Italian Language Program Objective

The Boston Language Institute, New England’s leading language school, offers Italian language courses to individuals and companies. The quality of instruction provided in our Italian language classes are on a par with the best native Italian language school.

We consider it to be the major goal of our program to have you use Italian in as large a variety of real-life situations as possible. To that end, our Italian courses have been designed to build fluency in both the spoken and the written language. Communication in a warm and relaxed environment is an important feature of our programs, as is homework, which includes exercises for review and practice of the material taught in class. Moreover, by keeping the class size limited to twelve students, we ensure that each student will be able to actively participate.

Italian Level 1
Aims to provide beginning students with a practical command of the language. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to discuss everyday activities using the present tense. Students can also expect to be able to read and write elementary texts such as a simple letter. Topics include pronunciation, expressions of date and quantity, indefinite and definite articles, and direct object pronouns.
(Prego, Preliminary Unit-Chapter 4)

Italian Level 2
Building upon the basic foundation provided in Level 1, students improve their listening skills and conversational ability through structured dialogues and other practical activities. Students begin to communicate more precisely as they learn the past perfect and imperfect tenses. More complex reading selections also provide a basis for conversational and written activities. Topics include interrogatives, expressions of like and dislike, reflexive verbs, adverbs, indirect object nouns and pronouns, and expressions of time and duration.
(Prego, Chapters 5-8)

Italian Level 3
Upon completion of this level, students should be able to discuss topics including health, travel, holidays and business using the present, past and future tenses. This level continues to emphasize the improvement of oral comprehension and creative expression through the use of teaching resources including reading selections, video and song. Topics introduced include disjunctive pronouns, comparatives and superlatives, simple future tense, double object pronouns, imperative form, and indefinite adjectives.
(Prego, Chapters 9-12)

Italian Level 4
After completing this course, students can expect to converse with greater confidence and precision. More complex reading selections provide authentic opportunities for vocabulary development and creative use of the language. Building upon the skills already acquired, students learn possessive and relative pronouns, the remote past tense, and the conditional and subjunctive moods.
(Prego, Chapters 13-16)

Italian Level 5
Students refine their use of verb tenses and continue to expand their vocabulary. Upon completion of this level, students should be able to understand and participate comfortably in conversations on a wide range of topics. Reading and writing skills are also improved as students gain proficiency with conditional and passive constructions. Among the topics introduced at this level are the imperfect and pluperfect tenses.
(Prego, Chapters 17-18)

Conversational Italian
This program is designed for students who are already proficient in the skills taught in Levels 1-5 and who want to increase their conversational abilities. Conducted entirely in Italian, this course provides students with an opportunity to markedly improve their speaking and listening skills. Magazines, video and audio tapes, and other resources designed to provide practical opportunities for vocabulary and skill development are selected to match student interests. Grammatical topics are addressed as needed.

Private Programs

Immersion Program

Text and Supplementary Materials

Since communication in a foreign language requires an understanding of the cultural context, our aim is to teach you the living language through carefully selected textbooks, newspaper and magazine articles and other relevant materials, rather than have you repeat and memorize tourist phrases.

Over the past twenty years, we have reviewed many university-level Italian textbooks and have selected Prego (McGraw-Hill) as the one that best fulfills the objectives of our students in beginning and intermediate levels. Corresponding to the lessons in this book is a complete set of tapes with challenging exercises, which you may borrow for home listening from our Cassette Lending Library. Teachers provide suggestions for texts and supplementary materials at the higher levels. Books may be purchased at the Boston University Bookstore, 660 Beacon St., Boston or from our on-line bookstore specializing in foreign language textbooks, study guides and audiocassettes.

Tuition and Course Organization

Tuition for the Italian program at all levels is $449. There is a non-refundable $35 registration fee for first-time students only.

In addition to our core program, we offer a Daytime Intensive program which covers three to four semesters in eight weeks - offering the greater likelihood of actually speaking, as well as reading and writing, the language than a traditional university course. Tuition for the Daytime Intensive Program and the Group Immersion Program is $2,245.

The Boston Language Institute Guarantee

Because of the individualized nature of our programs and the high quality of our instruction, we guarantee your satisfaction. If you are not satisfied with the quality of instruction within the first two weeks of a main session, or the first week of an accelerated session, we will refund your tuition in full.
Refund requests must be made no later than the business day after the second meeting of a once-a-week or the fourth meeting of a twice-a-week class of a Main Session; and no later than the business day after the first meeting of a once-a-week or the second meeting of a twice-a-week class of an Accelerated Session.

Class Schedules

We encourage students to register before the deadline above, especially since classes are limited to 12 students. A Program Coordinator will be happy to take registration information by phone, fax or e-mail.