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Fluenz Italian 1+2 provides an extremely comprehensive introduction to the language. It establishes a strong foundation of fundamental verbs, tenses, and grammatical structures of Italian, all within the context of real-world situations so that learners have the fluency they need while abroad. In sixty sessions, or the equivalent of two sessions a week during an academic year, the program covers essential verbs for describing activities, asking questions, structuring sentences in past, present, and future tenses, the ability to form masculine and feminine constructions and correctly use their corresponding articles, issue important commands, and use pronouns.
By the end of Fluenz Italian 1+2, users can build sentences as complex as, "I'm waiting for my friend to arrive, and then we're going to go take a taxi to that restaurant on the corner of the plaza to eat dinner.”
Exchanges between friends and between customers and waiters provide the realistic setting for beginning our work on important structures for forming questions and commands. By the second session we are already working on asking for coffee, the check, and formulating two-part questions. Over the next few sessions, the range of speech expands with the addition of negatives, plurals, and adjectives, thereby allowing for greater specificity when communicating desires.
2. The complexities of masculine and feminine endings are introduced early on and practiced throughout the programOne of the toughest things for English-speakers learning Italian are the complicated rules of agreement between Italian nouns and their articles. Like Spanish or French, Italian nouns have genders—either masculine or feminine—and their respective articles must always agree with them both in gender and number. However, unlike these other Romantic languages, the gender of Italian nouns can change depending on whether they are singular or plural. Because this is so alien to English speakers, we address this issue in the very beginning, and practice it continuously for the rest of the program.
3. Foundational verbs and an expanding vocabulary lead to the construction of Italian sentencesAs we work on learning to ask different kinds of questions in a café situation, the program begins to introduce verb conjugations and masculine-feminine endings. For many who already have a basic vocabulary at their command, the explanations and extensive workouts on how to form sentences well is invaluable.
4. Work on location, directions, and numbers greatly expands the range of communication
Issues of location and directions provide valuable work on getting around in a foreign country. Counting and extensive practice with possessives and descriptive adjectives lead to common shopping interactions.
Diverse, realistic interactions in restaurants, cafés, and throughout the city lead into the past tense of key verbs, the introduction of the powerful verb "to have," further work on articles, simple comparatives, and prepositions.
6. As the level progresses, the range of speech reaches new levels of flexibility and sophisticationThe second level dramatically expands the vocabulary in use, in such areas as entertainment, office tasks, time, and shopping. Learners will get plenty of practice with conversatinos that shift between past, present, and future verb tenses. By combining all the structures and verbs related to actions, locations, and time, and by going through all the different conjugations and agreements, learners gain an important measure of fluidity.
7. Our vocabulary expands as new scenarios are used to work on more complex grammarFurther work on comparatives, word order, agreement, and conjugations provides the opportunity to interact in a range of new situations, such as renting a car, while a large expansion of descriptive adjectives makes for substantially more complex shopping interactions.
Fluenz Italian provides extensive practice in a range of transportation situations, whether it’s taking a taxi, getting on a train, or navigating through an airport. When combined with the strong ability to give and understand directions, learners are able to handle any kind of interaction involving transportation or location.
9. Italian 1+2 finishes by combining previously learned material in new ways
The final sessions of the program use all the structures and vocabulary learned throughout Italian 1 and 2 in order to find ways of creating even more complex formulations with the vocabulary and grammar already learned.
The first level of Fluenz Italian is a comprehensive introduction to the language that will give you the ability to successfully handle the most important and common situations you are bound to face in Italy. In thirty sessions, or the equivalent of two sessions a week during an academic semester, the program covers key verbs, sentence formulations in present and future tenses, pronoun use, the ability to ask different kinds of questions and give answers, the ability to correctly form masculine and feminine constructions, how to issue important commands, how to express time, location, and give directions, and vocabulary for real life communication from Venice to Rome.
To give you an idea of how much Fluenz Italian 1 will enable you to do, the last session teaches users to construct sentences as complex as, "I’m going to the museum that is close by, and I want to stay there for two hours", or "Do you want to come eat with us at the same restaurant? It's to the left of the bus stop."
Exchanges between friends and between customers and waiters provide the realistic setting for beginning our work on important structures for forming questions and commands. By the second session we are already working on asking for coffee, the check, and formulating two-part questions. Over the next few sessions, the range of speech expands with the addition of negatives, plurals, and adjectives, thereby allowing for greater specificity when communicating desires.
2. The complexities of masculine and feminine endings are introduced early on and practiced throughout the program
One of the toughest things for English-speakers learning Italian are the complicated rules of agreement between Italian nouns and their articles. Like Spanish or French, Italian nouns have genders—either masculine or feminine—and their respective articles must always agree with them both in gender and number. However, unlike these other Romantic languages, the gender of Italian nouns can change depending on whether they are singular or plural. Because this is so alien to English speakers, we address this issue in the very beginning, and practice it continuously for the rest of the program.
As we work on learning to ask different kinds of questions in cafés and restaurants, the program begins to introduce critical verbs and their most important conjugations. This allows us to be begin building basic sentences.
4. The program then shifts to issues of location and giving directions
Locating yourself in a city or town and determining where you want to go is a central daily activity. Fluenz Italian therefore puts a lot of emphasis on powerful vocabulary for giving and understanding directions, along with strong work on the fundamental verb "to go."
5. Expanded vocabulary and work on possessives leads to shopping scenarios
Along with the work on location and the beginning of work on directions, there is extensive coverage of possessives, as well as the ability to talk about objects (such as "suitcase" or "passport"). This expands into sessions that cover shopping, which then allows for the introduction of descriptive adjectives and further work on the verb "to want."
Interactions with store clerks naturally flows into counting and the Italian expression for "how many." These are used in restaurant settings (getting a table), shopping (for a number of items), and a variety of monetary transactions.
7. We cover all forms of transportation
Building from the strong work on location, money, and basic numbers, as well as a range of command- and question-making skills, the program creates more complex transportation scenarios. These allow for further practice with directions (right, left, behind, next to), specific transportation issues ("I want to buy a ticket from Rome to Milan"), and issuing very specific commands to a driver. Fluenz Italian provides extensive practice in a range of transportation situations, whether it’s taking a taxi, getting on a train, or navigating through an airport.
The second level of Fluenz Italian builds upon the foundations established in the previous level, greatly expanding the learner's range and complexity of expression in such areas as key verbs, sentence formulations in past, present, and future tenses, the ability to ask different kinds of questions and construct answers, how to issue important commands, correctly use prepositions, how to express time, location, and give directions, and necessary vocabulary for surviving in the Italian-speaking world. The second level also covers the use of important articles and object pronouns, reflexive verbs, and comparatives and superlatives.
For English speakers, the complexity of Italian verb conjugations, word order, noun genders that change based on whether the word is singular or plural, and preposition usage tend to prove especially difficult. Italian 2 therefore spends considerable time on these areas. Even learners who are familiar with the basic vocabulary related to restaurants, shopping, transportation, and general location issues will find the work in these specific grammatical areas to be extremely helpful for properly constructing Italian sentences.
By the end of Fluenz Italian 2, users can build sentences as complex as, "I'm waiting for my friend to arrive, and then we're going to go take a taxi to that restaurant on the corner of the plaza to eat dinner.”
The first session of Italian 2 begins with a thorough review of the verb "to have," possessive pronouns (i.e. "my suitcase," "your cell phone") and questions involving "how much," "which," and "when." Although the work takes place in a classic shopping situation, the material covered is at the core of being able to formulate key questions and answers in Italian.
2. Shopping situations provide the setting for work on adjectives, as well as gender and number agreement
Session 2 expands on the shopping scenario in order to work on the gender termination of adjectives, as well as agreement of adjectives and articles with gender and quantity.
3. Work on new, powerful verbs, the past tense, and subtle grammar issues greatly enhances our ability to construct complex Italian sentences
During the following ten sessions, the program continues working from the foundations of Italian 1, both to fine-tune and expand upon them. Diverse, realistic scenarios in restaurants, cafés, and throughout the city lead into the past tense of key verbs, further work on articles, simple comparatives, and prepositions.
Throughout Level 2, the program's tutor addresses issues of pronunciation and usage to make sure the material covered can actually be used in realistic situations and that learners are properly understood.
5. As the level progresses, the range of speech reaches new levels of flexibility and sophistication
The second level dramatically expands the vocabulary in use, in such areas as entertainment, office tasks, time, and shopping. Learners will get plenty of practice with conversatinos that shift between past, present, and future verb tenses. By combining all the structures and verbs related to actions, locations, and time, and by going through all the different conjugations and agreements, learners gain an important measure of fluidity.
Further work on comparatives, word order, agreement, and conjugations provides the opportunity to interact in a range of new situations, such as renting a car, while a large expansion of descriptive adjectives makes for substantially more complex shopping interactions.
7. More practice in restaurants is provided, as is work with directions and transportation
The program continues enhancing the learner's abilities with comparatives, providing ever-more complex restaurant situations. Extended practice with a range of transportation situations solidifies the learner's ability to handle any kind of interaction involving transportation or location.
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