6 Best Italian Audiobooks Perfect For Beginners: With Benefits
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Audiobooks are, without a doubt, one of the best tools for language learners. They’re especially beneficial for any beginner because they help you get familiar with the language structure and pronunciation. Audiobooks for beginners also use simple and everyday life vocabulary that will take you to an Italian-speaking environment. Suddenly, you won’t feel like learning Italian by memorizing words. It will come naturally to you when listening to these audiobooks with realistic dialogues and interesting stories.
Today, I’ve got for you the best Italian audiobooks for beginners. I’ve ranked them from the easiest to listen to (if you’re an absolute beginner) to the more complex ones that will take you from the beginner to the intermediate level. So let’s dive into it.
List Of The Best Italian Audiobooks For Beginners
Here is a list of the 6 best Italian audiobooks for beginners. They are ranked from the easiest for absolute beginners to the more difficult one:
- Learn Italian: 5 Books in 1
- 101 Conversations in Simple Italian
- Short Stories Italian
- 5 Minute Italian Short Stories for Beginners
- Easy Italian Phrase Book
- Italian Short Stories for Beginners
Why Are Audiobooks So Beneficial For Beginner Italian Learners?
Before we jump to the actual list of best Italian audiobooks, let me explain to you why they are one of the best resources for language learning. Here are a few reasons why it is great for you to learn Italian with audiobooks as a beginner:
- perfect to understand the language structure
- help you with pronunciation right from the start
- use simple vocabulary and real dialogues from everyday life
- their fun stories will motivate you to learn Italian
- you can listen to them any time wherever you are (even when commuting to work, school)
- ability to listen to learn Italian even when doing other activities (cleaning a house, doing sports)
- help you memorize vocabulary in an easier way
How To Learn Italian With Audiobooks?
It is also very important for you to understand how to effectively work with Italian audiobooks as a beginner. It will help you to learn the language properly. So I’ve put together my own method of how I learn a language by listening to audiobooks. Check it out below:
- Listen to one section of the audiobook (10 – 15 minutes)
- Listen to it again, try to catch a few words, and understand the context
- Get a printed version of the audiobook
- Highlight words you want to learn
- Translate the words and write them down into your language notebook
- Read the section once again and understand the whole section
- Listen to the section over and over until you understand it very well
Quick Guide For Learning Italian With Audiobooks
First of all, listen to one section of the audiobook for 10 or 15 minutes. See if you can understand anything. Or simply listen to the pronunciation of the words and get familiar with them. After, listen to it once again and try to catch a few words that might be similar to your language.
Always get a printed version of the audiobook. This is especially important as you need to see the text as a beginner. It will speed up your learning process. Once you have the printed text, let’s play a bit around. Highlight words you want to learn from the section. Then, translate them and write them with their meaning down into your language notebook.
Use My Method To Learn Italian With Audiobooks
After, you can learn the words using my effective strategies to learn vocabulary fast. Then, read the text and see if you can better understand it.
In the end, just listen to the section repeatedly until you feel confident with it and understand it.
What I also do is that I listen to one sentence, stop the audio, and read the sentence on my own. This helps me to learn how to pronounce the words right from the beginning. It is very important.
Important Note & Advice For You
*Note that these audiobooks are great for beginners (A2 level). If you’re an absolute beginner and don’t know a word in Italian, I highly recommend you first go through the basic topics. This article will give you an overview of what to learn in a new language as a beginner. It will give you the foundation for your Italian learning. Once you go through these basic topics, you can start listening to audiobooks. It will eliminate possible frustration on your language journey.
Awesome, now that you know how to properly work with Italian audiobooks, let’s head to our list and choose your perfect fit.
1. Learn Italian: 5 Books In 1
If you’re an absolute beginner, I recommend you start off with this audiobook. It includes the basic topics every language learner should start with. This audiobook will help you to learn basic grammar and vocabulary with over 1000 simple phrases. Once you understand the very basics, it’ll give you more than 100 easy conversations in which you can practice the basics you learned. In the end, it also includes short stories to wrap it all up and have fun immersing more into the Italian language.
Altogether, it is an audiobook with 5 series, each for a different purpose. It is the best audiobook to start with as it will make you comfortable with the pronunciation and structure of the language with its simple phrases and dialogues.
2. 101 Conversations In Simple Italian
Once you learn the basics of the 5 books in 1, I recommend switching to 101 Conversations in Simple Italian. This audiobook is perfect for keeping up with learning basic vocabulary. The dialogues are set in everyday situations such as meeting friends, making arrangements, shops, café, or travelling around. It will help you make the next step and create basic sentences with the vocabulary you’ve learned. The dialogues will take you to the Italian environment, and learning the language will come naturally to you. The stories are set in the capital of Italy, Rome. It will take you directly to the Piazza Navona (one of the biggest and most important squares in Rome) and make you want to eat fresh pasta.
With this book, you’ll learn about 15,000 Italian words. Each conversation has only 150 words to make it easier for you to process and understand it. Each chapter also includes a list of words translated into English so that you don’t get distracted by having to look up every single word. It also has a plot summary for you to double-check whether you’ve understood the conversation well.
3. Short Stories Italian
After learning the basics, it is time to have fun with some short stories. I personally love Short Stories Italian written by Oly Richards. His stories are engaging and fun, so you won’t even realize you’re learning Italian. The audiobook contains 8 stories, each in different genres. Some are fiction, historical, thriller, romantic, and some comedy. Oly Richards claims that learning a language with his fun stories automatically eliminates the frustration of learning a new language. And I completely understand. The stories will capture you, and you’ll feel confident listening to the Italian stories and understanding them.
