Beginner´s Guide to Learning Italian – Part. 5
Beginning Italian
In checking out Italian courses this is an online course and what they offer for beginners only. Beyond “Italian for Beginners” is not listed here. This is just to give you an idea of what to expect when you start taking instructions on how to speak Italian whether it be in a classroom online or a correspondence course.
Lessons -The lessons they offer are simple, direct lesson in grammar, spelling, pronunciation, and vocabulary.
Audio Phrasebook – You will be able to build your vocabulary with a glossary of essential terms by topic with audio.
Exercises – You will have workbook exercises, worksheets, drills and activities to help you as you are learning Italian.
Buon Divertimento – Included with your vocabulary and other studies you will learn some Italian humor, by learning to read Italian jokes, puns, and riddles. You want your learning to be fun, don’t you?
Verbs – You will learn the essential information on Italian verb formation, moods, tenses, conjugation charts, and how to use them.
Study Guide – They will give you a study guide to challenge what you have learned and test your knowledge of the various topics of Italian language.
Audio Lab – You will have a word of the day to learn to help you increase your vocabulary, along with survival phrases, a pronunciation guide, and more. Listen to a native Italian speaker.
Articles About Italian – You will have the opportunity to read articles on Italian language, culture, history, and current events.
Italian Proverbs – These are saying much like those we have in English. These are words to live by as seen from the perspective of an Italian with English translations.
Abbreviations and Acronyms – You will have access to a glossary of Italian abbreviations, acronyms, and initials.
Italian VerbsAs a student learning Italian you will have a tendency to look for grammatical patterns. This is normal. Studying Italian verbs in a regulated fashion is a wise idea. In other words take it in as a computer would accept a new program, without thinking about it or trying to analysis it. Mainly because it is an efficient use of time, plus Italian verbs are grouped in a variety of ways.
When studying Italian you must avoid the temptation of making comparisons in English. They are not even remotely the same and you will only end up frustrating yourself. There may be some similarities between the two languages, but there are so many basic differences they can not compare to each other. As in the English language there are many exceptions to the rules.
Verbs are a basic part of ever language, so the same is true with Italian. There are three primary groups of verbs in Italian. They are grouped according to the ending of their infinitives. There is the first conjugation (-are verbs), second conjugation (-ere verbs), and third conjugation (-ire verbs).
The majority of the Italian verbs belongs to the first conjugation group and follows a very consistent pattern. Once you have mastered the conjugation of on –are verb, in essence you will have learned hundreds. The second conjugation verbs total about one quarter of the verbs. Many of them have some sort of erratic structure; there are also many regular – ere verbs. The final group of verbs is those that end in –ire.
In Italian there is a difference between tense and moody. Mood refers to the attitude of the speaker to what he or she is saying. The attitude is not directed at the person they are speaking to. There are four finite moods – modi finite in Italian is pinpointing, which is used when pinpointing facts; subjunctive – congiuntivo, which is used to express how the speaker feels or his attitude toward an event; conditional – condizionale, which is used to express what would happen in a certain situation that is hypothetical and imperative – imperative, which is used to give orders. The English language only has three of these finite moods. They are indicative, subjunctive, and imperative.
There are also three indefinite moods in Italian; the forms do not specify the person, such as first, second, or third. They are infinitive – infinito, participle – participio and gerund – gerundio.
Moods are divided into one or more tenses, which tell the time when the action of the verb takes place whether it is present, past or future.
Conjugating Italian Verbs
There are six different verb forms for all of the Italian verb tenses in the four finite moods; each verb form corresponds with each of the six persons used as the subject.
Singular
First person
Second person
Third person
Plural
First person
Second person
Third person
Learning all six of the forms for every verb could be a daunting task. Fortunately most Italian verbs are regular verbs, meaning they are conjugated using a regular pattern. There are only three erratic first conjugation verbs. Once you have the regular verb endings memorized the pattern can be applied to other verbs of the same group. If they are irregular they do not follow a normal pattern.
Even though they are numerous, even the irregular second and third conjugation verbs fall into a few groups, which make it easier to memorize.
You can’t speak Italian without the verbs essere – to be and avere – to have. These two verbs are essential and are used in compound verb formations, along with idiomatic expressions, and many other grammatical constructions. You will want to become the master of these two verbs because it is a giant step toward learning Italian.
Next is the transitive verb. These are the verbs that take a direct object, such as in Luis reads a book. Transitive verbs can also be used in the unconditional sense, which means with an implicit direct object “reads a book”. Intransitive verbs on the other had are those that never take a direct object “Giorgio walks”. Some verbs can be classified as either transitive or intransitive, depending on the context of the sentence.
