That's very laudable! :-) Two questions: Do you speak Italian at all? What type of volunteer work are you interested in? For example, teaching English or working on a farm? (Those seem to be the most common possibilities for non-EU citizens and the types that would require the least fluency in Italian.) I should think that if you're studying Italian there, you may find that going to classes, doing homework, and going out in town to do your daily shopping and so on in Italian may prove to be enough to fill your time. I'm also 66. I took an Italian course in Rome last year and was in classes with people from all over the world. Made new friends with whom I went out and had lots of fun, all of us speaking Italian no matter where we were from! I'm still in touch with some of them on Facebook and WhatsApp :-)

Post a Reply

10abuse

Choosing an expat health insurance provider is an important decision. Get a quote from our trusted expat health insurance partner, CIGNA. With Cigna Global Health Options, you can create an international health insurance plan that's perfectly tailored for the needs of you and your family.

Learn More Get a Quote

Has anyone here actually volunteered on a farm? I like the idea. Is it very heavy work? What kind of houseing is provided? Has anyone done it after the age of 60?

Post a Reply

00abuse

There is always agriturismo. You spend a weekend at a farm sampling their food and wine and maybe they let you pick a cauliflower or a bunch of grapes. At least that's my speed for volunteering.

Post a Reply

10abuse

there is a thing called "woofing" where you stay on a farm and work for your room and board. I met some kids that were doing it on a sheep and cheese farm in Abruzzo in a small town named "Anversa Degli Abruzzi"

here is a website for the Italian experience: http://www.wwoof.it/en/

Post a Reply

00abuse

Dear Jabc, Farming is all well and good but for us "in pensione" over 60's just not too practical. In the town you will be staying there will be a ProLoco..it's the town group that organizes feste and summer (ferragosta 8/15ish) and winter activities. In our village they always need a bit of help and you don't have to be fluent, just willing. You might be decorating the town Christmas tree, setting up chairs for feste, putting out flyers and notices. Just find out who is the leader of the Pro Loco and give them your phone/contact info and show up at all activities. Soon they will realize you want to be involved. If you know the town you will be staying in beforehand: see if they have a FB page...usually Sei di (name of town). Good Luck and have a wonderful time!

Post a Reply

10abuse

Choosing an expat health insurance provider is an important decision. Get a quote from our trusted expat health insurance partner, CIGNA. With Cigna Global Health Options, you can create an international health insurance plan that's perfectly tailored for the needs of you and your family.

You can go to the local church (Catholic of course) or email them in advance. In my experience, most priests speak some English. There are many charitable activities. Many involve the current immigrant situation. Depends on your skill set, what type of contribution you can make.

Post a Reply

00abuse

Umberto, that is an excellent idea...in our town we have a Confraternita...and a woman in charge of all church activities and decorating the church for holidays..the Confraternita also holds concerts and mostre (various types of shows/art/antique etc) Our lady always needs help setting up and planning and decorating...good call. This way you get to meet more town folk and become involved in your paese/village.

Post a Reply

10abuse

But isn't a certain level of fluency in Italian required for all this? Also, it seems a shame to me, if one is going to be in Italy for only three months and be taking a language course, not to just relax and enjoy life rather than committing oneself to too many activities. After all, being in a new, totally foreign-language environment 24 hours a day is apt to be tiring in itself. And once one commits to volunteering, especially a few days a week, as specified in the original post, it would be a shame to change one's mind and let the people down because it turns out to be too much.. If one has already been living in a place for a while and is more comfortable speaking Italian, of course, the case is different. Possibly near the end of the trip, with a little more fluency in Italian and already having gotten to know some local folks, it will be more feasible. In fact, in an Italian language course there are generally fellow students who are residents and who know all about the local agencies that are helping immigrants and the like and that might need volunteers.

Post a Reply

00abuse

Jergirl, I mentioned farm work because I saw it online. Mostly the places seem to be agriturismi. I did a search for "volunteering in Italy non-EU citizens" in English because I got the impression from the original post that the people don't speak Italian, and assisting English teachers and doing farm work (both of those arranged by going through agencies) was pretty much all I found. You may find more by doing a search in Italian.

