start italian ● ● ● ● speak Italian – instantly no books no writing absolute confidence To find out more, please get in touch with us. For general enquiries and for information on Michel Thomas: Call: 020 7873 6400 Fax: 020 7873 6325 Email: [email protected] To place an order: Call: 01235 400414 Fax: 01235 400454 Email: [email protected] www.michelthomas.co.uk You can write to us at: Hodder Education, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH Unauthorized copying of this booklet or the accompanying audio material is prohibited, and may amount to a criminal offence punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment. First published in UK 2000 by Hodder Education, an Hachette UK Company, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH. Start Italian Copyright © 2000, 2006, 2011, Thomas Keymaster Languages LLC, all rights reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or under licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Further details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS, UK. Typeset by Transet Limited, Coventry, England. Printed in Great Britain Impression 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Year 2014 2013 2012 2011 ISBN 978 1444 13310 3 Welcome to the Michel Thomas Method Congratulations on purchasing the truly remarkable way to learn a language. With the Michel Thomas Method there’s no reading, no writing and no homework. Just sit back, absorb, and soon you’ll be speaking another language with confidence. The Michel Thomas Method works by breaking a language down into its component parts and enabling you to reconstruct the language yourself – to form your own sentences and to say what you want, when you want. By learning the language in small steps, you can build it up yourself to produce ever more complicated sentences. Perfected over 25 years, the all-audio Michel Thomas Method has been used by millions of people around the world. Now it’s your turn. To get started, simply insert the CD and press ‘play’! 1 2 About Michel Thomas Michel Thomas (1914–2005) was a gifted linguist who mastered more than ten languages in his lifetime and became famous for teaching much of Hollywood’s ‘A’ list how to speak a foreign language. Film stars such as Woody Allen, Emma Thompson and Barbra Streisand paid thousands of dollars each for face-to-face lessons. Michel, a Polish Jew, developed his method after discovering the untapped potential of the human mind during his traumatic wartime experiences. The only way he survived this period of his life, which included being captured by the Gestapo, was by concentrating and placing his mind beyond the physical. Fascinated by this experience, he was determined that after the war he would devote himself to exploring further the power of the human mind, and so dedicated his life to education. In 1947, he moved to Los Angeles and set up the Michel Thomas Language Centers, from where he taught languages for over fifty years in New York, Beverly Hills and London. Michel Thomas died at his home in New York City on Saturday 8th January 2005. He was 90 years old. Start Italian index Track 1 0:00 Introduction. How to use this course Track 2 0:00 0:44 0:48 0:55 1:00 1:05 1:08 1:14 1:20 1:24 1:30 1:37 1:42 1:45 1:49 1:54 2:01 2:05 2:14 2:24 2:27 2:41 2:53 2:58 3:03 3:19 Italian language: similarities to English. A few thousand words are very similar in English and Italian so vocabulary is not a problem. The important thing is to learn how to formulate your own thoughts using the language, i.e. structure, which you will get here. English words ending in -ible end in -ibile in Italian. possible possibile it is è It is possible. È possibile. it is not non è It is not possible. Non è possibile. for me per me It is for me. È per me. It is not for me. Non è per me. It is not possible for me. Non è possibile per me. for you per lei for her per lei It is for you. È per lei. It is not for me. Non è per me. It is possible for you. È possibile per lei. To ask a question use inflection. Is it not possible for you? Non è possibile per lei? why? (= ‘for what?’) perché? because perché Why isn’t it possible for you? Perché non è possibile per lei? like that / that way così It is like that. È così. It is not like that. Non è così. It is not possible for me that way. Non è possibile per me così. I’m sorry. Mi dispiace. 