Italian is a beautiful Romance language which is native to about 65 million EU citizens, making it the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Another 14 million EU citizens speak Italian as a second language and the total number of Italian speakers around the world is 85 million.
Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, and western Istria (in Slovenia and Croatia). Italian is also considered a minority language in Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.
Beyond the language, Italian culture has been tremendously influential and is beloved worldwide. Italian cuisine, fashion, music, art, and history are sources of interest and inspiration to the world, which contributes to a very healthy tourism industry. Italy takes the prize for having the most UNESCO World Heritage sites in the world and is the fifth most popular country for international tourism.
Free Resources to Learn Italian
Free Learning/Studying Apps
Duolingo – iTunes – Google Play – Duolingo has become a leader in the language learning world and for good reason. It’s fast, fun, well designed, suitable for all ages, and turns learning a foreign language into a challenging and pretty addictive game.
Memrise – iTunes – Google Play – Memrise is a really fast, fun, and free language learning app / website that is sure to get you hooked. There is a visual flashcard component that also incorporates audio from a community of native speakers. Memrise uses spaced repetition and is really effective at drilling vocabulary and phrases into your memory.
Clozemaster – iTunes – Google Play – This popular app uses gamification and is a great addition to your language learning regimen, no matter what your level. It is very effective for vocabulary acquisition and billed as a great app to use after Duolingo.
Drops – Learn Italian – iTunes – Google Play – This simple but powerful app is entertaining, educational, and free. With a focus on visual learning and 5-minute lesson limits, this app is easy to integrate into your daily language learning regimen and is very effective.
Phrasebook – iTunes – Google Play – A handy little app to have on hand when traveling to Italian-speaking countries, which helps you to easily access basic phrases and vocabulary.
Learn Italian by 50 Languages – iTunes – Google Play – This app is great for beginners (A1-A2) to increase practical vocabulary which is useful for managing everyday situations (at a store, restaurant, bank, doctor, etc). With the free version, you will have access to 30 complete lessons.
Learn Italian Phrasebook – iTunes – Google Play – This useful app will help you learn Italian words and sentences with recordings made by native speakers. The free version has 300+ practical phrases.
HelloTalk – iTunes – Google Play – HelloTalk is a global language learning social network that connects you with native speakers of other languages so that you can practice your speaking and listening skills with native speakers via text/audio messages and free audio and video calls. The free version allows you to choose one native language and one target language.
Internet Polyglot – iTunes – Google Play – This free app uses lessons, games, and pictures to teach foreign languages to beginners. Although Internet Polyglot is far from a standalone language learning tool, it is a useful supplement to help you to learn and retain vocabulary.
Free Italian Dictionary/Translation Apps
Dictionary Linguee – iTunes – Google Play – This fast and free Italian translation app works offline, is accurate and trusted by millions of people.
Italian English Dictionary & Translator – iTunes – Google Play – This free app works offline and provides detailed definitions, example sentences, and pronunciation guidance for Italian & English words, as well as flashcards for learning.
Dict CC – iTunes – Google Play – Dict.CC is a bidirectional dictionary offering 51 language combinations. The app can be used offline and vocabulary lists can be downloaded.
Italian Dictionary & Translator By Ascendo – iTunes – Google Play – This free Italian dictionary & translator app works offline, offers a sentence translator, phrasebook, verb conjugator, vocabulary quizzes, and flashcards.
Google Translate – iTunes – Google Play – Google Translate offers online text translation between 103 languages by typing, offline translation for 59 languages, camera translation for 38 languages, image translation for 37 languages, conversation translation in 32 languages, and translation of handwritten characters in 93 languages. The app also has a phrasebook that allows you to save translated words and phrases for future reference in all languages.
Word Reference – iTunes – Google Play – The Word Reference app allows you access to the world’s most popular and powerful dictionary translation website, including forum discussions.
iTranslate – iTunes – Google Play – iTranslate is a leading free translator and dictionary app that provides translations for text in over 100 languages. Other functionality includes transliteration, sharing, favorites, history, and audio in both male and female voices. Voice to voice translations and the use of offline mode is not available with the free version.
