Is it hard to learn Italian? Italian language: difficult or easy? Criteria for choosing a textbook

Each language is complex in its own way. If you have a certain inclination to study some foreign language, then you are very lucky, and if not, then you will have to put a lot of diligence in order to learn the language, at least at an intermediate level. There are no easy languages that are easy to learn, each has its own difficulties. In this article, we will look at the difficulties that you will have to face if you are going to learn Italian. Your success depends on your abilities, with or without them, you will have to work hard at it anyway.

Some people decide to learn Italian just because it seems easy to them, when it is not. The main difficulty is related to the fact that this language has a complex lexical structure, as well as expressive and varied turns, which are not so easy to master. Also, difficulties may arise in the assimilation of grammar, which is also not easy. You should always proceed from the fact that any language needs to be learned with pleasure, otherwise there will not be much effectiveness from your studies.

Difficulties in learning Italian:

Pronunciation and intonation is very different from the Russian language. Sounds need to be pronounced in a special way and a lot of work will have to be done on this. To pronounce words, as the Italians do, will become possible only after a long training.
Grammatical complexity in the use of the article and its forms. There are two reasons for these difficulties: there is no article in Russian in order to be able to learn its use by associations. The second reason is based on the fact that the Italian language does not have clear rules for the use of the article, and there are many exceptions to the rules.
The use of prepositions causes difficulties, since some constructions do not fit into the generally accepted framework.
The verb is the main problem of all those who undertake the study given language. There are many tenses of the verb, much more than in Russian, this is actually the main problem - to deal with the formation of tenses and their application. It will be difficult to understand inclinations, and the formation of complex tenses is relatively easy to learn, since they are formed according to the same principle.

These are the main difficulties that you will have to deal with if you are going to learn Italian. But this language has a beautiful sound, so you will be highly motivated to learn it.

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I remember that about 7 years ago, one of my acquaintances, who began to study the Italian language, constantly told me how difficult it was. Knowing the nature of the acquaintance, I nodded, but I believed that the problem lay not so much in the language as in itself: enthusiasm and perseverance can work wonders, and there were questions to the acquaintance with the presence of these qualities. Having experienced English and Greek before learning Italian, I still find that complex and simple languages does not exist. There is little desire.

I must say right away that I did not write this article alone. Each beginner "Italian" is individual and it is wrong to look at everything exclusively from one's own bell tower. Therefore, I turned to Vika - asking her to help with writing an article. She, as an active Italian tutor, is much more aware of the difficulties that most students face.

Many people often start learning italian precisely because it is considered uncomplicated. Thus, they believe that with little blood they will be able to add another language to their asset, which in the future can be monetized by an increase in salary, a more prestigious job, etc. However, already in the first weeks of its study, they encounter significant difficulties.

Indeed, the Italian language is not as simple as it seems at first glance, and it is worth immediately discarding thoughts of successfully and quickly learning it without effort. But if you like the language, and you are ready to work, and the chosen teacher has found the right approach, then the study will not be so much difficult as exciting. Moreover, with each new lesson, you will be able to better understand Italians, their songs and films, and this is one of the richest and most cheerful cultures in the world.

But this is all preamble. “Philosophy” aside, what are the real difficulties students face when they first try learning italian? The first thing that catches your eye right away is the pronunciation. Although there is an opinion that in Italian it is simple - and at the level of individual sounds it is true - the stress and intonation are not at all like we are used to. Therefore, often students, even diligently studying the language, have a problem with the pronunciation "like Italians."

Once you learn the rules, you can easily speak, read and write Italian

Another common difficulty is the use of articles. And the point here is not only that they are absent in Russian, but also that the use of articles in Italian is difficult to formalize with a few clear rules. With articles, students who have experience in learning English will feel much more comfortable. If Italian is your first language, then you should prepare to pay special attention to articles.

Another difficulty in learning Italian, which has some similarities with English, is the use of prepositions. Template rules do not always apply here either, and the use of many prepositions will directly depend on the words combined with them. Thus, many cases will simply have to be learned by heart, without being tied to specific rules.

