Learn Italian: 5-week Crash Course
Learn basic Italian with this fast 5-week course.
How can I learn basic Italian?
This is a hugely important factor in learning a language, time. To learn basic Italian (it’s really closely related to English) you can invest between 750 and 1,000 hours of focused, immersive, input and practice, and hit a very basic level of fluency. Those hours are researched-based. They’re done by the US government, and they’re used to prepare people for their missions in embassies and counselors abroad.
Most of us aren’t like these people, however, where we get uninterrupted time to focus on learning a new language and do nothing else. However, I think it’s a really good rule of thumb to give an idea of how long it takes to learn to speak a language.
Each week you will learn a new theme presented in chunks. Communicative themes and chunks are critical pieces to learning a new language.
This week’s lesson-Learn Italian for the airport
| At the airport | All’aeroporto |
| How many bags are you checking? | Quante valigie ha per il check-in? |
| You need to check this bag. | Per questa valigia deve fare il check-in. |
| There is a fee for this. | Per questo si deve pagare una tassa. |
| Passport, please. | Il passaporto, per favore. |
| I would like a window seat. | Desidero un posto vicino a un finestrino. |
| I would like an aisle seat. | Desidero un posto vicino al corridoio. |
| Pass through. | Passi, per cortesia. |
| Hands up, please. | Sollevi le braccia, per cortesia. |
| Place laptop and keys here, please. | Appoggi il suo laptop e le sue chiavi qui, per cortesia. |
| Do you have a clear plastic bag? | Ha un sacchetto di plastica trasparente? |
| Have a good trip. | Le auguro un buon viaggio. |
| Where is…..? | Dove è…..? |
| the bar | il bar |
| duty free | il duty free |
| gift shop | il negozio di articoli da regalo |
| restroom | il bagno |
| news stand | l’edicola dei giornali |
| Bookstore | la libreria |
| Is this seat free? | È libero questo posto? |
| Please sit down. | Si sieda, per favore. |
| headphones | un paio di cuffie |
| magazine | rivista |
| newspaper | giornale |
| How long do you plan to stay in the country? | Per quanto tempo intende rimanere in questo paese? |
| What flight did you arrive on? | Su quale volo è arrivato? |
| Do you have a return ticket? | Ha un biglietto di andata e ritorno? |
| Where will you stay while you are in this country? | Dove starà durante la sua permanenza in questo paese? |
| Do you plan to work while you are here? | Intende lavorare durante la sua permanenza qui? |
| Here is my passport and landing card. | Ecco il mio passaporto e la mia carta di sbarco. |
| Enjoy your stay. | Le auguro una buona permanenza. |
| My luggage is lost. | I miei bagagli sono persi. |
| Where did you travel from today? | Da dove è arrivato oggi? |
| Do you have any items to declare? | Ha delle degli oggetti da dichiarare? |
| Custom declarations, please. | Le dichiarazioni doganali, per favore. |
| Open your suitcase, please. | Apra la sua valigia, per favore. |
| suitcase | valigia |
| luggage | bagagli |
| baggage claim ticket | scontrino per il ritiro bagagli |
| My suitcase is black. | La mia valigia è nera. |
| My suitcase is red. | La mia valigia è rossa. |
| My suitcase is blue. | La mia valigia è blu. |
| My suitcase is brown. | La mia valigia è marrone. |
| My suitcase is gray. | La mia valigia è grigia. |
Remember to get practical. Will you do Goldlist? Vocab Columns? Task notebooks?
Track your time each day that you’re working on your language skills. We’re human beings. Life gets in the way, but there’s certainly time that we can all find- waiting in line, getting your car washed. Pull out your phone or your notebook, or your phrase book- whatever it is that you’re using to learn a language, and invest 20 minutes, or 30 minutes, here and there. The time all adds up. Even if you don’t do it perfectly over the next five weeks, you’re going to see pretty direct correlation between the amount of time you invest and your progress.