Post a Reply

00abuse

I think you'll find Almare is right...don't waste you're short time on language lessons....are you able to take at least 6 months of lessons before you go? If not you could buy the Prego book in the US (used by most lang. courses) and get to work yourself....you'll need the basics and you can start that now. Prego comes with a workbook, textbook and also CD's. Also buy a large Eng/It. dictionary for home use and a smaller one for keeping in the car or purse. Another great little book (I never leave home w/out it) is "Italian Verbs" by Maria Morris....if you're in the US, go online to Alibris.com they are great for used books cheap. If you decide to stay in Italy at some point, once you have residency you can take Italian lang. courses free. Buona fortuna

Post a Reply

10abuse

Codybrandy, I didn't say that. If you read my first post, I think language lessons on the ground are great because you meet people (if you go in the evening, you are more likely to meet older people who are living and working locally). And you get a better accent than you can by just working at home yourself, in your own country. I just think that planning to do *both* language lessons and volunteering is too much. There are also many free iPhone apps that give a good start for no money: I can provide a list of the ones I like best if anyone's interested. A couple that cost only $5 allow you to record yourself and play back the recording to compare your pronunciation with that of the native speaker. I also have several dictionaries and verb apps on my phone. Saves weight in the carry-on bag!

Post a Reply

10abuse

You're right, language lessons while actually here are wonderful but as you said in 3 months to try and do lessons and volunteering and getting to know the area may be too much for most of us....I'd been traveling to Italy for 35 yrs but the first 3 months of actually living here had my head spinning. Luckily with a head start on at least the language (and still not what I'd call fluent) that did help. But Italy is to enjoy and the people are so helpful and wonderful that even with my husband's truly odd sign language slash attempts at speaking they seem to accept and guide us.

Post a Reply

10abuse

Almare2, the iPhone apps you mention sound like a great idea, especially the verb apps. I'd love to have a few of your lists, if you have time to send them. Practical and convenient! Thanks!

Post a Reply

10abuse

Hi, englishann,

All of the following are free or cost $5.00 or less and have audio by native speakers, not synthesized: Italian by Nemo, WordUP Italian, Learn Italian by Greg Vick, Learn Italian by Codegent, Italian in a Month by Elky Entertainment, ItNouns! and Italian! by Ronald Bell, Surface Languages Italian, and, for verbs, LearnBots Italian.

For a little more money, there are Italian by Living Language ($9.99), Barron's 601 Italian Verbs (no audio) ($6.99), and Teach Yourself Italian Pro ($14.99).

In dictionaries, I recommend, for a beginner, the Oxford Paravia, $14.99. The most complete is Il Ragazzini ($37.99 or so). Both include audio pronunciations of all entries (Internet connection is required for the audio).

Hope you find this list useful! :-)

Post a Reply

10abuse

I like Yabla, especially Marika's videos. Learning the grammar is just a matter of sitting on your a** and committing things to memory. The next step is getting things to come out of your mouth... ugggh. I think after a certain age, you cannot just learn to speak by listening. Your brain needs to understand the grammar, know the conjugations and remember the vocabulary. They need to be reinforced so that you can conjure them up in a split second as you are speaking.

Post a Reply

00abuse

Codybrandy, I know what you mean! Having to use the language 24 hours a day makes anyone's head spin! Whenever I go home after a longer stay in Italy, I need to rest up for a few days--especially after, as I'm doing now, dealing with local plumbers, electricians, and masons not only in Italian but in Abruzzese dialect! ??

Post a Reply

00abuse

Heh, the ?? was actually an emoji. Guess those don't go through ;-)

Post a Reply

00abuse

If you are already an advanced Italian speaker, there is an app for the monolingual Lo Zingarelli dictionary at $33.99 (much cheaper than the print edition!). It also has audio (requires Internet connection), as well as full conjugations of all verbs and all forms of nouns and adjectives. Both this dictionary and the bilingual Il Ragazzini also include a fun four-color visual section with vocabulary (houses, airport, human body, colors, and more).

I see that the price of Il Ragazzini is now $33.99 (probably because of the slide in the value of the euro(.

Post a Reply

00abuse

Jergirl, is that an app that you can use without Internet connection, or only online?

Post a Reply

00abuse

I like classes also because you can sit and learn from other people's mistakes. I have gone to classes in both the US and Italy, had a private tutor in NYC, used apps, and studied at home literally thousands of hours. When I'm in Italy, I watch the TV news. All have their uses. Also, for those living outside Italy it's possible to watch RAI either on computer or through a phone or tablet app. You can't get live feed, but you can watch certain already broadcasted programs, such as the news. I like UnoMattina, which covers a lot of subjects and thus vocabulary (it's not like morning shows in the US, which are much more celebrity-driven).