And of course, the main difficulties in learning Italian for beginners are the verb, or rather - whole galaxy tenses that simply do not exist in Russian. Moreover, in order not to make mistakes, in addition to the forms of tenses, you will have to thoroughly understand their use. In total, there are 14 tenses in Italian: 8 are indicative, 2 are conditional, and 4 are subjunctive. Here, however, there is a facilitating factor: many times are formed according to similar principles, and not all of them are complex.

Mentioning the difficulties faced by students who begin learning Italian, it should be said that it is easy. Of course, the first thing is spelling. Once you learn the rules, you can easily write and read Italian, which is extremely convenient. The grammar of Italian is also generally uncomplicated. It is slender, logical and almost unencumbered by exceptions. Finally, the Italian vocabulary is also quite simple, thanks to a huge number words of Latin origin, and therefore used in one form or another in the Russian language.

Learning Italian with a tutor:

Regardless of the purpose of learning Italian, I can sincerely recommend Vika, my former tutor, who once initiated me into the basics of the language. Vika taught courses for a long time, and has been practicing Italian classes via Skype for several years. Details about her and the history of our acquaintance can be found in the article.

You will need

- Italian language textbook (self-tutor),
- audio CDs
- notebook,
- pen,
technical means - optional.

Instruction

Set aside time for yourself every day, an hour and a half. Plan your schedule for the week ahead and correlate all other tasks with it. In order not to forget about classes in a series of household chores, use reminders, a planner on a computer, organize your schedule so that by the time you have all your work done. Get yourself cozy workplace where you won't be distracted.

Purchase any textbook or Italian. The difference between them will be only in the form of presentation of the material - in some textbooks it is more interesting or more modern, in some the material will be drier. Beforehand, if possible, familiarize yourself with it, in what form the information is given, and what explanations and exercises are used. But, by and large, with any textbook you will have to do the same repetitive actions - study the rules, grammar, perform exercises to consolidate them and words. So don't waste a lot of time on it. Use the Internet to get acquainted with tutorials and reviews about them.

Set yourself short-term goals. For example, a week to learn 50 - 100 lexical units. This will help keep track of small successes and keep you motivated, feeling satisfied with yourself, and will not depend on the brightness of book illustrations.

Purchase CDs so that you can listen and repeat the material after the speakers. It is desirable that they be from the same set with the textbook. For this, you can also use the Internet, there are many educational audio recordings available for review.

Alternate memorization of the rules with practice - do exercises, watch Italian channels, listen and translate songs, memorize and sing the songs yourself. Getting emotional pleasure from classes is very important, it significantly contributes to the memorization of new material.

As you advance in skills, read literature in Italian. Start with simple and short stories. First use bilingual texts with parallel Russian translation. Gradually, by practicing reading and memorizing words, you will stop paying attention to the Russian translation, and the need for it will disappear.

Use online lessons on the Internet. Meet Italians by interests. Visit Italian Internet resources, be interested in what is happening in the country, read the news. Receiving information in the target language from all sides, the brain adapts to the language faster and easier, this simulates the situation of “immersion”, when language acquisition is faster.

Useful advice

For additional classes and consolidation of knowledge, use the time on the road, and, if possible, the time before bedtime.

Sources:

Italian language tutorials.
learn italian

There are several recipes for quick and effective learning Italian. But in order to learn quickly, you need to immerse yourself in the language environment: read, listen, communicate and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Instruction

Instructor or partnerPeople who are more comfortable learning in a group should look for language courses or an individual teacher. It doesn't matter if it will be sessions, jimail, msn or classes in linguistic language. The main thing is the support of an experienced teacher, and even better - a native speaker. Of course it costs money. Therefore, an alternative, or rather, free option is to find an Italian who is interested in learning Russian or any other language that a "student" can teach. The language partner can check written texts, correct pronunciation. Most importantly, it helps to remove the psychological block. So, the speed will increase several times.

Intelligible programEducational material should be structured and systematized. You should not grab ten programs at the same time, even if they are free and on the Internet. It is better to focus on two, maybe four tutorials, since each tutorial has its own internal logic. One focuses more on Italian grammar, the other is essentially a phrase book with a crash course for tourists. Therefore, advanced polyglots make their own structure of classes for the week ahead. And they know for sure that on Monday they pay attention to reading and irregular verbs from one book, and on Tuesday they study phonetics according to another textbook. They also start a special one notebook (file) in order to record their successes and difficulties. Systems approach- a pledge of meaningful, and hence fast learning Italian.