The Free Dictionary By Farlex – iTunes – Google Play – This dictionary and thesaurus app provides millions of precise definitions, drawn from the most trusted industry publications and sources, including idioms, slang, and etymology of words. The Free Dictionary works offline and offers additional functionality like voice search, sharing, games, word of the day, and more.
Reverso Dictionary – iTunes – Google Play – This app serves as a dictionary and translator for millions of words and expressions, accompanied by contextual examples. Other features include a powerful linguistic search engine, natural pronunciation, phrasebook, flashcards, and more.
BBC Languages: Italian – The BBC Italian Language website is a treasure trove of wonderful resources and information. It is high-quality, comprehensive, and provides a lot of intelligently presented and produced materials. All BBC language learning pages were “archived” a few years back due to cost-cutting measures, which means they are no longer adding new information or updating the pages. However, you should have no problem accessing the existing information.
La Mappa Misteriosa – User Guide – Syllabus and Exercises – La Mappa Misteriosa is a beginner Italian language course created by the BBC. It features 12 episodes that cover lots of language topics to help you to navigate real-life situations, like asking for directions, shopping, etc. The instruction is provided in bite-sized segments and focuses on developing basic communication skills.
Talk Italian – YouTube – The BBC created this fun beginner Italian series as an introduction to the language, divided into nine short segments. Transcripts are available here.
BBC Italianissimo – YouTube – Italianissimo is a TV series created by the BBC in 1992 to teach Italian as a foreign language. Transcripts are available here.
Buongiorno Italiano – This BBC production from the ’80s features 20 great episodes to introduce you to Italian.
Learn Italian with ItalianPod101 – This is a fun and helpful set of videos to add to your regular Italian language learning regimen.
Speak Italian with Your Mouth Full – YouTube – iTunes – Dr. Paola Robusca is the teacher of this undergraduate-level MIT class, which uses Italian cuisine as a way to teach basic conversational Italian. A delicious dish is prepared during each class and beginner Italian is taught in bite-sized increments alongside Italian culture and the Mediterranean diet. It’s a creative yet practical class that makes learning Italian fun and light.
One World Italiano – One World Italiano is the website associated with a language school of the same name in Sardinia. In addition to their free courses, this website offers plenty of additional free resources like interactive exercises, helpful lessons, and learning games.
- Beginner Italian Class (37 Units)
- Intermediate Italian Class (Level B1 with 25 Units)
- Italian Language Video Course (12 Lessons)
Lingo Lab – This YouTube channel provides beginner and intermediate-level Italian language instruction.
- Beginner Series – 67 Videos
- Intermediate Series – 9 Videos
Learn Italian with Marco – Marco, a native Italian speaker, is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable teacher, who will cover all of the basics in a fun and engaging way.
Learn Italian with Lucrezia – Lucrezia’s Italian Lessons are very popular and she has gained quite a following due to her creative, fun, and effective ways of teaching. Her YouTube channel offers a wide variety of lessons with quite a bit of depth. You can also find Lucrezia’s lessons on Spotify.
Learn Italian with Italiano Automatico – This course is geared towards those who already have a basic level of knowledge about grammar and vocabulary but need to develop or boost their verbal skills.
Sgrammaticando – Fiorella’s short videos pack in a lot of useful information.
Dolce Vita – Learn Italian with Luca and Marina, who aim to teach you about the beautiful Italian language and the rich culture of Italy.
Italy Made Easy – Manu is an Italian linguist who is passionate about helping people to learn Italian. He offers a wide variety of lessons targeting all levels (beginner, intermediate and advanced), and all videos have subtitles in Italian to improve comprehension.
Benvenido in Casa Ba – This television series is designed specifically to teach Italian language and culture. Transcripts are available for each video.
Travel Linguist Italian 101 Video Lessons – This series of 20 short videos covers basic introductory vocabulary.
Easy Italian – These YouTube videos are the work of a non-profit project which uses lighthearted street interviews as a method to teach languages. Each video has a topic and the host asks questions to native Italian speakers on the street based on the theme. Each video contains subtitles in both Italian and English.
