Your first session is an opportunity for a tutor to understand your current Italian level, learning goals, and what you hope to achieve—whether that's traveling, connecting with family, or simply becoming more fluent. The tutor will assess your speaking and listening abilities, discuss your preferred learning style, and create a personalized plan tailored to help you progress toward conversational fluency.

The timeline depends on your starting level and how frequently you practice, but language experts generally estimate 600+ hours of study to reach professional proficiency. With consistent tutoring sessions combined with regular practice between meetings, many students notice meaningful improvement in their ability to hold conversations within a few months, though reaching true fluency takes ongoing commitment.

Many students struggle with pronunciation, verb conjugations, and building confidence to speak without worrying about mistakes. Additionally, understanding native speakers at natural speed can be intimidating. A personalized tutor helps you tackle these specific obstacles through targeted practice, immediate feedback on pronunciation, and creating a judgment-free space to build speaking confidence.

Varsity Tutors connects you with expert tutors who have strong backgrounds in Italian language and culture—many are native speakers, have lived abroad, or hold degrees in Italian studies or linguistics. Each tutor is selected based on their ability to teach conversational skills effectively and adapt their approach to your specific learning needs.

Your tutor will recommend targeted practice like listening to Italian podcasts or music, watching Italian films with subtitles, journaling in Italian, or using spaced repetition apps to reinforce vocabulary. Consistent practice between sessions—even 15-20 minutes daily—accelerates your progress far more than tutoring alone, helping you retain new phrases and build muscle memory for pronunciation.

Conversational Italian prioritizes real-world speaking and listening over formal grammar instruction or written composition. While academic study might focus on literature or complex grammar rules, conversational tutoring emphasizes practical dialogue, natural phrasing, and cultural nuances so you can actually use Italian in daily interactions with confidence.

For students in Greenville attending one of the area's 80 schools, personalized tutoring complements classroom learning by giving you one-on-one practice speaking—something that's hard to get in a traditional classroom setting. A tutor can focus on your specific weak areas, help you prepare for speaking assessments, and build the confidence you need to participate more actively in class discussions.