FSI Italian Programmed Course

Italian is a Romance language that belongs to the same family as French and Spanish, and as such, it is one of the easiest languages for speakers of English to learn. It is spoken mainly in Italy as well as in areas of some of the neighboring countries. It is thought there are around 67 million native Italian speakers in Europe, and around 85 million people speak it as a first or second language globally.

Since it is a popular language to learn, plenty of study materials exist. However, if you are looking for a free online Italian course that can supplement your learning, the FSI Italian Programmed course could be worth a look.

Course Details

What are FSI Programmatic courses?

The Foreign Service Institute is a branch of the US government responsible for providing training for diplomatic staff preparing for postings abroad, and part of this work includes foreign language instruction. The core of FSI language training is the Basic courses, but these are intensive and in-depth courses that require a lot of time to complete.

For certain key languages, however, Programmatic courses were also created. These are lighter courses designed to give you a grasp of the fundamentals, leaving you better prepared to continue studying the language after finishing the course.

What is the structure of the FSI Italian Programmed course?

The FSI Italian Programmed course consists of 34 units. The first four are introductory units, which are then followed by the main 30 units of the course. Each unit is accompanied by a recording that takes you through a series of “frames”. These mainly focus on explaining aspects of the phonology of Italian, teaching you how to produce the sounds of Italian and comparing them with the sounds of American English.

How can you use FSI Italian Programmed?

This course is extremely heavy on phonology, teaching you about the pronunciation and intonation of the Italian language. If you want to work on your Italian pronunciation, it can be a useful tool, in which case, you can simply listen to the recordings and work through the units included in the student workbook.

However, for those looking for useful language input like dialogs as well as opportunities for practice through drills and exercises, this course might be less suitable. Indeed, for the first ten units or more, very little Italian is taught beyond the pronunciation of isolated words.

Taking it further

Volume 1

Student Text

Instructor’s Manual

Unit	Audio
Units 1 and 2	Tape
Units 3 and 4	Tape
Unit 5	Tape
Unit 6	Tape
Unit 7	Tape
Unit 8	Tape
Unit 9	Tape
Unit 10	Tape
Unit 11	Tape
Unit 12	Tape
Unit 13	Tape
Unit 14	Tape
Unit 15	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Unit 16	Tape
Unit 17	Tape
Unit 18	Tape 1A · Tape 1B · Tape 2A · Tape 2B