It seems like just about everyone wants to know how long it will take them to learn Italian, and if Italian is a difficult language to learn.

Google sends us dozens of visitors each day because of two articles we published in 2013:

“How long will it take me to learn Italian?”

and

“Is Italian a hard language to learn?”

Click the links above to read them.

But as they say, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’

Which could be self-study… Check out, for example, OnlineItalianClub.com for masses of free materials for learning Italian.

Or what about taking an Italian course at our language school in Bologna?

Let the experts take the strain, why not?

For more information about Italian courses follow these links:

Italian courses in Bologna | Prices | How to book

A presto!

Remember exams at school?

Probably most of your fellow pupils claimed to be dreading the end of year exams. Certainly that was the attitude at the school I went to.

But then… for those of us willing to prepare, exam time enlivened a dull routine with the thrill of success and achievement!

And as it was at school so many years ago, so it is with learning Italian.

Signing yourself up now for one of the six levels of CILS Italian language exams in June is a bit like agreeing to take part in a marathon some months hence.

You can’t just go and DO the marathon on the day. No, you’re going to have to train, which of course is the point.

By training regularly in the time between now and June, you’ll shed a few pounds, get fitter and have more self-respect.

Ditto for your Italian language exam. It doesn’t have to be a marathon: choose as your goal a level you’re comfortable with, anything from A1 (the easiest) to C2 (the most difficult).

But once you’ve decided, you’ll have a real goal, which will make organising your studies and motivating yourself so much easier.

Plus you’ll be able to look foward to the moment you get your results!

Just remember, it’s not cool to brag in front of the other kids…

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The next session of CILS exams at our Italian language school in Bologna is on June 11th 2015.

Click here for more information.

Enrolments and payments can be completed directly from our online shop.

Or contact us with your question.

Ciao, e auguri di Buon Natale!

I’m Daniel, director at Madrelingua Italian School in Bologna.

For a week or more, I’ve been posting daily articles about our 20% discount offer.

You’ve probably noticed.

Articles published on our site are automatically sent out to our mailing list, which some of you have chosen to be on.

But I also manually send them to a separate list of the email addresses of everyone who has studied at our Italian school or who has asked for information about our Italian courses.

If your email is in both of these databases, you might even be getting each email twice. (Sorry about that!)

We assume that people who ask for information about Italian courses, or take an Italian course at our school, are interested in offers for Italian courses.

Logical, right?

But if that’s not the case, I encourage you to click the ‘unsubscribe link’.

That’s an automatic piece of code, which can always be found either at the top or bottom of every email and which will take you to a page where you can ensure your details are deleted.

It’s a simple process, so why not give it a try?

Click the link and follow the simple instructions, which will ensure your email address is permanently removed from the database.

That said… if you ARE interested in taking an Italian course at our school, be aware that the 20% discount offer ends at midnight on Christmas Day.

That’s tomorrow.

And it’s the best offer of our 12-month marketing cycle, so won’t be repeated until NEXT Christmas…

Statistics show that people leave things to the last minute (which is why there’ll be a ‘final reminder’ tomorrow.)

Don’t be one of them.

Snap up your 20% discount today, before you’re distracted by the turkey or nut roast.

The offer is good for any length of group Italian course (not individual lessons), starting at any time in 2015.

You don’t even have to decide the dates now – just let us know when you know.

How not to miss this?

Pay a small deposit today, to save a FIFTH on the cost of your 2015 Italian course.

Click here for details.

Then go here to pay your deposit.

(Or look for the unsubscribe link at the top or bottom of this email. It’s probably in the small print. Click it and I won’t be bothering you next Christmas…)

The ‘best offer of the year’ on Italian courses at our school in Bologna, Italy ends in 48 hours.

A two-week Italian course, which normally costs EUR 437, is just EUR 350 with the 20% discount.

What’s EUR 350 in real money?

• USD 429
• GBP 274
• CAD 498
• AUD 526

Naturally you’ll have to add in the cost of accommodation (not much) and your flight (depends where you start from..)

