Italian for beginners — how to find the right course for you

When you start thinking about learning Italian, the first question is almost always the same: where do I begin?

Listening to Italian songs or watching Italian TV can help your ear get used to the sounds of the language. Buying a textbook can give you a sense of the basic structure. An app like Duolingo can be a good way to start — light, affordable, low commitment. I’d skip the dictionary for now: good ones are expensive, and cheap ones are rarely useful.

All of these things have their place, but none of them is enough on its own. At some point, to make real progress, you need to find a teacher or a beginners’ Italian course.

But which one? The market is large and the options are many. And yes, I’m a teacher too, and I offer courses for beginners. Maybe I’m the right fit for you, maybe not. How do you know? It depends on a few things: your goals, the time you can dedicate to studying, and your personal preferences.

Italian for beginners: individual or group lessons?

Many people assume that individual lessons are better by definition — the teacher’s full attention is on you. But for beginners especially, that’s not always an advantage. Sometimes an teacher’s undivided attention can feel like pressure. Maintaining focus and eye contact for a full hour can be tiring.

In a group, you can share the attention, take a breath, ask questions alongside people who are going through exactly the same experience. Shared motivation is a genuinely valuable resource.

That said, group lessons have their own challenges. Some people feel self-conscious, or worry that others are ahead of or behind them. That’s a real concern. But in beginner courses, almost every question is useful for everyone — even the ones that seem obvious.

First criterion: choose based on your personality. What makes you feel most comfortable?

Online or in person?

I work exclusively online, I live in Italy and my students come from all over the world. The distance can actually help: you study from home, in a familiar and relaxed environment. The warmth is still very much there, I promise.

Goals and time: the two most important factors

If you’re learning Italian because your new job involves Italian clients or colleagues, you probably need a more specialised course, ideally individual lessons, and fairly intensive.

If, on the other hand, you’re more like my student Maria — who wanted to learn Italian because her daughter’s new boyfriend is from Rome and she wanted to be able to talk to him — then a more relaxed approach works perfectly. Something focused on everyday vocabulary and conversation.

My beginners’ courses, Tanto per… cominciare, are designed for people like Maria. People who want to learn Italian for pleasure, for personal and concrete goals: travelling, meeting new people, or inviting a future son-in-law to dinner and making him feel at home.

For these goals, I use a practical, pressure-free approach: grammar explained clearly and applied straight away. My focus isn’t on perfection, but on communication. Because speaking imperfectly is infinitely better than knowing all the rules and not being able to say a word.

The pleasure of Italian is speaking it. Not just studying it.

Does this sound like the right approach for you? Book a free introductory call,  fifteen or thirty minutes to find out together whether we’re a good fit.