Improving Your Italian With Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to improve your Italian because you can take them with you when you leave your house and listen to them. I drive a lot to and from work so I can plug my Ipod (or any other mp3 player) into the car and listen to them through my car's sound system. Or if you're like a lot of people, you take a lot of public transport. You can listen to them to help pass the time. Or you could also listen at your desk at work. There's lots of ways to listen to podcasts. Just remember that you don't need an Ipod or any other mp3 device to listen to them. You can even listen to them on your own computer. Some programs can even burn them to a CD so that you can listen to them in a regular CD player on your computer, car or CD player.

I like to classify podcasts into two types:

1. educational/teaching podcasts
   
   
2. other

Educational/teaching podcasts are podcasts in which you learn a particular something about Italian. It could be a lesson or a grammar point illustrated with the podcast. One of my favorite sites for learning Italian on the go is Learnitalianpod.com. This site has tons of podcasts which feature a beginner's program, intermediate program as well as advanced lessons and audio phrasebooks. They also have a supplement to their podcasts where for a small fee you can have access to the audio transcripts, exercises and more. I find their site to be very comprehensive, and I listen to their podcasts all the time, especially when I'm at work.

The other is everything else and mostly includes previously aired Italian radio or television programs. This is a great way to keep in touch with Italian news and culture. You can see a list of various programs and offerings in the list of podcast links. If you're looking for a podcast that will keep you in the know, check out one of my favorite radio programs, Radio Anch'io, which is produced by RAI. Radio Anch'io is an audio program where issues in Italy are discussed and then people can call in and their reactions are then responded to by experts or people familiar with a particular area or problem.