3 4 3:26 3:45 3:48 3:51 4:14 4:19 4:22 4:30 4:33 4:37 ‘mi dispiace’ means ‘it displeases me’, ‘to me it displeases’. It is usually followed by ‘but’ (‘ma’). I’m sorry but Mi dispiace, ma but ma I’m sorry but it is not possible Mi dispiace, ma non è possibile for me that way. per me così. English words ending in -able end in -abile in Italian. probable probabile It is not probable. Non è probabile. English -ly is -mente in Italian. probably probabilmente possibly possibilmente Track 3 0:00 0:08 0:14 0:20 0:25 0:27 0:32 0:41 0:43 1:00 1:09 1:16 1:19 1:34 1:38 1:43 1:53 1:57 2:09 2:15 2:20 late tardi It is late. È tardi. very molto It is very late. È molto tardi. more più later (more late) più tardi I want voglio I io You don’t need ‘io’ because the verb ending in -o already expresses ‘I’. If you use ‘io’, you put emphasis on ‘I’. to know sapere I want to know. Voglio sapere. I don’t want non voglio I don’t want to know. Non voglio sapere. where dove I want to know where is … Voglio sapere dov’è … ‘Dove è’ contracts to ‘dov’è’. how much quanto I want to know how much it is. Voglio sapere quant’è. to buy comprare I want to buy voglio comprare the thing la cosa 2:25 I want to buy the thing. Voglio comprare la cosa. 2:35 the same thing la stessa cosa 2:45 I want to buy the same thing. Voglio comprare la stessa cosa. 2:57 I don’t want to buy the same thing. Non voglio comprare la stessa cosa. 3:12 the same lo stesso 3:16 I want to buy the same. Voglio comprare lo stesso. 3:27 But I don’t want the same thing. Ma non voglio la stessa cosa. 3:39 you want vuole 3:45 Do you want the same thing? Vuole la stessa cosa? 4:05 what? che? 4:07 What do you want? Che vuole? / Che cosa vuole? / Cosa vuole? 4:29 What do you want to buy? Cosa vuole comprare? 5:01 here qui 5:07 What do you want to buy here? Cosa vuole comprare qui? Track 4 0:02 0:05 0:12 0:27 0:48 1:05 1:12 1:15 1:20 1:49 1:58 2:01 2:07 2:14 some qualche something qualchecosa / qualcosa Do you want to buy something Vuole comprare qualcosa qui? here? Why don’t you want to buy Perché non vuole comprare something here? qualcosa qui? Instead of ‘vuole’ in the spoken language, you can use ‘vuol’: ‘Cosa vuol comprare?’ or ‘Cosa vuole comprare’? I want to know. Voglio sapere. it lo to know it saperlo sapere + lo: ‘lo’ gets hooked onto the verb to form ‘saperlo’. All verbs in Italian end in -re (-are, -ere, -ire). If you want to hook on ‘it’, you hook it onto the ‘-r’, dropping the ‘-e’. I want to know it. Voglio saperlo. to buy comprare to buy it comprarlo I want to buy it. Voglio comprarlo. I want to know how much it is Voglio sapere quant’è perché because I want to buy it. voglio comprarlo. 5 6 2:51 2:56 3:03 3:12 3:18 3:47 3:53 3:58 if expensive It is very expensive. It is not very expensive. I want to buy it if it is not very expensive. too / too much It is not too expensive. I want to buy it if it is not too expensive. se caro È molto caro. Non è molto caro. Voglio comprarlo se non è molto caro. troppo Non è troppo caro. Voglio comprarlo se non è troppo caro. Track 5 0:00 to have avere 0:08 I want to have it. Voglio averlo. 0:17 when quando 0:20 ‘when’ is ‘quando’ and ‘how much’ is ‘quanto’. 0:23 When do you want to have it? Quando vuole averlo? / Quando vuol averlo? 0:43 you can può 0:53 You can have it … Può averlo … 0:59 … if you want … se vuole 1:08 if you want to have it se vuole averlo / se vuol averlo 1:23 now ora / adesso 1:27 ‘ora’ means ‘hour’ as well as ‘now’. 1:37 I want to have it now. Voglio averlo adesso. 