match Madness  timed challenge, and AI-powered features (exclusive to Duolingo Max).

As of April 2023, Duolingo’s Italian course has 51 stories and Match Madness , but doesn’t currently take advantage of Duolingo Max’s AI features.

Duolingo Italian Stories

Duolingo’s Italian stories are designed to improve your reading, listening and speaking. They’re entirely in Italian and most of them are only a few minutes long at most.

They’re written for learners of all levels and come with the usual hints you find in the normal lessons.

Every now and then you’ll have to answer a question to make sure you understand what’s going on, which is a great way to measure where you’re at with your comprehension.

Match Madness

Match Madness is one of Duolingo’s main timed challenges.

It’s basically a fancy match-the-pairs exercise, where you have to match the Italian word with its English equivalent.

However, in Match Madness, you have to do this against the clock, and the time you have to complete it gets shorter and shorter in each round.

It’s a great test of your comprehension speed and has quickly become one of the Italian course’s best features!

Other features in Duolingo’s Italian course

Duolingo’s Italian course is built on the same stuff as all of Duolingo’s other language courses.

We won’t go into too much detail here, but some of the features worth knowing about include:

• XP – As you work through the Duolingo Italian course, you’ll earn experience points, which are more commonly known as XP. You’ll earn XP for pretty much everything you do. Some lessons, tasks and exercises will earn you more XP than others.
• Leagues – Every week you’ll be entered into a league with other Duolingo learners. There are 10 leagues to work through, starting at Bronze and ending at Diamond. The leagues are basically leaderboards — simply earn more XP than others in your league to have a chance of winning.
• Gems – XP isn’t the only thing you’ll earn as you learn Italian. You’ll also earn gems, which you can spend in the Duolingo Shop . There isn’t really much you can buy here, but you can use your gems to pick up things like Streak Freezes and Timer Boosts for timed challenges.
• Friends – Duolingo is a social experience, so you’re able to follow other users and compare your progress. The guys at Duolingo reckon you’re 5 times more likely to finish your course if you follow people! To get you started, feel free to give me a follow — my username is DCiiieee !
• Duolingo Plus / Super – This is Duolingo’s premium membership. Pay for Plus/Super and you’ll get access to some useful features, including unlimited hearts , no ads and Practice Hub .

Is Duolingo good for learning Italian?

Now to answer the all-important question:

To answer this, let’s weigh up some of the pros and cons.

Beginner-friendly

Learning a new language can be pretty intimidating, especially if you only speak English.

This is why one of the nicest things about Duolingo is just how accessible and welcoming it is.

Regardless of the language you’re learning, Duolingo presents its courses in a really warm, vibrant and inclusive way. So whether this is your second language or your tenth, you can feel at ease straight away.

Fortunately for English speakers, Italian’s probably one of the easier languages to learn as well. You don’t have to worry about things like cases or different writing systems, and the pronunciation isn’t *that* difficult once you get used to rolling your R’s!

Duolingo makes this even easier with the way it presents its courses. You’ll find helpful guidebooks in every unit, and if you’re stuck on a question you can just tap the words for some hints.

Duolingo’s Italian course also comes with the usual placement test when you first start, so you can rest assured you’ll start your tree from a place you find comfortable.

This is one of Duolingo’s standout features and it’s only available in a few of its courses.

Fortunately, Italian is one of them!

One of the best things about the Italian stories is that they’re genuinely interesting and funny as hell! Duolingo have got some seriously great writers!

They’re so good that reading them doesn’t feel like work. Yet all the while your reading and listening comprehension is going up, up and up!

And while the stories aren’t up to the same standard as some of Duolingo’s other courses (we’ll get to that in a sec) they’re still a HUGE selling point for the Italian course.

I highly recommend getting stuck into them as soon as you can!

Related: Duolingo Stories – The COMPLETE Guide – What You Need To Know

This doesn’t just go for Duolingo’s Italian course, it’s the same for ALL of them!

One of the best things about Duolingo is that it’s more than just a language-learning tool.

It’s also a game . And although this isn’t to everyone’s liking, it’s a big part of why so many people show up every day to do their daily lessons.

For everything you do in Italian, you’ll earn XP (experience points) which contribute towards your position in the weekly leagues.

Now this isn’t something you should take too seriously (you can read more about why here ) but if you take it lightly it’ll definitely make your Italian a lot more enjoyable.

Because ultimately, the more you enjoy something, the more likely you are to do it. And given learning Italian will require you to show up regularly for a very long time, Duolingo could be the perfect solution.

