Can anyone suggest places to learn conversational Italian in the Boston or surrounding area? Is there such a thing as hiring a person to teach a group in a private home?

The Dante Alighieri in Cambridge offers classes. The Boston Center for Adult Education BCAE has classes, as does the Cambridge Center for Adult Ed. The Brookline and Newton CAEs have them sometimes. The Dante can provide names of people who want to teach privately.

The Boston version of Craig's List always has people offering to teach Italian- look under "lessons". I found my last tutor there.

Thanks, Maureen

menehune-If you'd like to meet some fellow slow travelers (including Maureen) who are Italy lovers, think about coming to the pot luck get together in Cambridge on March 25th! See more details in the STGTG section.

My husband and I took several years of classes at the Dante in Cambridge. Some were excellent, some not, depending on both the quality of the teacher and the composition of the group.

Harvard Extension School also has a complete Italian language program...beginners through advanced intermediate. Those classes are excellent. The school also offers a few classes each semester, which are taught in Italian, the subject of which may be art, art history, Italian culture and the like. (Anything taught by Prof. Ubaldo di Benedetto is an experience not to be missed.)

Thanks for the recos. I'm going to check out both the Dante school and Harvard ext. My husband and I want to take classes. He's Italian-American but doesn't speak the language. His father and stepmom are taking Italian classes in Florida now, and it's motivating us to do the same.

And here are some suggestions for conversational practice as you study: Check out www.meetup.com to see if they sponsor an Italian conversation group, and the same for http://bostonlinkup.com - a fee-free social network. If they don't already have a conversational italian linkup, START ONE YOURSELF, it's very easy. Conversational practice is such a great way to reinforce your classroom learning!