Hint: it’s probably not the cost.

But we’ll get to that later.

What’s your dream?

We all have things that, ideally, in a perfect world, we’d like to achive.

I’d like to sail my (30-year old) yacht across the Adriatic Sea and cruise the islands of Croatia.

Alone.

But there are all sorts of reasons why I’ll probably never do it.

There’s Italian bureaucracy (don’t ask).

Then there’s the engine, which has seen better days.

And of course it would mean leaving Stefi to run the school AND look after the kids.

She hates cooking, so they’d probably starve…

Clearly, this is not the right moment.

Maybe when I’m retired…

See how easy it was for me to talk myself out of living my dream?

I’ve got pretty damn good at it over the years.

You have a try: [Read more…]

Sometimes things are not what they seem.

Choose a quality Italian school and you’ll know that you’ll get a reasonable quality of teaching in a professional environment.

Check you’re enrolling on the right course for you by comparing the other options the school offers.

Take a look at the websites of a few other decent Italian schools, just to make sure that the one you’ve been recommended is not unreasonably priced.

And obviously, look out for any seasonal offers or discounts.

Decision made, you go do the course.

You pay for a certain number of hours or weeks, your Italian improves a certain (predictable) amount. Right?

Well, no.

You see, people are different.

And some are just better prepared to learn than others… [Read more…]

We get a lot of visits to our site, and enquires, from people looking for ‘Intensive Italian courses’.

Well, if you insist….

Intensive Italian courses in Bologna

To quote from my own copy, it’s “the best choice for those who want to learn to speak and understand Italian as quickly as possible!”

But is it really?

In actual fact, we tend to advise people to avoid the more intensive option, and go for the ‘standard’ Italian course, despite it’s un-motivating name…

First, because this is probably what they were looking for anyway.

For most people, 4 hours of lessons each morning, for at least a week, is quite intensive enough, thank you very much.

Plus, if you’re really keen, there’s a tutor available each afternoon in the library (Monday to Thursday – on Fridays, people are packing, or resting…)

The tutor will help you with your homework, chat to you in Italian, or go through anything you feel you need extra help with.

And it’s included in the ‘standard’ course price, so there’s no reason at all that you HAVE to stop studying, just because your morning lesson is over for the day.

Plus, there are the social events – perhaps today you’ll be off for a drink with other students from the school (to practice your Italian, of course!)

Or maybe it’ll be a visit to a museum, or a cooking lesson, or a walk in the hills over-looking the city.

The point being that ‘intensive Italian courses’ don’t need to be more expensive and totally exhausting.

You can have a great time AND maximise your learning by making friends and taking advantage of every opportunity the school offers.

It’s your call: twenty hours of lessons (plus the tutor, social events and so on), or thirty hours, and collapse exhausted into bed afterwards.

Compare prices here: Italian course prices

P.S.

Don’t forget the 2014 Summer Offer, which ends at midnight this Saturday (31st May – just 6 days to go!)

Enrol for any group Italian course beginning in June, July, August or September 2014 and you’ll get a special bonus (as WELL as other discounts you may come across if you look carefully at our website…)

Oh, and if you haven’t been reading your e-mails lately, you may not have seen this:

Don’t miss Bologna’s ‘hot season of culture’ this summer!

Interested?

Contact Stefania for more information about Italian courses in Bologna.

(Don’t forget, the 2014 Summer Offer ends in just 6 days!)

Heard of ‘bè’?

Well, it’s the noise an Italian sheep makes (‘baa’ in English).

But also means ‘Bologna estate’ (Bologna Summer), a program of cultural events organised by the city municipality for Bologna’s ‘hot season’: June, July August and September!

Bologna estate

As every year, Bologna in the summer is an unmissable cultural destination, with numerous live music events, a film festival (with open-air showings in the city’s famous Piazza Maggiore), dance, theater, exhibtions, meetings with writers and authors, and all in some of the city’s most attractive and interesting locations.

Plus, if you can’t make it to Brazil for soccer’s World Cup, not to worry! There’ll be mega screens, so you can follow Italy’s matches in the company of Italian soccer fans (that’s sure to be an unforgettable experience!)

Getting around Bologna is so easy, whether on foot or by bicycle, and many of the events in the program are offered free or at affordable prices.

Yes, Bologna in the ‘hot season of culture’ is just perfect for culture-hungry visitors, whether on a limited budget or otherwise!

And don’t forget, Madrelingua’s 2014 Summer Offer on Italian courses!

Sign up by the end of May for any group Italian course beginning in June, July, August, or September, and you’ll be entitled to the usual discounts available on our website…

PLUS a FREE individual lesson (normal price €37)! [Read more…]

Book any group Italian course at our school in Bologna this summer and you’ll get a ‘special extra benefit’!

• this offer is for group courses of any length starting in June, July, August or September
• it begins today and ends on 31st May 2014
• book now and get a bonus individual lesson worth €37
• 60 minutes one-to-one with a professional Italian teacher!
• your lesson will be completely personalised according to your needs and preferences
• take your free individual Italian lesson before, during or after your regular course
• or use it as an online lesson (normal price €32) once you’ve returned home
• you can even choose your favourite teacher!

What’s the catch?

[Read more…]

Unless you live a long way from anywhere, it’s not usually hard to find an Italian language course.