Italian verbs have two voices. A verb is considered to be in the active voice when the subject of the sentence performs the action of the verb, such as Marco ha preparato le valigie – Marco packed the suitcases. A verb is considered to be in the passive voice when the subject is acted on by the verb, such as La scena e stata filmata da un famoso regista – The scene was filmed by a famous director. Only transitive verbs with a clear direct object can be changed from the active voice to the passive voice.
You start everyday with reflexive verbs – verbi riflessivi. These verbs revert the action to the subject such as Mi lavo – I wash myself. In Italian reflexive pronouns – I pronomi reflessivi are needed when conjugating reflexive verbs.
In Italian there are three important verbs known as verbi servili or verbi modali – modal verbs. These verbs are potere – to be able to, can, volere – to want, dovere – to have to, must, can take on their given meaning and stand alone. Functioning to modify the meaning of these verbs, they can follow the infinitive of other verbs.
There are a group of Italian verbs that are conjugated with two different pronoun particles. Included in this group of verbs is meravigliarsene and provarcisi and are called pronominal verbs – verbi pronominali. There are still grouped with either the first conjugation, second conjugation or the third conjugation according to the ending of their infinitives.
To the dismay of students of all levels and abilities there is no hard and fast set of rules governing the grammatical usage of these next verbs with prepositions. There are certain verbs, which are followed by specific prepositions such as a, di, per, and su.
Because of the unspecified rules with these verbs and preposition usage, students must familiarize themselves with tables, which include Italian verbs and expressions followed by specific prepositions as well as verbs followed directly by the infinitive.
Pronouncing Italian Vowels
The correct pronunciation in Italian can be difficult for some beginners. Yet it is standard and stays the same. Once the rules are understood it is simple to pronounce each word correctly. Here are some step by step instructions on how to pronounce the Italian vowels.
A – sounds like a in father
E – has two sounds: short vowel like e in pen and the long vowel similar to ai in fair
I – sounds like ea in tea.
O – has two sounds: like o in cozy or similar of o in cost
U – sounds like u in rude.
Italian vowels are always spoken in a sharp, clear fashion; they should never be slurred or pronounced weakly. Vowels always keep their value in diphthongs. Italian is a phonetic language. This means it is spoken exactly the way it is written. Italian and English use the same Latin alphabet, but the sounds by the letters are different in the two languages.
Pronouncing Italian Consonants
In Italian pronunciation can be difficult especially for beginners Yet much like the vowels the sound each consonant makes is a regular sound and remains the same, so once the rules are understood, it is simple to pronounce the words correctly. Here are the step by step instructions on the way the consonants are pronounced in Italian.
The consonants B, F, M, N, and V are pronounced exactly as they are in English.
When the C is before a, o, u and before a consonant is has the sound similar to the English letter K. When the C comes before the e and I it sounds very similar to the English sound of the Ch.
D is much more explosive in Italian than it is in English; with the tongue near the tip of the upper teeth but with no aspiration.
When G comes before a, o, and u and before consonants it sounds like the g in good; when it comes before e and i it sounds like the g in general.
Gli sounds like ll in million and Gn sounds like they ny in canyon.
The H in Italian is silent.
The L sounds like it does in English except with a sharper tone and more forward in the mouth.
P sounds as it does in English, but without the aspiration, which sometimes happens in English.
Qu sounds as it does in English like in the word quest.
R is very different from the English; it is pronounced with one flip of the tongue against the gums of the upper teeth. This will make the trill sound of the r.
S before vowels and unvoiced consonants such as c, f, p, q, s, t is pronounced like the s in the English word rose.
T is pretty much like the T in English, but with no escaping of breath to go along with it in the Italian.
Z can be voiced, like ds in beds, or it can be voiceless, like ts in bets.
All Italian consonants have a corresponding double consonant, whose pronunciation is similar to, but not exactly like the single consonant. The mispronunciation of the double consonants can result in miscommunication.
Italian is known as a musical language because every sound is clear and distinct but stays soft rather than hard. The consonants will never lose their sound value even when linked together with syllables and words.
When they say Italian is a phonetic language, they mean it is spoken the way it is written. Italian and English share the Latin alphabet, but the pronunciation of each letter differs between the two languages.
Pronouncing Italian Words
If you enjoy listening to the sounds as the opera and listening to the voices of the Italian stars in foreign film, then you will love learning to speak Italian. Here are some step by step instructions on the correct way to pronounce the Italian words.