Another great thing about Duolingo is that the Italian course is 100% free .

There is a premium subscription, but this isn’t something you need in order to complete the course. The whole thing is completely free; Plus/Super just adds a few features that make things a bit smoother.

This is great if you’re just dabbling with Italian and aren’t ready to commit just yet. But also if you’re keen to get started with the language but don’t want to fork out on special software or tuition.

Super motivating

I take it you’ve seen the owl memes?

Yes, the owl can be *a bit* of a stalker at times, pestering you at all hours to do your daily Italian lessons!

But relax, contrary to popular belief, he’s not gonna kidnap your family anytime soon!

Jokes aside, Duolingo is brilliant for keeping you motivated .

Learning Italian takes time. It’s not something you’re going to pick up overnight.

According to the US Foreign Service Institute , it takes roughly 600-750 “class hours” to reach “Professional Working Proficiency” in Italian.

So yeah, if you’re going to learn Italian, you’ve got to be in it for the long haul!

That means creating an unbreakable habit. And Duolingo’s amazing for doing that.

Put it this way — my current streak (i.e. the number of days in a row I’ve used Duolingo) goes all the way back to May 2016.

And that’s not just because I’m a bit obsessive! It’s thanks to Duolingo being such a great way of keeping me motivated!

Really short course

Although Italian is currently Duolingo’s 7th most popular course, the course itself is really short .

It only has four sections, which is only half of what you get in courses like French and Spanish.

While the course comes with a chunky 51 units, realistically you could plough through them in a pretty short time.

I first completed the Italian course back in 2016 and I managed to get it done in about a month. And even though Duolingo have updated it quite a bit since then, it’s still a bit thin.

This means that although Duolingo is great for getting started with Italian, eventually you’ll need to look further afield if you want to make significant progress.

Not great for speaking

This is the case for most of Duolingo’s language courses.

Duolingo is brilliant for getting to grips with the listening and reading side of a language. You even get opportunities to practice your pronunciation.

But when it comes to speaking in a real-life scenario, Duolingo’s Italian course won’t get you there by itself.

The problem is the speaking exercises aren’t conversation exercises. You get a little bit of practice in the conversation mode on the stories (if available), but this just involves reciting what the characters say. You don’t actually come up with your own responses.

Speaking is a skill in its own right and to learn it you’ll need to practice it regularly, ideally with a native speaker, or at the very least using a program that has conversation scenarios (such as ItalianPod101 ).

Stories aren’t as good as in other courses

I was really excited to see stories come to the Italian course back in 2021. Considering how popular the course is, they were definitely overdue.

And while they undoubtedly improve the course, unfortunately, they don’t hit the heights of the stories in other courses, such as French, Spanish and German.

One reason is there just aren’t that many. As of April 2023, there are only 51 — which is pretty low compared to the French course, which has nearly 300!

Another reason is they just don’t read as well as in some of the other courses. The French stories are full of life with real voices. Whereas the Italian stories sound as though they’re being read by robots.

They’re still good, but they could be so much better.

If you’ve read any of my other articles then you’ll know one of the things I dislike most about Duolingo at the moment is the heart system .

Hearts are basically lives or chances. You start off with 5 then lose one every time you make a mistake.

If you lose all your hearts then you’re not allowed to progress through your course until your hearts replenish.

You can either watch an ad to get one back, do a practice session, spend some gems or wait 5 hours.

It’s far from ideal as it does the unhelpful thing of punishing you for making mistakes .

Which, as far as I’m concerned, is ridiculous as mistakes are absolutely essential and unavoidable when learning a language.

If you’re a total beginner or simply on the fence about learning Italian, then Duolingo’s Italian course is definitely a great place to start.

You’ll learn the basics of the language, get to grips with the pronunciation, pick up a nice chunk of useful vocabulary, and see the language in action in 51 mini-stories.

You’ll also have a blast working through the course as you compete in the weekly leagues and alongside your friends!

By the end of the course, you’ll definitely be more advanced than when you started.

However, given that the course only has 4 sections, you’ll need to use other resources as well if you want to reach fluency.

By itself, Duolingo’s Italian course could probably get you to an A2 level in reading and listening (so long as you’re doing enough passive learning as well).

A good tool to use — either alongside Duolingo or after you’ve completed the course — is ItalianPod101 .