Maybe a nearby community college or adult education center offers them. Or you could probably find an Italian tutor on Craigslist, or look for a summer school at your local university.

Any or all of those options could work out just fine for you.

But why take a chance?

If you want to be sure to invest your time and money wisely…

12 reasons to choose a professional Italian language school

Any organisation can find a teacher and organise a course, but it takes a professional Italian language school to ensure that: [Read more…]

Misconceptions about learning Italian abound, and can result in you making poor decisions or even failing to achieve your goals.

So recognising the myths that surround language study may help you succeed where others would fail!

Here are five of the most common wrong ideas about studying Italian:

1. Adults don’t learn foreign languages as easily as children

We’ve all heard stories about families with young children who move abroad. In what seems like no time at all, the children are jabbering away fluently in the new language, while the poor adults appear to make much slower progress.

It’s nonsense, of course, as anyone who has children can tell you.

It takes years, decades, for a child to learn to speak, understand, read and write their own language, let alone replicating that feat in a foreign language in just a few months.

The miracle pre-schoolers you hear about are immersed in the foreign language for eight or more hours a day, so it’s unsurprising they quickly work out how to follow the kindergarten teacher’s instructions and interact with other kids in the playground.

But mum and dad, while seeming to make less progress, are actually coping with a much greater level of complexity as they deal with the demands of living and working in a foreign country.

In short, there’s no evidence that kids learn faster. In fact, the opposite is true.

Any professional language school can take an adult learner from zero to proficient (including reading and writing) in much less time than it takes a young child to learn to write simple sentences.

2. If you work, you won’t really have time to learn a foreign language

If only you didn’t have all these commitments, you could really dedicate yourself to learning Italian, and in just a few months you’d be fluent!

Sorry, but that’s not true either.

Sure, time is a factor. But so are motivation, opportunity, experience, and various other ingredients in the learning mix.

If you can find time after work to visit the gym, watch TV or mow your lawn, you can certainly find time to study Italian. Assuming you’re reasonably well-organised, just an hour a day should be sufficient to get you to intermediate level in Italian within a year.

Day job or no.

3. Studying the essentials of Italian grammar is, well, essential

It’s certainly true that it’s hard to form even basic sentences in Italian unless you have a few irregular verbs under your belt.

But a lot of Italian courses contain much more grammar than is necessary… to the detriment of time you could be spending learning new words, or practicing speaking, listening, reading or writing.

Most ‘essentials’ of Italian grammar are not relevant to carrying on a normal conversation.

So while acquiring an in-depth knowledge of Italian grammar might be interesting or even enjoyable, the return on your investment of time is likely to be poor.

4. Living in Italy will really, really help you learn

Living in Italy for a while MIGHT help you learn Italian faster, but there’s certainly no guarantee. People being people, it’s likely you’d spend a lot of your time in Italy NOT speaking Italian!

At first, you won’t have the knowledge of the language to do much more than hold basic conversations in shops and bars. So it’s inevitable you’ll still be interacting in your own language.

And with the Internet, you can be anywhere in the world and still access your favorite newspapers and TV programs.

Unfortunately, keeping up with what’s going on at home, through Skype or social networks, is much too easy these days!

So assuming you won’t have taken a vow of silence, being in Italy is not going to be a magic solution.

Sure, once you make a few friends to speak Italian with, that will certainly help.

But with a little imagination, you could do that at home.

5. ‘Knowing’ Italian means speaking it reasonably well

Speaking Italian well is a start, but you also have to be able to understand the replies you get. Listening is a complex skill too, and one which takes time to acquire.

What’s more, even if you get to the point when you can understand all the words and grammar you hear (in any accent), you still might not have a clue what a conversation is really about!

Without a basic working knowledge of who’s who, and what’s happening in sport, politics or whatever, you won’t be able to understand or contribute much.

And if you wanted to work in Italy?

Reading and writing at a high level is a pre-requisite for a lot of jobs, but even, say, working as a waitress or bartender means you’d need to know your customers’ habits and preferences. Or no tips!

So, being able to form grammatical sentences, with appropriate vocabulary, reasonably quickly, is a good start. But there’s an awful lot more to ‘knowing’ a language than just speaking it.

More Articles About Learning Italian | FAQ

CILS Italian language exams

This is a final reminder for anyone interested in taking a CILS exam in Bologna on 5th June.

Enrollments close on Wednesday 30th April, but not to worry: it takes just seconds to complete your enrollment and pay your exam fee in our online shop.

And don’t forget our special CILS offer for anyone planning on taking an Italian course in Bologna in the period immediately before (or after) the exam…

Choose Madrelingua for both your course and your CILS exam, and we’ll discount the course price by €40, which is the cost of the A1 and A2 level exams.

In effect, you’ll pay for your course, but get an A1/A2 exam completely free!

More about CILS Italian language exams here.

Go here to enrol for your CILS exam.

Learning a foreign language like Italian can be a life-transforming experience: your self-confidence will improve, and your view of the world, and your place in it, may change radically.

But there’s also no doubt that getting to the point where you’ll be able to speak and understand Italian can be a slow and frustrating process.

Which is why, sooner or later, you may find yourself considering whether you should take a more intensive course at an Italian language school in Italy.

Perhaps you would learn a lot, quickly.

But maybe you’d be better attending Italian classes in your home town?

Before you make up your mind, here’s what you need to know to decide if studying in Italy is the right option for you. [Read more…]