• The answer to whether you will be able to speak Italian like a native is both yes and no!
• You can learn to carry on brief conversations in authentic, everyday Italian, in travel and other everyday scenarios – just like an Italian native speaker would.
• You can learn to speak fluently about your own life and the things that are meaningful to you – your family, your work, your studies, your free time, your likes and dislikes, your travels, some issues that you care about and for which you have learned the vocabulary needed to discuss them.
• However, you cannot expect to be able to carry on a philosophical discussion about an advanced subject, like a native, unless you have had a lot of exposure to the language by doing years of study and/or by living in Italy for a long period of time.
• When you travel around Italy after having learned Italian, you will have a lot more fun, because you will be able to communicate with the friendly, local people and you will be able to get away from the crowded tourist places and explore the small towns, which are typical of the real Italy.
• Most Italians are very pleased and encouraging when they discover that you have been learning Italian. Unless they are in a hurry, they will generally try to help you with your Italian – especially if you can also help them with their English!
• Being able to speak Italian – at any level – will help you to make friends as you travel around Italy and as you speak with Italians in your own country and in other countries.
• Whatever level of Italian you achieve, it is satisfying and fun to be able to communicate in Italian, one of the most beautiful and musical languages in the world.