2:00 if it is possible se è possibile 2:15 at what time a che ora 2:19 At what time do you want A che ora vuole (vuol) averlo? to have it? 2:31 You can have it now if you want. Può averlo adesso se vuole. 2:54 a-b-l-e -abile 2:56 probable probabile 2:58 acceptable accettabile 3:08 It is not acceptable for me. Non è accettabile per me. 3:19 I’m sorry but it is not acceptable Mi dispiace, ma non è accettabile for me that way. per me così. 3:54 4:00 I want to know why it is not acceptable for you that way because it is very good. good Voglio sapere perché non è accettabile per lei così perché è molto buono. buono Track 6 0:00 0:19 0:23 0:53 1:01 1:06 1:13 1:16 1:22 1:26 1:46 2:00 2:05 2:11 2:18 2:25 2:29 2:35 2:40 2:44 2:48 2:54 3:06 3:26 3:45 I think / as far as I am concerned / secondo me according to me / in my opinion in your opinion secondo lei As far as I know / As far as I see / Secondo me, è molto buono così. In my opinion it is very good that way. I am sono / io sono ready pronto I’m ready. Sono pronto. soon presto right away subito I’m ready right away. Sono pronto subito. ready (feminine) pronta I’m ready soon (feminine). Sono pronta subito / presto. It is ready. È pronto. It is not ready. Non è pronto. he is / it is / she is / is è to stay stare I stay sto The -o ending is for ‘I’; the -a ending is for ‘you, he, she, it’. he/she/it stays, you stay sta (he/she/it is staying, you are staying) I stay here. Sto qui. He’s staying here. Sta qui. ‘sta’ is for ‘he is staying, she is staying, it is staying, you are staying’. how long? (= how much time?) quanto tempo How long are you staying? Quanto tempo sta? How long are you staying here? Quanto tempo sta qui? Verbs are very important because if you know how to use verbs you know how to use the language. 7 8 4:41 4:52 5:02 5:22 Any word in front of which you can place the article ‘the’ is a noun: ‘the happiness’, ‘the condition’, ‘the situation’ An adjective is any word in front of which you can place ‘am’ or ‘is’: ‘am proud’, ‘am happy’, ‘it is possible’ A verb is any word in front of which you can place ‘to’: ‘to go’, ‘to see’, ‘to have’, ‘to be’ The basic form of a verb in English is ‘to …’ This is expressed in Italian in the ending -re (-are, -ere, -ire): ‘parlare’ (‘to speak’), ‘mangiare’ (‘to eat’), ‘partire’ (‘to leave’, ‘to depart’), ‘capire’ (‘to understand’), ‘vedere’ (‘to see’) Track 7 0:00 I want to see. Voglio vedere. 0:06 I want to see it. Voglio vederlo. 0:15 ‘lo’ means ‘it’ and also ‘him’; ‘la’ means ‘her’ 0:20 I want to see her. Voglio vederla. 0:26 ‘you’ and ‘her’ is the same: ‘la’. 0:29 I want to see you later. Voglio vederla più tardi. 0:52 a little un po’ 0:54 a little later un po’ più tardi 1:05 I want to see you a little later. Voglio vederla un po’ più tardi. 1:27 busy occupato 1:31 because I’m busy now perché sono occupato adesso 1:53 to speak parlare 1:56 I want to speak Italian. Voglio parlare italiano. 2:05 with me con me 2:08 I want to speak Italian with you. Voglio parlare italiano con lei. 2:20 Do you want to speak Italian Vuole (Vuol) parlare italiano con me? with me? 2:35 Why don’t you want to speak Perché non vuol (vuole) parlare Italian with me? italiano con me? 2:52 I’m sorry but I cannot speak Mi dispiace, ma non posso with you now … parlare con lei ora (adesso) … 3:00 I can; you can / he can / she can posso; può 3:42 … because I’m very busy now. … perché sono molto occupata (feminine) / occupato (masculine) ora. 3:59 … but I can see you a little later … … ma posso vederla un po’ più tardi … 4:30 4:39 4:48 4:59 5:15 5:29 5:50 … if you want. to eat I want to eat now. What do you want to eat? What do you want to eat now? Do you want to eat something now? Why don’t you want to eat now? … se vuole. mangiare Voglio mangiare adesso. Cosa vuole mangiare? Cosa vuole mangiare adesso? Vuole mangiare qualcosa ora? Perché non vuole mangiare adesso? Track 8 0:00 0:27 0:30 0:48 0:53 1:02 1:38 1:42 1:59 2:05 2:17 2:19 2:23 2:30 2:36 2:42 2:52 3:08 I eat mangio he eats / she eats / you eat mangia For verbs ending in -are: -o for ‘I’ and -a