Italy Made Easy Review 2024: Best Platform to Learn Italian but Overpriced

When I was learning Italian, I used different ways to master it. My main focus was improving my pronunciation skills, so I checked multiple podcasts. But, to my surprise, one of the podcasts has a proper platform that also offers its own courses. Yes, you guessed it right: it’s Italy Made Easy. This is the platform popular for the podcast that everyone knows. But are its courses also worthwhile? Let us find out in this Italy Made Easy review.

Quick Takeaways

• The courses of Italy Made Easy include a set of units which are further divided into different lessons. 
• Each lesson focuses on different aspects of the language like grammar, vocabulary, etc.
• There are multiple interactive exercises to test the language knowledge.
• The program is expensive but has a 14-day money back guarantee.

What is Italy Made Easy

Italy Made Easy is a platform that offers courses to learn the Italian language. It was created by Manu, an experienced tutor who has been teaching Italian for the past 40 years. Though the platform is popular for providing Italian podcasts, it also offers proper courses. The courses are created keeping the beginners in mind. It helped me to learn the language by improving my reading, listening, and speaking skills in Italian. 

Pricing of Italy Made Easy

The podcasts are free to use. But if you want to access the whole course, there are subscription plans which I have mentioned in the table given below-

Type of the plan	Pricing
Annually	$480 ($40 per month)
Lifetime	$990

There is also a 14-day money-back guarantee if you think the platform is not useful. 

Course Overview

I never knew that the platform has a full-fledged course to teach the language rather than just providing the podcast. So I was excited to use the platform to learn the language. But before getting into the lessons, let me show you what are the things you will be getting on the platform:

• Main programs: The platform offers different courses for each level. It covers basics, vocabulary, etc., important for learning the language.
• Other programs: Different programs keep you immersed in the language. Some of them also help in improving the pronunciation and listening skills.
• Resources: With each of the courses there are plenty of videos, audio lessons, quizzes, etc. To help in learning more vocabulary, it also offers multiple vocabulary sets. 
• Community: Within the lessons, there is an internal community of people to get connected with. You can chat with them and talk to them. If you are a serious learner and take part in community activities regularly, you get a chance to win some exciting prizes.
• Extras: There is still some extra to be offered. It gives us support for each topic and response in 1 business day. There is also a 14-day money-back guarantee with the immediate Refund. It means if you’re not satisfied with the platform in 14 days, get the money back.

a. Lessons

As I have discussed what you will be getting from the platform, let me show you how the lessons are created. The courses are divided into several units which is a compilation of different lessons. Each lesson has a focus on different aspects of the language like pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, etc. 

All concepts are designed in a way that English speakers can easily understand. The platform is without me to add any changes if needed. I do not find anything unnecessary on the platform. There were long explanations to help the users understand the concept. There was a theoretical and practical part of the platform. The practice included in the lessons was amazing. From the lesson itself, it is very clear that the host, Manu, has a great experience in teaching language.

When I was in the lesson, some doubts were coming in my mind. It was shocking for me to get the answers to my questions in the explanation itself. I think this is the magic of teaching for so many years. He knew where the students got confused, and made the explanations on it.

Lessons include a lot of different features to help us improve our language knowledge more. Below I am mentioning them one by one-

b. Exercises

The exercises on the platform are created keeping the importance of topics in mind. The topic that has more importance, has direct tests at the end of it. However, the topics that did not have tests for compilation of the lessons. They are created to practice different skills and test their knowledge. This practice session helped me a lot in understanding how to use Italian with other native speakers. Italalian used in the lessons makes them challenging. 

c. Flashcards 

Note: It does not have a flashcard system. In fact, it is integrated with the Quizlet flashcard system. 

Undoubtedly to get perfect in a language, vocabulary is important. The flash card system is the best way to improve vocabulary knowledge. In this flashcard, all I had to do was to check the pictures and learn vocabulary. Multiple features make the flashcards more interesting-

• Games
• Different study modes
• Tests
• Spelling, and many more

These features make the flashcards more fun and engaging. Using this flashcard can help in remembering the words easily and get the right expression of each word.

d. Additional resources

As I mentioned there are additional resources within the courses. These resources are different exercises and challenges that held me to learn the language is there. Some of the exercises that I got on this platform are dictation and pronunciation exercises. These exercises helped me to check what I remember so far. 

e. Internal Social Network program

The program on this platform is known as ‘Piazza Italia’. In this community, the native speaker of Italian shares photos and videos related to Italy and its culture. You can also do the same. It is basically like a language exchange program where everyone can connect. This is the best feature for the learners to stay motivated. The main Idea behind having this feature was that no learner feels alone while learning the language. 

Italy made easy review: Is it worth it?

I would say the course has a lot of positive and negative points. Of course, it is a good course but cannot come in the perfect category. The simple reason is that Manu talks a lot. I agree, that it is a good thing. But sometimes, it becomes hard to understand what is important. However, this gap is covered with the PDF files. It has important concepts covered in it. Though the videos are edited properly, some of the videos are not. It may or may not be a problem for you, depending on your needs.

Another thing that I think can be improved is the speed of providing new vocabulary words. No doubt, it has abundant vocabulary words, but the speed should be slow. As a beginner, no one can grasp so many words together. The price to be paid is too high. Though there is plenty of information given in the course. But paying a one-time price can be too high for many learners.

Below is the table showing you what benefits and drawbacks you get with  it-

Pros	Cons
There are a lot of explanations within each lesson.	Prices are too high.
Interactive and effective exercises to improve the language skills.	Some videos are not edited.
The courses are created keeping the beginners in mind.	The host is too talkative which makes the lessons frustrating.
There is a social inbuilt community of the learners.
Offer free and high-quality podcasts.

Italy Made Easy alternatives

I always recommend my students use two to three resources together to learn the language. Thus, I am adding some of the alternatives of it below-

1. Duolingo

If you are on a tight budget, this is the perfect choice for you. I have been using this platform for a long time, and I know how perfectly it works. During my Italian lessons, I was so motivated because of the exciting features of it. Duolingo gems and achievements were so engaging. Also, it has leagues where I got a chance to compete with other learners. 

2. LanguagePod101

LangaugePod101 is a platform that works similarly to the Italy Made Easy platform. This is the platform that is again popular for providing podcasts for different languages including Italian. But with the podcasts it also offers courses. There is an Italian course that can help a lot in learning the vocabulary and other important aspects. Though it is also based on the subscription plan, the prices are nominal for it. 

3. Tandem

One thing that I have learned from my language-learning journey, is that practicing language skills is important to get a master in it. Tandem allowed me to do that. There are so many Italian native speakers on the platform. I could connect with them freely through video calls, voice calls, and chatting with them.

4. Preply

If you are a person who is looking for a private tutor to teach Italian, Preply can help you do that. It is a platform that provides a lot of tutors to teach the Italian language. If you are still in doubt, you can schedule a demo class with the teacher first. This will help you understand if the teacher suits your learning style. If you are on a tight budget, you can always filter the search option according to it.

Conclusion

Italy Made Easy is a well-known name in the world of Italian podcasts. Surprisingly, it also offers courses to learn the language from the beginning. It has a lot of tools and features that helped me to improve my skills. Some of the tools included in it are speaking and listening exercises. It also has a special feature that helped me to improve my confidence, i.e., the internal community. The community allowed me to connect with native speakers by sending them videos, pictures, chats, and voice notes. Although the platform and the course are created nicely, they can be overpriced for you. If this is the case for you, look for some cheaper or free resources to start with.

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