There are many ways to practice Italian outside of class. Here are some of our top suggestions:

1. Listen to Italian music. Music is a great way to learn new vocabulary and practice your pronunciation (by singing along!) You'll be so excited when you get an Italian song stuck in your head! Find some great videos curated by our own Chiara Montera here.

2. Watch Italian movies. There are tons of Italian movies that you can find online (Amazon Prime and Netflix have some good options). There are also many movies that you can borrow from Hillman Library and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in Oakland. You can also stream movies online for free using Pitt's Kanopy service, which is part of the University Library System. Find more information here.

3. Watch Italian TV. Watching TV is a great way to practice Italian. You can find many clips on sites like Youtube, but for full episodes, we recommend RAI, the official public television and radio stations. Here you will find links to their TV page. You have to create an account, but it's free, and then you will have access to hundreds of hours of Italian TV!

4. Get involved with the Italian and Italian American communities here in Pittsburgh. Our department offers lectures, film screenings, and other special events throughout the school year. But you will find many other places to practice your Italian on campus and around the city. Our student-led Italian Club offers a wide variety of activities throughout the term. Find them on Facebook (their events will also be announced in class). The Carnegie Library in Oakland offers an Italian Conversation Club that meets regularly. Find more info here. There is also a local language school, Mondo Italiano, that offers some free programming. Find them on Facebook, too.

5. Come find us! The Italian Program at Pitt offers a wide variety of activities for our students each semester. We take students to the Pittsburgh Opera (for free!), run Italian Conversation Hours at local coffee shops, and have a film festival each spring that features Pittsburgh (and sometimes world) premieres of contemporary Italian cinema. We are here to make your learning experience the best it can be - come talk to us if you have any questions or want to find even more ways to practice your Italian.

Buon divertimento!

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