Listening is a key component to learning a new language and when you are learning by yourself in your home country (especially during a quarantine) it can be challenging to find authentic sources of input. If you want to learn more about input and why it’s an important part of language learning, see my previous post here. Thanks to Netflix, we have easy access to media produced in other countries which means there is both audio and subtitles available in the language it was made in! As I’m learning Italian, listening to my boyfriend talk to his family on the phone is not doing enough for my input here at home, so I’ve turned to watching a few series on Netflix.

Depending on where your Italian skills are, you can make a few adjustments to how you use shows and movies as input.

If you are a true beginner, you will likely need subtitles in English to understand the dialogue. This is not really an authentic input, because it’s more than a little bit beyond your current knowledge of the language. However, it can still be valuable as you are learning the pronunciation, cadence and enunciation of speech.

The next step, which is where I am, is to watch with subtitles in Italian. Once again, there are many moments in these shows where it’s more than a little beyond my current knowledge of Italian, but in those moments I can read the subtitles and usually pause the show to translate and take a note of the new vocabulary. For me, the subtitles help to parse the words because this is the part of my listening that I’m still struggling with.

The best scenario would be if your Italian is advanced enough that you can listen to the show without subtitles and understand. I would recommend in any case, as a short follow-up/comprehension check, to try and write a summary of the episode in your own words as if you were explaining to a friend what they missed on the show.

Here are a few shows I can recommend on Netflix:

Baby: This teen drama is actually based on a true story which I did not know until I was well into the second season. If you ask any Italian about the baby squillo or Parioli they will likely be familiar with the story. If you like shows like Gossip Girl, Skins, or Riverdale you will likely be entranced by this story of students at an elite private school in Rome. Since it is based on high school students, it’s full of Roman slang which can be helpful for learning some contractions and terms, but much of the words used are specific to Rome. I still found this show immensely helpful for simple things like greetings and questions in an informal scenario. I also love the drama.

Il Proceso - The Trial: If you are more of a crime drama fan, this show will be right up your alley. When a young girl is murdered in Mantova, the trial and investigation reveals bigger problems that she was tangled up in. In the complete opposite direction of Baby, this show takes place largely in the Italian court which means that the speech is extremely formal. If you want more practice using the formal lei then this show will definitely be helpful for you. After picking up slang from Baby, this is a great way to hear more academic dialogue.

Sotto il sole di Riccione - Under the Riccione Sun: If you’re not into series and would prefer to watch something that concludes in one sitting, Under the Riccione Sun is a light, fluffy teen summer flick. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for any awards and honestly probably wouldn’t have watched it if it were in English. The movie follows a group of teens in Riccione for the summer with the predictable drama that ensues from a silly teenage vacation film. Aside from the insubstantial plot and characters, one highlight is that the soundtrack is entirely from the popular Italian group, Thegiornalisti. Even though the movie itself is nothing amazing, it features a lot of dialogue and a much lighter subject than Il Proceso and Baby (though I love dark shows, personally).