Language Exchange User Posts

Whether you’re in it for the art or the food (or another reason, but let’s face it, what’s better than Italian pasta and architecture?), you’ve decided that you want to learn Italian. If you’re reading this page, you’ve obviously taken the first few steps towards learning Italian, so congratulations! Unfortunately, it doesn’t just take a firm resolve to learn to know a language; you’ve also got to find the right resources and stick to them.

The great thing about language learning today is that there are tons of opportunities to learn for free as the world becomes smaller and more people are interested in learning multiple languages. Check out these resources for free Italian language learning, figure out which works best for you and get started!

Language Exchange

If you like the idea of working one-on-one with a tutor, but want to avoid the cost, then this is most likely the best option for you. Keep in mind that working with a human being on language learning will give you the opportunity to be flexible with what you’re learning, cater to the things that you need the most help with, and give you valuable cultural insight and conversation practice. Sites like LRNGO offer you a free platform to connect with a language exchange partner locally or anywhere in the world through video chat. Spend an hour of your time teaching a skill you have (everyone has a skill, even if it’s your native language!) and gain valuable tutoring in exchange.

YouTube

Learn Italian with Lucrezia is perfect for beginners looking to get a grasp on the basics of the Italian language and culture. Lucrezia posts episodes every Monday so you are guaranteed to have new material frequently. Sometimes, when the inspiration strikes, she even posts Italian recipe videos, now who wouldn’t want that Italian lesson?

ItalianPod101 focuses on vocabulary, pronunciation, and basic phrases in their videos. This channel is good for foundation work, or those looking to have a general understanding of the language for travel purposes.

Learn Italian Easy is for those who like their lessons centered on everyday, real life situations like getting coffee or going to the beach. This channel is also best for those looking to travel, as it doesn’t focus on grammar.

Podcasts

Learn Italian Pod offers tons of podcasts on a variety of topics for all different skill levels. Not only is there tons of useful content, but it is also easy to sort through with four different levels from beginner to advanced and the option of separating by category.

News in Slow Italian is for those who have a basic understanding of Italian and want to practice their listening skills while simultaneously keeping up with modern events and cultural happenings.

30 Minute Italian is a great resource if you’re planning on setting aside some time to listen to a podcast. The range of episodes spans greatly and they are all available for free on iTunes.

General Websites

BBC Italian is a great resource for all kinds of Italian language learning tools. From a free online course, news and radio links, vocabulary exercises, and more, you’ll be sure to find something useful to you on this site.

Learn a Language offers free Italian courses and more with a free Facebook log in (done this way in order to keep the course free for users), and offers ways to check your progress and encourage you to continue learning.

One World Italiano is another place to find full, free Italian lessons. There are multiple options for varying learning levels and a YouTube course to boot (no pun intended).

Italian 101 is an awesome place to go if you’re looking for links to Italian news, TV, or radio. They also provide a bunch of useful information on Italian basics.

Now with all of these resources, you have no excuse not to get started on your Italian language learning today! If you persist, you will succeed, so dive in and keep swimming until you feel confident in your Italian.


Photo Credit: Dennis Jarvis

As technology has made the world smaller and brought people from across the world together to collaborate and work towards a common goal, the need for all of these people to communicate with one another easily has become increasingly important. That’s why multilingualism has become one of the most essential skills in the business world.

Arabic is a dominant foreign language in the financial circle, as many of its participants belong to Arabic-speaking ethnic groups. If you’re involved in global finance and have discovered that learning Arabic would be beneficial for you but don’t wish to overload yourself by getting over your head in a language you’re learning for business reasons, take a look at these resources that will help you get a better grip on Arabic without sacrificing too much of your time. Use these resources to learn Arabic for business, fast.

Online Tutoring
If you work best by one-on-one learning, try finding an online tutor or language exchange partner to guide you through your learning. Working with another person is beneficial because you can work together to build up the knowledge on the specific topics that you need to know. They also give you insight on cultural quirks and significant things to remember.

A language exchange partner is a free alternative to a tutor, but requires some extra time on your end, as the idea is to trade lesson for lesson, which means that you could teach someone English for Arabic.

Both of these options are available at LRNGO, which offers you free searches to connect with people all over the world to learn.

YouTube Videos
Learn on your own by using instructional YouTube videos to guide you. Dedicate 5-10 minutes of your time, watch a lesson and learn!

Learn Arabic from Me is a great channel for beginners, giving them a foundation for learning Arabic. Get a grip on basic vocabulary, phrases, and listening skills by watching a few short videos.

Arabic Pod 101 helps you learn the alphabet, offers vocabulary paired with pictures, survival phrases, and an "Arabic in 3 Minutes" playlist, helping you get the most of your Arabic learning in a condensed amount of time.

Podcasts
If you’re busy, but still want to find time in your schedule to learn Arabic, try getting yourself listening to podcasts. Podcasts are great because you can listen to them while doing other things, even driving to work, meaning you can get practice from anywhere.

Arabic Pod offers a ton of podcasts made for beginners to strengthen their listening skills and download lesson transcripts to go with them.

Arabic Survival Phrases is perfect if you are expecting to face situations in which you will need to know some basic phrases in Arabic, but don’t want to get into the details of learning the language. Learn useful phrases like business greetings, how to say "I’m sorry", and how to navigate a restaurant.

Websites
For more resources, lessons, and ways to learn on your own, take a look at these websites.

Learn 101 gives you well-rounded resources so that you get the basics of Arabic vocabulary and grammar, as well as audio and translation resources. You can explore the website yourself or go by their step-by-step lessons.

Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative seems like the best option for getting exposed to foundational Arabic. The class is completely free and is a six-week course with six lessons, focusing on both culture and language, including a lesson on professional meetings.

Education Portal and Open Culture both offer lists of other valuable, free resources that you can use to expand on your learning.


Photo Credit: markjhandel

With the invention of the airplane, it has become convenient to travel to any country in the world in a matter of hours. With the invention of the internet, we are now able to communicate with just about anyone in the world without even having to leave our house. The world has become a smaller a place, and more and more people realize that knowing how to speak at least one foreign language other than English has become the norm, and language teachers are now in high demand.

Of course, you already know you can learn from language teachers and practice with partners on LRNGO.com, but where else can you go? If you want to learn a foreign language but don’t know where to start, there are a multitude of places that offer language classes in your city where you can find language teachers. Local community and cultural centers will often offer foreign language classes for free or for a minimal fee. Continuing education classes at local universities also are a great way to find language teachers. These courses usually last around 6-10 weeks can get you introduced to a foreign language and learn basic conversational phrases.

There are many specialized language schools that offer language classes once or twice a week to students of all ages. These classes are usually grouped by experience level and age, and the language teachers are certified to teach their respective languages. Most language teachers either are foreigners or teachers who have lived abroad for extended periods of time. These language teachers have strong verbal communication skills, and are able to impart grammatical rules and language pronunciation subtleties to the students. So what are you waiting for? Get started in learning a foreign language and meet new people all around the world!


Photo Credit: Kwol