But when all is said and done, you could be giving your Italian a major boost, and enjoying a great holiday in Bologna (home of Europe’s oldest university) for relatively little.

And to confirm your discount, all that’s required is a deposit of EUR 120!

By midnight on Christmas Day.

No need to decide the dates of your course yet – just let us know when you know…

But don’t miss this chance to lock in your 20% discount.

Pay the EUR 120 deposit NOW to confirm your 20% discount.

More information on this offer.

There are just a few more days left of our ‘best offer of the year’!

So, in case you’ve been too busy to read your emails, here’s a summary of what you’re missing:

• save 20% on your next Italian course at our school in Bologna
• the discount is good for any GROUP course (not for individual lessons)
• you can start your Italian course on any date in 2015
• your saving applies to courses of any length – the longer you study, the more you save!
• you DON’T need to decide the dates, or the length of your course, right now
• just let us know once you’ve made your plans – no rush
• secure your 20% discount by sending a deposit, via Paypal or bank transfer, by midnight on Dec. 25th!

And here’s the summary summary:

• take two minutes to pay a small deposit by midnight on Christmas Day & save €€ on your 2015 Italian course!

As the kids say, this is a no-brainer.

But you’re probably pretty busy right now, right?

So here are step-by-step instructions on exactly what you have to do.

It’s a low-stress process that’ll take just minutes, promise.

Ready to go?

1. Click this link to visit our ‘How to book your Italian course’ page
2. If you’re not sure when in 2015 you’ll be coming, skip the booking form and go directly here
3. Click ‘Add to Cart’, then ‘Proceed to Checkout’
4. Fill in the form with your details
5. Choose your payment method – the ‘Paypal’ option includes credit card payments
6. That’s it! See you in Bologna in 2015…

P.S.

We have real people ready to help you, or answer your questions about our Italian courses.

Just e-mail Stefi on info@madrelinguaitalian.com – she’ll sort you out with whatever help you need!

Even on Christmas Day. Try us!

If you take an Italian course in London, Boston or Adelaide, chances are that your teacher will conduct the classes mostly in English, which is almost certainly the only language shared by both the teacher and all of the students.

There’s nothing wrong with that, though what you gain in terms of clear, efficient communications, you might lose when it comes to natural opportunities to improve your Italian listening and speaking.

Still, it’s swings and roundabouts, and when you’re studying a foreign language in your own country, classes conducted in the students’ own language are the norm.

But think – if you choose to study Italian actually in the country where it is spoken every day, things are likely to be organised differently!

The school where you take your course will probably be catering not just to students from Britain, the US and Australia, but also to clients from Germany, Japan, Brazil, China, France, Russia and many, many other places.

It’s possible that your classmates speak and understand English, but we certainly can’t guarantee or require it.

The only logical option, therefore, is to hold our Italian classes, social events, and so on, in Italian – right from day 1!

Yes, much of our marketing is in English, and our reception staff all speak excellent English, but the teaching is in Italian.

Not only does this place everyone in the class on an equal footing, but it also ensures that every moment of your course is an opportunity to build your capacity to understand and communicate in Italian.

Sure, if you’re not getting clear explanations of Italian grammar delivered in your own language, that could be quite a difference from the teaching style that you’re used to.

But an experienced teacher will know how to use images, diagrams, objects or mimes to get their points across.

And with the right training, they’re able to adjust the complexity of their speech so that they know that what they say will be understandable for the level of the class in front of them, whether beginners or super-advanced.

Your teacher will be interacting with you in a language that you might know little or nothing of, and of course at first that might sound intimidating.

But when it’s done well, it will have a tremendously positive effect on your confidence, and can really accelerate the pace at which your Italian develops.

Again, it’s swings and roundabouts.

Don’t expect to understand everything. In fact, expect the opposite – ambiguity and confusion are almost the default states when you’re speaking a foreign language, so you may as well get used to it…

The trick is to chill out, to ‘go with the flow’.

