News in Italian for beginners
Learning a new language from scratch has never been an easy task and learning Italian can sometimes be even more challenging.
On top of this, Italian is a language which changes with time together with society and customs. So, it can be even harder to keep up with its uses. However, nowadays we have many digital tools at our disposal for this purpose. One of the most effective ones are online sources of news in Italian for beginners.
Here is a list of the best fifteen among podcasts, websites, newspapers and channels with news in Italian for beginners!
Note: they are not listed in any particular order. All of the resources are great and choosing the right one for Italian news for beginners is really more of a matter of personal taste than anything else!
News In Slow Italian
News in Slow Italian is a weekly podcast in Italian. You can listen to what’s going on around the world at an easy pace. Also, you can choose the topic and the level.
There is some free content, but the full paid experience it’s worth it. It comes with many perks like episode transcripts that are very helpful when you are a beginner. If there’s a sentence or a word you cannot understand, you’ll easily want to subscribe. As a result, you’ll improve your vocabulary, and learn informal and formal phrases.
Moreover, you’ll have flashcards to help you throughout each episode and refer to them.
Register or use your 7-days free trial here newsinslowitalian.com.
Rai News
If you like to watch the news, Rai News is your channel! Rai News is a TV channel broadcasted by RAI (aka national Italian television) where you’ll find news 24/7. Certainly, you’ll have the latest news in real time, but it is also a great platform for Italian news for beginners. To dive in, you can leave it playing in the background all day long!
Turn on the news here rainews.it/live
If you just want to read some articles, click here www.rainews.it/
Rai Cultura italiano
As the previous one, Rai Cultura Italiano is a platform created by RAI and the Italian Ministry of Education and Research, in order to help foreigners learn the language. So, meanwhile the website shares the culture and some political news, you can study and practice Italian.
Follow this link to find more italiano.rai.it
Corriere Della Sera
Corriere della sera is one of the oldest and most important newspapers in Italy. Moreover, it’s the most widely read daily Italian newspaper because it’s considered complete and serious.
As a beginner, at first you should read the headlines. Then, pick the article that is good for you – your benchmark should be about 10% of understanding after a single reading of less than three minutes. This is a general guideline to read news in Italian for beginners.
Follow this link to read the latest news corriere.it
Easy Italian News
Easy Italian News is a free website for Italian news for beginners.
It publishes a diverse selection of easy Italian articles on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In addition, when you subscribe, you’ll also receive an audio recorded by an Italian native-speaker that you can listen to it as many times as you like.
At the end of each article you’ll notice the news original sources so you can even check the full, more advanced, article.
To subscribe click here easyitaliannews.com
FanPage
If you’re interested in an independent, young, social and interactive platform for Italian and international news… Fanpage is what you’re looking for! It is an Italian online newspaper and it’s also free.
You can follow their reportages and inquiries also through their youtube channel. Here you’ll watch short and easy-to-understand recorded or live videos. If you want, you can even interact or just read others’ comments thanks to the chat at the side of each video.
Thus, you’ll learn with the news while bringing language learning to life in a fun and easy way.
Click here for the newspaper website fanpage.it or watch an example:
EuroNews
Euronews is an international news channel where you can watch and listen to live news in your favorite language.
The Italian version is it.euronews.com and it also offers the script of the video story, but some words may have changed as the journalist reads it. It also offers an English version, but this is not a word-by-word translation.
Nonetheless, if you have time you should try and find the story on the English website to find out a little bit more.
Rai Radio 2
Rai Radio 2 is a national Italian radio channel where you can find some programs perfect for learning Italian while discovering the culture, too.
For instance, good examples are programs like I Provinciali and Caterpillar.
I Provinciali is about Italian small towns news. The hosts will give you a taste of how it is living in one of them and you’ll be immediately taken there, thanks to stories and listener-contributions. Also, it’s perfect for learning conversational phrases.
Caterpillar are short, fun, light and entertaining episodes. They are perfect to listen on-the-go. In addition, they comment not only about Italian affairs, but also international ones so they’ll keep you up to date.
Tune in here for the radio channel and pick your show raiplayradio.it/radio2
Il Post
Il Post is a young and dynamic online newspaper which doesn’t require any subscription and is completely free.
You’ll find articles about anything from Italy and the world – latest news, environmental issues, science, etc. – written in a clear and easy Italian. Therefore, this is one of the best choices when you’re looking for Italian news for beginners.
Please choose your article here ilpost.it
Il Mio Primo Quotidiano
At first, Il Mio Primo Quotidiano could seem an odd listing but it’s the perfect tool for practicing Italian.
It’s been created for young adults who want to start reading a newspaper and for this reason, it’s an ideal first approach to news in Italian for beginners.
News is well written, and you won’t find any problematic topics. So, it is also the ultimate giornale felice, happy newspaper.
Discover it here ilmioprimoquotidiano.it
Focus Junior
Similarly to the latter, Focus Junior is for young adults. In this case, it’s a monthly magazine with in-depth articles about science, school, technology, animals and curiosities.
Further, its payoff is “Having fun while discovering the world” and in fact it offers games, experiments, comics and short stories. You’ll notice that they also have a joke section where you can discover Italian jokes, too.
You can subscribe for a really fair price (current digital offer is € 19.99 per year) or read a few articles per month for free.
To have fun while learning Italian, visit focusjunior.it
Notizie.it
Notizie.it is another Italian online newspaper. As the previous ones, it is free and independent. Their mission is to deliver news in real time from Italy and the rest of the world.
You’ll find all sorts of news from current events to sport, from gossip to science, and much more, written and layed out in such a clear and simple way that make them perfect for beginners.
In addition, they have a youtube channel with exclusive and special additional contents, and all videos have helpful and clear subtitles.
Here is their youtube channel youtube.com
Follow this link for the website notizie.it
TG LA7
One of the national TV news where you can watch and listen to everyday Italian news in a more formal format surfing their youtube channel.
Italia Oggi
Italia Oggi is an online newspaper which focuses more on political, economical and juridical Italian affairs.
Quotidiano.net
Quotidioano.net is an online newspaper plus web TV on youtube where you’ll find Italian news for beginners, and so much more.
Benefits of learning with news in Italian for beginners
Listening and reading are two of language learning pillars – the other two are speaking and writing – but they are the most important ones to master a language. Italian is not different. To clarify, a research by University of Missouri shows that when we communicate, we spend around 40% of our time listening, 30% speaking, 16% reading and only 14% writing.
Let’s see together some of the benefits of learning Italian with news in Italian!
You can do it everywhere
To listen and read news in Italian for beginners are two excellent study methods that will fit in well with your hectic schedule because you can do it anywhere.
We all have crazy busy lives (family, work, friends, gym…) it seems we don’t have enough time – for example, for learning Italian! But nowadays Italian podcasts and radio channels allow you to be on the go and still improve your Italian skills…
For instance, you can take your Italian to the next level meanwhile you’re cooking dinner, exercising or driving to work!
You will understand more
Having said that, the most relevant benefit of listening to Italian news, and also of reading them, is how quick you’ll learn and develop fluency. The more you listen and read, the more you understand. In addition, you’ll also better understand how native Italian speakers talk.
Your vocabulary will expand
Furthermore, your vocabulary will expand alongside your knowledge about Italian news and culture.
You will learn without realizing it
Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind that even if it doesn’t feel like it, you’re learning because listening and reading are really effective ways you can study, and not only languages, almost without realizing it.
You will improve your Italian pronunciation
In addition, when you immerse yourself in the language, you’ll improve your Italian pronunciation, intonation and sound. Also, words and phrases will come easily and within the right context.
Meanwhile, your brain and ears will do the work for you!
You will know what to talk about
It goes without saying that you’ll start learning colloquial and frequent phrases and expressions which will give you a deeper insight into Italian culture and language. You will have something to talk about with your Italian friends. And you will know what they are referring to when they talk about something that just happened in Italy.
Learn how to speak and write as a native
Of course, another amazing perk will be to speak and write as natives do. That’s how you will be building the core of your language skills: you’ll be absorbing structure of the language, the ideas conveyed and the rules of grammar, all at the same time.
At the end of the day, if you’re listening or reading, you’ll feel a lot more comfortable with the Italian language.
Conclusion
In short, these are convenient, fun and entertaining methods to learn Italian.
If you’re a beginner, you’ll need to start slow, with just a couple of pieces per week, and then work your way up to a higher level. The more time you devote to listening and reading news in Italian for beginners, the more comfortable you’ll become with understanding native speakers.
In conclusion, listening and reading should be a habit to get into: read or listen to Italian news for just 10 minutes a day will be an awesome start which will considerably improve your language skills.
However, your goals should be to find the right amount of challenges, and these tools are perfect for it in order to hold your attention but also pushing you to learn a little bit more every day. As a result, only you will know what is best for you!
Enjoy listening and reading news in Italian while getting a taste of Italy in your eyes and ears and improving your Italian language skills!
And don’t forget to be positive, confident and motivated since you’re doing it for yourself and nobody’s watching or listening!
