Italian is one of the most beautiful and (I think) fun romance languages to speak. The sounds of the language themselves are enough to take you to another time and place.

But learning Italian can be quite the challenge for a native English speaker, especially if it's your first foreign language. Here’s 3 ways you can you use Yabla to tackle some of the specific problem points Italian learners face.

If you want a more in depth review on the site and it's method you can find that here. Today we're focusing specifically on the course for Italian.

1) It helps you sort out the Italian verbs

If Italian is your first romance language then you’ll likely run into trouble with its many verb conjugations. Remembering which is used for what tense or with which person or number can feel overwhelming.

Yabla is a great way to practice your verb conjugations and overcome all of this. Your best bet will probably be to practice one verb tense at a time. Let’s say you start with the simple present.

A short intro to Italian present tense verbs

Review the rules for each person/number conjugation in that tense. Then watch a video with subtitles and try to pick out any verbs that look like they could be present tense, writing them down in a list.

After the video take the list and try to sort the verbs out by which conjugation you think they fit under. Use a dictionary (like the one on Yabla) and double check your answers. Do this a few times and you will start to see patterns in the verb conjugations.

If you really want to challenge yourself try picking out the verbs without subtitles, using only the audio from the video.

2) It helps you practice pronoun placement

One of the most confusing aspects of Italian pronouns are where you put them in a sentence (never mind the fact that Italian has more pronouns than English).

Watching videos on Yabla with subtitles is an excellent way to see how and where Italian pronouns are used. When you see a sentence that uses a pronoun in way you don’t get or haven’t seen before, write it down. You can put it in a flashcard or ask a teacher or language partner about it.

3) It's great for pronunciation practice

Use Yabla’s video play to slow down and loop specific segments of a video. When you play it back do your best to mimic what you hear. Then try saying it by yourself and playback the video to double check and make the necessary corrections. Break each video segment into syllables not words.

When you mimic you’ll want to string together the syllables to form full sentences. It’s blending syllables together and not words that really help you sound like a native speaker.

You don’t need Yabla to do this kind of exercise but the site does make it easier than it would be otherwise (especially because you can slow the video down).

Conclusion

Yabla is a great tool for any of the 6 languages it offers, but it has some special appeal if you’re learning Italian. The site is affordable with a single month subscription starting at $9.95.

 There are also some free Italian videos on the site so you can get a taste of what Yabla offers before you pay for anything. If you’re considering learning Italian then you definitely should take a look!

Babbel is fairly well known name in the language learning world. The company is known for its online/app based courses which have over 1 million users throughout the world.

Like most companies Babbel creates its courses with mostly beginners in mind. In our Ultimate Babbel Review we weigh the biggest pros and cons of Babbel courses. In this post we're simply looking at how well Babbel teaches the Italian language. 

Hope you like!  

Is Babbel Italian right for you?​

Yes

If you're new to Italian (or a low-intermediate)

Babbel courses (Italian included) are tailor made for people with little to no experience in language learning. They are designed to lead you through essential grammar and vocabulary.  If you complete Babbel Italian you can except to be at or close to a B1 level of proficiency in the language. 

​If you want to a good foundation in Italian

Babbel at its best is a good way to learn and reinforce Italian grammar and vocabulary. The course as a whole won't leave you fluent but it will leave you with a functional level of Italian and a working knowledge of the language. 

No

If you have a high level of Italian

We say this a lot but it can't be denied: Babbel simply doesn't offer advance lessons in their courses. They have loads of content for beginners and for the most popular languages (like Italian) a fair amount of pre-intermediate work as well.

After that there's nothing that would appeal to or really help anyone who is already an advanced student.  

​If you're only concerned with speaking Italian

Babbel does a decent job of teaching vocabulary and grammar, but it doesn't quite prepare its learners to speak fluidly. Throughout the course you will be required to respond to questions based on a small list of possible answers.

Unfortunately this way you may remember what you learned, but you're not practicing the kind of recall needed to improve you're speaking ability. It would be better if Babbel had some lessons that required you to provide more original responses. 

Pros and Cons of Babbel Italian​

Pros

It's a great way to practice Verb conjugations

Like its sister languages in the Romantic family Italian verbs are conjugated. If you're a native English speaker and Italian is your first foreign language this could be confusing at first, as you're probably not used to verbs changing so much based on who is performing the action.

A detailed video about Italian verb conjugations​

Babbel's Italian course has individual lessons for both regular and irregular verb conjugations. In these lessons you'll be shown the rule and common exceptions of how a specific type of Italian verb should be conjugated. Then for the rest of the lesson you practice making that conjugation.

Focusing on one class of verbs at a time like this is an excellent to get comfortable with Italian verbs and without forgetting them.

It's a great way to learn the tenses in Italian

Another difficult aspect of the Italian language for native speakers are the verb tenses, particularly the perfect and imperfect tenses. This is because we don't use verbs in quite the same in the English language. 

