How to Prepare For Your First Italian Lesson

How to Prepare For Your First Italian Lesson First Italian Lesson with Your Italian Tutor ChaptersDetermine your ObjectiveDetermining Your Level of ItalianSearch Your MemoryGet Familiar with Italian CultureTo SummariseOnce you've arranged for your first Italian language lesson at home, you may be tempted to think that there is nothing left to do, except maybe buy a notebook and an Italian-English dictionary.Nothing could be further from the truth!Let's say you are going to Milan, for fashion week. Would you board the plane without your passport, a change of clothes and a hotel reservation?If so, you are quite the adventurer!Embarking on a language learning journey is no simple matter. Before even laying eyes on your language tutor â€" let alone saying buongiorno, how you prepare for learning will reflect the depth of your commitment.For all of you who wish to see progress, starting with your very first lesson, we have organised a to-do list that will accelerate your learning this romance language.Careful planning facilitates any kind of work.Come on â€" Dai! Let us now la y out that strategy!Learning to make authentic pasta in Italy requires Italian language skills Source: Pixabay Credit: StockSnap pursuit of knowledgeYou are gobsmacked by everything Italian: language and culture, the food, the arts, and the peopleTheoretically, you will know why you want to learn Italian before you contact any private tutor, but it helps for you to drill down to your root cause before lessons actually begin.That way, your teacher can quickly adjust his methodology to your needs.Imagine a chef-in-training, in Italy to learn  different regions' cuisine by visiting every part of the country, from Palermo to Bolzano .The vocabulary that that language learner should master would relate to food and its preparation, as opposed to, let's say: a scientist who is collaborating on a multinational  project.Whereas Italian grammar would remain the same regardless of the discipline, words and phrases, and even teaching methods would vary substantially.Determining the focus of you r Italian study will help your teacher know more about you which, in turn, will help establish an optimal working relationship â€" and that will lead to greater progress.You can also go on the Internet and learn Italian online.Determining Your Level of ItalianBefore any  learning can take place, you should assess how well you can speak Italian.Here, it is best to be frank: ordering a pizza Margherita and vino blanco at your favorite Italian restaurant does not qualify as basic Italian.Of course, if you've never had any exposure to anything at all Italian, determining your level  would be a  simple  affair:  you are at beginner level.However,  if you are someone who has lived in Italy for three years, or who has done an internship in Rome, or routinely visits friends and family in Sardinia, level becomes a bit harder to specify.Where should you place yourself on the language learning spectrum if you are neither beginner nor fluent?Of course, a competent teacher would be able to place your abilities in contrast with what is yet to be learned.Superprof tutors are especially adept at gaging fluency!Knowing exactly where you're at in relation to where you want to be, language-wise, is a great time saver, and money saver, too.To quantify your language skills, you could reference the Common European Framework of Reference for languages, otherwise known as CEFRL:A1: novice learnerA2: low- to mid-intermediateB1: mid- to high-intermediateB2: high-intermediate to low-advancedC1: advancedC2: fluentIf you are uncertain of exactly what your level of Italian competence is, you can take a test online that will help you determine how much Italian you can already speak.Because this exam is formulated according to CEFRL guidelines, your tutor should know what your level is the second you inform him of your rating.Before your first lesson, you should determine your Italian language level Source: Pixabay Credit: Evondue greetings, or how to introduce yourselfmolto bene, ti amo, an d dispiacebuongiorno, buonasera, buena notte, and the ever-popular ciao!mi chiamo, piacere, come ti chiami?The most common verbs: andare, essere, avereand how to conjugate them in any of the five tensesbasic Italian grammargender assignments for nouns, and for suffixesproper pluralisation of nouns and pronounssyllable stress â€" generally on the penultimate syllableThis is, at best, only a partial list of what you might have already learned, especially if you are/were particularly talented at speaking Italian.If you've never in your life taken any Italian language courses, no need to fret: your teacher will instruct you on the best way to learn Italian, probably starting with common phrases like:Sono Inglese. Potete aiutarme per favore? I am British. Could you help me, please?Learning Italian requires gaining knowledge of the country's history and culture Source: Pixabay Credit: Tama66Get Familiar with Italian CultureLanguage and culture are like tea and crumpets: immutably intertwi ned â€" in public perception and in fact.In signing up for an Italian language course, you are implicitly signing up for lessons on Italian culture.By that, we mean all of its entrancing facets: history, traditions, food, beliefs...Learning a language does not consist of learning grammar rules, conjugating verbs, and converting adjectives into adverbs.Cultivating language skills demands imbuing oneself in the  ambiance unique to that  country â€" in this case, the land shaped like a boot.As far as Italian history and art is concerned, you have plenty to steep yourself in.Before your in-home tutor even rings your doorbell, reach past DaVinci and Galileo, to those more obscure maestri who swayed the outcome of the Italian Revolution and who painted the Renaissance.What a treat you are setting yourself up for!And: how surprised will your tutor be?You can take special focus on Italian linguistics, such as:The Divine Comedy by Dante â€" the work credited with uniting the various Italian dialects and creating what is now known as Standard ItalianThe Tuscan dialect: not just because we Britons prefer that region above all others, but because its language is the basis for modern ItalianDon't despair over dialects in the face of Standard Italian! You can still hear any of the 34 actively spoken vernaculars by watching Italian  television programmes. Even movie soundtracks are dialect-rich!Italian is the third-most spoken language in Europe, used by more than seventy million speakers worldwide!Italian is a phonetic language: what you see is how you say it; what you hear is how you write it.No silent letters and no vowel combinationsLetters J, K, W, X, and Y only appear in words borrowed from other languagesThis type of information may appear irrelevant to anyone wishing to learn only  conversational Italian, but its significance becomes clear the deeper you delve into the language.Understanding language specifics can help you learn to speak Italian much faster.However, the fundamental purpose of dissecting the Italian language and understanding it to that degree is to solidify your buy-in: your commitment to total comprehension of the country, the culture, the people, and to the learning experience.To SummariseIn order to make ready for Italian language learning, you must:Know your objectives and be able to clearly define themDetermine your Italian learning levelReview any Italian expressions or phrases you have already learnedDelve into Italian culture, particularly as it relates to the written or spoken lingua di ItaliaImagine yourself, admitting your Italian teacher, possibly a native speaker and expatriate, into your home, with all of that Italian lesson preparation already done.S/he will see your motivation and match it.Before anyone can say avanti!, your language lessons are already successful!Check out Superprof to find your ideal private tutor to help you master the Italian language:Italian teacher LondonItalian teacher ManchesterItalian t utor Glasgow