Regular reading You can read an ordinary paper book, underlining unfamiliar words with a pencil, and then writing them out in a notebook. You can read an e-book using an electronic translator. Or you can sign up for language educational networks that help you learn foreign languages. Italian is one of the most popular. It is important to remember that there are both paid and free services in language education networks. If cost savings are important, then it is better to hang out at two or three online training sites. For example, lingq.com allows you to read texts and "link" new words in Italian for free. These expressions can be added to a special program in order to listen and read several times on a mobile phone. You can learn every free minute, and playfully. And you can also receive the same words in your mailbox. Another popular network livemocha.com provides 4 free courses Italian, and these are about fifty lessons with written and oral exercises that are viewed by native speakers, and for free.

Listening It is important to listen not only to Italian music or audio books, but also to live dialogues, news texts, podcasts (thematic programs, author's monologues, dialogues, conversations and interviews posted on the Internet). They can be of very different topics: from recipes for making real Italian pizza to discussions of Italian grammar, history, economics and politics.
Large database of podcasts on various topics: http://www.audiocast.it/
Italian phonetics classes: http://www.podcast.com/show/97667/Fonetica-I/
Children's fairy tales, songs http://www.walter.bz/podcast/

note

It is important to pay attention to whether they offer knowledge of the Italian language for free or for money.

Useful advice

It is worth having a special folder with useful links to resources for learning Italian.

Sources:

Reminders on Italian grammar and phonetics.
Italian fast

lingua italiana is one of those amazing languages that people learn for the most irrational reasons. For example, you like the sound of Italian speech or remember the memories of Venetian gondolas gliding along the surface of the canals. If the Italian language were a dish, then love for it would be the main ingredient, and pedagogical techniques, like spices, would be added to taste.

Instruction

Before starting the study, you need to learn more about yourself. This will allow you to see the difference between your native language and Italian, set your mind and make learning educational material more comfortable. The Italian language goes back to vernacular Latin and belongs to the Romance group. This means that it will be easy for a person familiar with Spanish, French, Portuguese, as well as Moldovan and Romanian. It has a clear grammar: there is a masculine and feminine gender, three . Latin-based alphabet. Although the Italian language belongs to a different group than, it seems logical, musical and even easy representatives of the Slavic group of languages.

The biggest problem for students who want to learn Italian is the abundance educational literature, cheat sheets, CD-courses of the Italian language. How not to drown in the abundance of tutorials? After all, quantity does not mean quality, especially when it comes to modern textbooks. The easiest way is to buy, download or borrow a certified textbook intended for universities in the library. This will help you not to pick up mistakes in the field of phonetics and grammar. Italian is too beautiful language to teach him somehow.

In parallel with theory, practical language skills should be mastered. Independent and conscious language learning presupposes that a person will follow the PESH rule: read, listen, speak, write. When reading, it is advisable to use a dictionary, electronic translator or read texts at lingQ.com. There you can pick up even entry-level text, the translation of the text is presented in the form of tooltips. The site allows you to read and listen to the text at the same time or find links to interesting podcasts in Italian. There you can also "link" new words that are automatically added to your personal set of cards. You can read live speech and communicate with native Italian speakers in other language networks - busuu.com and livemocha.com.

Is there an unambiguously better textbook

When choosing an Italian textbook for or a self-instruction manual, it is very important not to make a mistake, because the book will have to become a full-fledged teacher. Appreciated among lovers of the Italian language received such textbooks as “Italian without a teacher” by G.P. Kiseleva and "Self-tutor of the Italian language" N.A. Ryzhak and E.A. Ryzhak. Nevertheless, it is rather difficult to say that these textbooks are the best.

Any qualified teacher will tell you that there is no better textbook. In one book, texts can be perfectly selected, in another - grammar is well explained, in the third effective exercises etc. Therefore, experienced teachers select materials for their students, using several teaching aids at once.

Criteria for choosing a textbook

If you have to choose an Italian textbook on your own, it is best to go to a bookstore, where there is a good selection and the opportunity to leaf through each book. There are certain criteria for choosing a manual for effective classes. First of all, the book must be written in Russian. The fact is that bookstores often sell manuals published in Italy itself. They, it seems, are also considered self-taught, but it is very difficult for a person who is starting to learn a language to understand them.