Babbel Italian has an entire mini course on verb tenses. Much as with verb conjugations, focusing on tenses individually is a great way to master them. 

There's a lot of lessons

For less popular languages like Danish and Russian Babbel skimps on their language lessons and only provide content for beginners. With more popular foreign languages (like Italian), they offer a wealth of intermediate lessons too. 

There are more than 60 Italian "mini courses" within Babbel Italian and all have anywhere from 10-20+ individual lessons. If you decide to learn Italian with Babbel you'll get some could mileage out of it. 

Cons

Not much help with pronunciation

Babbel Italian does have a voice recognition component. Often you'll be asked to say a word or phrase to answer a question. However how well the system works is questionable.  

On a very general level it will recognize you say the word correctly, but it won't do anything to develop your accent. You can say any Italian word with a thick American accent and it will still be considered correct. 

What other people are saying about Babbel Italian

Alternatives to Babbel Italian

Final thoughts

If you're a new Italian learner who wants a good introduction to Italian grammar and vocabulary then the Babbel Italian course is worth considering. Though it doesn't have lessons for advance learners, and it struggles to improve pronunciation and speaking skills, it's low price and effectives at teaching the basics make it an appealing option. 

With a no questions ask 20 day money back guarantee it's a good idea to check out Babbel Italian and see if it's right for you!. 

Rosetta Stone is probably the most popular brand name when it comes to language courses. The company has a bittersweet reputation among language learners, with some loving and it and others hating it.

We cover the features and method of Rosetta Stone (its pros and cons) in our Ultimate Rosetta Stone Review.

Rosetta Stone offers courses on many languages, but they aren’t all created equal. The effectiveness and quality of the course depends largely on the language being taught.

 In this post we take a look how well the Rosetta Stone teaches Italian, and how some of Italian’s unique features relate to using the course.

Enjoy!

Is Rosetta Stone Italian right for you?

Yes if you’re new to Italian

Rosetta Stone works best for beginners who are completely new to the language. Their courses are catered to people with no language learning experience. If you’re nervous or unsure of how to start learning Italian then Rosetta Stone may be right for you.

Yes if you need a foundational knowledge of Italian

If you work through all 5 levels of Rosetta Stone Italian you will walk away with a working knowledge of basic Italian grammar and vocabulary. You won’t be fluent, but you will have a solid foundation you can build on.

No if you’re an intermediate or advanced learner

Because it caters to beginners Rosetta Stone doesn’t have much to offer Italian learners with higher abilities in the language. If you want to move past the basics Rosetta Stone isn’t for you.

No if you want to speak Italian right away

Rosetta Stone does teach Italian, but not in a way that helps you start speaking it in real life situations. The vocabulary is often impractical, and there is little to no pressure for you to produce your own phrases or sentences.

Pros

Rosetta Stone works better for the Romantic languages

There is good reason to believe that Rosetta Stone was designed for one of the Romantic languages, and then the method was copied for all their other languages.

 So any of the Romantic languages (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian) will work better with Rosetta Stone than other languages that are further from English.

If you're curious here's some more info on the Romance languages

In addition to Rosetta Stone’s design this is also because the Romantic languages share many similarities with English like word order, shared vocabulary, and alphabets. This is certainly true of Italian.

Italian is a phonetic language

While there are some exceptions Italian is largely a phonetic language. This means that it’s usually pretty easy to figure out how a word is pronounced based on how it’s spelled.

This makes Italian easier to learn and remember no matter what language course you use, but it’s also helpful when using Rosetta Stone.

If you can remember trying to learn how to read and write in English as kid then you probably appreciate working with a phonetic language.

In Italian there are no spelling exceptions or incongruences like in English’s “their, they’re, and there”. 9 times out of 10 an Italian word is spelled the way it’s spoken and vice versa.

Italian and English alphabets are similar

As we said before the Romantic languages share similar alphabets with English.

At first glance this may not seem like a big deal, but ask anyone learning a language like Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, or Arabic and they will tell you that having a similar script makes a huge difference when learning a language.

Rosetta Stone’s method doesn’t do a very good job of teaching foreign scripts, so Italian learners who use it have a big advantage over students of other languages.

Cons

Doesn’t prepare you for native speakers

One common critique of Rosetta Stone is that is doesn’t prepare you for real life conversations with normal speakers. Their method simply doesn’t do a good job of getting you to produce the language, nor does it put much pressure on you to recall what you’ve learned.

This becomes problematic for Italian students because native speakers usually speak pretty fast. The sounds of words and phrases morph and get reduced or combined when spoken.

This means you can learn thousands of Italian words on paper but not be able to understand or pick them out in real speech.

If you work through Rosetta Stone Italian you will learn a significant portion of Italian, but you won’t have any experience in actually speaking it, so be aware.

Vocabulary is usually impractical

Like so many other Italian courses and classes Rosetta Stone teaches vocabulary in way that isn’t very practical. It teaches based on grammar concepts and not on the words and phrases you’ll need to speak the language and express yourself.

