How To Speak and Understand Better Italian With Italian Short Stories 

Why Using Italian Short Stories To Speak Italian Better  

1. Our brain doesn’t learn words in isolation. We need to attach a memory or a feeling to a new word or fit in a context. Stories will provide you with a visual to relate to new words or idioms, making it easier to retain new information.
2. They are short: it means they are easy to use and digest. You won’t stick around the same content for months or weeks. You can read it in a week or less!.
3. Most available short stories have a slow audio recording included too, which is the best way to improve your Italian listening skills. 
4. You can start reading and listening in Italian even as a beginner Italian learner. 

Why Reading? 

Reading is one of the ways to go when it comes to acquiring vocabulary and grammar naturally. Why? When reading, you will re-see words that you have already listened to or studied, but you didn’t have a chance to use. Reading will go a long way as it will both reactivate and strengthen your passive grammar and vocabulary. 

Additionally, when reading, you will encounter naturally flowing, accurate Italian sentences. Think of p

repositions as an example.  It can be challenging to understand how they should be used or ordered in a sentence.

You will, however, gradually but surely internalize the proper use of propositions or other challenging Italian grammar patterns if you read the natural and correct Italian  sentences over and over again.

How To Use A Short Story In The Most Efficient Manner?

1. Read out loud (especially if you’re a beginner): this exercise will help you to practice your pronunciation and gain confidence in using the Italian sounds.
2. Read and listen to the story simultaneously. If you are a beginner or intermediate learner: don’t get frustrated if you don’t get most of what is said. The purpose of listening and reading at the same time is to familiarize with the sounds and learn how to recognize them.
3. Write down a few sentences to summarize each chapter. Make the sentences simple. Try to use the same words and verbs that you have encountered in the story. Using the google translator won’t take you very far; instead, it will sabotage your learning process. I always recommend that my students use WordReference to look up words you don’t know and figure out their way to put them together. When writing your sentences, you should also practice the grammar you have been studying more recently. For instance, if you are learning how to talk in the past in Italian, a great idea would be to rewrite a few sentences or a chapter in the past tense. Remember, writing is like speaking in slow motion. 
4. Have your summaries corrected by your teacher and ask her or him to prompt you about the story. Remember, use it or lose it!
5. Repetition is the key. When you are done with your short story, don’t put it aside. The learning curve shows that most of the information we receive gets lost if we don’t revisit it regularly. Re-read your short stories, your flashcards, or your sentences a couple of weeks/months later.

How To Use An Italian Short Story as A Beginner Learner 

• If you have access to the audiobook, don’t expect to understand the whole narration without reading the story. The best way to use audio tracks at your level is by reading and listening to the content simultaneously. Like that, you will soon familiarize yourself with the sounds of Italian and the correct pronunciation of words. 
• Don’t look up every second word. And, learn words within a context (short sentences, or simple chunks). A great idea is pulling out the most relevant ones and putting them on Quizlet. Quizlet is an excellent free tool that you can use to organize and review your Italian work.
• Highlight chunks or sentences that looks interesting to you and you want to try to use in your next Italian conversation. Leave aside all the words or chunks that won’t have particle use in  your Italian talks in the short span. If you don’t know what words or chunks to prioritize, ask your teacher. 
• Summarize the chapters in short and coherent sentences. Each sentence should have from three two six elements.
• Readout loud. 

Test Your Italian

Not sure what your Italian level is? I’ve created a free online Italian test to help you determine it.

Take your assessment now!

How To Use An Italian Short Story as an Intermediate or Advanced  Learner 

• Read first and then listen to the audiobook, if you have access to it.
• Highlight chunks of sentences that sound more natural or involve new worlds. It would be best if you used Quizlet as the main platform to gather all the new chunks (recurring or coherent combinations)
• Memory is selective, not inclusive. Don’t include everything in your flashcards or notebook. Be aware that you need to know it all at your level and that the best way to memorize and learn is to prioritize and summarize the relevant information. If you don’t know how to prioritize the information, ask your teacher. 
• Write a summary of the chapters. A smart practice is to stick around to the words that you already know. Using a translator will sabotage your learning experience because it will prevent you from “producing” the language and making those mistakes vital to enhance your comprehension.
• Integrate the new chunks in your conversation or sentences.
• Talk about the story with your teacher or language partner. You can ask your teacher to prompt you on the story or lead the conversation and bring your content to the table. Don’t forget to give time to your observations or opinions! 

My list of favorite short stories for beginner to lower-intermediate Italian learners 

• Best Italian short stories

Why Using This Short Stories Will Go A Long Way In Making Your Sound More Natural?

In a typical classroom setting, you are often asked direct or impromptu questions. This means that most of the times, you’re ending up talking about what’s going on in your life or in the news. That’s great, but it won’t transform you into a stellar speaker of Italian in a short time. Real language touches on a ton of different topics, and most of the time involves speaking about something else other than you, your life and current events.

Instead, when reading about different stories will become familiar with different sets of vocabulary, themes and ultimately verb tenses. Not to mention that, re-telling the stories in your own words will help you cement and internalize the phrases, verbs and words you’ve previously read or listened to [use or lose it, remember!]

Talking about something else might sound hard initially, but I guarantee this approach will stretch your Italian like never before and improve your overall conversational skills. 

By learning to talk about a story or a third person or an event, you will learn how to comment on events, express opinions, describe settings and circumstances. That’s the fastest way to learn to speak Italian naturally and consciously , especially at a beginner or intermediate stage.