Let’s Play! 7 Sites That Turn Learning Italian into a Game
So, you want to learn Italian, huh?
Lucky you!
You live in the Age of Information, the Internet Era!
This means you can learn Italian online in a multitude of ways, whether by listening to Italian podcasts, singing along to great Italian songs or reading along with Italian audiobooks.
What’s more, with the best Italian apps at your disposal, you can study Italian in your car or on the bus or even at the table during that awkward work dinner you’d rather not attend.
But have you ever considered learning Italian with online games?
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Why Learn Italian with Online Games?
You heard me correctly: I want you to learn Italian while playing online games!
Forget Candy Crush and Flappy Bird. In no time at all, you’ll be using games to help you along in your Italian language learning journey. Far from being a waste of time, games are a fun and effective way to practice what you’ve learned as well as learn new material.
Just ask kids! Playing is an essential way that children learn about the world around them, so why not apply that technique to your own learning?
Once you’ve studied a certain grammar topic or vocabulary theme in a textbook or self-study program, adding a game to help reinforce and review said topic will help that knowledge solidify in a fun way.
Furthermore, that knowledge will become more easily available to you while using Italian in real life, because you’ll have already practiced it in an amusing learning environment.
Get Your Game On! The 7 Best Italian Learning Game Sites
So check out the seven best websites for Italian learning games and get playing right now!
Digital Dialects
Digital Dialects offers matching games for learning over 80 languages including French, German and even Navajo, and its extensive repertoire of Italian games is extremely useful for beginner Italian learners as well as those looking to brush up on vocabulary.
Learners can choose between text or audio versions of matching games to reinforce vocabulary related to numbers, food, clothing and much more. Also, there are games for grammar topics such as verbs and practical topics like telling the time, so you can put your newly-learned vocabulary into grammatically correct sentences.
Furthermore, Digital Dialects offers even more for learners who are past the beginner’s stage. An Italian advanced learner’s page has games on Italian verbs and animals. But the fun doesn’t even stop there! The “Links” page offers a great list of further Italian learning resources.
FluentU
FluentU makes learning Italian as fun and addictive as a video game.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Click here to check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
Learn Italian
Learn Italian is a great website that takes Italian grammar and vocabulary and game-ifies the entire experience of learning it. Essentially, Learn Italian is like an adventure video game where you learn an aspect of the language and then use it in challenges on your quest to Italian greatness.
Before each game, you choose a topic that you want to review or learn. Next, you take a short lesson on the topic, one that includes flashcards and grammar explanations where needed. Once you’ve completed that, prepare to put your knowledge to the test in a game.
In fact, the game is of your choosing! Learners can choose from any game they like: Mix and Match, The Beetle and the Bee, Pelmanism, Four in Row, Hangman or The Frog Flies. No matter which one you choose, each game is available for whatever vocabulary or grammar topic you’ve studied.
And if you’ve had enough fun for the day, Learn Italian offers many multiple choice or written tests to test your proficiency. These help ensure that you’re getting the most out of your Italian gaming experience.
Duolingo
In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, Duolingo is the wildly successful online program and language learning app that has over 14.5 million learners of Italian as well as millions of learners of other languages.
To begin, learners can take a proficiency test to start at their current level or simply commence their language learning “tree” from the beginning. The lessons are a matching game of sorts: You get an Italian word or phrase, and you have to translate it to English—or vice versa. The lessons often require you to use all language skills: reading, writing, listening and even speaking!
The lessons are separated into topics and each topic is separated into a certain number of mini-lessons. The more topics you complete, the more topics you unlock in the “tree,” and the fun goes on and on. Lessons include a mix of vocabulary and grammar-based material, and the sentences grow in complexity as you move farther down the tree. The best part? Registration is absolutely free, and this game is available online or as an app.
Actually, I lied. The best part is that the Duolingo experience is also supported by the Duolingo community, which allows learners to interact with others on a forum, get their inquiries answered, find a language learning partner and continue to learn once their tree is completed while using Duolingo’s Immersion feature.
Soft Schools
While not as all-encompassing or expansive as some of the sites above, Soft Schools excels because of its simple, traditional nature.
Soft Schools provides a quick and easy way to learn and review Italian vocabulary. It includes convenient, straightforward games that allow you to learn crucial Italian words through repetition.
What SoftSchools lacks in complexity, it definitely makes up for in depth. Flashcard topics range from beginner words such as colors and animals all the way up to more specialized vocabulary like words for medicine and furniture.
Learners can choose from flashcards, matching games and “scatter games,” where you have to drag Italian words to their meanings in English. The different games are available for all the Italian vocabulary on the site, so this is a great resource for Italian learners who are looking for repetition to really make vocabulary stick.
Lastly, Soft Schools also offers online quizzes on basic grammar such as regular verbs, articles and pronouns. This is a great way to test your knowledge of Italian and figure out which areas still need work.
Pimsleur Approach
Featured by The New York Times and Forbes, Pimsleur Approach boasts an effective program for learning languages, and you’ve probably heard of them. What you may not know is that there are games on their website that anyone can play for free.
Even though the Italian language games are not extensive, their clean and sophisticated interface offers a great way to review essential vocabulary.
Learners can choose from the Italian Colors Game, the Italian Weather Game, the Italian Memory Game or the Italian Food Match-Up Quiz. The Italian Colors Game allows users to drag and drop words and letters to solve puzzles that have color words in them. The Italian Weather Game helps learners learn useful weather vocabulary through matching. The Italian Memory Game reinforces vocabulary by making learners match Italian words with English ones. Lastly, the Italian Food Match-Up Quiz lets learners make sentences and match up food items to their translations while advancing through the levels of the game.
Pimsleur Approach games are a great way for beginners to start conquering that essential vocabulary!
Syvum
Syvum’s list of Italian word games is probably one of the most extensive on the Internet. There isn’t an official count of the number of games they offer, but trust me, there’s enough to have you scrolling for days!
Syvum Italian games allow learners the opportunity to review words prior to the game and then get instant scoring and correction. You can choose between flashcards, matching columns, Hangman or fill-in-the-blank games, and play to your heart’s desire. Each game gives learners a chance to change up the words included, so the possibilities are pretty much endless—Italian for days, remember?
Topics include basic Italian words all the way up to specialized vocabulary such as trees, herbs, medicine and the Chinese horoscope. There are even a selection of games that use Italian phrases rather than just words. Feeling stuck? This website’s got you covered. With each game, learners can review new words and even print worksheets and test papers.
So, what are you waiting for?
Get playing!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
