Learning in style: Speaking Italian in Le Marche

Speaking Italian isn’t all about cramming verbs and vocabulary as Amanda Robinson discovers when she takes a language course with a difference in the heart of Le Marche. The fragrant aroma of our morning caffè rises up from the iron lattice table, strewn with notebooks and dictionaries as we wrestle with the basics of Italian. A […]

Top 3 Language Apps

Forget dull classroom lessons, it’s never been easier to get by in Italian – for instant translation and fun language lessons, just download one of these free apps to your smartphone and away you go… No limits Next time you’re in Italy, get over that language barrier with ease  and improve your skills – just […]

Italian word for the week: Pesto

Pesto (n.m.) Pesto. The word pesto comes from the Italian ‘pestare’, meaning ‘to pound, or crush’, or indeed to ‘pestle’, and is of course also cognate to our noun ‘pestle’ (Italian: ‘pestello’, Latin: ‘pistillum’) – so there is absolutely no need to ever again get confused about which is the pestle and which is the […]

Fluent in 3 Months

Pronunciation or Intonation? Benny Lewis, author of Fluent in 3 Months (published by Collins) gives us his tips on understanding the ‘network’ of intonation in a language, with the help of a friendly Italian polyglot.   At first glance, it can seem that the differences between a native accent and a foreign accent are all […]