AIBU to ask for your recommendations of good Italian language resources?

[PamplemousseRouge]

Hi everyone!

I'd just like to ask if you know of any good Italian resources please.

I did GCSE Italian at school around six years ago now, but haven't done any Italian since then, and I'd like to get back into learning it.

I studied French and Spanish at uni, and have kept up with them since graduating last year. At the moment, I do remember some of the Italian that I learnt, and can get by with guessing new words because of knowing French and Spanish. I would like to get much more fluent in Italian though rathet than using my French and Spanish knowledge to pull me through.

When I did the Italian GCSE, it was in a small class of around ten of us. We used the textbook Contatti, which I found very useful at the time. I was going to buy it to refresh my Italian and get back to it, but changed my mind after reading mixed reviews of it online. The only problem is that alternative textbooks all have their pros and cons as well, according to Amazon reviews and other online reviews.

I would like to start Italian lessons or evening classes, but if I don't manage to find any, could anyone recommend a good Italian textbook or resource that I could work my way through on my own please?

Also, as I'm based in London, would anyone here know of any good Italian classes in London that you'd recommend?

Thanks everyone!

Bump :)

Placemarking - I'd love to learn Italian from scratch

I've heard that duolingo is good but haven't yet tried it myself

Ooh good point Grocer! Thanks for your post. I hadn't even thought of Duolingo. It is really good by the way - I've used it for German before, and it's really helpful :) it can be used for speaking and listening, so you can easily practise all four linguistic skills with it. And it's free :)

Bumping

I can't recommend Rosetta Stone highly enough. It's brilliant! I had computer cd'S for my pic and a headset but it's probably available on an app now.

I've been using Duolingo for Italian for 3 months now, never studied it before and I'm finding it brilliant. I also bought an Italian copy of Grazia when on my holidays which is good for the more frivolous stuff!

I'm using Duolingo at the moment. I remember a lot of French and German I learned 34 years ago but struggle with Italian I started to study at conversational level 3 years ago. Obviously you can't teach an old dog new tricks .

Thanks everyone! These are all really good ideas :) I used Rosetta Stone recently for French, and it was so helpful. It came as part of a subject enhancement course I did though, so I didn't actually pay for it. Does anyone know roughly how much it would cost to buy a Rosetta Stone pack?

The only way I was able to learn Italian was to live in Italy for 3 years. Sorry not helpful unless you've got wanderlust.

There might be a Meetup group in London where you could practise.
I know that there is an Italian bookshop in west London.
In bocca al lupo ;)

Quizlet, Memrise, Languagesonline.org.uk (self marking website, handy for basics and verbs)

If you want a GCSE and beyond textbook, I much prefer Amici to Contatti. For the next stage Contatti 2 is OK or the textbook In bocco al lupo which I think is published in Ireland is also good. All the websites above are also great but it's sometimes useful to have a book for reference/ as a backbone to work through.

Thanks Whynot :) which level of Amici would you recommend for post-GCSE?

Also, although I've got GCSE Italian, I haven't done it for so long that I'm sure I've forgotten the basics. Would you recommend that I buy, for example, Contatti 1 to refresh the basics and that I then move onto Amici?

Rosetta Stone is the best language package I've used

I think there's just one amici textbook www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_i_2_5?k=amici+italian+textbook&sprefix=amici and then the workbook gives further exercises if you want it (I wouldn't bother with that in the first instance). It goes all the way from beginners up to some of the A level topics at the end (e.g. Quite a lot on drugs, smoking, health and relationships). I would get that and maybe start in the middle where you will be recapping some of the more complex GCSE stuff and move on. It also explains the grammar quite clearly. I would forget Contatti 1 but if you finish amici and want more try Contatti 2 or In Bocca al Lupo.

Yabla is awesome for listening skills, you can speed up slow down have subtitles in multiple languages etc

Find somewhere offering Cambridge ESOL or similar and see if any Italian students are up for a bit of chiacchierare/language exchange via Skype

All of your suggestions are fab - thanks so much, everyone! So glad to find lots of Italian enthusiasts on here :)

Thanks for your suggestion of buying Amici whynot :) just looked on Amazon though, and apparently the CDs needed for the listening exercises in the book can only be bought separately :( would you suggest perhaps that I pay extra for the CDs or that I buy a different book, like In Bocca al Lupo?

When I was brushing up (I used to speak fluent Italian) I found someone in my area to chat to. Italian is so easy to write that speaking it is the most important part.