I travel to Italy regularly so learning Italian isn’t just a fun way to experience the culture. It’s a necessity, especially when I’m outside of touristy spots.
I’ve tried a variety of methods to build my Italian language skills, from a story learning method which I found really helpful to free gamified apps that didn’t really go beyond the basics.
But even though my passive Italian language skills like grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension have progressed, I was still getting hung up on everyday conversations.
I knew I needed to strengthen my speaking skills before my next trip so I could ask questions and have conversations in real time instead of remembering the right words and phrases 20 minutes after I needed them.
So, when I stumbled upon Preply, and specifically their real life stories of progress on their YouTube channel, I knew I wanted to give it a try.
After four lessons, Preply gave me the Italian speaking confidence that apps and solo study never did. I’m not fluent yet and I’ll show you exactly where I still get rattled.
Take a look at how the lessons went, week by week.
What is Preply?
Preply is an online language learning platform and app. It has 150K+ tutors connecting with learners around the world who are working on their skills, progress, and confidence in more than 90 languages.
As a student on Preply, you work with a tutor of your own choosing in one-on-one lessons that are planned around your learning needs and goals.
The lessons are 100% virtual so you can comfortably practice from home or wherever you happen to be. For me, this is a must. My schedule is never the same from week to week so having a remote learning plan in place means I can keep going each week instead of a series of starts and stops.
Choosing My Italian Tutor
After setting up my Preply account and answering some questions about my level and goals, I scrolled through a big batch of tutors that Preply thought were a good fit.
You’ll be able to choose your language and your reasons for wanting to learn it, whether it’s for travel or work or something else.
I’m learning Italian because I’m in Italy a lot and, even though I can understand most of what I hear, I need to be more confident speaking in everyday life situations. So, I was looking for tutors who emphasized conversation practice.
At first glance, I could see how many students each tutor was working with, how many lessons they’d taught, reviews, where they were from, and the languages they speak. When I wanted to know more about a particular tutor, I clicked through to their profile to read their “About Me” description and watch a short video that helped me get to know the tutor, their style, personality, and experience.
There were plenty of certified and qualified, native Italian speakers to choose from.
I scrolled…probably for too long. (I’m a classic overthinker.) But Preply’s search filters really helped narrow down the choices so that I only saw tutors who were born in Italy, had immediate availability, and were within my price point. From there, I could see Preply’s top picks and the tutors who had the best rating and reviews.
I found a tutor that stood out to me. She seemed knowledgeable and friendly, but also her reviews and the “highlight descriptors” confirmed that she was a tutor who knew how to balance conversation and structured lessons around her students’ needs and goals.
I was convinced and decided to book my first lesson.
To start, Preply gives you the choice to book a shorter 25-minute lesson or a regular 50-minute lesson. I booked a full lesson because 25 minutes felt too fast for what I wanted to accomplish.
I didn’t just want to feel out the tutor’s personality. I wanted to get a sense of her teaching style, too. Having been a classroom teacher and a private tutor myself, I knew firsthand that a first lesson is part introductions, part figuring out a student’s level, and part getting started. The more time there is, the easier it is to fit all of this in a way that’s genuinely useful.
My First Lesson
“First days of school” come with nerves…even for former teachers! So when I signed on for my first lesson, I felt those familiar butterflies swirling in my stomach.
But good teachers know how to immediately put you at ease and that’s exactly what my Preply tutor did. From the outset, she was smiling, positive, and curious to know more about me and my Italian language learning journey.
Honestly, it felt like we had an instant connection, like someone I could sit at a cafe with and chat for hours.
As we talked, I recognized that she was asking me questions to help her better understand my level. I had to use different verb tenses and vocabulary on a range of topics to answer. She also came prepared with some vocabulary pages that she shared from her screen so that I could confirm for her what I knew and didn’t know.
I’m not a beginner and I appreciated her efforts to really meet me where I was as an Italian learner.
It was also my first time using the Preply platform for a lesson and I really liked how easy it was for her to share materials and leave notes in the chat that I could review later.
Plus at a certain point, a box automatically popped up on the lower right corner of my screen that showed the break down of how many minutes we each had spoken. This was super helpful to see and also encouraging when you realize you’ve spoken for 20, 25, 30 minutes in your target language.
My Second Lesson
My Preply tutor planned the next two lessons to piggyback off of each other. We started the lesson chatting about daily life and anything that had happened since last seeing each other. When needed she helped me find the right word or corrected my mistakes.
After that, she took the lead and asked me to listen to a short segment (~2 minutes) of an Italian podcast. On it, an author was being asked some questions about the “romanzo giallo” book genre (detective/mystery/crime fiction). She also shared her screen with questions written in Italian that she was going to ask me afterward.
The teacher in me couldn’t help but recognize that she previewed the questions as a way to help me focus on the high-value information. Context is so important for me as an Italian learner and this really showed her expertise in supporting that.
I listened once and then again. (I asked for the replay because I knew I was missing a few details.) Then, we talked through each question.
From there, she shared new vocabulary that would be important if you wanted to talk about a book you’d read. I read the words I didn’t know. Along the way, she helped me with any pronunciation mistakes and explained further when necessary. (I used this reference sheet during the lesson and Preply makes it easy to download later to review.)
After that, we watched two short video clips of people talking in Italian about books they’d read and then she shared with me a book and its summary that she’d found very interesting.
At this point, our time was basically done. But the plan for next time was for me to share about a book that I’d read.
