The 23 Best Online Italian Courses Compared: A Showdown

LEARN ITALIAN THROUGH READING AND LISTENING TO A STORY

Fed up of textbooks? Dull dialogues about Luca buying pizza and Sofia asking for directions? Or gamified apps with phrases like “Ana is eating a canary” and “the groom is a hedgehog?” You might prefer Italian Uncovered, which takes an entirely different approach to language learning.

In this course, you’ll start off by reading and listening to the first chapter of an original 20-chapter Italian story – even if you’re a complete beginner. Only after doing that will you study the grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation relevant to this chapter. You wrap up with a quiz, and then it’s onto the next chapter. 

This course is designed to take you from zero Italian knowledge to being an intermediate-level speaker. But it’s not an easy introduction to the language. If you’re looking for something nice and gentle, take a look at one of the other courses on this list, such as  LingoDeer (review) and Babbel (review).

However, if you’re looking for Italian texts you’ll actually get excited about reading, and you don’t mind a challenge, Italian Uncovered might be the right choice for you.

EXTREMELY THOROUGH AND ENGAGING ITALIAN VIDEO COURSES

Most courses benefit from being paired with supplementary resources, perhaps to expand your vocabulary or get more listening practice. Italy Made Easy, however, really could function as a one-stop resource for casual and serious students alike.

Many of the Italy Made Easy courses have over 150 video lessons, plus extensive drills and activities. You’ll study vocabulary, grammar, listening, reading, writing, speaking, pronunciation, and more. What’s more, if you opt for the VIP course, a native and trained speaker will check your assignments and give you personalized feedback.

The flip-side is that impatient learners looking to make quick progress might get frustrated. There are two beginner-level courses, meaning you’re looking at around 300 video lessons before you reach the intermediate level. And the teacher, Manu, while very likeable, is also very talkative. This is not a quick, lean, “learn Italian in 30 days” type of course. This source definitely has Italian comprehensible input if you are willing to take the time to follow the course.

However, if you’re looking for a solid Italian foundation that will cover all the main skills, Italy Made Easy is an excellent choice.

See our Super-Detailed Italy Made Easy Review

RELAXED PODCAST-STYLE LESSONS WITH A FEW EXTRA FEATURES

If studying Italian feels daunting, give Coffee Break Italian a listen. These relatively short, unintimidating lessons are bound to leave you more confident.

Coffee Break Italian is a freemium course. You can listen along to their free podcast as Katie learns Italian grammar, vocabulary, and culture from Francesca and Mark. Alternatively, you can opt for one of the premium courses: the standard Coffee Break Italian; Travel Diaries; Reading Club, where you get audio lessons alongside weekly texts; and more.

Most of the premium courses follow the same structure. You’ll get the ad-free podcast lessons along with access to lesson notes, a video version of the course, and a bonus audio lesson with additional vocabulary and translation exercises.

See our Super-Detailed Coffee Break Review

QUALITY AUDIO LESSONS THAT NEVER FEEL OVERWHELMING

If you’re drowning in flashcards and can’t remember the difference between vènti and venti, you might find Pimsleur a welcome change. You’ll learn essential phrases, some basic grammar, cultural insights, and more. But where Pimsleur really shines is vocabulary and pronunciation.

The courses are based on the Pimsleur Method, which is made up of four principles: never learning too much at a time, studying new vocabulary in context, revisiting vocabulary after increasingly longer intervals, and giving you time to formulate the correct answer to questions. 

In the 30-minute audio lessons, you’ll first listen to new vocabulary used in a conversation. Then, you’ll hear some brief explanations before practicing saying the target phrases and creating the sentences yourself. To help you master Italian pronunciation, you’ll also use an effective technique called backchaining. 

Although Pimsleur is a well-designed and structured course, it won’t teach you everything. There’s not a lot of writing or reading practice, while grammar explanations are minimal. And for some learners, the audio lessons might seem too slow.

See our Super-Detailed Pimsleur Review

GAMIFIED COURSES FOR (NEARLY) ALL LEVELS AND SKILLS

Fed up of having one app for vocabulary, another for grammar, and another for speaking practice? Few courses do it all, but Babbel makes a decent attempt at it.

It has the standard level-based courses for newcomers through to independent (pre-advanced) speakers. Then there are additional courses for grammar, vocabulary, speaking and listening, reading and writing, business Italian, idioms, and Italian culture.

Babbel sits somewhere between the lighthearted Duolingo (review) and intensive courses like Italy Made Easy (review). It’s a gamified app, but the focus is definitely on the language rather than the trophy-winning. In fact, you might end up with flashbacks of school as you fill out conjugation tables and work through slightly repetitive exercises. 

That said, the lessons are well-structured, the explanations are useful, and it mixes vocabulary and grammar drills with comprehension exercises. It’s a good option for casual learners looking for a one-stop course that’s not too challenging. 

See our Super-Detailed Babbel Review

INTERESTING, QUALITY COURSES FOR BEGINNERS THROUGH TO ADVANCED LEARNERS

Don’t let the name mislead you: News in Slow Italian is about much more than just the news.

Your subscription to News in Slow Italian gives you access to a slew of materials: a complete beginners course (G.U.T.S.), a grammar course, an expressions course, news-based podcasts and transcripts for intermediate and advanced learners, and stories (fictional and factual) for all levels.

Most of them have the same structure. You’ll begin with an audio recording and transcript, which contains pop-up translations. Most of the courses then have vocabulary flashcards, grammar lessons, pronunciation practice, and quizzes. However, the news-based podcasts have just the pronunciation practice, while the expressions course and the stories don’t have any additional materials. It’s best to treat these as add-ons that offer some extra listening practice and natural phrasing.

All the recordings are interesting, while the lessons are well-organized and easy to understand. New material is constantly being added, so you can learn all the vocabulary and background information you need to understand your neighbour’s rants about today’s politicians.

See our Super-Detailed News in Slow Italian Review

TRAIN YOUR PRONUNCIATION AND INTONATION

Sounding like an Italian: it’s the ultimate goal, but how are you going to achieve it if your gni still sounds wrong? And let’s not forget the easy mistake of trying to compliment a bald man on his hat (cappelli) but accidentally complimenting his non-existent hair (capelli) instead.

That’s where Ripeti Con Me comes into play. In each 30-minute lesson, you’ll first listen to Italian phrases and then practice shadowing them. This means you’re expected to say them at the same time as the native Italian speaker. You should also pick up some vocabulary and grammar as you move through the material, plus there are free grammar lessons. However, these aren’t the course’s priority.

Unfortunately, Ripeti Con Me doesn’t give you any pronunciation feedback or breakdowns. Nor do you listen to recordings of yourself speaking. As such, you’ll probably still benefit from classes with an Italian teacher who can let you know if you’re making any errors.

Still, few other courses have such a strong focus on helping you perfect your Italian accent as Ripeti Con Me.

Save 10% on your subscription with the code ALRRCM

See our Super-Detailed Ripeti Con Me Review

A STORY-BASED APPROACH TO IMPROVING INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL GRAMMAR

For many people, there’s nothing duller than grammar. Studying sentence structure and conjugation tables just seems dry and dreary – not to mention difficult! – compared to speaking practice, pronunciation drills, role plays, and other more communication-focused study methods.

If you found yourself agreeing with that description, then Grammar Hero might be the course you need. It teaches you intermediate-level grammar through the lens of original short stories, so that you can not only have fun but also immediately see the grammar in context – and hopefully, understand and remember it more intuitively.

First, you read and listen to the story as many times as you need. Then, you’re presented with a grammar breakdown and examples so that you can understand the grammar. However, you’re not encouraged to actively memorize this. That’s supposed to happen gradually through the next two stages. You’ll first get more exposure to the grammar point (re-reading the text), and then you’ll practice it (a series of activities including spotting errors, writing compositions, translation, and fill-in-the-blank exercises).

Grammar Hero is pricier than most grammar courses, but we also think it’s more fun, engaging, and arguably effective than a lot of them. Whether or not it’s worth it depends on you and your preferred learning style. 

Oh, and if you’re looking for something like Grammar Hero, but targeted at beginners or focused on more than just grammar, check out Italian Uncovered (review) from the same brand.

See our Super-Detailed Grammar Hero Review

BEGINNER-APPROPRIATE AUDIO COURSES WITH LOTS OF LISTENING PRACTICE

Imagine going to an hour-long tarantella dance class and only spending a few minutes dancing. Well, some people would argue that this is a bit like taking Italian lessons in English.

There’s a lot of debate over whether languages should be taught in that same language or not. One thing’s for sure: learning Italian in Italian will give you a lot more exposure to the language, even though it will be more challenging.

Bite Size Languages’ courses are based on the idea that the more Italian you listen to, the better. They use comprehensible input, a language-learning technique that’s backed up by plenty of studies. The idea behind it is that listening to or reading interesting material that you can understand but is slightly above your level will help you learn Italian more naturally. 

As such, in this course, you dive straight into short, Italian dialogues that are designed to introduce you to level-appropriate vocabulary and grammar. You can just listen to the dialogues, which Bite Size Languages believes would be sufficient. However, if all-Italian learning seems too much for you, or you would simply like some extra information, you can make use of additional English-language materials: transcripts, word-by-word translations, cultural tips, and concise grammar notes.

A HUGE AMOUNT OF LESSONS AND PRACTICE ACTIVITIES

Ever finished a course and felt like there wasn’t really enough material? That’s unlikely to be the case with Ouino, which contains over 400 lessons, 1,200 exercises, and 60 short stories.

You can either follow their recommended learning path or pick the topics you want to study. This means it’s ideal for false beginners and pre-exam revision. There’s material up to the upper-intermediate level, although higher levels have less content.

You’ll study pronunciation, vocabulary, sentence structure, verb conjugation, natural dialogues, and more. The lessons can seem academic, with lots of explanation, repetitive exercises, and only a smattering of gamification. However, they’ve put plenty of thought into how to help you understand the material, with color-coding drawing your attention to gender, key vocabulary, and more. You can also choose between listening to the lessons or reading them.

Ouino might not be the most exciting of language courses. It’s more Ford Fiesta than Jaguar. Yet like the faithful Fiesta, it’s got plenty of mileage in it. You’ll be hard-pushed to run out of material with Ouino, and all the lessons are high quality.

WELL-STRUCTURED ITALIAN COURSES

Ever wished a course would drop the gimmicks and just give you a decent grammatical explanation? You might get on better with Rocket Italian.

This course is unexciting. It lacks the bells and whistles of other courses: Italian Uncovered (review)’s stories, LingoDeer (review)’s gamification, or Coffee Break Italian (review)’s charismatic hosts. 

However, it is effective, well-structured, and full of good insights and practice opportunities. The exercises might at times get repetitive, but you’ll end up memorizing the relevant material.

Modules are based on potential situations you might experience, like asking for directions. There are audio lessons, flashcards, listening and writing exercises, translation tasks, and multiple-choice quizzes. There are also lots of cultural insights.

Rocket Italian isn’t for everyone. But if you’re looking for something a little more traditional, it’s a decent choice.

See our Super-Detailed Rocket Italian Review

HEAPS OF AUDIO COURSES BY DIFFERENT TEACHERS

ItalianPod101 is the Netflix of Italian podcast lessons. It’s similar to other courses on this list, such as Language Transfer and Coffee Break Italian. But what sets it apart is just how many courses (called pathways) and lessons your subscription gives you access to.

Most lessons are focused on a dialogue that the hosts will break it down for you. You’ll get some listening practice (although a lot of the instruction is in English), as well as the new vocabulary and grammar breakdowns. Subscribers get access to expansion materials, lesson notes, and a wide range of other features – some more useful than others.

That said, absolute beginners will likely find the pathways too unstructured. They don’t always seem to build on each other, even when the lessons themselves are well structured.

There’s also a limited focus on reading and writing, while the cheaper plans don’t include any speaking practice. Although ItalianPod101 is a good choice for false beginners onwards, you’ll benefit from some extra resources or self-guided practice.

Save 25% on your subscription with the code ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES

See our Super-Detailed Italianpod101 Review

FUN, GAMIFIED APP WITH SOLID EXPLANATIONS

This cute, entertaining course is designed to take you from complete beginner up to B1 (lower intermediate) Italian. It’s one of our top picks for gamified apps, although serious learners will probably find it’s not enough on its own.

Each tea-break-sized lesson introduces you to a grammar point and some vocabulary. You’ll drill it by matching the phrase to the right picture, writing sentences, answering multiple-choice quizzes, identifying the extraneous word, and more. Units finish with listening comprehension and speaking exercises, although there’s no feedback on the latter. There’s also a good explanation of the target grammar or language at the start of the unit (just swipe to the left). 

The course is generally well-structured and fun, but it’s hard to learn a language thoroughly in just a few minutes a day. If you’re using LingoDeer as your main course, you’ll probably benefit from some extra studies, whether that’s making your own sentences with the material or reviewing additional vocabulary apps or lists. 

Alternatively, you could use LingoDeer alongside a textbook, online Italian lessons, or a different course. It’s enjoyable enough to make studying feel like downtime.
 
LingoDeer also has a companion app, DeerPlus. It contains extra vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension exercises to round out your studies. Bear in mind that it isn’t included in your premium subscription, however.

See our Super-Detailed Lingodeer Review

5-MINUTE PODCAST LESSONS WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN SENTENCES

Some courses start you off with memorizing important phrases, like “How are you?” and the ironic “I speak Italian.” Language Transfer couldn’t be more different.

The short-and-sweet lessons are set up so that you listen in on conversations between Mihalis and his students. As you do so, you’ll learn how Italian works so you can quickly make your own sentences, expand your vocabulary, and more. It’s relaxed and entertaining, and yet you learn a surprising amount of useful content.

On its own, Language Transfer won’t be enough. You’ll want to combine it with additional practice activities, particularly for writing, reading, and listening, as well as courses that will teach you essential phrases.

However, Language Transfer gives you a solid foundation that you can then build on. It will help you feel capable of expanding beyond the material in other courses, textbooks, and apps – and it will only take a few minutes of your day.

See our Super-Detailed Language Transfer Review

COMPREHENSIVE BUT DATED TEXTBOOKS AND AUDIO FILES

In the 1960s, when US diplomats were assigned a role in Italy, they would first attend intensive language classes provided by the US Foreign Service Institute’s School of Language Classes. Fast-forward to the 2020s, and most of the textbooks files are in the public domain. They’ve been scanned and converted into PDF and audio files, and hosted on numerous websites.

These textbooks are generally comprehensive and well-structured, with a heavy focus on polite, effective communication. (In fact, the first 200 pages of the Italian Programmed textbook is devoted solely to pronunciation and intonation.) If you’re not in a position to pay for a course, they are some of the most in-depth options available to you.

However, they do have their downsides. The files are hard to read and use, with old-fashioned fonts and tables of content that don’t correspond to the page number assigned by your PDF reader.

They are also dated, with the most recent published in the early ‘90s and the rest being even older. You won’t learn words like sito di social networking or spoilerare. Social attitudes and cultural examples at times seem antiquated – right down to the assumption that students are male.

If you opt for these courses, make sure to use them alongside other resources so you can get speaking practice and learn up-to-date vocabulary. The ‘60s may have been iconic, but you don’t want to sound like you’ve walked straight off the set of Mad Men.

TRANSLATION-BASED LEARNING WITH AUTHENTIC DIALOGUES

There’s a school of language learners that believes you should study languages like children do, with a focus on learning through exposure instead of memorizing conjugation tables. And that’s the theory behind the Assimil method.

With this e-course, you’ll learn just like a child does: by hearing native Italian speakers talk and then copying them. In fact, you won’t begin speaking and actively learning about grammar and sentence structure until lesson 50. Until that point, you’ll just be listening and doing comprehension exercises.

Assimil is a language-learning powerhouse that’s been publishing textbooks and now e-courses for almost a century. It has some passionate advocates who believe the Assimil method, while slow to get started, helps them achieve conversational fluency.

However, it’s not for everyone. If you prefer to take a more active role in your learning or like the idea of speaking Italian straight away, then you’re probably best off using a different course.

See our Super-Detailed Assimil Review

GAMIFIED FLASHCARDS PLUS A HOST OF COMMUNITY-MADE COURSES

Memrise is often considered a Duolingo alternative, but you’ll quickly spot the differences between them. And no, we’re not just talking about Memrise’s flower pots versus Duolingo’s lime-green owl.

Both apps use gamification to teach you a smattering of Italian in just five minutes a day. Memrise, however, is primarily a flashcard app. You’ll add mnemonics to help you remember words, and there are several handy review activities. Some courses also have videos featuring native speakers. Grammar exercises, however, are often minimal.

In addition to the official Italian courses, there are also free, community-made ones. These touch on idioms, pronunciation, TV shows, grammar, and much more. They’re a great way to learn more specialized vocabulary. In fact, if there’s a topic you’d like to study, you can easily create your own course out of a vocabulary list.

Memrise isn’t the perfect course. However, it’s an engaging way to drill essential Italian phrases and vocabulary in just a few minutes a day. You could pair it with just about any of the courses on this list, and you would see the benefits.

See our Super-Detailed Memrise Review

BEGINNER-LEVEL LESSONS WITH GOOD GRAMMATICAL EXPLANATIONS

Wishing your language apps had more thorough grammatical explanations? You might like Wlingua.
The short-and-sweet lessons might remind you of Duolingo and other gamified apps, but there’s an above-average focus on grammar. Nearly all the lessons are focused around a single grammatical point, whether it’s irregular verbs or the articulated preposition.

What’s more, the grammatical explanations are far better than in most language apps (with the potential exception of LingoDeer) and color-coding is used to help you recognize patterns. You’ll also drill grammar with questions that ask you, for example, to identify the correct noun gender.

Wlingua also introduces you to plenty of vocabulary, but you might find yourself overwhelmed with it. There are limited vocabulary-related drilling activities, and you’ll often be introduced to a dozen words in a row. Although later lessons use the same vocabulary, it’s a challenging start to the course.

COMPREHENSIVE COURSES WITH A VARIETY OF PRACTICE ACTIVITIES

There’s something about Fluenz that feels old-fashioned, but that’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t have Duolingo-style gamification. You can choose to download the Fluenz software onto your computer. And the detailed video tutorials combined with a wide range of practice activities almost make you feel like you’re back at school.

Fluenz is also more well-rounded than the average course. It will train you on vocabulary, grammar, speaking, writing (including spelling!), reading, and listening. What’s more, the lessons are well-structured and build on each other. You’ll role play dialogues, work on dictation, and more. For dedicated students, there’s little to dislike.

Some learners, however, might find Fluenz is too thorough for their liking. Or they might simply want more gamification and faster-paced tutorials.

See our Super-Detailed Fluenz Review

GAMIFICATION GALORE IN THIS 5-MINUTES-A-DAY COURSE

Few language courses have achieved as much fame or notoriety as Duolingo. Some love it. Others hate it. But one thing’s for sure: it has transformed our attitudes toward language acquisition.

While there are plenty of Duolingo-esque apps on the market today, when it first launched, it was groundbreaking because of its short, gamified lessons with almost zero grammar explanations.

Duolingo’s heavy gamification makes it addictive. Many learners find themselves using it every single day for months or even years on end, just so that they can maintain their learning streaks. Then there are the levels, points, bonus topics, certificates, golden skills… Self-studying normally relies on internal motivation, i.e. your discipline. But with Duolingo, there’s plenty of external motivation to keep you studying – even if you’re not really in the mood to study “sports” or “business”.

However, there’s a limit to how much you can learn in these miniscule study sessions, while the explanations can be insufficient for a thorough understanding of the grammar. The course is based on translation, with limited speaking, reading, and listening practice. There are also complaints that the Italian course is error-prone and in need of an update.

Duolingo won’t get you fluent in Italian. However, you will likely have fun, alongside learning Duolingo-isms like “I would like some new software for my brain” and “Children, why are you bleeding?” Alternatively, for a well-structured gamified app with good explanations, take a look at LingoDeer (review). Or, for something more in depth, try Italian Uncovered (review) or Coffee Break Italian (review).

See our Super-Detailed Duolingo Review

ITALIAN-ONLY COURSES FOR BEGINNERS THROUGH TO ADVANCED LEARNERS

Put your conjugation tables aside: One World Italiano places conversational Italian and listening comprehension at the forefront of their courses.

That’s not to say you won’t study tenses and the subjective mood. It’s just not the main attraction of One World Italiano’s courses. The lessons contain dialogues, vocabulary lists, grammar explanations, quizzes, dictation exercises, and more. There are also plenty of practice activities focused on vocabulary, listening comprehension, and more.

One World Italiano’s courses can feel disorganized, and you’ll want to supplement them with additional speaking, reading, and writing practice. However, they’re a decent option for extra practice activities.

A VARIETY OF UNIVERSITY COURSES

Studying with edX is a bit like ordering from a menu you don’t fully understand. You might get something delicious, or you might find you can’t stomach what’s on your plate.

You’ll find language courses for beginner through to advanced students from various universities on edX. And if you’ve mastered all those, you can even study courses in Italian about other topics, such as Italy’s numerous dialects, Italian history, and marketing.

The content, quality, teaching style, and price will vary, so it can be hard to know whether a course is a good use of your time beforehand. However, they tend to be freemium, so it’s easy to sample them before committing.

COMPARE YOUR PRONUNCIATION (AND INTONATION!) TO A NATIVE SPEAKER’S

There’s just something about Italian pronunciation, or more precisely, intonation. It doesn’t matter if you can’t speak a word of the language – you can immediately recognize it. 

Learning how to reproduce that typical Italian way of speaking is easier said than done. But that’s where Mango Languages’ Italian course comes in. 

At first glance, it seems very similar to Pimsleur, despite not being an audio course. The lessons begin with a dialogue, after which you’ll get grammar or cultural explanations and practice building your own sentences and questions. Bear in mind repetition is a key feature of this method.

A stand-out feature of Mango Languages, however, is the ability to record yourself speaking an Italian phrase and then lay it over a native speaker’s recording. Many courses allow you to record yourself, listen back, and even switch between your recording and a native speaker’s. Few, however, allow you to listen to both of them at the same time. And this immediately shows you where your cadence, stress, and pronunciation aren’t quite right. 

Although there’s a lot to like about Mango Languages, it’s mainly focused on speaking and listening. For reading and writing practice, you’ll need to pair it with a different resource.

See our Super-Detailed Mango Languages Review