5 Best Books to Learn Italian (Super Easy)

Italian is the fifth most spoken language in the world. There are over 60 million native Italian speakers worldwide. Furthermore, Italian falls under the list of simple languages as it is easy to grasp and understand.

Notably, Italian language education is simpler than it first seems. Italian and English are similar languages. Hence, English speakers enjoy several certain benefits over other learners.

English is also a Germanic language. Yet, much of its vocabulary has Latin roots. Italian also evolved from Latin. As a result, words like concerto (a concert), finale (a final), and many more come to mind. Hence, Latin and English speakers learning Italian will not find it very challenging.

There are several ways to learn Italian. Such methods include listening to and watching the news in Italian, listening to the radio & podcasts, watching Italian films and movie series, etc.

However, books are your go-to method if you want a traditional learning method. A good language book can assist you in connecting vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

Furthermore, books are portable. You can read them anywhere. So, this makes learning on your own or with others in your free time easier.

When you study Italian books or read Italian novels, you are using an interesting approach to improve your abilities and competence in the language. An excellent tip is to use a practice book if you need to enhance your Italian. Then, you may immediately test yourself, revise grammar, and pick up new terminology.

5 Recommended Books to Learn Italian

There are many books to learn Italian for beginners, intermediate and advanced learners. Therefore, choosing the perfect one to suit your learning goals can be challenging. So, we researched the best books to learn Italian. And our verdict is below. Read on.

Italian: A Self-Teaching Guide

“Italian: A Self-Teaching Guide” should be the first book you buy if you’re new to Italian, apart from an Italian-English dictionary. The vocabulary and grammar curriculum in “Italian: A Self-Teaching Guide” suits new Italian learners. Notably, the courses are brief and simple to comprehend, even if the book sometimes seems repetitious.

This book goes through the fundamentals, including basic grammar principles. Furthermore, it is written in an engaging, personal tone by a native Italian, and combines the advantages of a phrasebook for rapid reference with the teaching methods of a comprehensive language course.

Additionally, “Italian: A Self-Teaching Guide”offers dialogues from real-life scenarios. Such dialogue teaches you how to have ordinary discussions with Italian locals, such as placing an order at an Italian restaurant or asking for directions.

In addition, this book has English explanations. Therefore, it would be easier for you to understand the fundamentals if you are completely new to Italian. After studying the necessary words, you should attempt some practice questions. 

Italian All-in-One For Dummies

Italian All-in-One For Dummies helps you to learn how to speak and write Italian, however well you know the language. You can download audio practice online. It provides readers interested in learning Italian with a useful resource for all facets of this well-known language. 

With six volumes in one, this book offers a very thorough introduction to studying Italian. It has books such as “Italian For Dummies,” “Intermediate Italian For Dummies,” “Italian Grammar For Dummies,” “Italian Verbs For Dummies,” “Italian Phrases For Dummies,” and “Italian For Dummies Audio Set.”

This Italian learning book is fantastic since it has so much information that you would typically need several books. The audio set (Italian For Dummies Audio Set) is an excellent innovation too. So, you can hear how a native speaker speaks the words.

Students, tourists, and businesses who visit Italian-speaking nations find the material appealing.

Italian Short Stories for Beginners: 20 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Italian & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way

Reading stories is one of the most effective strategies to get new vocabulary and grammar to stick. In this book, each story will include a crucial lesson on using Italian language tools like verbs, adjectives, the past tense, giving directions, etc. The book achieves all these through an engaging and enjoyable narrative with authentic dialogue and real-world scenarios.

Seeing your newly acquired language in use is a terrific way to get outside your comfort zone if you’re approaching intermediate level.

The book also has summaries that provide an overview of what you just read. TThe goal is to evaluate the lesson and ensure that you understood the story’s plot. In addition, you’ll get a list of the vocabulary used most often in the course after those summaries. This list also comes with slangs and expressions that you may not have first comprehended.

With this book, you get a series of challenging Italian questions that will allow you to demonstrate what you understood from the story. The authors also provided answers to these questions. So, beginners learning Italian can move to the intermediate level through this short story book. And those looking for a challenge should pick up this book. 

Short Stories In Italian: New Penguin Parallel Text

This collection of short tales not only addresses this widespread issue and serves as a superb primer on 20th-century Italian writing.

This short story book includes nine tales by Italian authors from the latter part of the 20th century. Its design puts Italian on one side of the page and English on the other.

So, it is the ideal bilingual language instruction book. The editor did a wonderful job selecting engaging stories that beginners and intermediate learners can easily read and understand. Some themes in these thought-provoking stories include the monotony of marriage, the Holocaust, adolescent pregnancies, and the dystopian hegemony of TV culture.

These themes undoubtedly prompt you to reflect on the language and the vast and diverse body of Italian literature. Additionally, a small introduction in English gives you background information on the authors you will be reading. Finally, there are helpful notes after the book discussing key lessons about the Italian language from each story. 

Easy Italian Step-by-Step

Easy Italian Step-by-Step focuses on linguistic components by addressing commonly used verbs and emphasizing pattern recognition. This book’s style is designed in a way that introduces Italian vocabulary and grammatical standards gradually.

The book exposes you to the most fundamental language structures right away, making it possible to start speaking Italian immediately. Then, you logically advance to more fundamental ideas that control how Italian is spoken and written by taking a sequence of related “steps” along the way.

Furthermore, you will also learn hundreds of carefully chosen vocabulary terms and verbs. The book organizes these words according to how often they are used in standard Italian conversation.

Although it is packed with knowledge, this is one of the greatest value-for-money books available on learning Italian.

Conclusion

If you are confused about the best books to learn Italian, you can pick from any of the ones above. Find a cozy spot to unwind and indulge in Italian reading, whatever you like. In addition, have a notebook so that when you see any significant new information, you can note it down and study it later.

Finally, do not forget to practice what you learn. Tests and quizzes are excellent ways to evaluate your command of the language and identify areas for growth. Again, take any grammatical exercises your book provides. These exercises can hasten your improvement and show you where you may need more practice.