Learn 4 tools and techniques to stop translating in your head and start thinking in Going through lessons is enough to get by and learn the basics of , but to truly become fluent you need to be able to think in . This will allow you to have conversations with ease, read smoothly, and comprehensively understand natives. To do this, you need to go beyond just completing daily or weekly lessons. We naturally translate in our heads because it's viewed as the easiest way to learn the definitions needed when learning a language. This way of learning can actually hinder your skills and fluency later on. If your brain has to make neural connections between the word you're learning, what it means in your native tongue, and the physical object... Show more

1. Schedule your time. One of the most important factors in keeping your motivation up is developing it into a habit. Whether it be 20 minutes or 3 hours, schedule time to study every day and stick to it. Regular exposure solidifies what you learn and keeps you progressing. To make sure you stick to your routine, a great idea is to build a schedule for your day and decide that every day/Monday/weekend, you study from 6pm to 8pm. Just remember that 30 minutes a day, every day, is better than a binge 8-hour study session at the end of the week (though it’s obviously better than nothing). 2. Learn a word a day with our great Word of the Day learning tool. Trying to learn everything at once and getting overwhelmed by the sheer number... Show more

Congratulations to Paddy Cunningham on winning the GRAND PRIZE of Mail Bag Contest II! Paddy loves Italian, Italy and most of all, Ferrari! He even got to tour the Ferrari factory! This only spurred on his love for all things Italian and motivated him further to learning Italian. Have a look at the mail he sent us: "My love for Italy and all things Italian started many years ago and it all began where many dreams begin. A dream of some day owning a Ferrari. I had been to Italy many times to watch Grand Prix and then in 2005 I won a trip to vist the Ferrari factory. On that trip I met a very nice Italian Lady. Life does not always turn out the way we plan it and I never managed to get the Ferrari, but I did get the... Show more

Welcome to the new section of our blog, The Mail Bag. This is where we'll share stories from our listeners in the endeavors with Italian. We hope stories from fellow students can help motivate and inspire you to begin learning Italian or give you that extra needed push and renewed sense of strength when you think it's impossible to get become more proficient! This week we'd like to introduce you to Jack Eitelgeorge from Santa Rosa, CA. Jack had this to say about his studies: "My wife and I studied her family history and we found relatives in Italy. The next year we visited them and found them very please to meet and welcome us. The problem was, neither side could speak the others' language. Do you know what it's like to... Show more

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from everyone here at ItalianPod101.com! We're grateful to have listeners just like you, and we're eagerly waiting for the upcoming year to learn Italian together! And when the New Year comes around, be sure to make a resolution to study Italian with ItalianPod101.com! Have a healthy and happy holiday season. From the ItalianPod101.com team!