“What movie could I see to learn Italian?”
“Are there any Italian TV series?”
“Are there any useful radio programs for students?
I have often been asked these questions, so I decided to collect the answers in this article and leave you with ideas to listen to authentic audio in Italian and take a dip in our culture!
It’s a good idea? Ready to take note!
Inputs have changed and fewer and fewer learners of a new language are using newspapers, books or comics to learn a language. .. If you are abroad, it is even more difficult to have “objects” that speak to you in Italian, such as tickets for vehicles, advertising signs and even the programs on TV or radio will be in other languages.
True?
Here we are helped by streaming platforms, where you can see a movie, a TV series and also listen to interesting podcasts.
1. TV Series
Let’s start with the series. Ouch, what a difficulty! Why?
It’s not easy to find an Italian TV series in which the dialogues are in standard Italian, what does that mean? Often the actors speak dialect (Roman, Neapolitan, Sicilian like the famous Gomorrah or Il commissario Montalbano …), so I can recommend Young Pope, directed by Sorrentino, Boris, Curon and Il commissario Schiavone. There are three series of different genres but all very interesting!
2. Movies
I’m not raccomening. Who? A student of mine named Alejandro from Costa Rica is a great cinephile and gave me some useful insights during a conversation lesson.
He recommends the film La vita è bella (suitable for students, even beginners) and the more recent Viva la libertà and La grande bellezza, for intermediate level students.
I would also add some films by Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo, the Italian comedy trio, for intermediate-advanced level students. They are fun and with soundtracks by great Italian songwriters, such as Samuele Bersani and the Negrita.
Mark these titles: “Three men and one leg” and “Ask me if I am happy” (here a gramamr lesson: informal imperative + indirect pronoun) …
3. Podcasts
Finally, podcasts: in this world my compass was once again a French student, Brigitte. She recommends Ad alta voce, a cultural program of Radio play sound that offers many Italian novels, like a large audio-library!
Some very interesting free podcasts are:
- Lessons and confrontations in history by Alessandro Barbero;
- La bottega di Babbel on Italian culture and traditions (also for beginners), on spotify;
- Audio and video-laboratories on various topics, including scientific ones on the RAI SCUOLA website.
These films, series, podcasts are conceived and made by Italians, but it is NEVER a bad idea to see them in other languages with subtitles!
And what tools do you use to learn?