The textbook must contain exercises and keys to them so that you can test yourself. The most important selection criterion study guide- the presence of an audio application, voiced by a native speaker. Even the most intelligent Italian textbook will not be effective if it is not accompanied by an audio recording. At best, it can be used to form passive knowledge.

Based on the proposed criteria, everyone who wants to learn Italian will be able to choose a textbook that will help him succeed in achieving his goal.

Say what you like, but learning a foreign language from scratch is what a job! Especially mental and, most often, emotional. For me, that's exactly what happened. In my school years, like many others, I began to study English. It was primitive, at the level of knowledge of the alphabet, personal pronouns, standard phrases like "My name is Natasha" and "I live in Moscow" or meager poems that I have eyes and I can see a book and a pen in front of me, I see ceiling and floor, I see a window and a door. You know, many years have passed, but I still remember the rhyme. Apparently, the weekly repetition worked. And what?

I am ashamed, but when I first came abroad, I could not communicate with foreigners. At all. No way. Well, except that hello, goodbye and thank you. It was the maximum.

I was devoured by a sense of shame, because next to me there is a sister who speaks excellent English, speaks German, Spanish and Portuguese. And each of our conversations ended with her optimistic phrase “Learn English!”. But I didn't want to. I had no desire for this.

In the most terrible summer of 2010, I went to Italy. Two weeks of walks in the most beautiful cities: Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples. Under the road from one city to another we looked. Graceful "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn, breathtaking "The Italian Job" with greetings from Venice, sunny shots "Under the Tuscan Sun", which have become the most beloved and symbolic images of Italy. In the evenings in a small room (oh, that piccolo!) I turned on the Italian TV channel Rai and listened, listened, listened ...

However, I did not start learning Italian on my own right away. There were several important and fateful meetings that turned into golden keys from the doors to the world called "Italian language". I share these "meetings" with you. Heartily.

A young man with an interesting name, Zhivko, greets hotel guests with a wide, disarming smile. A melodious Italian dialect spreads around, and he invites you to sit down in pure Russian: “Welcome to Italy! Coffee?" And after a few minutes, a steaming, fragrant cup of espresso appears on a tiny table. This is how my Italian morning began at the Playa Hotel, located on the Viserbell embankment, which is a 10-minute drive from the city. July that year turned out to be very hot, even in the morning hours the Italians themselves hide under awnings, miniature umbrellas and behind bar counters. “Just like at my house,” Zhivko admits, and this is where our acquaintance begins.

In the Hotel Playa, which mainly hosts Italians and only a few rooms are usually occupied by visiting foreigners, everyone speaks their own language. English does not help in communication, in Italian at that time I could only say 2 words - Ciao and Grazie. Therefore, it was Zhivko who became my personal translator. I was alone in the Russian hotel.

Later we met with him at the hotel restaurant. There was a menu on a separate table attached to me for the rest of the holiday. Of course, everything is in Italian. Under every dish name with a simple pencil Zhivko wrote the translation. Albeit with errors, but still such attention is expensive.

I remember once I really wanted milk. Still, coffee in the morning, afternoon and evening is unusual for me. “Milk is latte,” Zhivko explained and smiled again.

I remember those days with warmth, because each of us can find ourselves in a situation where a person who can speak your native language is simply needed nearby in a foreign country. I already have it. Although now we can already speak Italian. If you ever find yourself in the Witherbella area, say hello to Zhivko from Moscow.

And another Italian inspiration

I don’t remember exactly in which television season, on Channel One they started showing the show “ ice Age”, in which pairs of professionals and amateurs skated on the ice. Among them was my favorite couple. They performed one of the numbers of the program to the amazing and probably the most famous song (Adriano Celentano) "Confessa". By itself, the number under the spotlights fascinated, but even more I was captivated by this amazing voice with a hoarseness. Guess what I wanted to do? First, understand what the song is about. And, secondly, to sing yourself. But for this you had to know Italian.

And then one day, on one of the warm summer evenings, I made up my mind. Okay, I will learn English! Because it is necessary. And I will learn Italian. Because I want. This difference between “need” and “want” played a very important role for me. I know the second language better than the first.