Learn Italian with Italiano Automatico – Alberto (Albi for short) is a very enthusiastic and entertaining Italian teacher. His YouTube channel is geared towards those who already have some knowledge of Italian since he speaks entirely in Italian. Many include Italian subtitles to help viewers follow along.
LangMedia – LangMedia provides language learning resources, including videos, audio, study guides, etc. LangMedia is run by the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages and its mission is to share examples of linguistic and cultural diversity with language learners. In the “Language by Country” section of the LangMedia website, they provide videos that focus on practical aspects of everyday life (For Ex: Basic Communication, Shopping, Transportation, Culture and Social Life). The conversations often include colloquial language and all videos are accompanied by translations and transcripts.
Bravo Italian School – This Italian language school offers 1-hour, interactive live classes with a professional Italian instructor for free. There are separate classes for beginner and intermediate levels. They also offer full courses and one on one lessons for a fee but the “Open Class” is 100% free.
Coffee Break Italian – iTunes – Coffee Break Italian is meant to appeal to those just embarking on their Italian learning journey but also to others needing to refresh their existing Italian language skills. Brought to you by the Radio Lingua Network, you will learn your skills from teachers Mark, Francesca and Katie.
LearnItalianPod.com – iTunes – This series insists that you can squeeze your Italian language learning into even the busiest of schedules, with a commitment of just 5-10 minutes per day! With simple and short dialogues, this podcast makes Italian grammar easy to understand, provides very useful vocabulary and it is regarded as being a very effective course overall.
Let’s Speak Italian – iTunes – Do you want to learn to speak Italian in just minutes a day? In each five minute podcast, you will learn all of the basics, from popular phrases to grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
MyDailyPhrase.com – iTunes – This free podcast, brought to you by the Radio Lingua Network, stars Mark who will teach you the fundamentals of Italian over the course of 100 lessons. This is great for beginners, as it provides good basic instructions in small doses, making it an easy yet effective way to learn Italian.
One Minute Italian – iTunes – In this free Italian language learning podcast, your teachers Lorraine and Gian Luca will cover the basics and provide you with ten bite-sized lessons which are just a few minutes in length.
ItallianPod101.com – iTunes – This is a fun and informative podcast to add to your regular Italian language learning regimen. Every lesson is free for a period of time; every new audio and video lesson (3-5 lessons are published per week) are free to access for 3 weeks before being locked into their library, which can be accessed only with paid membership.
News in Slow Italian – iTunes – Google Play – These free audio lessons teach listening comprehension, build vocabulary skills, cover Italian grammar and improve pronunciation. The course covers the weekly news in a simplified way and uses it as a teaching tool.
Pastacast – iTunes – Learn Italian from Adam and Brad, who have a knack for offering valuable grammatical lessons in clear and simple ways. This is an older podcast with only 17 episodes in total, but still offers good value.
Introduction to Italian by Language Transfer – YouTube – This free beginner Italian audio class uses an unconventional approach called language transfer, which they refer to as “the thinking method“. Rather than focusing heavily on grammar, vocabulary and memorization, this course teaches the structure of the Italian in an exploratory, interactive and conscious way.
Dialogues for Italian Learners: Beginners Level – iTunes – This audio course was created by the University of South Wales. The dialogues were designed to help you practice your Italian language skills and primarily present Italian in a work-related context.
Vocabulearn Italian – This free program on Spotify is divided into three parts, each of which is approximately three hours long and teaches about 2500 vocabulary words and useful phrases.
- Vocabulearn Italian Level 1 on Spotify
- Vocabulearn Italian Level 2 on Spotify
- Vocabulearn Italian Level 3 on Spotify
Vocabulearn Italian Word Boosters – Spotify – This program aims to supercharge your vocabulary by teaching you 500 of the most essential Italian words and phrases.
Learn Italian with Spotify – This is a nice, comprehensive and free playlist of lessons put together by Spotify which teaches Italian to beginners.
Learn Italian by Complete Language Lessons – Spotify – 10 free Italian lessons on Spotify.
Learn Italian in Your Car by Henry N. Raymond – This free Spotify podcast teaches fundamental Italian grammar and very practical vocabulary and phrases to beginners.
- Learn Italian in Your Car Level 1 on Spotify
- Learn Italian in Your Car Level 2 on Spotify
- Learn Italian in Your Car Level 3 on Spotify
Italian Audio Course for Beginners – This free audio course on Spotify offers 154 lessons spread over 3 volumes which teach basic vocabulary for beginners.
- Italian for Beginners Volume 1 on Spotify – 44 Italian vocabulary lessons.
- Italian for Beginners Volume 2 on Spotify – 56 Italian vocabulary lessons.
- Italian for Beginners Volume 3 on Spotify – 54 Italian vocabulary lessons.
Easy Italian Vocabulary by Let’s Learn Italian – This three part beginner Italian language series on Spotify will introduce you to basic vocabulary.
- Easy Italian Vocabulary Volume 1 on Spotify – 11 Italian vocabulary lessons.
- Easy Italian Vocabulary Volume 2 on Spotify – 13 Italian vocabulary lessons.
- Easy Italian Vocabulary Volume 3 on Spotify – 12 Italian vocabulary lessons.
Intermediate Italian by Let’s Learn Italian – This three part beginner Italian language series on Spotify teaches grammar and vocabulary to intermediate level learners.
- Intermediate Italian Volume 1 on Spotify – 16 Italian vocabulary lessons.
- Intermediate Italian Volume 2 on Spotify – 16 Italian vocabulary lessons.
- Intermediate Italian Volume 3 on Spotify – 14 Italian vocabulary lessons.
Advanced Italian by Let’s Learn Italian – This two part beginner Italian language series on Spotify teaches grammar to advanced level learners.
- Advanced Italian Volume 1 on Spotify – 12 Italian vocabulary lessons.
- Advanced Italian Volume 2 on Spotify – 13 Italian vocabulary lessons.
Easy Italian for Travel by Let’s Learn Italian – This three part beginner Italian language series on Spotify teaches basic Italian to prepare you for a trip to Italy.
- Easy Italian for Travel Volume 1 on Spotify – 13 Italian lessons.
- Easy Italian for Travel Volume 2 on Spotify – 11 Italian lessons.
- Easy Italian for Travel Volume 3 on Spotify – 11 Italian lessons.
Survival Italian for Beginners by Let’s Learn Italian – Spotify – This free Spotify course offers 17 beginner lessons.
Italian SurvivalPhrases – iTunes – These fun and innovative audio lessons teach basic Italian and are accompanied by PDF guides.
Radio Arlecchino Italian Grammar and Culture Podcast – iTunes – This free podcast was produced by the University of Texas at Austin and makes learning Italian grammar fun and easy. Each of the 22 episodes features zany stories based on the Italian “Commedia dell’arte” and these dialogues are used as a way to teach and explain Italian. PDF documents with grammar and culture notes, as well and episode transcripts can be downloaded.
Learn Italian Words – Spotify – Learn 1000 vocabulary words and 80 useful phrases from native speakers over the course of 23 lessons using this free Spotify Course.
Learn How to Speak Italian – Spotify – Beginner Italian words and phrases.
Learn Italian By William A. Raymond – Spotify – Several hours of beginner language instruction over 10 lessons.
Colloquial Italian: The Complete Course for Beginners Book 1 and 2 – This collection of audio files, each a few minutes in length, provides concise and clear Italian language instruction for beginners. These free audio lessons were made to accompany the Colloquial Italian: The Complete Course for Beginners textbooks (Book 1 and Book 2), which are aimed at teaching Italian to beginners in a practical way to prepare them to effectively communicate with confidence in everyday situations.
Treccani – Treccani offers an Italian language course for foreigners which is divided nicely into 18 units, each with video, spread over four levels: A1 A2 B1 B2. The course is great for self-study and covers material that is practical and useful for everyday life and conversations.
Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Italian Headstart Course – The Foreign Service Institute (U.S. Department of State) originally created this and many other language learning courses to train government employees and members of the foreign service in preparation for a post abroad. All FSI courses are wonderfully thorough and a treasured free resource for all language learners! The Italian Headstart Language Course is divided into 5 modules and includes 4 e-textbooks in PDF format with a combined total of 656 pages and 42 audio files in MP3 format with a combined running time of 14 hours and 43 minutes. Modules I through III should be studied in order and those with no prior Italian language experience can typically complete these within 30-40 hours. Modules IV and V can be studied in part or in full, to the extent that they are helpful and interesting. If you have prior Italian experience all five modules could be completed in 40 hours.
Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Italian Programmed Course – This FSI Programmed Italian course is designed to introduce you to spoken Italian and teaches basic grammar and useful vocabulary to give you the tools to navigate everyday, real-life situations. The course is organized in a programmed format, meaning the information is presented and practiced in very small steps. The Italian Programmed Language Course includes 2 e-textbooks in PDF format with a combined total of 984 pages and 24 audio files in MP3 format with a combined running time of 8 hours and 18 minutes.
Foreign Service Institute (FSI) FAST Course – The FSI Italian Fast Course was created as an Intensive and challenging course that would yield the best language learning results in the shortest period of time. FAST stands for Familiarization and Short-term Training and this course aims to get you speaking Italian from day 1, and prioritizes verbal communication over grammatical accuracy.
- FSI Italian FAST Course – Volume 1 – The Italian FAST Course – Volume 1 is accompanied by an e-textbook in PDF format with a total of 454 pages and 17 audio files in MP3 format with a combined running time of 7 hours and 27 minutes.
- FSI Italian FAST Course – Volume 2 – The Italian FAST Course – Volume 2 is accompanied by an e-textbook in PDF format with a total of 422 pages and 13 audio files in MP3 format with a combined running time of 5 hours and 39 minutes.
OpenLearn Italian – The Open University is a UK-based, online university providing free educational resources. It offers two free Italian courses.
- Beginners’ Italian: food and drink – This is a free Italian language course for absolute beginners that covers all of the fundamentals of ordering food and beverages, as well as greeting people and introducing yourself.
- Intermediate Italian: Describing People – This free intermediate-level Italian course will help you to develop and improve your Italian listening, speaking, and pronunciation skills.
Italian Courses by the University of Cambridge Language Centre – These free Italian courses are web applications developed by the University of Cambridge.
- Basic Italian – This basic level Italian course contains 6 sections covering both spoken and written language instruction.
- Basic Italian Grammar – This course is aimed at beginner students and clearly explains basic Italian grammar using real-world examples while providing plenty of exercises for practice.
- Italian Learning Objects – Italian Learning Objects are independent resources that can be incorporated into a course or simply used for self-study. These particular Italian objects are intended to improve academic reading skills.
RAI – These beginner and intermediate level Italian courses are a great free resource brought to you by RAI, the national public broadcasting company of Italy.
Introduction to Italian Course – Learn basic Italian and explore Italian culture, with this free online Italian course. Duration 6 weeks, 3 hours per week.
AP Italian Language and Culture – Wellesley College offers this free Italian Course on edX which is taught by Daniela Bartalesi-Graf, a Lecturer in the Department of Italian Studies. This class is geared towards intermediate to advanced learners of the language and it teaches contemporary Italian culture, grammar and verbal communication skills. This is a self-paced course with a 12 week duration.
3 Minute Italian: Free Taster Course on Udemy – The 3 Minute Language series gets students speaking from the beginning by providing a solid foundation in the language so they can easily start to communicate their thoughts. Includes 19 Italian lectures and 1 hour of video.
Babadum – A free language learning website that features fun flashcard games to help you brush up on your vocabulary.
LanguageGuide.org – Explore the world of Italian by learning an abundance of vocabulary in a sound integrated, animated guide. After learning the vocabulary you can take part in games to test your comprehension.
Ielanguages.com – This website offers free basic language learning text and audio instruction.
Audible Italian – This websites offers 10 free beginner Italian lessons designed to help familiarize you with common Italian phrases and expressions. This is a good way to increase your understanding of spoken Italian and get ready for an upcoming trip to Italy.
Online Italian Club – Offers a number of free resources, organized by level ranging from A1 – C2, as well as evaluation tests.
Ilanguages – This site is designed to teach Italian with free vocabulary, phrases, grammar and flashcards, while focusing on highly used words and phrases necessary for everyday living.
Polly Lingual – This website offers some fun games, exercises and beginner level instruction with lessons that include text and audio.
Learn101 – This website features free beginner lessons to guide you through learning Italian, step by step, starting with the Alphabet, moving on to grammar, vocabulary and phrases, and finally offering simple quizzes to test your progress. These lessons are a basic introduction to the language and have images, text and audio.
CoolJugator – CoolJugator is a verb conjugator website that makes conjugation easy and straightforward.
The Italian Experiment – With select children’s stories and beginner Italian lessons with text and audio, this website has a nice amount of introductory information available.
ALMA.tv – ALMA.tv is a website dedicated to Italian language and culture, created with students, teachers and all those interested in learning Italian in mind. You will find educational resources, activities and videos here.
RAI – RAI, the national public broadcasting company of italy, has a wealth of wonderful resources to help you learn Italian, from TV programs, to courses, games, exercises and evaluations.
Italy Magazine – This magazine promotes Italian lifestyle, travel, cuisine, culture and language, and as such, has dedicated resources to developing language learning content for its readers. You will find Italian lessons and articles catering to all Italian language learners, from beginner to advanced.
Italian Stories by BookBox – Cartoons have always been a wonderful asset to language learning, particularity for children. These animated children’s stories are great because the viewer can read along with the narration, which is shown on-screen as “Same Language Subtitles (SLS).” Each word is highlighted in time with the audio, which helps with comprehension and retention.
Omniglot – This site specializes in providing information about languages and their alphabets and writing systems.
First Italian Words by Oxford University Press – The Oxford First Words book series is a language learning tool for children. This First Words book features over 400 words in Italian and the interactive online interface allows you to click on the pictures to hear the audio in Italian along with the English translations. Though this book is intended for children, the fact is that it is a very effective tool for adults to build vocabulary as well.
Digital Dialects – This website makes learning vocabulary fun with interactive games.
Hello World – Hello World has created hundreds of free language learning games and activities that cater to the way children learn best. The goal is to teach languages using cognitive immersion and to keep the process fun in order to increase learning potential. Approximately 1,300 vocabulary words are introduced over 70 different categories.
Goethe Verlag – This website offers 100 Italian lessons for beginners, each with words, phrases and corresponding audio files.
Loecsen – Loecson offers a free mini course consisting of fun lessons that provide a basic introduction to Italian with the help of text, audio, simple illustrations and quizzes to test your progress. You will learn high frequency vocabulary words and commonly used phrases relating to 17 themes which are relevant to everyday life.
Verbix – Online Italian verb conjugator.
Italian Grammar – This website offers an immense number of lessons (with a huge focus on grammar), video and audio clips, exercises and more to help you along with your Italian language studies.
SimpLang Italian Lessons – This site features 25 basic lessons which include dialogues accompanied by translations and transliterations.
Conjuguemos – Conjuguemos is a go-to site for over 14,000 schools that has helped millions of people learn their verb conjugations. Created by Alejandro Yegros, a high school Spanish teacher from the USA, it is described as a self-grading, self-timed conjugating and vocabulary-building program for learners of all ages that offers over 300,000 activities created by language teachers from around the globe.
Quiz Tree – This website offers educational games and simple quizzes to test your Italian language skills.
NativLang Italian Lessons – This site features a handy Italian pronunciation guide.
I Love Languages Italian Lessons – This site provides 17 beginner Italian lessons designed to help you improve your speaking, reading, and writing skills. Supplementary resources include vocabulary, grammar tips, and phrases.
Lang-8 – This free network is a nice tool to support your language learning. Native speakers are available to make corrections to your text and provide feedback. In return, you provide help to others.
HiNative – iTunes – Google Play – HiNative is an app brought to you by the creators of Lang-8 that allows you to ask questions to native speakers from around the world using your smartphone. HiNative was created to be used alongside Lang-8, and is different from Lang-8 in that it focuses on a Q&A type of learning while Lang-8 is a journal writing experience.