Post a Reply

00abuse

Jergirl, I'm totally in accord. When people ask me about Rosetta Stone, which promises that you can learn a language without having to remember "boring vocabulary lists," I just laugh. It's expensive, too! I also speak Danish and used to speak French very well, and I know that learning any language requires putting in time, time, time. But what another world it opens up! :-D

Post a Reply

00abuse

I'd love to know where you studied Italian. It sounds like you were happy with your experience. Thanks!!!

Post a Reply

00abuse

Check out Workaway.info
There are hosts all over Italy.
We used it when we were redoing 2 different houses, with varying degrees of success. We had people from 21- 68 years . Some hosts are looking more for a pet/housesitter and appreciate more mature volunteers . Many are looking for childcare but might not come right out and say it. The ones looking for farm help can be pretty tough . We had neighbors in our old valley who ,if you went there with a few extra kilos, it was gone fast . Sun up, sundown and raw diet only. I think that is the exception though. I know there are a few on the hills of Etna that are herb farms and makers of essential oils. Take a look on the site, there are hundreds

Post a Reply

00abuse

sorrento15, It was fun! I went to Scuola RomIT in Via del Boschetto in Rome. I made friends with a woman from China and a man from Algeria, as well as the teacher. There were also a woman and a man from Germany, a woman from Moscow and one from Siberia, a man from Belo Horizonte, and a woman from Chicago (small group). We used "Nuova grammatica pratica della lingua italiana" by Susanna Nocchi as a textbook and received a lot of handouts from the teacher besides. It was an intermediate to advanced group, and we were asked what we wanted to concentrate on (congiuntivo e condizionale!). (The beginner's groups are more structured.) Apart from textbook work, we chatted about things such as conditions in our various countries, which was very interesting. For instance, we talked about when women got the right to vote. We all answered with a year until it was the turn of the Chinese woman. Her answer: "We don't vote." (Kind of shocking in this day and age!) We also did role plays; for example, we paired off in couples, as though we were married. Each of us wrote 5 promises to the other on a slip of paper, and then we pretended that 25 years later we found the promises in a drawer and commented on them. For instance: "Ti prometto che viaggeremo sempre in classe business." The answer: "Mi avevi promesso che avremmo viaggiato sempre in classe business, invece prendiamo sempre voli low cost!" The class was conducted entirely in Italian.

The school also has a movie night once a week, where subtitled Italian movies are shown, and occasional group dinners at local restaurants for whomever wants to go. For two two-hour lessons a week for four weeks, I paid €120, plus a €50 registration fee, which included the book and was valid for one year. I thought that was very reasonable.

Post a Reply

00abuse

Schools and community centers are always looking for English-speakers to converse with students. You might check at a high school.

Post a Reply

10abuse

To all the folks who responded to my message, may I give you a resounding THANK YOU! All your suggestions are much appreciated.
We are just starting to learn Italian, so the references are great. We are staying only 90 days because of visa limitations. I have dual citizenship (USA and Irish) but my wife does not. I understand the warnings about over-committing but also realize that, without a network of friends/projects to keep us busy, life gets boring/lonely for us. And we enjoy pitching in. We are both active in our (Catholic) parish. Also, I have helped new students from outside the US learn English for several years. Each of us babysit our grandkids a couple of days a week. My wife is very involved in the local Women's Club and Bible Study. So that's us. From the comments, a good plan of action would be to find a good Italian class over there and see how much of a commitment it would be, before we get into volunteering. Having your suggestions on volunteering will help us know where to look. That's a huge help. We also will factor in time for enjoying life, the scenery, the food and the wine, etc, etc. Again,, thanks for everything.

Post a Reply

10abuse

If you have an EU passport or ID, you are not limited by the visa restrictions. After 3 months you just need to notify the comune. Your wife has a right to be with you.

Post a Reply

00abuse

That's great that you already have some experience tutoring English, because that is certainly a desired skill, and you will meet many new people that way. In bocca al lupo! :-D

Post a Reply

00abuse

Here's more detail on what Sergios said: https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/italy/moving/residency/eu-nationals. This is a slightly easier to understand version of the official document at http://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/10930-European_Union_citizens.

Post a Reply

00abuse

i have traveled all over the world. And have never spent money or time with language lessons. Learned key phrases and menu items, please and thank you and generally get by just fine. Presently I have an employee that is non-English fluent, and we get by fine (and laugh at ourselves at lot) because we make the effort and we ask each other "what is this in English/Spanish". We are both learning. Most things n daily retirement living are universal! Use translators for business affairs, dont obsess, and be flexible and accepting. Learn as yougo, make friends, use your apps, take a few lessons a week , read the newspaper and watch tv. You'll pick it up. ENJOY your new life.

Post a Reply

00abuse