Most Italian words are stressed on the next to the last syllable.
When the final –e is omitted from a word, as it sometimes happens with some of the masculine titles, and they are immediately followed by a proper name, the position of the stress remains the same.
Keep in mind the above rule, dottore – doctor becomes dottor Nardi – Doctor Nardi and professore – professor becomes professor Pace – Professor Pace.
If the last vowel in a word is to be stressed, there will be an accent over that vowel.
It is important to remember that open e and o occur only in stressed syllables.
The written accent is used with a few monosyllables as a way to distinguish them from others that have the same spelling, but the words have a different meaning.
What is Phonology?
Phonology according to Marian Nespor, and Italian linguist and author of the book “Fonologia”, it is the part of grammar that deals with the sounds made in natural languages for communicating meanings. Basically what that boils down to is the study of the meanings of the sounds we make as we speak.
There is an important fact we must make clear and that is there is a difference between phonology and phonetics. Phonetics analyzes all sound coming from human speech, the meaning and the language does not matter. Where as phonology takes and studies the sound in its environment. Patterns are sought by determining which sounds contain meaning. Then explain how these sounds are understood by a native speaker. Phonetics may study how the letter “T” is produced and how it seems to be, while phonology analyzes how the words fa and va have different meanings, even though there is only one differing sound. In other words phonology is the musical side of languages.
When you are listening to Italian notice the difference in the rhythm the language is spoken in as opposed to the rhythm English is spoken. There is a noticeable difference between the two. Phonological investigations have been conducted by linguists to study the various rhythmic patterns of languages. With the use of computer programs, the linguists replaced all the consonants with the letter “s” and all the vowels were replaced with the letter “a”. The end results showed each language differs by only its own musicality.
The path to learning to speak a language as a native speaker is blocked with barriers you, which are apparent, such as accents, and vocabularies, but even with the mastery of both is really not enough. The subtle barriers not as easily spotted are the proper inflection and intonation and knowing where to place the correct stress are the more musical aspects of the languages. Phonology is the study, which will help to point out these obscure keys to fluency and is a basis on which other aspects of linguistic can begin their studies.
The crossroads between phonology and morphology is where there is an interesting mystery of words; linguists find is difficult to define the exact properties of a word. At first it may be apparent why; for those who are learning Italian you will need to pay close attention to how changes are made in what you hear, such as from the nonsense sounds to words full of meaning. This will be important as you progress in learning a
new vocabulary. You may be tempted to use phonological clues, such as tone, stress, and pauses for breath to classify a word, but as you will see this may not be a correct assumption.
Phonology is a wide ranging subject, which covers other questions with complicated names, such as assimilation, epenthesis, the adding sounds to words, and phonotactics sound combinations are allowed within a given language. Then there are subjects with much more simpler terms, such as the mysterious properties of the letter “s” in Italian. These are all interesting topics because of the misconception, which surrounds them. It is however, through the mastery of puzzles like these that you can come almost to the understanding of Italian, whether you are a native speaker or not.
Summary
As a beginner learning Italian can be very rewarding and inspiring, or it can be an extremely frustrating and miserable experience. Whether or not you enjoy studying Italian depends on your attitude, your expectations and your learning technique.
Here are some tips on how to learn Italian.
Find an Italian course you like and make sure you stick to it. Don’t go with just any old course, the cheapest one, or even the one that is the most advertised. Check what they look like and sound like. One of the keys to success in learning Italian is finding the course you like. If you like the course chances are greatly you will stick with it.
Have fun while you are learning. Make the lessons fun. While you are out with friends include your Italian lessons, by naming the Italian word for what you see. If you like reading book, or watching a movie, get the Italian version of the book or the movie without the subtitles. They can be distracting. You could even play an Italian version of your favorite video game.
Be realistic about your expectations. Don’t set your goals so high that they are unattainable. Failing to meet your deadline you set for yourself will only discourage you. Chances are you will not stick with the course when facing constant failure. Expect to forget a lot of what you have learned that is normal. Remember progress is never steady, you will find you will learn more some days than others. It’s okay.
Learn at least one new word every session. Studying a foreign language is a psychological game. You need to feel like you are getting somewhere or you will want to quit. By learning a new word every lesson or day, you will feel like you are getting there even if it is slowly.
Establish some long term goals and focus on them. If you are learning Italian to be able to speak to people and to be able to understand them as well, those are the skills you will want to focus on. Make sure the course you select emphasizes the aspects of learning the language you want to focus on. If it is just speaking and understand, you don’t want a course that spends the majority of your time reading and writing.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment