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Why learn Italian?
Italian is a relatively easy
language to learn and extremely satisfying to speak. Of all
the Romance languages, Italian is closest to the original
Latin and if you already know Spanish, Portuguese or French,
you will find Italian a very accessible next step.
Here at JMJ in Manchester, Italian
is one of the most popular languages we teach. Almost everyone
who has been to Italy wants to go back and a lot of people
are inspired to learn the language, so as to be able to get
more involved with local life on their next trip.
Just speaking English is a huge
advantage for learning Italian, since so many English words
also come straight from Latin and the words that came into
English from Greek went into Italian in a similar way.
Look how easy the following
words are:
| English |
Italian |
|
| |
|
| possible |
possibile |
| music |
musica |
| telephone |
telefono |
| hypnotism |
ipnotismo |
| dentist |
dentista |
| sufficient |
sufficiente |
| material |
materiale |
| optimistic |
ottimistico |
| station |
stazione |
| temperature |
temperatura |
| |
… and there are many more like this.
If the word is not immediately
obvious, as the ones above are, it often only takes a couple
of seconds' lateral thinking to guess the meaning.
For example:
| dormo |
This
doesn't look or sound like "I sleep" but it's
clear that dorm has something to do with dormitory
and dormouse.
|
| corpo |
Again,
not instantly recognisable as "body" but think
corpse, corpulent, corporate.
|
| morte |
Different
from the English word "death" but easy to
work out when we think of mortal and mortuary.
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Add to these the number of words you know already:
pizza, pasta (spaghetti, penne, tagliatelle, etc), caffè,
cappuccino, vino, amore, ciao, etc, etc …
… and the number of English words that
have been absorbed into Italian:
bar, jeans, T-shirt, computer, e-mail, training, film, etc,
etc …
… and you see that you could learn Italian
quite quickly!
Inspired to learn Italian?
If you live in or near Manchester,
you could start a one-to-one
Italian course with us tomorrow (or whenever it suits
you).
There is a large Italian-speaking
community in Manchester and you should have no trouble finding
people to talk to in Italian, to practise what you've learnt
in your lessons.
If you are not in a position
to enrol on a course of Italian lessons - or to get a head
start - download our bestselling e-book Italian
for Beginners.
Recommended Reading
If you are interested in learning
Italian, you might like to have a look at the Italian
language books we recommend to accompany any course you
take or for maintaining/improving your Italian by yourself.
If you are planning a trip to
Italy, check out the guide
books available.
If you are interested in Italian
life and culture, have a look at our recommendations for books
about or set in Italy. These books are in English, a range
of fiction and non-fiction that we have enjoyed and hope you
will too.
Some Quick Facts About Italy
Language:
Italian. Every region has its own dialect but everybody speaks
and understands standard Italian.
Capital
city:
Rome (Roma)
Regions:
Italy is divided into 20 regions, each with its own character.
They are:
Abruzzo
Basilicata
Calabria
Campania
Emilia Romagna
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Latium (Lazio)
Liguria
Lombardy (Lombardia)
Marche
Molise
Piedmont (Piemonte)
Apulia (Puglia)
Sardinia (Sardegna)
Sicily (Sicilia)
Tuscany (Toscana)
Trentino-South Tyrol (Trentino-Alto Adige)
Umbria
Aosta Valley (Val d'Aosta)
Veneto
Population:
58.5 million (2005)
Currency:
Euro
Religion:
Roman Catholic
Government:
Republic. Bicameral parliamentary system.
Internet domain:
.it
Country
calling code:
+39
If you are interested in learning
more about Italy, you might also like to look at the following
websites:
Italy
Info
Italian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs website (in English)
Italy
Magazine
Learn Italian at our school in Manchester:
- Tailor-made, one-to-one courses
- Intensive or longer-term courses
- Convenient Manchester location
Click here
to read more about our Italian courses.

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