Sit back and relax, until your brain starts to adjust to this new way of doing things.

No one will be judging you. Everyone understands just how difficult it can be. Give it time.

You will adjust, and when that happens, you’ll look back and recognise just how much progress you’ve made with your Italian.

Any initial stress and confusion will seem more than worth while!

More Articles About Learning Italian | FAQ

The first day of anything can be pretty scary, can’t it?

A new job, a new school, a new language.

Or perhaps a new way of studying, new classmates, and a new teacher.

But first days can also be stimulating!

So what should you expect on the first day of your Italian course at Madrelingua in Bologna?

Classes start at nine-thirty in the morning.

The school is easy to reach on foot from anywhere in the historic center of the city.

It’s a good idea to arrive 15 minutes or so early on the first Monday. That way you will have time to ask any questions, borrow a course book, and take a tour of the school with one of our teachers.

Your first class lasts until around 11.30, at which point the teachers gather everyone together and we all walk in a group to one of the local coffee bars.

To save time, and confusion, the tutor will take orders (in Italian, of course) for drinks and snacks. Your teacher, or the tutor, will explain what’s good to eat and drink, and how to ask for it.

In the bar you’ll be interacting with our staff and with other students, from your own class and/or from other groups.

The break is really a part of the lesson. It’s also your best chance to meet people and to make friends to practice your Italian with, so take advantage of it. Please don’t be tempted to wait in the classroom and catch up on your emails, or you’ll be missing out on an important element of the course.

When everyone is ready, we head back to the school where you’ll go back to your classroom, this time with a different teacher.

Whereas the focus for the first two hours is usually on ‘input’ (new grammar & vocabulary), the part after the break is intended for practice, in particular, speaking.

Lessons normally end at half-past one. Time for lunch, and Bologna is certainly the place for that!

Often there’ll be something organised for the afternoon or evening – for example, lunch together, a visit to a museum, or a drink. Events of this kind are publicised at the coffee break, and there’s a notice board in the reception area where you can sign up.

Don’t forget, most days there’ll be a tutor available in the library to help you with your homework and to offer extra explanations or speaking practice. That’s from two-thirty to four-thirty each afternoon, except on Fridays.

The school is centrally-located, minutes from the central piazza and close to the main shopping street. All of the sights worth seeing in Bologna (churches, museums, monuments, etc.) are within easy reach on foot, so be sure to save some time and energy for exploring the city. Your teacher, or our reception staff, will be more than happy to suggest places for you to visit.

So that was Monday. We hope you enjoyed it, spoke lots of Italian, and felt you’ve started to settle in! Tuesday will be easier, as you’ll already know the routine and who everyone is.

And after that, the days will just fly by!

More Articles About Learning Italian | FAQ

You’ll learn Italian more easily if you study in a group with other students who know approximately as much of the language as you do.

That’s one good reason to choose a professional, open-all-year-round Italian language school – you can be confident of studying in a class at the right level, and so get better results!

But given that you may be booking your Italian study vacation many months ahead of time, how will the school know your level in Italian?

How do they know in which class you’ll study, without even having met you?

Simple.

When we receive a confirmed booking, whether it’s for a course starting next Monday, or one beginning eleven months from now, we’ll e-mail you a level test.

There are 44 multiple-choice questions – you read each question and choose A, B, C or D.

The first set of questions tests things that we’d expect you to know at the end of an A1-Beginner/Elementary course.

The second set covers the things you’d learn at A2.

And so on.

The test ends with two short texts to read, with two comprehension questions about each one.

When you e-mail us back your results, we print them out, check your answers and analyse the result.

As well as the total score, the distribution of the correct and wrong answers tells us a lot.

Using the level test, it’s usually fairly easy to work out if you’ve studied Italian before, and if so, to what level.

Besides the test, we consider other information you’ve given us.

It’s helpful to know your mother tongue, for example.

