9 techniques to maximize your Italian learning routine
If you are here and reading this post is probably because your goal is to travel to Italy and feel at home. Becoming fluent in Italian or any other foreign language can give you a sense of personal achievement and improve your life in many facets.
Becoming fluent in Italian can take time, and so, it is necessary to implement some smart techniques to connect with Italian on a regular basis. How do you do it, if you don’t live in Italy and have little time?
This post will show you 9 easy and smart techniques to make the most out of the little time you have to study in Italy.
1. Learn Italian by using the Pomodoro technique.
Have you ever experienced doing a long Italian study session on one day, ending up exhausted, and not touching your Italian learning resources… for the next week? I have. No wonder why this is not the best way to go if you plan to become fluent in Italian.
Significant progress stems from small but regular steps. Find 20 or 25 minutes every second day each week and do some activities that involve Italian.
Mesure your time using the Pomodoro Technique. What is it? It is a twenty-five-minute timer that you can install on your phone or desktop. It works brilliantly. Why? Twenty-five minutes is not too much, and not little. It is the right amount of time I can keep my focus on something without any interruption. When 25 minutes are gone, the bell rings, and you know what, I am not overwhelmed. I close the books looking forward to the next 25-minute session.
2. Create the habit of learning Italian
Take some time to create a realistic Italian learning tracker and stick to it. I always recommend my students not to plan many things but to set realistic and achievable goals. Don’t make a salad of all the possible language applications or textbooks. Select one good content/teacher/program and stick to it for a while.
If there is one secret to becoming excellent at something, is being consistent in what you do.
How to automate your Italian Language Learning routine in 6 steps
3. Use the App “Tandem”
Tandem is a language learning app that you can use to connect through voice and text chat with native Italian speakers from all around the world. It covers over 100 languages, and it is free. When signing up, everything you need to do is marking your native language(s) and your target language, for example, Italian.
You do not need to be fluent in Italian to use it, as the app also offers a voice recognition system and translation help. For instance, if you don’t know how to spell something, you can talk to the voice record, which will type it for you.
Tandem also has a feature that allows you to meet native Italian speakers in your area.
4. Join or start an Italian language meetup group in your city
What is Meetup? Meetup is a worldwide community of people who meet because they like the same things, like hiking, coding or learning Italian. Many Italian language meetings happen already in many major cities worldwide. All you need to do is look for one in your area and show up for the event.
I like meetups because they offer native Italian speakers and Italian learners the chance to come together and share the language in a social environment. Answering impromptu questions and practicing your Italian while sipping a glass of wine is by far one of the best ways to take your Italian to the next level.
What if there is no Italian language meetup in your area? Take your chances, and start your own one 🙂
5. Journal in Italian
Keeping a journal is a brilliant exercise for countless reasons, like reflecting on your thoughts, setting goals, tracking your little daily achievements, and the likes. Journaling in Italian excellent self-awareness tool that you can use to speed-up your Italian learning journey. Why? Simply, writing is speaking in slow motion!
You need just 10 minutes a day. Sit down, combine Italian with self-reflection. It will be a pleasant and powerful little language habit.
Why? Memory retains better everything that connects to our experiences and soul.
The best way to learn is through experience.
Writing down some parts of your life in Italian will boost up your Italian like never before.
6. Craft your own an Italian Immersion Trip
An Italian immersion trip is a whole different experience from traveling to Italy and spend most of the time sightseeing or hopping from one historical center to another.
Immersing in the culture, it means spending a longer time (best if in an off the beaten track destination) in the same place and get soaked in the culture and language. Out of your comfort zone.
I guarantee you will have one of the most enriching life experiences, not to mention your Italian will thrive in just a few weeks.
You can craft your immersion trip or join an organized Italian language retreat by private schools or teachers.
How to create a DIY Italian Immersion Trip
7. Use Italki
I know hiring a native Italian tutor is uneasy sometimes… On Italki, no matter how far from Italy you live, you will be able to hire a native Italian tutor 24/7. Italki is the most prominent teacher and tutor marketplace in the world, where you can hire professional teachers and tutors. If you don’t need professional lessons, you use the platform to look for language exchange partners with whom you can converse in Italian.
I have been delivering professional lessons on Italki for almost four years, and I was fortunate to meet inspiring and dedicated Italian learn from all over the world.
8. Start using Quizlet
Quizlet is a software used by teachers and students to learn information through learning tools and games. What is unique about it? It is for free, and you can have total control of your Italian learning process. You can make your list of words or sentences and decide how and when to learn them. You can share them with your fellow Italian learners or use the ones that other Italian teachers have made on the platform.
9. Follow and Italian Youtuber / IG account/ Blogger
The smart learner enjoys combining her interests with the Language Learner. Look for an influencer/blogger/guru who is regularly posting or blogging about something that gets your attention. Once you have found a good one, follow she/her, interact with the account, read the comments other users leave.
