ITALIANO · Ciao
Learn Italian online with a private tutor
Phonetically regular and forgiving to pronounce — you sound like yourself in Italian much earlier than in most languages.
- Native name
- Italiano
- Speakers
- 85M
- Hours to fluency
- ~552
- Lesson length
- 25 / 50 / 80
How long does Italian actually take?
The US Foreign Service Institute has been timing this for decades, and the figure everyone quotes is only half of what they publish. FSI puts Italian at 24 weeks — 552 classroom hours for an English speaker to reach professional working proficiency. But FSI also states that a typical week is 23 hours in class and 17 hours of self-study, so the real total is closer to 960 hours of work. The pace below divides that full total rather than the classroom half, which is why these numbers are longer than the ones you have seen elsewhere:
One lesson a week
about 7.4 years
≈2.5 hours a week including homework
Two lessons a week
about 3.7 years
≈5 hours a week including homework
Intensive — daily
about 1 year
≈15 hours a week including homework
Worth saying plainly: that figure is for full professional proficiency, which is a much higher bar than most learners need. Holding a real conversation in Italian usually arrives at somewhere between a fifth and a quarter of the way in.
What the Italian levels mean
Teachers describe lessons using the Common European Framework. If you do not know your level, a teacher will place you in the first ten minutes of a trial.
- A1Beginner
Introduce yourself and handle very simple, predictable exchanges.
- A2Elementary
Cope with routine tasks — shopping, directions, simple description of your background.
- B1Intermediate
Handle most travel situations and explain opinions on familiar topics.
- B2Upper-intermediate
Hold a fluent, spontaneous conversation with a native speaker without strain on either side.
- C1Advanced
Use the language flexibly for social, academic and professional purposes.
- C2Proficient
Understand virtually everything heard or read, and express yourself with precision.
Kinds of Italian lesson
Teachers list what they specialise in, so you can match on purpose rather than on price alone.
Italian tutors for beginners
Teachers who work with absolute beginners every day and can run a first Italian lesson entirely in a language you share.
Conversational Italian tutors
Lessons that are mostly you talking. For learners who can read Italian but freeze when someone answers back.
Business Italian tutors
Meetings, email, negotiation and presentations — Italian for the situations your job actually puts you in.
Italian tutors for kids
Teachers experienced with children, who keep Italian lessons short, build them around games, and keep a parent in the loop.
Italian exam preparation tutors
Teachers who know the Italian exam formats, mark to the real rubric, and work backwards from your test date.
Intensive Italian courses
Several Italian lessons a week with homework between them, for learners with a deadline rather than a hobby.
Native Italian speaking tutors
Teachers who grew up speaking Italian, for accent work, idiom and the register textbooks never cover.
Italian grammar tutors
Focused work on the Italian structures that keep breaking, with exercises built from your own mistakes.
Italian exams teachers prepare for
CELI
Certificato di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana
Questions about learning Italian
How long does it take to learn Italian?
The US Foreign Service Institute puts Italian at roughly 552 hours of study to reach professional working proficiency for an English speaker. At two lessons a week plus homework — call it five hours — that is about 2.1 years. Conversational comfort arrives much earlier, usually somewhere between a fifth and a quarter of the way in.
How much do Italian lessons cost?
Each Italian teacher decides which lesson lengths they offer and sets a price for each — you see both before booking. Many teachers also sell lesson packages at their own price, usually cheaper per lesson. If you are still choosing, you can top up your wallet instead and spend the balance with any teacher — nothing is tied to one person.
Should I learn Italian with a native speaker?
For pronunciation, idiom and register, yes — a native ear catches things a textbook cannot. For grammar explanations early on, a teacher who learned Italian as a second language themselves is often clearer, because they remember finding it hard. Many learners use both, and there is no rule against switching.
Can I learn Italian from absolute zero?
Yes. Filter for teachers who work with beginners and your first lessons will be run partly in a language you already share, shifting into Italian as you gain ground. You do not need to prepare anything beforehand.
Which Italian exams can I prepare for?
Teachers on KoloLingo prepare learners for CELI (Certificato di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana). Exam-prep teachers mark to the real rubric and plan backwards from your test date.
Free Italian guides
All Italian guides →- PhrasesA1
Italian greetings: ciao, salve, buongiorno and when each one is wrong
Ciao is not always safe. A guide to Italian greetings by formality and time of day, including the ones for leaving and the regional variations.
- CostAny level
How much do Italian lessons cost?
What platforms publish for Italian tutors, why native and non-native cost almost the same, and why Italian is cheap to start and expensive to finish.
- ExamA1–C2
The CELI: one Italian exam, split three ways by who is sitting it
Italy's CELI splits into three lines by candidate: adults, adolescents, migrants. Levels, what the CELI 3 buys, and the A1 that fuses two skills.