ItalianPod and Duolingo complement each other beautifully, as they both target areas that the other misses. Duolingo is great for reading and typing things out, whereas ItalianPod is brilliant for improving your listening and speaking.

With ItalianPod you’ll also get essential resources like grammar packs, cultural insights, and learn the 2,000 most common Italian words — so by the end of the course, you should be able to understand as much as 80% of all Italian conversations.

When used together, Duolingo and ItalianPod will give you everything you need to reach a comfortable level in Italian.

If you’re new to Italian…

I’d highly recommend taking Duolingo’s placement test, figuring out what level you’re at, and then working through the first couple of units. This will get you familiar with the basics of Italian.

At the same time, I’d recommend taking advantage of ItalianPod’s free trial to get familiar with how the language sounds, pick up some useful phrases and cultural insights, and practice speaking as soon as possible.

Once you’ve worked your way through the Duolingo course, I’d recommend coming back to it daily to keep the streak alive (habit is SO important when learning a language) and start to move through the intermediate to advanced packs on ItalianPod.

Finally, make sure you’re getting enough passive exposure to Italian as well. It’s really important to experience the language in an authentic environment — so things like TV shows, music, books, real-life conversations — so you can see how everything you learn on Duolingo and ItalianPod works in the real world.

Hey! I'm Matt, the Duolingo-nut behind duoplanet. I started using Duolingo back in 2014, and my current streak stretches all the way back to May 2016. Using Duolingo I've reached a comfortable level in Italian and acquired a basic understanding of Russian. I've also gone deep into the Spanish, German and French courses, and intend to explore more languages in the years to come. Needless to say, I'm obsessed with language learning!

Post navigation

Duolingo for Russian - EVERYTHING You Need To Know

Duolingo for German in 2023 - EVERYTHING You Need To Know

Leave a comment, leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

related posts

Duolingo Stories in 2024 – EVERYTHING You Need To Know

• 5 minute read

The Complete List of EVERY Duolingo Language in 2024

• 4 minute read

How much do you know about Italian?

When you think about Italy and Italian culture, you might think of the Roman Colosseum, Michelangelo, the Italian Riviera, delicious food, and even Måneskin, the Italian band that took the world ( and Duolingo ) by storm when they won Eurovision in 2021! In fact, you can find (at least) one Måneskin lyric in Duolingo's Italian course:

Italian 101

Italian is a Romance language , which means that it evolved from Latin (like Spanish and French ). If you've studied other Romance languages, you'll notice many similarities in the vocabulary and grammar, including cognates and grammatical gender . Italian also has a unique history, including Arabic influence (especially in southern Italy) and because of many political changes in just the last 150 years!

Where is Italian spoken? Obviously Italian is spoken in Italy, but that’s not the only country where it’s an official language! Italian is also the official language of San Marino and one of four official languages of Switzerland (along with French, German, and Romansh). It also holds official status in the county of Istria in Croatia and in four municipalities of Slovenia—some communities speak Italian because they were part of the Republic of Venice long ago! In addition, Italian is one of the most commonly used languages in Vatican City , which has no official language.

Who studies Italian? Globally, Italian is the 6th most popular language to study , and it ranks #1 in Malta and Vatican City (by tourists!). It's the 2nd most popular language to study in Italy and San Marino, due to booming tourism, and Italian is also #2 in Argentina, where millions of Italians immigrated in the 20th century.

Duolingo offers 6 Italian courses, for speakers of English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Chinese. There are nearly 15 million learners studying Italian on Duolingo all around the world!

When we say Italian, what do we mean?

Italian evolved from Latin gradually over centuries, and in fact there has never been one, single "Italian" language! Long ago there were many Latin dialects and accents used in Italy, and as a result there are over 30 regional languages spoken in Italy today. These include Genoese (in Genoa), Sardinian (on the island of Sardinia), Sicilian (in Sicily), and Venetian (in Venice), and these continue to be spoken alongside Italian.

Modern Italian —the variety you learn on Duolingo—developed from the Tuscan dialect that was spoken in Florence and used by many important writers (such as Dante Alighieri). This dialect gradually became the standard language of education throughout more and more of Italy, and today it's considered the official language.

You already know some Italian!

Even if you’ve never studied Italian, you’re probably familiar with quite a few words, especially for food and music.

Italian food vocabulary Italian cuisine has given English terms like cappuccino, latte (although this means "milk" in Italian and not "coffee"!), pasta, pizza, mozzarella, ricotta, lasagna, gnocchi, ravioli, spaghetti, panini, cannoli, and gelato.

