Everybody has their own issues in learning a foreign language which includes not only the English speakers who are trying to learn other languages of the world; but the same principle applies to non-English speakers who are trying to learn English.
For any of you interested to learn the beautiful language of Italy, it would be a lot comfortable for you to go through your Italian lessons if you knew how Italian native speakers use a certain word or how a normal day goes among Italian natives. This doesn’t mean though that you really need to go to Italy to learn and observe how Italians live their lives, but a background of what Italians do would suffice.
Don’t worry about how you’re going to turn out when you speak in Italian to an Italian local who lives on a different area of Italy, what’s important is that you know how to use the Italian language in its standard form. Different regions or areas of Italy use different accents or grammatical forms so if you know you can handle the barriers within Italy alone, your Italian speaking skills can make it anywhere else in the world.
As a student of an Italian subject or course, you also have to realize that the Italians would rather prefer speaking their own language even when speaking to foreigners. English isn’t widely used especially in Italy so if you happen to travel there for an immersion or to test yourself of your Italian-speaking capabilities, better to have your dandy dictionary booklet with you at all times. You’ll find it more convenient to search for words when you ask a local about just anything. Sometimes though, sign language works.
If for some reason, your tongue can’t speak what you really want to say in Italian, by all means; try to master at least basic Italian greetings and politeness. Italians would surely appreciate you speaking in their own language no matter how obviously difficult it is for you.
