To Italian club or not to Italian club?

[nickyboy]

My experience of learning a foreign language is that just trying to hold a conversation in that language is the best way to become "conversational". If you really want to become very proficient then you need a more structured approach. But to become able to converse, strangely enough conversing seems to be a very effective way

As others said, go along for one if you can and see if you can find a few folk at a similar level to you

 

[DRM]

You can talk to me in Italian anytime

OK Come stai? probably not me you want say owt though

 

[DRM]

Un caffee' .... of course the bartender means un espresso
@luckyfox might want and ask for a latte: in that case she will end up with a glass of milk, like @Fubar did
Good luck in your quest @luckyfox!
Ciao!

Like it, quite an easy mistake for an english speaker to make, if it's red hot middle of summer a caffe freddo hits the mark

 

[Fnaar]

 

[marinyork]

After a couple of years teaching myself, I enrolled at a local college for formal classes and loved it, thanks to having a wonderful teacher. I still go to my monthly Meetup event as it gives me continued access to native speakers with whom I can chat.

Interesting, it's the only bit I've not done.

 

[DaveReading]

There must be some Italian news radio online if nothing else (although the Vatican used to be dry)... that tends to be one of the easiest ways to start IMO, especially if you've checked the news recently in your native language, as names are generally similar and anchor the stories.

This is one of the better ones: http://www.radio24.ilsole24ore.com/

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Interesting, it's the only bit I've not done.

It was 33 weeks of 3hr lessons once a week on a Thursday evening. We started out with 30 in the class but that quickly whittled down to a core of just 8 regular attendees, making the class much more fun. That was back before the 2008 credit crunch and only cost £165. Since then, a lot of FE establishments have severely cut languages from their curriculum.

I've done other courses and my biggest recommendation would be to choose a course where the teacher is a native speaker.