And in fact, you may already know how to make words plural in Italian! Many Italian words have an -i at the end to show that they are plural, so gnocchi, ravioli, spaghetti, panini, and cannoli are actually plural in Italian! To talk about a single piece, change the -i to an -o : But they're so delicious that it can be tough to eat just one gnocco, raviolo, spaghetto, or cannolo!

Italian music vocabulary English has also adopted many Italian terms to refer to musical concepts. If you’ve ever learned to read music, you may recognize words such as forte, piano, tempo, allegro, andante, lento, ritardando, soprano, alto, aria, and piccolo.

Some of these words may surprise you when you encounter them in Italian, though, as they have a more common, non-musical meaning, too. For example, forte means “strong,” allegro means “joyful,” alto means “tall” or “high,” and piccolo means “small.” Once you know these meanings, you may be able to figure out the relationship to their musical usages, and you'll encounter them a lot in general, non-musical conversation!

In addition to food and music, Italian is full of other words that as an English speaker you’ll probably already recognize, such as antenna, casino, confetti, finale, graffiti, lava, loggia, manifesto, nostalgia, paparazzi, piazza, politico, riviera, stucco, studio, and villa.

When in Rome… you'll want to know some Italian!

There's no better way to learn about a culture than through its language. By studying Italian, you can bring yourself closer to connecting with Italian speakers and engaging with the culture that gave you the art, literature, cuisine, and music you already love! Italian is a language full of surprises for you to discover throughout your learning journey.

Related Posts All Posts

Practice hack: how to review previous lessons on duolingo, 5 meanings of "se" every spanish learner should know.

What Level Is Duolingo Italian? A Comparison With Language Proficiency Levels

If you are you considering the Italian course in Duolingo but are not sure if it is the right level for your Italian, then you are in the right place.

This article will detail what level of Italian each Duolingo section corresponds to, so you will get an understanding of what material the Duolingo Italian tree contains and how complex it is.

Keep reading to find out more!

Table of Contents

What level are the duolingo italian lessons.

In the table below, we have summarized the contents of the Duolingo Italian lessons within each section of the Duolingo Italian tree. We have also related the level of each Duolingo section to the European Framework for language proficiency.

This should help you to gain an understanding of what each section of the Duolingo Italian course will cover and what level of language proficiency you could expect to achieve from it.

How many of these questions can you get right?

(answers with explanations show here after you press submit), how does the duolingo italian course relate to language proficiency levels.

The contents of the Duolingo course can only be very loosely related to CEFR levels. This is because each of the CEFR levels for Italian (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) is very much focused on conversational aspects, such as being able to exchange information about a variety of matters with another person and being able to hold a conversation on both practical and abstract subjects.

Although the Italian Duolingo course covers a lot of material in a small number of sections , it is unlikely for a student to become fluent in Italian by using Duolingo alone.

How advanced is the Duolingo Italian course?

The Duolingo Italian course packs a lot of complex grammar topics within its four sections , and therefore could be considered to teach up to an advanced level in Italian . However, it is very unlikely that someone could become proficient in Italian by using Duolingo alone.

In practice, there are many instances where native Italian speakers themselves replace the subjunctive mood with the indicative mood, particularly in spoken Italian.

The subjunctive mood is becoming increasingly less used in spoken Italian, so a learner of Italian should learn this mood gradually and not worry about being incorrect if they avoid using it until they feel comfortable doing so.

The fact that Duolingo packs a lot of grammar in a short course can leave learners of Italian feeling discouraged and frustrated about learning, and can foster the belief that Italian as a foreign language is too difficult to master.

Can the Duolingo Italian course make me proficient?

When taken in isolation, some of the grammar topics dealt with in the Duolingo Italian course could be considered to be at level C1 and C2. They are highly complex topics and take time and practice to master. Examples are, the subjunctive mood, the preterite past tense, clitics and correct use of modal verbs.

Which Italian tenses will I learn in Duolingo Italian?

… and the following moods:

Is the Duolingo Italian course suitable for beginners?

Related posts, does latin sound like italian, italian accents compared: which is best.

If you are interested in the Italian language, you might know that Italian is spoken in several different accents depending on the area. You may have wondered what is the best Italian accent? For example,…

Six Reasons Why You Should Learn Italian

Is learning italian easier than french – find out from two experts who learned both languages.

• Tour Account ›
• Travel Forum ›
• Travel Forum
• Did Duolingo Ital...