for ‘you, he, she, it’ We have three types of verbs: -are (‘mangiare’, ‘parlare’, ‘andare’), -ere (‘vedere’), -ire (‘partire’, ‘venire’). All verbs can be divided into two tracks: verbs that end in -are and verbs that don’t end in -are. For ‘I’ you usually have an -o on both tracks. For ‘he, she, it’ and ‘you’ on the -are track, use -a (‘parla’). For the other verbs, use -e (‘vede’). to go andare to come venire I speak parlo you speak / he speaks / she speaks parla I see vedo you see vede to take prendere I take prendo you take / you’re taking prende I’m taking it. Lo prendo. You’re taking it. Lo prende. Why don’t you take it? Perché non lo prende? In English there are three ways to express the present tense: ‘I take it’, ‘I do take it’, ‘I am taking it’. In Italian there is one way: ’I take it’ – ‘lo prendo’. In modern English you use ‘do’ and ‘don’t’ for questions and negatives, and you use the progressive tense with -ing. In the English of Shakespeare and of the King James Bible, English was much closer to the Italian verb forms. 9 10 4:25 4:30 4:54 5:04 5:16 5:36 5:44 5:59 6:04 I am sono I am eating mangio I don’t speak non parlo Yes, I speak Italian but Sì, parlo italiano, ma I don’t speak French. non parlo francese. In speaking it’s very important to observe ‘traffic signals’ and not to go through the ‘red light’, i.e. -ing, ‘do’ and ‘don’t’. They are not used in Italian. I don’t eat non mangio I am not busy. Non sono occupato (occupata). I’m not eating non mangio I don’t eat non mangio Track 9 0:00 0:04 0:09 0:16 0:22 0:27 0:36 0:41 0:47 0:52 1:04 1:12 1:33 1:38 2:00 2:18 2:24 2:31 2:40 2:48 to prepare preparare I prepare preparo I prepare it. Lo preparo. I am preparing it. Lo preparo. I don’t prepare it. Non lo preparo. I am not preparing it. Non lo preparo. to have avere I have ho you have ha Do you have something for me? Ha qualcosa per me? What do you have for me? Cosa ha per me? I’m hungry. (I have hunger). Ho fame. Are you hungry? (Do you have Ha fame? hunger?) Do you want to eat something Vuole mangiare qualcosa adesso? now? Are you hungry? Ha fame? Don’t you want to eat? Non vuole mangiare? Non ha fame? Aren’t you hungry? to drink bere I drink bevo you drink beve What are you drinking? Cosa beve? ‘cosa’ expresses the question, so use of inflection is not necessary here. 2:57 3:02 3:11 3:30 3:36 3:40 4:03 4:11 4:24 4:34 4:54 5:09 thirst sete I’m thirsty. (I have thirst.) Ho sete. I’m thirsty and I want to drink. Ho sete e voglio bere. is è and e Do you want to speak Italian Vuole parlare italiano with me? con me? What do you eat? Cosa mangia? What are you eating? Cosa mangia? to do / to make fare What do you want to do? Cosa vuole fare? Do you want to do it? Vuole farlo? Why don’t you want to do it now? Perché non vuole farlo ora (adesso)? Track 10 0:00 I can 0:07 you can 0:13 I’m very sorry but I cannot do it now because I’m very busy now. 0:45 I can do it later if I have the time. 1:01 to stay 1:03 I stay 1:09 I’m busy. 1:23 tired 1:31 I’m very tired now. 1:55 the house 1:58 the thing 2:01 something 2:07 at home / home 2:13 tonight 2:17 evening 2:25 I’m tired … 2:31 … and I am staying home tonight. 2:44 to stay posso può Mi dispiace molto, ma non posso farlo adesso perché sono molto occupato ora. Posso farlo più tardi se ho tempo. stare sto Sono occupato. / Sono occupata. stanco Sono molto stanco adesso. / Sono molto stanca adesso. la casa la cosa qualcosa a casa stasera sera Sono stanco … … e resto (sto) a casa stasera. stare / restare 11 12 2:53 I’m tired and I am staying home tonight. Sono stanca e sto a casa stasera. Track 11 0:00 0:03 0:05 0:10 0:18 0:43 0:56 1:13 1:21 1:31 1:45 2:01 2:05 2:09 2:22 2:31 2:54 3:07 3:18 3:41 4:11 4:39 tomorrow domani tomorrow evening domani sera tomorrow morning domani mattina tomorrow afternoon domani pomeriggio The present tense in Italian is used very much because it is also used to express the future. I see you tomorrow. La vedo domani. In English you have two ways to