You’ll be learning sentences like “The children have bicycles” instead more useful ones like “I am learning Italian because….”.

Conclusion

Rosetta Stone Italian is best for beginning Italian students who are looking to dip their toes in the language. It’s not recommended for those who are serious about speaking the language right away.

Advanced and intermediate students aren't likely to find much value in these courses.

Because Italian shares some similarities with English Rosetta Stone works better with Italian than other languages.

Pimsleur is a well known brand in the language learning market, second to only Rosetta Stone in terms of fame popularity. It has a strong reputation for developing your speaking and listening skill to a functional level in a foreign language. 

It’s not a perfect course (what course it?). It comes with a high price tag, and is also criticized by some for teaching a limited vocabulary.

We cover the the strengths and weakness of the Pimsleur method and courses in our full Pimsleur review. In this post we’re going to take a quick look at Pimsleur Italian and how its features can hurt or harm your Italian learning.

Rocket Italian

Is Italianpod101 right for you?

Italianpod101 is a great option for any Italian learner from the absolute beginner to the upper intermediate levels. There are more beginner and mid-level lessons than there are advanced so if you’re already fairly comfortable with the language then this site may not be a great fit.

Though they do have some video lessons Italianpod101 is first and foremost an audio based site. So if you want to become more comfortable listening to native Italians then you should definitely check it out. Also, because the lessons are centered around scripted conversations, Italianpod101 as an effective and interesting way to learn new vocabulary and grammar.

If you’re looking for an Italian course that you can take with you and use wherever you go, then you’ll like Italianpod101’s mobile app. The app gives you access to all the site content and is available for Iphone, Ipad, and Android users at no extra cost.

Features​

Podcast episodes

Each podcast episode runs around 15 minutes (sometimes less, sometimes more). Every lesson has a conversation between two native Italian speakers that covers a particular topic from grammar, culture, to common Italian phrases.  

Lifelike situations

The people behind the podcast go out of their way to put lifelike situations at the center of each lesson. The hosts begin every episode with a quick summary of the lesson and what it will cover. They often give some interesting grammatical tips as well.

Conversations are natural and interesting

Italian stands out from other audio courses in that the hosts usually do a good job of keeping the podcast engaging. They sometimes share personal stories or cultural insights. Their friendliness helps keep the material light and interesting.

Price

Subscription levels​

There are 3 subscription levels for Italianpod101: basic, premium, and premium plus. For all levels the more months you buy the cheaper the price is per month.

Basic gives you access to every podcast episode and a couple other basic features like lesson notes and checklists. This subscription level starts at $4 a month for $24 months and goes up to $8 a month for a single month.

Next is the premium plan. This will give you access to all the bonus features we mentioned earlier (flashcards, transcripts, etc). This plan will cost anywhere from $10 a month for $24 months to $25 per month for 1 month.

​Finally we have the premium plus plan. In addition to everything from the other subscription levels you also get a personal lesson plan and assessment from a teacher. Premium plus is the most expensive price level starting at $22.88 per month for 24 all the way up to $47 per month for 1 month. 

What's the best value?

The basic gives you the most bang for your buck. The premium level isn’t bad if you want the extra horns and whistles. However the Premium plus plan seems over priced. It’d be a better idea to sign up with a basic plan and use the difference to hire an Italian tutor on Italki.

Italianpod101's shortcomings​

Speaking isn’t necessary

As a learning tool Italianpod101 is great. But at the end of the day you can listen to all that Italianpod101 has to offer and never actually speak Italian. This is a problem common to most audio courses. You simply can’t replace the human element needed to develop fluency in another language.

No community​

​I wish the site had some feature like a discussion board or messaging system that could connect all the Italian learners who use it. Language learning is always better when done alongside other people.

Best way to use Italianpod101​

Study and review

At its best Italianpod101 is a great study and review tool. You can go through each lesson individually and pay special attention to any new words you come across. 

Put those words in Italianpod101’s flashcard system and then review them so you won’t forget them. If you do that while listening to one episode a day, chances are pretty high that you'll see your Italian improve. 

Listening & pronunciation​

The audio, lesson transcripts, and slow playback option make Italitanpod101 great for developing your Italian pronunciation. Single out the words you struggle with the most and use these features to dissect the sounds and mimic the native speakers. 

Make the most of your time

Italianpod101 is just about perfect for practicing Italian during the little periods of downtime you find throughout the day. Use the mobile app and some headphones to practice your new language whether you’re in the car, on the bus, or shopping at a store. All those minutes will add up and bring an extra boost to your learning.

Rocket Italian

Conclusion

Italianpod101 isn’t meant to be a full Italian language course and it shouldn’t be used as one. It shines brightest when used as a resource to help you practice Italian. It is an effective platform for pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar; but if you use it don’t forget to make time to talk with native speakers.

The site has a free week trial (no credit card needed), so it’s best to try out the site for yourself and see if you like it.