Did Duolingo Italian help you?

We have been to Italy multiple times and easily survived on "Buongiono, per favore, grazie, ... etc" to be friendly. We have a 1 month trip starting in mid-August.

My wife and I are trying out Duolingo to extend our Italian a little. I know that Duolingo is perhaps not the best conversational choice as I have read that Pimsleur is very good for conversational. But Duolingo is free or low cost and I'm not sure how far I will take this. I have a history of poor language proficiency, poor audio skills it seems. So I don't expect any real level of fluency.

I see that the first lessons deal with being in a cafe, navigating a city, ordering in restaurants. Might be useful. Probably in addition to using Google Translate more of Italian conversation could be at least somewhat familiar to my ear.

If you've done several Italian Duolingo lessons, how did that work out for you in Italy?

I have used Duolingo to try and keep my semi-fluent Italian active. I like it, overall. The repetition is not as boring as some other programs and the grammar is taught not pedantically, but in use, as a child would learn speech parts like prepositions. I also like that it makes you practice listening, reading, and speaking so you get used to the pronunciation.

Admittedly, I have ad the benefit of classes as community college, Pimsleur self-study (excellent), and living and traveling in Italy. Still, for the price (free!) Duolingo is good. The upgraded paid-for subscription is, IMO, even better.

There are also some nice podcasts out there. You might explore those in conjunction with Duolingo and listen to them on you commute or while walking to get ready for all the walking you'll do in Italy.

Thanks Laurel. Do you have any recommended Podcasts in mind?

When the material is audio only I find that I want to see the words too. But realistically that's not what will happen in Italy.

I recently listened to a few Podcasts but they were way over my ability to follow. My guess is it helps to have some rudimentary Italian skills before venturing into short stories and such. But I could be wrong. I'm fine with starting at a 2 year old's level. :)

I haven't used Duolingo but I had access to Mango which I think is a similar on-line tool that teaches general basic Italian with something of an emphasis on directions, ordering, where you live etc. I found it really helpful but what I found I lacked was confidence and that was what help me back.

I was lucky enough to go to Italy both in 2022 and in 2023 and I studied essentially the same language program before both visits but the difference was having the confidence to actually use it the second visit. The first visit I had a number of times I wanted to say something but assumed I didn't know how and froze up. After the fact I realized I knew how to say what I wanted but I just kind of assumed I didn't. When I approached the 2023 trip I had studied much of the same material but I approached it with more determination and did fairly well. I only had to resort to Google translate once because the question I was asking was too complex for me in Italian and person behind the counter did not speak enough English to fallback to that.

I found that studying on-line made me better at making declarative statements but less good at conversation because I wasn't used to listening, translating and then answering in real time. But I found that the Italians are very encouraging and happy you are trying. I got a lot of "Italian is really hard, but you're doing well!" even when I didn't feel like I was doing very well.

The only other thing I'll add is that if you have been studying don't try watching Italian movies or TV to test your proficiency. When I watch Italian TV I feel like I speak zero Italian, but I was able to get around well enough so don't compare turistico needs with native speaking. I start Italian 101 at the local community college in about two weeks, wish me luck...

Italians will appreciate any effort with the language so I encourage you to try, =Tod

I haven’t used Duolingo for Italian, but I did use Wesleyan University’s free Italian for beginners course. It helped a lot and enabled me to speak to Italians. Another good resource is Coffee Break Italian. The podcast is excellent and allows you to practice and build your abilities gradually.

Thanks for the idea of Coffee Break Italian podcasts . I found the seasons on Amazon Prime Podcasts (Amazon Music app) which I can download to my iPhone. Might work out as a nice complement to Duolingo on my walks in the park where cellular is spotty at best. I think this is ad free listening too.

The Washington Post recently ran this story about how Duolingo is increasingly using AI to construct its lessons, and users described in the Comments section that they are noticing nonsensical answers. (gift article so there should be no paywall)

Not free but excellent is Dartmouth's Summer Italian intensive : an online, 5-day course offered over 1 week once each summer. It was taught in mid-July in 2023 and 2022, so I'm assuming the same for 2024. If you have the time available, it would give you Italian just in time for your trip! Dartmouth's Rassias Method creates a learning environment that's fun and safe from embarrassment and focused on getting you to think in the language. Emphasis is on speaking and understanding. They offer multiple levels and this is one of the keys to their success - you will be well matched with your groupmates in terms of how much Italian you already have, and so you make a lot of progress together in a short time. Dartmouth also offers a semi-intensive online from Jan 23 to Feb 29 on Tues/Thurs evenings Eastern Time. Registration deadline has already passed but they can sometimes/often accommodate late registrants. Dartmouth's method of teaching was more effective for me than any other format (college way back when, asynchronous online course, podcasts, weekly private tutor, weeklong classroom course in Italy).