Spanish, French and Portuguese speakers will have an easier time with Italian, because of the similarities with their own language, compared to, say, English-speakers or students from Asian countries.

We also like to know if you’ve studied other foreign languages successfully – an English-speaker with a knowledge of Spanish would typically do better on the test than one without.

Knowledge of one language often helps with another. But it’s also a question of experience with language learning. We try to be extra attentive with clients who we know have no prior experience of learning any foreign language!

But what if things change between the time you book your course and take our test, and the date you begin studying at our school?

Perhaps, in the meantime, you’ve been busy taking evening classes in Italian, or learning online?

Not to worry! We’re always alert to the possibility that the test you completed could give a false impression of your real level.

You might, for example, be stronger or weaker at actually speaking and understanding Italian.

For this reason, we’ll be looking to confirm our estimate of your level when we meet you on the first morning of your course.

We have teachers, as well as admin staff, standing by before classes start, for exactly that purpose.

To chat to you in Italian, show you around the school, while at the same time, double-checking that we’ve placed you in the correct group…

So, that’s how we know your level before you even arrive in Italy.

More Articles About Learning Italian | FAQ

In a word, “No.”

Four hours a day of learning Italian is more than enough for most people.

There is, after all, a limit to how much Italian your brain will be able to absorb on any given day.

And there’s more to life than studying, no?

In the afternoon you could do tourist stuff, or hang out with new friends from your class and speak Italian.

If that doesn’t sound serious enough, there’s also a tutor available a couple of hours each afternoon (not Fridays) to help you with your homework, or to give extra speaking practice.

So why pay extra for a couple more hours of lessons in the afternoon?

Unless, maybe, you’re swotting for an up-coming exam.

Or you’re a diplomat, brushing up on your Italian before taking up a new post at your country’s embassy in Rome.

In which case, they answer would be, “Well, if you really must.”

Most people, though, are best off signing up for our standard 20-hour per week, Italian course.

That’s four hours of lessons each morning, from Monday to Friday.

More than enough to keep you busy and ensure you make excellent progress with your Italian.

Up to you, though.

More Articles About Learning Italian | FAQ

There is no ideal length for an Italian course.

The longer you study, the more you’ll learn, obviously.

You could go from zero to advanced in around six months, which is a pretty long language course (though less expensive than you might imagine.)

But most people will start with a week or two, to see if they like it.

Very wise.

Language learning isn’t for everyone. It requires a certain attitude, some motivation.

It’s not a bad idea to start with a short course to see how it works for you, whether you like the school and the teachers, and so on.

There’s no rush, is there?

Assuming that you find your Italian course in Bologna enjoyable and productive, there’s nothing to stop you from coming back for an extended period in the future.

Three weeks is a nice length of course – long enough to settle in and make some serious progress.

But not so long that your partner and your boss will forget who you are.

That said, in four weeks, you could complete a level, which is satisfying.

What about the cost, though?

Check out the prices page of any Italian school website and you’ll see how the cost per week falls dramatically for longer courses.

The marketing costs are the same to attract a student for a short course as for a longer course. So prices per week are far lower for longer periods.

Accommodation prices don’t fall for longer periods though, unless you’re prepared to go out and find yourself student digs…

A homestay (a room with an Italian host) organised by the school costs €120 a week and covers a single room and the use of the kitchen.

Multiply that by the number of weeks you plan to stay in Bologna.

It should come to less than €20 per day, which won’t break the bank for most people.

So a four-week Italian course will cost you €480 for your room and €798 for tuition.

That’s €1278.

But with the current -20% offer, you’ll save around €160 and so pay just over €1100.

Naturally, you’ll need to add the cost of travelling to Bologna, and a budget for food and entertainment. How much you set aside for that will depend on where you live and what your tastes are.

But the whole package – four weeks in Bologna, Italy, and an improvement of around a level in your Italian, looks pretty good value compared to a more traditional beach vacation.

A month in Italy + professional language training = an unforgettable experience, and an excellent investment in your education!

More Articles About Learning Italian | FAQ