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Italian for Beginners 1: Meeting, Greeting and Eating

Learn how to order food and drink, greet people, and introduce yourself, in this first Italian for Beginners course.

Duration

4 weeks

Weekly study

4 hours

100% online

How it works

Unlimited subscription

Learn more

Established

1969

Location

Milton Keynes, UK

World ranking

Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

This online course is the first of six courses. It will introduce you to the basic language, so that you are able to:

order snacks and drinks in a café;

greet people and introduce yourself and others;

talk about where you live and where you come from;

talk about the languages you speak;

talk about what you do.

Start to speak, listen, read and write in Italian

During the four weeks of the course, you will learn some of the vocabulary and phrases you need to help you interact with people at a basic level.

You will start to develop the four language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing through a range of activities, which will introduce the language in authentic settings, and audio resources, which will let you hear the language in action.

There are some activities where you will also practice your speaking skills, as it is important that you start speaking as soon as possible.

You will also learn some essential Italian grammar, including some basic verbs, such as essere (to be) and chiamarsi (to call). Finally, you will get some tips and advice on how to develop your study skills, so that you can become a successful language learner.

Take your Italian learning offline by purchasing two hours of downloadable audio files and transcripts made by the course creators at The Open University. These MP3s are a great way to practise your Italian listening and speaking wherever you are. They cover examples and exercises in the same topics as the course.

Week 1
Ordering drinks and snacks
- Welcome to Italian for Beginners 1: Greetings, names and introductions
  Let’s get started, but first meet your fellow learners.
- Drinks and snacks
  Find out the names for some common drinks and snacks, and the grammatical forms you need to understand in order to talk about them.
- Ordering drinks and snacks
  In this activity you will learn and practise the language needed to place an order in a bar or café, and you will find out more about the Italian bar.
- Definite articles
  Learn more about Italian bars and coffee houses and how to use definite articles.
- Over to you
  Learning another language requires personal effort. Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week.
Week 2
Greetings and introductions
- Greetings
  In this activity you will look at how Italian speakers greet each other.
- Asking people how they are
  Learn how to ask people how they are and how to respond appropriately
- Addressing people
  In this activity you will learn how people are addressed in Italian and the conventions surrounding forms of address.
- Introducing yourself
  In this activity you will learn how to say your name and how to spell it. You will learn the Italian alphabet and practise some pronunciation points.
- Pronouncing c and g
  In this activity you will learn how C and G are pronounced in different letter combinations, and about some famous Italians of the past.
- The Italian alphabet
  In order to spell names and surnames, you need to know the Italian alphabet.
- Over to you
  Learning another language requires personal effort. Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week.
Week 3
Nationalities and languages
- Saying where you are from
  In this activity you will learn how to say where you are from and how to use adjectives of nationality.
- Talking about yourself and other people
  In this activity you will learn how to use subject pronouns.
- Talking about where you live
  In this activity you will learn how to say where you live and ask where other people live.
- Saying what languages you speak
  In this activity you will learn to talk about the languages you speak and will find out about the languages and dialects spoken in Italy. You will also learn a little about the Italian regions.
- Over to you
  Learning another language requires personal effort. Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week. A range of additional audios are available for purchase, to help you consolidate the words and
Week 4
Occupations, jobs and workplaces
- Jobs and professions
  In this activity you will learn the words for several occupations.
- Talking about your occupation
  In this activity you will find out how to say what you do for a living.
- Using verbs ending in -are
  You will now learn how to use verbs in –are to say what you and other people do and where they live.
- Over to you
  Learning another language requires personal effort. Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week.