Besides Dartmouth, I've gotten the "next most" out of Italian with Davide , a (paid) structured asynchronous online course - but registration only opens once or twice per year so if you are interested, sign up to be notified. I heard about Davide from an interview Sarah Murdoch did with him a few years ago and I thought his beginner course was really well organized and useful.

I did Coffee Break Italian for a while, and liked their format of "little bites" - it's offered both in podcast or on YouTube/their website. The benefit of watching the video for me is that I can understand better if I can see the speaker's face and see their written notes. But it's also good practice for me to try to understand just by listening.

Whatever you choose, buona fortuna e buon viaggio!

People worry far too much about learning Italian prior to going there, and years ago I did the same. Italians and most Europeans start learning English in school at a very young age, and generally any European younger than 45 or so is fluent in English. That has been my experience after many trips. Yes, it’s fun to learn some new words in a foreign language, but using your new words is difficult unless you can follow up quickly when they respond to you! IF they don’t respond in English. So have fun with your Buongiorno and grazie but don’t worry about much more than that.

I used Pimsleur Italian up thru level 3 (it goes up to level 5) before a trip last fall. I'll give it mixed reviews. It was great for producing sentences. There were a bunch of things I could say as easily as I'm typing this now. But I had little ability to understand responses. The sad thing was many responses were mostly or completely words I knew but when spoken at conversational speed and pronounced correctly in Italian I did not recognize them. So Pimsleur has it's place but isn't the complete solution.

The linguist John McWhorter wrote a NYT article recommending using Glossika, which has several thousand sentences in graded levels of difficulty. By listening to them repetitively the idea is that they can come to seen as natural as production does using other programs. I'm going to give it a try before another trip to Italy this fall.

Hi Les, I applaud your desire to want to learn more of the language.

I love visiting Italy and staying in over thirty Italian cities, it’s definitely been used! And it has been wonderful to be able to speak some Italian, even if I am still a beginner level. And it’s certainly appreciated from locals both as being courteous and to show we are interested in their community.

I used to practiced languages with Duolingo, some game CD’s, Italian for Dummies, YouTube language videos, etc. when I was getting ready for my next trip. Preparing for staying 32 days in more remote Italian regions this year, I have been seriously studying with Duolingo. I’m on consecutive Day 136, (purchased a year two months ago), spending at least an hour each evening on it and am at their top Diamond level. I took it as a good sign when I could say a few Italian sentences in my mind if I wake up during the night - LOL!

I do have two sheets of paper where I wrote out sentences that I would like to be speaking in hotels, in restaurants, train stations, a museum, etc. For example, “I would like a table for two, please.” “Could we make a reservation for dinner tonight?” “Could I have my key, Room #123, please?” I like writing it out myself to help with the memory, and I reviewed that page on the plane and in my room the first few nights. By then, it should be familiar.

If you study Duolingo for awhile, some of the comments about food in the Italian lessons are quite entertaining!

The typical tourist who spends a week or two in the major cities in Italy does not need to worry about communicating with the locals in Italian. Yes, it’s fun to learn more and to use it but that takes a lot of studying and patience from native Italians when you do try to converse.

Google Translate app gives you the option of saving many phrases, of your own devising , in many languages. You can also hear each one as well. You could do this , and practice saying them all before your trip. I also like Mango, we get it through our local library website. Perhaps some language cd’s from your library might help, too?

Good for you for trying hard to learn before your trip!

I am using Mango as well through my library's free access for a tour de France/Paris Olympics trip this summer, and I am hopeful. I think I am focused on learning French because the last time I traveled in a country I didn't speak the language (I know general Italian and Spanish) was over 15 years ago (France and Germany) and I feel very different in a place I can't communicate well in. I don't know if I will have time to learn to my general knowledge of Spanish (definitely not as good as Italian, but I will be in Nice first so I will probably be able to ease into the French with a bit of Italian hahahah) but I want to be able to be at least a general step above the basis of "politeness". Here's to hoping!

Even though last time I was in Italy I said "do you have space for two?" in Italian and the waiter said "You speak great Italian!" when I literally only said 4 words, I want to be able to at least converse in a restaurant and get directions to places in France.

But for the OP, check what your library card can get you access to, as using in conjunction with duolingo might help even more!

Also, getting used to just HEARING Italian will help, I am concerned about just identifying words in French at the moment, much less even translating them, but I am certain that your PBS station/app has a lot of Italian shows with English subtitles (sottotitoli! I like saying that hahaha) you can get used to listening to.

I have been watching a French one and I for sure can identify the word for "today"! (from that show as well as tour de France French interviews hahaha)

I used Duolingo German and found it very helpful. It gave me a good foundation with which to branch out to Coffee Break German (I see you've already discovered the Coffee Break series) and to Easy German on YouTube (check and see if there is Easy Italian; there probably is). I learn best with a combination of structured grammar lessons and listening to/participating in coversations and Duolingo was perfect for that part of the combo. I haven't found anything else that worked as well for me. I know some people really hate on Duolingo, but I never went into it thinking it would make me fluent. I wanted to learn some basic grammar and vocab for a trip and just six weeks of Duolingo made such a difference in my first trip to Germany that I continued to study it somewhat seriously up until 2021.

Thanks very much for all your replies. Have given me some good ideas to follow up.

Keep them coming. :)

My husband and I traveled to Italy last year for the first time. It's been decades since either of us have needed to navigate not in English, but once upon a time I could have a broken conversation in French and he's had some Spanish. I found Duolingo to be perfect for what we needed -- I practiced daily for about 5 months before we left. What I found the most helpful about what I learned is that I could mostly read the signs -- I could figure out how to buy a ticket or read a menu or tell if that sign meant the hiking trail was closed or it was only closed between X-Y days and we were there on day Z. I definitely didn't know enough to have a conversation, but I learned enough to be able to comprehend other's questions of me.

Carrie, good point. I have used the Google Translate and camera in that app to read some signs and menus. But sometimes it is a bit hard to get the app to read the fonts on the menu. Or at least it was in the past. Would be nice to know more Italian words right off the bat. And I could also read Italian advertising ... well a mixed blessing indeed. :)

Good for you, Les, working to improve your Italian. as so many people here have noted, more capacity with the language will enhance your experience.

Can you get along without it ? Yes. Is it a lot more fun and a richer experience with it ? Also yes.

I agree that if you're staying in bigger cities you don't need to know Italian, but I think it helps open the culture up to you if you can manage some of the language on your own. I know Italians appreciate the effort and you never know what opportunities might open up to you if you can manage a conversation with a random stranger or shop owner.

We were in a non-touristy town and stopped in at il bar one afternoon for a chinotto and sandwich and the lovely woman who ran the cafe brought our food and was really upset explaining that she had dropped half my panini taking it out of the press. She was making me another one and had brought me the surviving half. It was absolutely not a big deal but she seems really upset. Thankfully my Italian did not abandon me in that moment and I was able to say "Non si preoccupi" which is "Don't worry about it" (formal) and it really seemed to help her calm down. I'm still glad I managed to say the right thing at the right time. It's a small victory but it helped me feel like was more part of the local scene a little bit than just a tourist.

Another phrase I recommend you learn is some version of "L'inglese è il mio preferito" meaning "I prefer English". This helps when you walk into a place and speak Italian and get a stream of Italian in return that you can't understand. They will quickly figure out from your 'deer in the headlights' look that they should change languages but this phrase will let you speak for yourself. Also in the north where German tourism is popular I was mistaken for Germain more than once and I was asked if English was okay as the compromise language and I was able to say "Yes" using this phrase.

The only other thing I will say is that even if you learn some Italian the differences in towns will keep you off balance. In Bologna I was greeted with " Ciao, salve!" walking into stores rather than " Buongiorno " and they insisted on using the word calice for a glass of wine rather than bicchiere which I had never heard. When I asked in Venice they said they would use bicchiere as I had expected.

And some places you order at the bar and pay upfront, some you order at the bar and pay later, and others you order at the table. Italy will always keep you guessing and you need to embrace it and just roll with it. Learning some Italian will help but I still always felt like Italians were dancing to some music I couldn't hear. They breeze into restaurants, grab tables and order drink while I'm still trying to figure out who to talk to. Just roll with it and admire the Italian bella figura with tehir ease and grace without being too jealous.

