First, I want to thank everyone who helped me to make the decision to go to Italy alone! Ya'll were soooo helpful! I read all of your travel reports and one thing stood out...I NEED to learn Italian.

How did any of you learn a new language? I don't have the time to go to a class at the local Foreign Language Institute. Has anyone tried Rosetta Stone? What do you recommend? I have 6 months...is that enough?

I am getting so excited...but I want to be able to get around Milan, read street signs and order gelato!

Help!!

Thanks!

Lara

An easy first step is to go through our language lessons on the site:
www.slowtrav.com/italy/language/

We have some resources for further study at the bottom of that main page.

Thanks Pauline!! This site continues to amaze me. I guess I should search more before I post!! Thanks so much! I will check it out.

If you have an iPod (or even just for use with your computer), check out Learn Italian Pod.

Also, see if your public library has any Italian lessons on tape or CD that you can borrow.

- Roz

www.recordedbooks.com also have the Pimsleur Italian CDs that you can RENT rather than buy. I have been using these, and I also took a weekend intensive at UCLA and am picking it up fairly quickly. I think 6 mos is more than enough time. See if your local community college has a conversational italian class -- fall semesters are just beginning!

I too recommend Pimsleur... it's highly likely that your library (or one nearby) has these, as they are well-accepted. It's most likely they'll have the five-disk "short course," and for a whole lot more money you can buy the complete package... I recommend trying the short course first.

I checked out the Pimsleur short course from the library and liked it. The library didn't have anything more, so that's when I discovered Recorded Books, and that you could rent these for about $15 each rather than paying $300-$500 to buy them.

There is also a very basic course on the bbc website, Italian Steps, and some fun and useful things for more advanced students.
BBC Italian courses

Not a lot, but a good way to begin.

I haven't checked whether RAI (The Italian Public Broadcaster) has audio files, but they most probably do. Useful for sounds even though you obviously won't understand everything.

In Montréal we have a multilingual radio station that airs the long RAI news bulletin twice a day, in the morning and at 6 pm.

We took a class through one of our local community colleges. It was a short six week class that used the Italian in 10 Minutes a Day book. Between that and a little studying before we left we got along fine.

The very best way to learn the basics is in a class for travelers. Usually a local adult learning program connected to the school district or college offers this and they are usually in the evening. I have several tapes and CDs which I put on my iPod, but it's not the same as being in a class. Those help you get an ear for the language, but they don't make you have a conversation with a live person.

Caplanco- I wonder if I was in a class with you at Changes in Latitude? I enjoyed the class, but also have wondered about Rosetta Stone, and the others mentioned here already. I have a lot of trouble retaining languages!
HGHSPL

Caplanco, I agree with you. I took a conversational Italian course at UCLA Extension for "motivated beginners" who specifically wanted to learn to speak the language for an upcoming trip. We focused specifically on things pertinent to our travels, which was very helpful (how to take the train, book a hotel room, order food in restaurants, ask directions, find a toilet go shopping, etc.)

I augmented the course with the Pimsleur CDs. Doing both has helped a great deal.

The other students in my UCLA class enjoyed the lessons so much that a group of us have hired the intructor to do four more weeks of "private" classes for us!