Strategies That Will Really Improve Your Italian Pronunciation
Everybody loves the sound of Italian – it’s such a passionate and melodic language – often vying for the title of the most romantic language! So, in order to speak Italian like an Italian, you need to first become familiar with how Italians PRONOUNCE their words. Starting with this – you will learn to speak in the most authentic way and Italians will certainly compliment you on your wonderful pronunciation – che bello!
The Pillar of Pronunciation is divided up into two main strategies:
IMMERSION & SHADOWING
Let's dive straight into the Immersion strategy, and in the next blog we will cover the Shadowing technique.
Using Immersion to Improve Your Italian Pronunciation Fast
I know how much you would love to be in Italy right now (maybe you already are, lucky you!), but Italian immersion doesn’t mean that you have to live in Italy to become fluent. The great advantage of today’s technological age – with everyone having smartphones and internet access pretty much everywhere – is that we are able to “immerse” ourselves in a language without actually being there.
Wow, sounds great! …But how?
EXPOSURE! EXPOSURE! EXPOSURE!
Your aim is to train your ears to become FAMILIAR with the sounds, patterns and melody of Italian. You will want to find materials which expose you to Italian spoken in its most natural and fluent way – things that an Italian would be exposed to on a daily basis, such as:
???? YouTube videos (on any topic – find what interests you)
???? Italian films (or American/English films dubbed in Italian)
???? Television series: Streaming services such as Netflix have many popular American series now dubbed in Italian
???? Podcasts: downloadable audio files (topics that interest you)
So What is the Goal of Immersion in Italian?
It's important to know that the goal of Immersion is not comprehension (after all, you don’t know any Italian yet!) – it’s exposure.
Just LISTEN to the beautiful sounds and don’t get overwhelmed by not understanding the words. It's the “music” of the language that you want to become familiar with. The great thing is – you can do this WHILE doing other things with your time (such as while gardening, preparing a meal, before falling asleep etc.).
It’s important to use materials on topics that YOU are genuinely interested in! This will greatly increase your engagement and you won’t get bored either! You are also far more likely to pick up new words and make audio-visual associations this way.
Immerse Yourself in Italian with Our Incredible Italian Content
At Italy Made Easy we specialize in producing content in Italian that helps you detect the sounds of the language more easily (this content uses natural speech, but at a slightly slower speed) and keeps you safe from the dialect that you might come across in regular Italian media.
An Italy Made Easy Membership gives you UNLIMITED ACCESS to all of these resources, and more, in order to IMMERSE youself in Italian:
Italy Made Easy Podcast
Main format: Audio podcast
Topics: aspects of the Italian culture and lifestyle
Supporting resources: downloadable audio file, downloadable PDF with full transcription and comprehension exercises
Where: www.italymadeeasy.com/podcast
Learn Italian With Audio
Main format: Structured courses
Focus: perfecting Listening & Comprehension skills
Additional resources: Two Versions of an original Audio Novel in Italian with a lot of additional resources
From Zero To Italian
Main format: Structured courses
Focus: Mastering the Italian language
Format: Video, audio, PDF
Additional resources: Quizzes, Exercises, Flashcard Vocabulary
Find out all our Unlimited courses and Resources: click here!
Where Else Can I Find Italian Content for Immersion?
While there is a plethora of places where you can find content in Italian, we recommend you initially focus on things that you might even understand partially (yes, without knowing any Italian yet).
How is that even possible?
Well, if you pick content that is very visual, descriptive and instructional, you will, no doubt, be able to pick up some essential vocabulary or common expressions.
Because of this, we find that QVC Italia’s channel on YouTube is excellent. In these live videos, presenters and guests describe products, show how they are used, and express opinions on them. All in respectful, standard Italian. Sure, these are infomercials, but at this stage all we want is to hear lots of Italian and be able to grasp some things!
Netflix is also a great source of content in Italian. If you are not physically in Italy, you can change your language to Italian in your account settings. This will tell Netflix to mainly show you content that has some Italian element: Italian dub and/or Italian subtitles. Of course, we are interested in Italian dub!
If you want to see even more content spoken in Italian, you should consider using a VPN service. VPN’sare designed to protect your privacy and obscure your location and traffic on the internet. They also allow you to virtually change your computer’s location (to Italy, for example). If you live in a country where Netflix operates, then you are entitled to use your account when traveling. Check Netflix’s guidelines for details and local jurisdiction.
How Much Italian Immersion Should I Do?
You are going to be shocked now, but please trust me on this one! Since your goal is to tell your brain that Italian is relevant and that it’d better “italianize” itself as quickly as possible (so you can produce the same authentic sounds), you will need to make Italian… relevant. This means that you want to aim for as many hours of Italian immersion as possible.
Any time you are alone, you should listen to Italian.
Grooming? Play a podcast.
Commuting? Watch Italian YouTube videos or QVC.
Hanging around in the house? Cooking? Cleaning? Play an Italian movie or your favorite series, dubbed in Italian.
Remember, this is not active listening. You are not sitting down for hours on end trying to make sense of movies you don’t understand. You are just hearing Italian and, occasionally, paying attention, and even more occasionally understanding!
Our suggestion for successful immersion is to have at least 4 hours of (passive) immersion for every hour of active study time.
Yes. If you spend an hour studying grammar, doing some exercises etc., ideally you are spending 4 hours listening to Italian. Immersion is more important than studying, particularly at this early stage.
In our previous article on Pillar #1: Commitment, we talked about creating your own “availability chart” for when and how long you would commit to learning Italian each day.
How much time were you able to cut out in your week to study Italian? Great! Can you realistically add 4 times as many hours (on average) per hour of study time as you were intending to do?
At first, you might think you cannot. We are busy people, I know. But remember, these are not “rules” and no one is checking them, so I want you to be realistic and kind to yourself. Also, remember that Immersion is an activity that you do while completing other tasks, so it's not time you have spend sitting down at a desk.
If you had 2 hours of study time planned for Thursdays but cannot possibly spend 8 hours listening to Italian, that’s fine! If you knew you could not study Italian at all on Saturdays, maybe you could still play some QVC while doing your errands, cooking, driving or falling asleep.
Whatever you do, don't stress about it. As long as you expose yourself to as much spoken Italian as possible, that is ultimately the main goal of Immersion.
And have fun in the process!