Enthusiastic Italian Tutor Specialised in Italian Teaching for Beginner and Intermediate Level, offering Lessons Online

Find out more about Silvia

• Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I speak Italian fluently because I am native Italian, so Italian is my mother tongue. In fact, I was born and raised in Florence, and I moved to the UK because I am in love with the English language.

• Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  I can name Dante Alighieri, who is considered the father of the Italian language. He was a poet, writer and philosopher. He wrote the famous poem, La Divina Commedia, in a language called ‘volgare’ that evolved and became the modern Italian language: This is why they say that Italian comes from Florence (well, I am lucky enough because I was born there!)

• Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behavior in the language that you particularly like?

  Well, I like how we use our hands for gestures, and we use a lot of body language while we talk! A typical phrase, famous all over the world, is “mamma mia!”: it has various meanings, for example, “oh my gosh”, “oh, what a surprise”, “oh, that’s delicious”! and the list can be longer.

• Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  As this is my mother tongue, I have always been attracted by its grammar, and I still remember at school when they gave us grammar exercises and assignments: it was always a challenge for me, a mixture of logic and rules to follow, along with exceptions and irregularities. This is where the beauty of Italian lies. What matters to me is knowing the grammar very well to be able to compare it with other languages (I often make comparisons with English, German and Spanish as I studied those languages as well so I am able to find some similarities or differences). While vocabulary comes naturally as I am native, grammar is something that I also had to learn, and I can still have doubts and sometimes I have to review material, verb conjugations, plurals, spelling and other little details so that I can teach them to my students in the right way.

• What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  The main difficulty in learning this language is trying to compare it with your mother tongue, for example, English: sometimes we can’t find the same rule in English (see ‘reflexive verbs’) and so we can’t always translate one sentence word by word as it wouldn’t make sense, but need to re-phrase it (cultural translation). You can help the process of learning by accepting that languages are different, and language learning involves being able to see things under a different point of view and accept the other culture (for example, reflexive verbs don’t exist in English: “mi sveglio / sveglio i bambini = I wake (myself) up / I wake the children up). So, you won’t always find the exact translation in your mother tongue. Just embrace the difference, don’t ask yourself why it’s like that, and accept that rules have expectations.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  We have many past tenses and we tend to say that “passato remoto” (ancient past) is not used so it’s useless, but it’s not true. Also, we have many dialects in Italy (different regions, different dialects), so sometimes people from the North can’t understand people from the South! Moreover, also Italian people still make mistakes (for example they use subjunctive instead of conditional, or the way round), so yes, we’ll always be learners ourselves and it’s okay not to be perfect!

• How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?


  I have travelled to different regions in Italy, and I saw the different traditions, customs and cultural differences also within the same country: this made me realize the beauty of Italy, with its art, history, culture, food, wine. I decided to live abroad, but I will always be grateful to this country and only now I can understand how much Italy has to offer to tourists and to the world!

• What makes you a Superprof in language?

  I came across and helped more than 50 students so far, I kept track of each of them because I give importance to every single person who came to me asking to learn my own language: I didn’t realize how lucky I was to be Italian until I met those people who wanted to learn to speak and writing Italian like me. So once again I want to thank each of them. I am empathetic and not only a formal teacher, my rules are “learn by doing” and “learn while having fun”. I can easily become friends with my students, keeping a professional attitude. I am energetic and passionate about languages and about teaching. I believe that all these qualities make me a Superprof!