Università di Bologna

The language course offered by the ERASMUS programme left a lot to be desired academically but was a good opportunity to meet the other foreign students out there. In my first term I lived entirely with Italians and it was eventually a very alienating experience. You have to remember that no matter how fantastic your language skills are you just don't have the cultural background to be able to blend in completely- think about how many conversations you have at uni about your common experiences (ie. South Park, Bag Puss) and imagine a group of people taliking about the same sort of things but you just don't get it and that is basically the key to the reason why one can never really go native!!

Due to the fact that English not is very useful in Italy I had the best oppertunities to learn the local language even faster, I today I know it quite well. Even though it was difficult in the beginning the experience of social obstacles and not knowing a language is very important. Furthermore I was constantly supported and well understood by native speakers and staff at the university that showed great understandning.

As most Italians don't speak other languages you have to speak Italian. