If you want to live in Tauranga I don't blame you, it is a lovely town alongside the Bay of Plenty with things to do both inside and outside of the town. That includes studying in the town of Tauranga.
For those of you who are natives and those who are coming to live in Tauranga to study at uni for another purpose you definitely can find any type of class you are looking for. You don't even have to travel outside of the city to find them.
Tauranga has a university and a beach so the perfect setting for many young people all over New Zealand to come and study, and it has everything you need so you don't need to travel far to find places to study. There is a lovely historical colonial centre in the town, and you can meet people from all over New Zealand who go to study in Tauranga or already are from there.
So what does this all mean if you have a burning desire to learn Italian?
New Zealand is of course on the opposite end of the Earth from any Italian speaking countries like Italy and Switzerland, so are there any reasons to learn Italian?
If you had any doubts before, there are plenty of reasons to learn just about any foreign language, and Italian is no exception.
Perhaps you are going on a trip to Italy or planning to backpack around Europe, or maybe you would like to live in Italy for a year or two.
There are plenty of reasons to learn as well as plenty of positives for learning the Italian language as it can lead you to meet people from an entirely different culture as well as give you some job opportunities.
So if you are really keen to learn and speak Italian and live in Tauranga, you can find out some good ways of doing so as well as where you should go to practice and learn the language.
Tips for learning Italian
Before you read about where you can find Italian classes in Tauranga, you can always use some tips to learn Italian. While we may know a few Italian words from movies and tv series, and even some words are similar, however it is important to note that Italian and English come from completely different language families.
Therefore they have different rules when it comes to grammar.
Study the Italian and English cognates
As i've just mentioned, Italian and English have some differences. That is because they come from different linguistic families, one being from latin (Italian) and the other germanic (English).
However this doesn't mean that all of the vocabularly is completely different. Cognates exist between most European languages even if they are from different families.
Cognates are words that sound and look similar that are from two different languages.
There are plenty of cognates that will help you learn a bit quicker if you can find a way to study them faster. Learning the cognates can make your vocabulary learning much easier.
While cognates could become a real friend for you, you will need to look out for false friends.
False friends, when studying languages are words that look the same, sound the same, but have different meanings.
Some cognates that exist between Italian and English are:
- Calendario/Calendar
- Banca/ Bank
- Famoso/ Famous
- Studiare/ Study
- Birra/ Beer
Study the irregular verbs
For beginners that are native English speakers that are trying to learn a latin based language such as French, Spanish, or Italian, irregular verbs can quickly become really bothersome.
Unfortunately for many of you soon to be Italian learners will soon find out that the most common verbs in Italian are irregular. To be, to have, can, etc., all of these verbs are irregular and conjugate differently than many other verbs in Italian.
Practice makes perfect, and that certainly is the case when it comes to irregular verbs, if you can master the more common ones you'll do just fine.
Practice your pronunciation
Sometimes we don't realise it, but English is actually a very complicated language to learn, and even more so to pronounce, especially for those who speak a latin based language.
One English word with a certain spelling can sound completely different than a word with another spelling, for example laughter and daughter.
For someone that is a native speaker of another language this can be frustrating.
Luckily learning Italian you won't have this problem.
All letters have a specific pronunciation. When you learn how to pronounce all the letters you will have a really easy time pronouncing the words.
Learn the different grammar rules
As mentioned a bit earlier, Italian has a lot of different grammar structures than English does. Apart from the irregular verbs you'll need to practice where to place adjectives and verbs.
There are also grammar points that don't feature much in English and it can get confusing.
The best way is practice.
Practice, practice, practice
The best way to learn any language as quicly as possible is to practice often and have no fear. Sometimes we may not want to speak outloud in another language because we worry we will make mistakes and sound silly.
Speaking more and more will help, especially if you can practice with experienced teachers, professors, and native speakers. Sometimes when we run into native speakers, they also would like to practice English, make sure you are still able to practice Italian as much if not more than they practice their English. Sometimes conversations can quickly become one sided.
If this happens set up a time period where you both speak Italian and another where you both speak English.
Where to take Italian classes in Tauranga
Studying Italian at university
One of the more obvious places to learn Italian is at university. However in Tauranga there is some bad news in that aspect as Waikato University in Tauranga doesn't have an undergraduate study in Italian.
That doesn't mean you can't take advantage of the studies at the university of course.
The University of Waikato is a great university that has other subjects that can help you in the future, especially if you speak another language, that is why it wouldn't be a bad idea to study linguistics if you see yourself having a future in languages.
While the University of Waikato doesn't offer Italian courses, it can set you on the path of having a job possibly as a translator or transcriber, or a linguistics expert.
All of these jobs are very well respected, and often are paid pretty well, and you will learn skills that you can take anywhere with you. You can use these linguistics skills to work in New Zealand or even in another country like Italy.
While Italian courses do not feature in the University of Waikato specifically you can learn on the side whilst learning linguistics and have a great opportunity to understand the language even better as well as have great job prospects when you finish your studies.
Learning at a language school
While there aren't any courses available for Italian at the university in Tauranga, you can find a language school in Tauranga that teaches Italian.
In Tauranga there aren't any Italian specific learning centres like in other cities around New Zealand, such as Hamilton, Auckland, Christchurch and others. However there is a language centre where you can find Italian classes.
Multicultural Tauranga is a language and cultural centre at the heart of Tauranga. There you can learn plenty about other cultures around the world, and of course you can also learn a foreign language.
Italian is taught at Multicultural Tauranga, there are lessons given by a teacher at the centre that you can get in contact with.
The centre itself is also a great place to learn not only about Italian, but you can also learn plenty about other cultures and peoples as well from across the globe.
Studying Italian with a private tutor
One of the best ways to learn any subject is to have one to one help. With foreign languages you can argue that a private tutor is even more important than a normal classroom teacher.
Arguably the most important thing about learning a language is practice and to have someone there to point out your errors and have them correct you in the moment. Speaking as much as possible is important.
Using the platform Superprof you can find a private tutor that is a specialist in teaching the Italian language and can work with you online or in person to give you the best tutoring possible.
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