Do not force yourself, friends! Let learning a new language bring satisfaction and joy from what happens. And, most importantly, teach for yourself, not for others. After all, how nice it is to hear small but successful attempts to pronounce a phrase in Italian, the words “Brava!”

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The charms and challenges of learning Italian - first-person experiences. Part I

In this article, I talk about my experience of learning Italian (as a second foreign language) in Italy two years before level B2. This level is above average, followed by levels C1 and C2 - teaching and carrier. I consider the factors that help in learning Italian, as well as give examples of the difficulties that arise along the way, share my subjective experiences and emotions that I experience in the process of mastering this interesting language.

I studied in an international group, which at the same time included a fairly large sample of my compatriots and people from neighboring countries. Therefore, I could observe not only my successes and difficulties, but also other students with whom we actively discussed issues of study. These nuances of the Italian language made an impression not only on me, but also attracted the attention of many people with whom I communicated over the course of two years.

For a Russian-speaking person, this language is easier than Arabic or Japanese, where first you need to understand the very structure of the language, its logic, but it is much more difficult than English or Spanish and, as they say knowledgeable people, even French. Although I don’t presume to say the latter, because due to the heap of reading rules, I already see enough French difficult language. By the way, with Italian I had just the opposite effect: at first it seemed to me very easy and intuitive, I quickly moved forward, but after about 8-10 months of studying in a language environment, I was overwhelmed by the awareness of all the depth, inconsistency and complexity of Italian language.

There were decadent thoughts like “I will never be able to speak Italian fluently!” or “What a language! Solid uncertainties and tricks! I literally hated Italian. It was a period of high labor costs and very low visible results. I studied a lot and diligently - the language environment for 15 hours a day, school and home exercises, but at the same time I continued to make a lot of mistakes, didn’t understand a lot and constantly discovered new and new nuances where, it seemed to me, everything had already been explored, understood and you can move on. As it always happens, there comes a moment when the efforts expended suddenly unexpectedly return a hundredfold.

By the end of my second year in Italy, I became almost fluent in Italian. That is, of course, I continue to make mistakes, sometimes quite funny (if I'm worried), often I don't understand or don't know the right word, the form of the verb, but the tension is gone, confidence and freedom have appeared. Some processes were automated, allowing me to concentrate on more complex language forms, I reached a qualitatively new level of language and began to perplex the locals with the inability to determine my nationality. Of course, they feel some strangeness of speech, pronunciation and turns, but they can no longer grasp something specific, so they are at a loss to guess who they are talking to. For an Italian (especially a southern one), unsatisfied curiosity is worse than medieval torture, so I can answer questions about my origin 3 times a day.

However, back to the Italian language and its study.

If you do not speak any of the European languages of the Romance or Germanic groups, then learning Italian will definitely not be easy. You will have to deal with such phenomena unusual for the Russian language as the Latin alphabet and pronunciation rules, articles, a developed system of tenses and their coordination. However, everyone who started learning a second language went through these difficulties, and I can assure you that they are quite surmountable. But then the mastery of each new related language becomes more and more easy - tested on my own experience.

If you speak one of the Romance languages, then it will be an invaluable tool in mastering Italian. For example, Spanish connoisseurs simply have nothing to do in this article, and you won’t even open it, because you already have 2/3 Italian in your pocket, and you know it very well. One year after I started learning Italian, I was in Madrid and listened to a tour in Spanish in a museum. To my surprise, I managed to understand 40 percent of the story in a language that I had never studied at all! It seems to me that the closeness of Italian and Spanish can be imagined if we think about the Russian and Ukrainian languages.

Everything is fine with Portuguese too - one structure, one root, a lot of coinciding vocabulary. Portuguese fado singer Cristina Branco began her concert in Naples with the words: “I don’t speak Italian, but if I speak Portuguese slowly, you will understand me perfectly ...”. With French, according to Wikipedia, everything is even better - there is almost a 100% match, although you can’t say that from the outside.

My database of linguistic assistants included English (in the Upper Intermediate region) and Russian. Yes, I included Russian in this short list not for impressiveness, but because his knowledge turned out to be really useful))). The unexpected closeness of the Russian and Italian languages was a pleasant discovery for me, inspired me and, of course, significantly accelerated the learning process at the initial stage.