Overall, I was really impressed with her preparedness, patience, expertise, and friendliness. In 50 minutes, we had balanced conversation in a rooted context while mixing in new vocabulary and listening comprehension practice.
I’d studied Italian on my own for years, but it was in this early lesson with my Preply tutor that I realized this was the intensive one-on-one that I needed.
My Next Few Lessons
Preply gives you the chance to switch tutors or test out a few before deciding, but I never even considered switching after having such a great start with the one I’d chosen.
At the beginning of the next lesson, we started off talking like we’d done previously. I know it makes sense to check in before getting started with something deeper, but this start also gave my brain time to get into “Italian mode.”
Then, it was time to pick up where we’d left off and for me to explain about a book I’d read. I chose Beneath a Scarlet Sky. The book is the true story of an Italian teenager at the start of World War 2. He helped people flee across the Alps into Switzerland and later became a spy for the Americans, using his position as the driver for a top German General, to share important information.
All of this to say that explaining this in Italian wasn’t easy. I strung together a couple of sentences using some of the book-themed vocabulary to explain the main character and where and when the story took place. But then I flubbed some verb conjugations or had to use my Italian to try and describe something I didn’t know the word for.
All the while (and it took a while!), my Preply tutor listened attentively and jumped in to help when I was struggling. She asked a couple of questions to clarify or coax me into being more detailed until I finished my retelling.
My tutor was so encouraging and that definitely helped me feel good about getting through that, even with mistakes!
She then challenged me to answer open-ended questions (prepared on slides and shared from her screen) about the book, which she also answered about the book she’d told me about in the last lesson. These were questions like, “If you could change how the book ended, what would you have happen instead?” Or, “Name 5 adjectives that describe the main character.”
These questions forced me to think in Italian(!) and find words that I knew from other situations and apply them to this conversation about our books.
It was a challenge and I was exhausted by the end of the lesson. But my Preply tutor complimented me endlessly on my hard work. (By this point, she could see that I should’ve felt more confident in my Italian skills than I actually felt and she took every opportunity to offer positive words of encouragement.)
She also had noticed that I was having some trouble knowing when to use one form of the Italian past tense over another so that was the plan for the next lesson.
When we met online again for the next lesson, we started chatting about the past and the conversation naturally flowed to the mention of ghosts. We ended up telling stories to each other about strange things we’d seen or experienced.
We talked for the entire lesson and it was a great way for me to hear how she retold stories from the past and when she used one verb tense over another.
Interestingly, it was also the most challenging lesson for me because the conversation was less predictable than the others, which is exactly what a real conversation in Italy is like. I wasn’t as smooth with the thoughts I was trying to put together as I was when I had a better sense of the context.
Checking In With Myself (Was This Worth Continuing?)
After your initial trial lesson with your Preply tutor, you can’t continue with single lesson purchases with that tutor. You need to sign up for a package with a specific number of lessons each week.
I chose once a week lessons to start because Preply was a new platform for me. So before the plan renewed for another batch of lessons, I stopped to look at my overall experience.
I’ve been impressed with Preply as a platform and app. I like the features the tutor has to use during the lessons like sharing files and her screen with prepared materials, and the notes that she makes that I can review afterward. Everything is tailored to my lessons and learning goals and it feels like an actual lesson alongside a conversation partner.
But, I’m also seriously loving my lessons with my Italian tutor. I’ve taken some Italian classes and even one-on-one lessons here and there, but I never felt a connection with a tutor like I do with the one on Preply.
For the first time, I feel like there’s someone who understands where I’m at and what I need to do to make progress. She’s motivating and positive, while at the same time challenging me and holding me accountable. In every conversation and lesson activity, I’m getting corrected on mistakes and feedback in the moment.
I’ll absolutely be buying the next package because of the huge, positive impact this combination has had on my Italian speaking confidence.
Where My Confidence Still Needs Work
Preply has stats from their Learning Method Comparison Study that found that students learned 3x faster with a tutor than independent studying.
And while I definitely feel like I’ve made great progress even after just four lessons, I’m not suddenly sounding completely fluent. And when those moments happen when I can’t find the word I need or I don’t know how to explain something, I still get rattled.
I have a bad habit of apologizing after mistakes and my tutor continues to remind me that I don’t need to do that and gives positive encouragement for me to keep going.
Of course, I know I’m in a safe learning environment and mistakes are actually a good thing, but some habits just take time to break.
My Verdict: The Confidence Preply Built (and Didn’t)
If you’re expecting a few lessons with one of Preply’s tutors to make you sound fluent, that’s just not realistic. Language learning takes time and consistency no matter which language you’re learning.
But if you’re already like me, someone with a foundation who’s choppy and somewhat slow speaking in real time, a few one-on-one lessons personalized to your needs with the right Preply tutor can genuinely help.
I still get frazzled and anxious when I can’t find a word. I still apologize for mistakes I don’t need to apologize for. But I’m building the confidence to keep talking through all of that instead of shutting down. And that’s the part that matters before my next Italy trip.
So while I’m still working on my Italian speaking confidence, I finally feel confident that I’ve found a platform and a tutor that feels like the right fit to help me reach my goal of speaking Italian fluently.
Have questions about Preply? Let me know below.
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This post is brought to you by Preply. I am learning Italian on Preply and have shared my honest experiences. I highly recommend trying Preply if you’re interested in learning and studying a language.