express the future: ‘I’m going to see you tomorrow’ and ‘I will / shall see you tomorrow’. In Italian you cannot use ‘going’ to express the future. to go andare I go / I am going vado you are going / he is going va When you want to say ‘I’m going to call you tomorrow’, in Italian you say ‘I call you tomorrow’. There is a future tense, but the present tense is used more frequently. to call chiamare I call chiamo I call you la chiamo I call you later. La chiamo più tardi. I call you tomorrow. La chiamo domani. I’m going to see it. Vado a vederlo. (I’m going out / I’m on my way to see it.) I’m going to see it tomorrow. Lo vedo domani. If a verb of ‘coming’ and ‘going’ is followed by another verb, you use ‘a’: ‘vado a vederlo’. But ‘vado’ is not used to express the future tense. I’m going / I’m on my way Vado a comprarlo. to buy it. I will buy it tomorrow. Lo compro domani. I’m buying it now. Lo compro adesso. Track 12 0:00 0:04 0:08 0:17 0:28 0:38 0:43 0:50 1:12 1:29 1:48 1:52 2:04 2:31 2:34 2:39 3:04 3:10 3:12 3:21 3:24 3:47 3:57 4:04 4:27 4:37 to stay stare I’m staying sto I’m staying home tonight. Sto a casa stasera. Are you staying home tonight? Sta a casa stasera? How long are you staying? Quanto tempo sta? to leave partire I’m leaving tomorrow. Parto domani. At what time are you leaving A che ora parte (domani)? (tomorrow)? Why don’t you want to leave Perché non vuole partire con me? with me? Why can’t you leave with me? Perché non può partire con me? to come venire Why can’t you come with Perché non può venire con me now? me adesso? If a verb of ‘coming’ and ‘going’ is followed by another verb, you use ‘a’. In English you would say ‘Why can’t you come (and) see it with me?’; in Italian you say ‘Why can’t you come to (venire a) see it …?’ I’m going to eat. Vado a mangiare. He’s going / you’re going / Va a mangiare. she’s going to eat. Why can’t you come see it Perché non può venire a vederlo with me tonight? con me stasera? I must devo to have to dovere you must deve You must come with me. Deve venire con me. When you have two or three consecutive verbs, the second and the third are the full verb (infinitive). You must speak Italian with me. Deve parlare italiano con me. to wait aspettare Everything with -ct- in English (‘expect’) is -tt- in Italian (‘aspettare’– ’to wait’). In English ‘to wait for somebody’ becomes in Italian ‘to await somebody’. to expect me aspettarmi to understand capire 13 14 4:46 4:53 5:02 5:09 to understand me capirmi Whenever you add ‘it’ or ‘me’ or ‘you’ to the infinitive, you drop the -e and you hook it onto the -r. Can you understand me? Può capirmi? Why can’t you understand me? Perché non può capirmi? Track 13 0:00 0:10 0:38 0:48 0:50 0:52 0:59 1:08 1:17 1:22 1:32 1:49 2:43 2:50 2:59 3:08 3:34 3:39 3:47 3:50 3:54 4:07 to say / to tell dire I cannot say it in Italian. Non posso dirlo in italiano. Can you tell me … Può dirmi … for me per me with me con me If you use ‘me’ with a verb, it’s ‘mi’. will you / do you want vuole / vuol Will you tell me where it is? Vuole dirmi dov’è? where dove where it is dove è / dov’è Will you tell me … Vuol dirmi … It’s very important to sharpen awareness of your own language in order to express yourself correctly in another language such as Italian. For example, in English ‘will’ is used to express the future, but not always. If you start a sentence with ‘will you (please)’, it’s a polite request, not the future. So in Italian you use ‘vuol’ or ‘vuole’, which means ‘will you’ and also ‘do you want’. Can you tell me … Può dirmi … Can you tell me where it is? Può dirmi dov’è? to find trovare Will you tell me where it is Vuol dirmi dov’è perché because I cannot find it. non posso trovarlo. I have ho I have it. Lo ho. / L’ho. I don’t have it. Non l’ho. You have it. L’ha. Why don’t you have it for Perché non l’ha per me now? me adesso? I want to have it. Voglio averlo. 