RhinoSpike – RhinoSpike is an interesting website that connects language learners from all over the world allowing them to exchange audio files to help improve pronunciation skills. It allows you to submit text that you would like to hear read aloud by a native speaker, and in turn you receive the audio file. In exchange, and to speed up the process, you can in turn provide audio files in your native language for other learners.
MyLanguageExchange.com – This online language learning community connects you with other learners so that you can practice speaking in your second language with a native speaker and vice-versa.
Italki – A community of over 2 million language learners that facilitates free language practice with native speakers. You simply exchange time teaching your native language for time learning a foreign language, making it mutually beneficial and free.
Easy Italian News – This is a fantastic website that features current news stories, read in slow Italian, and with text to accompany the audio.
EuroNews – EuroNews is a news broadcasting and media company that features news from a European perspective and offers the news in 12 different languages online.
Rainews24 – News from Italy and around the world.
Ansa – Latest news from Italy and around the world.
Corriere Della Sera – The most read Italian newspaper online.
Rai Radio – Listen to the latest news on the radio.
SKY TG24 – News, sport, business and entertainment news.
La Repubblica – A liberal leaning Italian news source.
Google News – Read the world news in Italian with Google News.
SBS Radio Italian Program – iTunes – SBS is an Australian broadcasting company that targets non-native English speakers and creates programming in many languages. This podcast allows you to listen to interviews, features and community stories from the SBS Radio Italian program, including Australian and world news.
WordReference – Featuring good translations of words and solid definitions, this site also has helpful forums where Italian speakers from around the world contribute to explaining subtle nuances or more obscure words.
Forvo – This crowd-sourced site is a great tool to help with pronunciation by listening to words and phrases spoken by native speakers.
Dict.cc – A go-to Italian dictionary and translation website which also offers crowd-sourced recordings by native speakers.
Bab.La – This “language portal” boasts 44 dictionaries for 28 languages, as well as a wealth of other language learning resources, such as helpful articles, games and quizzes, verb conjugations and phrase books.
LearnWithOliver – In addition to a dictionary, this site offers games and flashcards to support your Italian Language learning.
Tatoeba – Tatoeba is a large, crowd sourced database of sentences and translations. This free resource allows you to search for a word and get results showing that word in sentences with translations.
Talkify – This free, multilingual website is a very interesting and valuable resource that allows you to listen to text in foreign languages. Simply insert a URL into the search field on Talkify and it will automatically detect the language and read the text of that website aloud in a natural sounding voice.
Cambridge Online Dictionary – Here you can access the online version of the popular Cambridge Dictionary.
Learn Italian the Fast and Fun Way – Barron’s Fast and Fun Way series of language learning books is designed for beginners and great for travelers. This book includes helpful illustrations, quizzes, puzzles and exercises.
Transparent Language – Free online language level testing is offered by this language learning software company.
Goethe Verlag – Free tests in 25 languages and 600 language combinations. You will find 200 Italian vocabulary tests and 20 Italian crossword puzzles.
Syvum – Free Italian translation games, quizzes, printables, activities and more.
Scuola Leonardo da Vinci Italian Language Test
Speak7 – In addition to proficiency tests, this site features a variety of Italian learning resources.
Cactus Language – This UK based language study abroad organization offers free online language level testing.
Language Trainers – This language training company offers free online language level testing.
Sprachcaffe – One of Europe’s leading language school organizations, Sprachcaffe offers free online language level testing.
What Are Your Favorite Free Italian Language Learning Resources?
We have done a lot of research to bring you the best, free resources that the internet has to offer and we want to make sure our list is always comprehensive. Please share your favorites in the comments below!
Your list of resources is absolutely wonderful!
Another resource I use is
OnlineItalianClub.com andEasyItalianNews.com
Run by a Brit, married to a Swede, living and running a language school in Bologna. Provides lots of free stuff (exercises, verb lists etc) and a chatty email three times a week but also (cost involved) easy read books, online one-to-one lessons and easy read news stories (free or a donation is welcome).
Thank you for the suggestion, Dorothy!
Hi Dorothy,
Thanks again for the comment and suggestion. We have both resources listed. Really enjoying the Easy Italian News!
Susie
nice very good news ,thanks
Happy you like our list of free Italian learning resources!