10222 Italian Language courses in Italy

Yes, these courses do exist and I would advise you to take them together with homestay with an Italian family who does not speak a word of English. It is the best way to get that immersion in the language which is needed. Do a search through Internet for Italian language schools and you will get a lot of them. Perhaps somebody from the Forum with personal experience will be able to give you some names. I am talking only from my previous experience as a language teacher and a marketing manager for an English language school in Australia.

Dear Carmel,
we are an Italian language school in Southern Italy and we offer excatly the kind of courses and lodging you are looking for. Situated by the sea in a medieval city, it is truly a unique place to study Italian. By the way our school is recognized by the Italian Ministry. Send me an E-mail to provide more information: [email]marketing@piccolauniversitaitaliana.com[/email]
Saluti da Tropea
Simone from the Piccola Università Italiana

Thank you for your replies and pms. I have heard of courses as described in or near Lucca. Does anyone have any info?

Hi,

This is something I have been looking for for sometime and have read various reviews of various places. Personally I like the idea of a smaller town, which is less of a tourist trap where you would be able to practice the language outside the school but the disadvantage of that is there are less students and may be quite diverse levels within the lesson. Most reviews I have read seem to be pretty good so really it is a case of "biting the bullet" and going for it - easier said than done as I am still dithering myself.

The following link will give you some reviews of language schools attended from our friends at Slow Travel - including Lucca.

[url=http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/triplist.asp?k=language]Slow Travel Trip Reports - travel essays, travelogues, travel journals about Slow Travel in Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, England, and more[/url]

Chris

Hi I dont know if you have a particular area in mind, but I would recommend a school I used in Todi, not sure of the website address, but if you google, Todi Language School it will come up. You can either find your own accommodation or they will find you accommodation with italian families (l live near so did not take this option, but wish I had). It is a very small town but exceptionally beautiful. The teaching is good and they run many types of courses all through the year to suit different levels. The school is attended my people from many different countries. They also run a cultural programme alongside which includes visits to places of interest, cooking evenings, etc. My only slight criticism is that on my course in February most of the students were japanese, and I found that they were very reticent to speak aloud in italian and when they did because of my poor italian I found thier accent difficult to understand. I would have preferred more of a mix of nationalities, but this was a minor point.

Hope you find something which suits.
Nicola

Hi

I did a short Italian language course, here in Arezzo, where I also found that the majority of students were Japanese. I dont think it matters what time of year you take your course, the schools here seem to be targetting Japan - perhaps because they are willing to pay what are high charges! They had a good grasp of grammar etc. but their oral skills were very poor. These language courses, that mainly Japanese girls are doing, appear to be something of a 'european tour/finishing school part of their lives.

I didn't find the course particularly helpful for this reason. Living here, one needs to be able to call the plumber, fill in a form or chat to the butcher.... knowing every last verb ending doesn't get you a better cut of meat!! But attempting to speak something approaching a reasonable sentence gets lots of brownie points and warm respect. This is not a racial comment but an observation on what is needed to speak another language. If most of the class activity is group work then you do need to be able to understand the others in the group.

Its difficult to choose; have you thought of getting together with some other people who want a similar kind of course and getting a local language school to put it on. Some of them seem not too expensive. I know I am more interested in functional language to get things done, especially with italian beaureaucracy.

Here is a link through to the ones in Liguria. You can also see others in other provincia.

[url=http://www.it-schools.com/sections/italian-language-schools-in-italy/liguria/index.shtml]Italian language schools and courses in Genoa Sanremo Chiavari (Italian language schools and courses to learn italian in Italy.)[/url]

I wholeheartedly agree with Aretina and am glad that someone else had a similar experience to me. I did a months intensive course at Todi 4hours every day and felt that in some respects my learning experience was hampered by being one european in a class of young (very nice) japanese girls, who as Aretina said were streets ahead of me with regards to grammar etc but had really poor oral skills. By the way I am currently looking for a italian teacher in the Perugia/Marsciano area if anyone can help.

If there is the choice, or if it was practical to do so, I would go for a language course that combines living with an Italian family every time.
In Perugia the "flavour of the month" language school at present, is the Comitato Linguistico [url=http://www.comitatolinguistico.com]Italian language school for foreigners Comitato Linguistico Perugia - Umbria - Italy[/url] Teachers vary and apparently at present they seem to have good teachers. Having said that, English friends who repeatedly do courses there, (with usually younger brighter European students), which combine lots of homework each evening, seem hardly able to SPEAK Italian at all!! Other friends who already speak what we regard as fairly good Italian, settled in Perugia for 3 months and studied Italian each day at the Comitato, they now say that in the most part, the benefit has been lost, as they do not get the chance to regularly speak Italian and so forget...I conclude that we should all work as waitresses/waiters or some such and get stuck in with the language. It is the opportunity to speak Italian that seems to be problem. Rosetta Stone claims to solve this problem but other firends claim the course did not really help them and nor did Michel Thomas? Some Comunes offer courses and as students drop off you can almost get one to one teaching for next to nothing but again it's the practica that really matters and the accento!

Many thanks for all your replies. Can someone explain what 'Rosetta Stone is?

[url=http://www.rosettastone.co.uk/personal/languages/italian]Learn Italian with Rosetta Stone[/url]