4:23 4:26 4:32 4:37 4:45 5:00 5:04 5:07 5:09 5:16 5:19 5:28 5:32 5:36 5:39 5:43 5:49 6:00 6:12 6:20 6:37 6:48 7:00 I want Voglio I want it. Lo voglio. I want it now. Lo voglio adesso. I don’t want it now. Non lo voglio adesso. Why don’t you want it now? Perché non lo vuole adesso? to have avere I have ho you have ha you have / he has / she has ha to know sapere ‘sapere’ goes like ‘avere’: ‘I have’ – ’ho’; ’I know’ – ’so’ I know so I don’t know non so I know it. Lo so. I don’t know it. Non lo so. You know it. Lo sa. Why don’t you know it? Perché non lo sa? Do you know where it is? Sa dov’è? Can you tell me where it is? Può dirmi dov’è? Can you tell me how much it is … Può dirmi quant’è … … because I want to buy it. … perché voglio comprarlo. I must have it today if it is possible. Devo averlo oggi se è possibile. today oggi Track 14 0:00 0:38 0:43 0:49 1:23 1:27 1:30 1:55 I’m staying home tonight because I’m tired. to prepare I’m preparing it. Why don’t you prepare it for me? the dinner to dine / to have dinner Will you have dinner with me tonight? Where do you want to have dinner tonight? Sto a casa stasera perché sono stanco. preparare Lo preparo. Perché non lo prepara per me? la cena cenare Vuole (Vuol) cenare con me stasera? Dove vuole cenare stasera? 15 16 2:10 2:25 2:29 2:58 3:11 3:20 3:43 3:53 3:59 I cannot speak with you Non posso parlare con lei because I’m eating. perché mangio. I eat / I do eat / I am eating mangio For ‘I’m eating’ you can also say ‘sto mangiando’ meaning ‘I’m in the process of eating’. ‘I am in the process’ is ‘sto’ + -ando for -are verbs, -endo for the others. I am eating. Sto mangiando. What are you preparing? Cosa prepara? What are you (right now in the Cosa sta preparando? process of) preparing? You can use ‘sto + per’ to say ‘I’m just about to’. I’m just about to eat. Sto per mangiare. I’m just about to prepare it. Sto per prepararlo. Track 15 0:00 in order to per 0:07 Whenever ‘to’ in English implies ‘in order to’, you will say ‘per’ in Italian. 0:32 I don’t have the time Non ho il tempo / Non ho tempo (in order) to do it. per farlo. 0:55 If you use a noun followed by an infinitive verb, after the noun you usually put ‘di’. 1:14 I don’t have the time of doing it. Non ho il tempo / Non ho tempo di farlo. 1:39 to leave partire 1:44 I will leave tomorrow. Parto domani. 1:50 At what time do you leave? A che ora parte? 2:12 At what time do you leave A che ora parte la settimana next week? prossima? 2:41 At what time are you leaving A che ora parte la settimana next week? prossima? 2:59 There is a future tense in Italian. It’s like saying ‘to leave I have’(partire + ho) and ‘to leave he has’ (partire + ha). The contraction of the verb with ‘ho, ha’ produces ‘partirò, partirà’. The endings -rò and -rà are for all verbs. 3:09 I will leave tomorrow. Parto domani. 3:13 I will leave tomorrow. Partirò domani. 3:26 He will leave tomorrow. Partirà domani. Track 16 0:00 to do / to make 0:05 I will do 0:10 I will do it. 0:18 I won’t do it. 0:25 He will do it. 0:30 When will you do it? 0:43 to say / to tell 0:47 to call 0:52 I (will) call you tomorrow. 1:00 I’m staying 1:03 I’m staying here. 1:10 I’m staying home tonight. 1:17 I will stay home tonight. 1:27 How long are you staying in Italy? fare farò Lo farò. Non lo farò. Lo farà. Quando lo farà? dire chiamare La chiamo domani. sto Sto qui. Sto a casa stasera. Starò a casa stasera. Quanto tempo sta in Italia? / Quanto tempo stará in Italia? 17 Millions of people worldwide speak Italian thanks to the Michel Thomas Method. Here’s what people say about Michel Thomas: “This guy is one of my heroes.” “What a legend. I love his method.” “Definitely the best way to learn.” “Just after a couple of days I’m confident that I will be able to speak directly.” “It’s the best way to learn a foreign language.” “Totally life changing.” “The Michel Thomas course is much the easiest to make progress with.” “He’s the best.” “A truly inspirational way to learn a language.” “With Michel you learn a language effortlessly.” i ‘‘The nearest thing to painless learning.’’ The Times