In this page I want to emphasize how important it is to be able to communicate with your teacher in the language in which you are most fluent, your native language, German.

The basic Italian course (Anfängerkurs) is aimed at all Germans who want to learn Italian and find it difficult to follow a course taught only in Italian or by a teacher who is not fluent in German.

As a private German and Italian teacher, I have often seen that for students the Italian language is not only difficult because of its grammar and vocabulary, but also because these are immediately explained in Italian.

That's why I decided to offer a basic Italian course specifically aimed at Germans.

When you learn a foreign language, the A1 basic level (Anfängerkurs) is the most complicated and decisive one: the result of this first level determines your entire learning path. That's why the basics of Italian taught at this level must be a hundred percent clear.

As you go on learning, for example by taking an A2 course, the basics must gradually be turned into short sentences and dialogues in Italian, until the language spoken during the lesson is only Italian.

This is my method, with which I see many students improving day by day:

  • A1 levels. Anfängerkurs. German is spoken a lot, the basics of the language are explained completely in German, and solid grammatical foundations and a basic Italian vocabulary are formed.
  • A2 level. The first simple sentences start to take shape, the grammatical foundations are reinforced, the vocabulary expands and gradually you move on to speaking Italian.
  • Higher levels. This progress will continue in the following courses until you can speak completely in Italian.

Of course I also have students of other nationalities with whom I have to communicate in English, but for German students this path is made easier by the fact that I can communicate in both languages, German and Italian, with the same efficiency.

To understand the difficulties of learning Italian, you have to understand that, being a language of Latin derivation, it not only has completely different words, as is obvious, but also many expressions for which there is no equivalent in German, expressions that make up the soul of this language and without which you can't really say you speak Italian.
And it is precisely the peculiarity of these expressions that makes Italian the most beautiful language in the world.
It is therefore important to have a bilingual teacher who can help you focus on the meaning of words, expressions and grammatical constructions during the Italian lesson. Who can help you in the cases where a bit more imagination is required, without you having to strain to find a literal translation that you simply won't find because it doesn't exist.

Italian course on a Lambretta in Munich

Conclusions
To sum up, the 3 important reasons for taking a basic Italian course with a bilingual teacher are:

  • Comfort. When all the basics of Italian are explained in the student's native language, the student can absorb the foreign language with ease rather than stress.
  • Resolving doubts right away. Explaining grammar immediately in Italian often creates confusion and frustration for the student. Explaining it in German instead avoids grammar doubts that would carry over into the following courses and levels.
  • Possibility to ask questions. When in language schools new grammatical constructions are presented during a lesson, students often don't know how to express their doubts to the teacher. When a doubt arises in the dialogue, having a bilingual teacher immediately gives you the opportunity to ask questions in your native language; in this way doubts about both Italian vocabulary and grammar can be clarified immediately.

It must also be said that not all students learn the same way, so the possibility of starting right away with full Italian immersion remains valid for those who prefer this path.

For more information about my courses, visit my page Italian courses in Munich.