Each story also includes the plot summary, bilingual list of vocabulary, and comprehension questions to double-check if you understood the stories.
Once you get through the mark of being an absolute beginner, grab this audiobook and let these stories help you to advance with your Italian language.
4. 5 Minute Italian Short Stories For Beginners
For those of you who’re terribly busy, you won’t have excuses anymore. I would like to present you with the 5 minutes Italian Short Stories for beginners. This audiobook will be waiting for you to listen to every single day, and just for 5 minutes. Isn’t it amazing? 5 minutes of your day, you can listen to the Italian audiobook and learn the language even if you’re the busiest person in the world. Within these 5 minutes of your time, you’ll be listening to an exciting story told in Italian. You’ll learn how to pronounce Italian words the right way. Moreover, you’ll learn the useful vocabulary you’ll need to speak Italian even as a beginner.
The audiobook includes 25 stories covering everyday life situations in an Italian-speaking environment. Each story is divided into sections, and each section comes with a list of translated words you can learn. At the end of each story, you’ll get a quick summary and comprehensive question to double-check whether you’ve understood the story.
Pro Tip: Focus On One Story For 2 Days
This book is definitely one of my favourites. It beats all of your excuses, and you’ll say… well, it’s just 5 minutes, I can make it every day. I recommend you follow my strategy for learning Italian with audiobooks. Focus on one story for two days. On the first day, listen to it and learn the necessary vocabulary. Then let it be. On the second day, just listen to the story and double-check if you can understand it and feel confident.
5. Easy Italian Phrase Book
For those of you who are a bit obsessed with travel as much as I am, I’ve got the Italian Phrase Book for you. It specifically includes phrases you would need to travel to Italy. This audiobook will equip you with sentences you’ll need to communicate in common situations such as at the airport, booking tickets, getting to your hotel, or ordering food in a restaurant. And who of you already knows, Voices of Travel specifies on learning languages for travel. So I had to include this book into the list of the best Italian audiobooks for beginners.
At the beginning of the audiobook, you’ll get a guide on how to pronounce consonants and vowels in the Italian language. After, each phrase comes with an exact English translation. The book contains 1500 phrases altogether. In the end, you’ll get a list of tips for Italian learning.
6. Italian Short Stories for Beginners
Finally, I have an audiobook to take you from the beginner to the intermediate level. I recommend you listen to this book at the end. That’s why I put it at the end of this list. It uses more complex sentences with slightly advanced vocabulary. This audiobook will make you familiar with slang that you might not understand at first. It will also teach you the future tense and equip you with more travel terms for a better travel experience in Italy.
This audiobook includes 20 easy-to-understand stories set in everyday life situations. It is written in the form of dialogues. At the end of each story, you’ll get a plot summary and a list of the most relevant vocabulary to remember. After, it will challenge you with a couple of tricky questions to make you dive into the story and double-check if you understood it correctly. But don’t worry if you cannot answer them. There is a short answer for you.
These are the best 6 Italian audiobooks for beginners. As I mentioned, I’ve ranked them from the easiest one for absolute beginners to the more difficult one to take you to the intermediate level. But all of them are suitable for beginners. So either go through them step-by-step or just pick some exciting stories and immerse yourself in the Italian language.
Get Audible For Italian Audiobooks
I’ve been using Audible for listening to audiobooks for over a year now. It’s one of the best audiobook platforms with thousands of choices.
If you want to try my method of learning the Italian language using one of these audiobooks, sign up today for free. You’ll get 1 month of a free trial, including 1 free Italian audiobook.
So check it out; it’s completely free.
Get 1 Trial Month + 1 Free Italian Audiobook
More Tips On Italian Learning
Listening is one of the most important skills you have to practice, especially at the beginning of your language journey. Simply because it is the best way to get familiar with the language and its pronunciation. It also helps you to memorize new vocabulary easier. After, you can incorporate more language resources into your language journey.
Reading Resources
Continue with reading. Get one of the best foreign language books in Italian. Or pick up some of the best language magazines (I recommend Read & Think Italian). Magazines are another great way to learn Italian. They’ll introduce you to the Italian culture, traditions, famous personalities, and fun facts with engaging images. You can also play with them and learn vocabulary in a fun way. Cut images, create flashcards and vocabulary walls, or play pexeso with them.
Best Language App
Check out the best language learning apps for speaking if you’re too busy and want to keep listening to short dialogues, watch movies & TV shows, and learn vocabulary on the way. Or get some inspiration with the best language learning podcasts in Italian to be in touch with the language even if you’re busy.
Get the best Italian language app for travel if you want to improve your speaking.
More Inspiration In My Language Blog
Go to my language blog for more inspiration on language learning. Once you pass the beginner level, don’t forget to practice speaking as soon as possible. It will significantly boost your Italian skills.
I wish you happy Italian learning. Remember that the most important part is to have fun. So choose resources and audiobooks that will make your Italian learning journey exciting.
Get My Free Language Travel Notebook
Get my free language travel notebook. It’ll help you keep track of the vocabulary you want to learn. You can write down new vocabulary and translate it. This notebook helps you to organize your new words to learn them efficiently. Check it now for free:
