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Italian Language Studies for Evangelism

by Doug

Not all of us are called to evangelize to a group of people who speak or read Italian. But if you feel so called, then this is the page for you.

I will show you the steps to learning Italian. And pertinent vocabulary for evangelism.

Study Aids

Google Translate - set to English to Italian. The link begins with the search on the phrase "your bread" and you will see Google's translation as "il pane." I start there so you would know google translate is not perfect. "Your bread" is "suo pane" not "il pane," which only means "the bread." So be-aware. Otherwise, Google translate is a great tool to learn any language. You can use it on a Tablet / Ipad to speak the words, which are then transcribed and translated. Download the app. On a PC you can do the same, although it is not as obvious or easy to do, given you have to have a microphone already connected.

Google Translate as Instant Webpage Translator - if you post pages to the internet, you can make them appear by a link in a foreign language by instant translation -- retaining all formatting. Here is an example of what I did for chapter 2 of JWO into Italian. I recollect you go to advanced features, put in the website page, get an output, and then that output is a linkable page.

IM Text-to-Speech - Italian - Instantly converts Italian text in well-pronounced fluid Italian .. so you can hear any text you find, how it should sound.

From Text to Speech - select Italian - website that converts text to MP3 file for continued learning.

ATT Research - can insert Italian in limited text and output to Wave.

[It costs $295 to buy package from ATT's partner if you try to make commercial use of the output files.]

Bing Translate - it will auto detect Italian, and if you select Italian as target, and hit Audio, it will speak fairly accurately but somewhat scratchy voice.

Natural Readers - as of April 2013, for $99 plus $50 for 2 Italian voices, you can make automatic training lessons from text files into MP3 files where the Italian is pronounced for you.

Grammar

"Italian Grammar" Italian Language Studies -- a great source on grammar.

Torre di Babele - blog - grammar lessons on reflexive verbs, regular verbs, situational italian

Date References

How to refer to dates in Italian

Bibles in Parallel to Learn via Bible Reading

Word Project.org very cool. You keep English on the left, say of Matthew. Put Matthew on the right - the Italian. Then you can read on your PC in complete parallels.

You Tube Italian Lessons

1. Alfabeto Italiano - 16 minutes (ouch!) -- teaches names of Italian letters; then vocalization of the letters, with examples. This is something to come back to periodically to study parts.

2. Conjugating Regular Verbs -- excellent amateur teaching 4 min

1. Greetings (from Travelinguist) -- basics, 7 minutes.

2. Greetings (from Dani) -- basics, 3 minutes

3. Everyone Can Speak Italian - basic greetings (I like completeness), 9 minutes. For example, it shows you that "please" can be "per favore," "per piacere" and "pregho." This is helpful. I also like the many different common expressions, such as "va bene" and "spacente" (sorry).

3. First Steps / Primi Passi - Short 30 Minute Course in Italian. Best used as a refresher, but not to learn Italian. You must have studied written lessons to make any use of this. For novices, there is no translation whatsoever. You are listening to early conversation / greeting-type encounters. This video also does not explain the grammatical significance of "tu" or "ti" in reflexives, and you could end up being too personal with greeting a stranger.

4. Italian 1 - Basic Greetings - 7 minutes - home made by Italian speaker

Advanced. Here is my favorites of free lessons on Italian on YouTube.

1. marconisida.com sponsors many YouTubes. I like him because he truly is Italian, pronounces everything multiple times to make sure you get it. He gives you useful pointers, giving you side-points that help you build familiarity with the materials. His English pronunciation is off, but you can understand him. He explains grammar well too. So here are a list of his that I listened to and liked. His entire channel, but including vids for Spanish speakers, is HERE.

From English to Italian

A. Italian Phrases e.g., going to cinema, ciao, pleasure to meet you, etc. 15 minutes.

From Spanish to Italian (I like this because it helps me keep Spanish differentiated from Italian, reminding me of the differences). He speaks Spanish in the middle of explaining Italian, which can help you learn Spanish too.

A. Curso de Frases Italianes. 29 minutes.

Marco also narrates videos of beautiful trips and you can learn Italian contextually.

A. Curso de Italiano - un giro in bicicleta 1 min 44 seconds

2. Italian 101

Common Phrases -- impersonal repetitions but useful.

Sample Dialogues

Renting an Apartment - by Folletto - 9 minutes - highly recommended because gives you flavor of real way of talking in Italian, e.g, "Beh" = "well" in Italian.

BBC Sponsored La Mappa Misteriosa - video series to teach Italian (must have BBC free account).

Music Videos with Lyrics Spelled Out

One great way to learn Italian is to sing along. And many popular music videos in Italian are shown on You Tube with the Lyrics. Here are a few that I liked:

Tizianno Ferro Amore e una cosa semplice

Tizianno Ferro Troppo Buono