Have a great trip, =Tod

Thanks for telling those Italy stories Tod. Those small connections with the natives can make for a richer trip experience.

hiredman " l'inglese è il mio preferito " means " English is my favourite ". The correct translation of " I prefer English " is ", preferisco l'inglese " which sounds a little too "direct" if used as a request. A more formal way of asking to switch to English could be: "mi scusi, possiamo parlare inglese?" or "si potrebbe parlare inglese per favore?"

Duolingo was fun to work with while at home, but brain lock kept me from actually using much of it verbally. Same with Babel & Italian for Dummies. One point to consider, all these teach Italian . Vast numbers of "Italians" actually primarily speak their local dialect, so learning Italian to speak to them is learning their secondary language (English being their 3rd - got to admire their ability to move between languages). And don't even get me started on Sicilian (my family's heritage). However, all those teaching resources did - as others have mentioned - help me understand written words on signs and menus, so that was useful.

Thanks Tobia, that is one of the limitations of taking an online course without real exposure to the language. In Italy I find salve to be a fairly common greeting but have never heard it mentioned in any formal Italian course I've taken. I had an Italian tell me that if you use salve Italians may assume you are a better Italian speaker than you are.

I should have been more clear because my usage of "l'inglese è il mio preferito" would come after we had exchanged pleasantries in Italian and were moving onto more substantive discussions. They would ask me something too complicated or fast for my Italian and I would ask them to repeat it more slowly "Ripeti lentamente, per favore" and then we would generally start the language negotiation. One funny way to say it I learned from my American friend who has a place in Italy is say "Piano, piano" accompanied by a kind of double hands up open and closing motion. I have no idea where it's from but it never fails to make Italian people laugh and also they understand that you're struggling with the language.

Also as I mentioned I was mistaken for German more than once and was asked essentially if English was okay as part of a preemptive negotiation and later they were surprised to find out I was American. In Arezzo I was asked if I spoke German by a shopkeeper and I said "Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch" because I took high school German but again it turned out English was the common language we both spoke but she had been learning German and was looking to try it out on a native speaker.

So the good news for Americans is that English has become the common language in Italy that shopkeepers will try to land on for tourists from all over the world. But I struggle to learn what I can of the local language because I'd like to be as inside the culture as I can.

Buon viaggio, =Tod

In my first Duolingo lessons, "salve" is used rather then "buongiorno". Different users might be experiencing a different plan structure or also the lessons may have been updated.

To the OP's question: yes it helped me. Yes, there are probably better, but it was free and convenient. I did Duo Italian for 180 days straight during COVID as part of my morning routine. Much of that has been lost since, but I'd go back to it if I was going to Italy anytime soon.

@hiredman - Yes, it is always tempting to ask an Italian you are trying to converse with to slow down with their speech, however, I try not to ask anymore after being told by an Italian acquaintance in Italy that “Italians HATE that!” which maybe depends on the person, but I certainly stopped asking him!

oooo! Talking about "salve" vs "buongiorno"!

So you are supposed to greet all shopkeepers when going in and out of their stores, usually a "hello" of some sort, and then a "grazie" on the way out. I would always say "buongiorno" during the morning times, but since neither "buon pomerriggio" or "buona sera" (as my friends said was ok for anything after noon) felt right, I settled for a "salve" all times between 12pm and 5pm :)

Perhaps this is a regional thing, but when I stayed at Allogia Barbaria in Venice in 2017, the owner told me that 'salve' was more impersonal. He said that's how he would greet "the tax man." :-)

And, I completed Duolingo's Italian course, and am now working on the French. Certainly not necessary for travel, but, for me, it does make it more fun to be able to engage locals in their own language. Haltingly, at times, but I've found the effort to almost always be appreciated.

Hi Les, circling back on your post. I mentioned that watching some YouTube videos for beginner’s traveler’s Italian from native speakers were really helpful, too. One of them shared “Va bene?” which I used often in the smaller cities and even in Venice last time. It means “All right?” or “Is it good?”, so when you want to sit at a table in a piazza to have a drink, catch the eye of the waiter and ask it, pointing to the table you would like. It saves them time, and you also have been courteous.

I have tried Duolingo for 10 days. Probably a bit too much repetition of very easy cafe talk. It is kind of fun. And maybe the repetition will be good for me.

I also have been trying Mango as suggested above by others. It seems to be better in that there is more explanations and also so far an emphasis on formal rather then casual vocabulary. As an older adult traveling I am not going to hit the young nightlife and already have a wife. :)

Coffee Break Italian podcasts are good for my walks.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.