Have you always dreamed of living or studying in Italy? Eating Carbonara and visiting the Colosseum? Touring the beautiful Amalfi coast and enjoying the company of friendly locals? Be inspired by the country that was home to Leonardo da Vinci and start your journey by taking a class in Italian.
There is an abundance of Italian language classes on offer in Ireland at all levels, from beginners and intermediate to refreshers and advanced.
Italian one of the romance languages and is the official language in Italy, Sicily, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City and western Istria. It is one of the most popular languages studied in Europe and the US. With 13% of the EU population speaking it fluently.
Taking a class in Italian is a structured way to learn the language. Qualified tutors can help motivate you to learn Italian as a foreign language and develop your conversational as well as written skills.
Italian Language Courses
Taking a structured language class means that you benefit from the personalized attention of an instructor. Small class sizes allow for better one on one communication and help you develop all aspects of your learning. Similarly, choosing a classroom-based learning environment means you benefit from interaction with fellow students. Most tutors are native or fluent speakers with qualified teaching certificates. All of the language institutes offer a range of different classes in Italian, from beginner and intermediate levels to advanced.
Additionally, students can choose to take a class in conversational Italian. This class is for those who have a good basic grammar knowledge but want to improve their conversation skills. Conversational Italian focuses on the spoken word and less on textbooks, grammar and reading.
This would be particularly useful for those dreamers heading off to experience living in Italy or for those who are taking an extended holiday in the country. Likewise, people who have Italian clients or who have to travel for business would also benefit from this class.
Learning Structure on Italian Courses
Taking a course in Italian will help you to focus on developing your language skills in reading, writing, listening, speaking and grammar.
Listening comprehension is one of the hardest parts of learning any foreign language so you will be encouraged to listen to audio in your own time. Listening to audio while driving, working around the house or out for a walk will help improve the learners’ skills.
In addition to beginners and advanced classes, students can opt for an improvers class. This is for those who have some basic knowledge of the Italian language. You may have studied it to Leaving Certificate level but haven’t used it since and want to refresh your skills. To take this course students must be able to fairly consistently ask simple questions in Italian and be able to respond accordingly.
Classroom-based learning can be combined with online learning in a number of the courses. You can practice your phrases, dialogues and exercises through online resources provided as part of the course. In addition to the language, most of the courses cover a brief history of Italy and an introduction to the culture.
Also, learning Italian will make it easier to pick up another romance language such as Spanish, French, Portuguese or Romanian.
Making the Move
If you are seriously considering a move to Italy, now is an excellent time to do so. Italy is one of the top economies in the world. Multinational companies have offices located there including Chrysler, General Electric, ExxonMobil, IBM and Citibank. It has inspired the works of many famous artists, designers, writers and musicians. Designers such as Versace, Gucci, Armani and Prada all hail from Italy.
Taking a course in the Italian language will help you settle into your new life a lot quicker. Very few Italians are fluent in English outside of the main cities. So, to fully appreciate the people, the culture and the history, learning the language is a necessity.
Find Italian courses near you in Courses.ie’s national courses database.
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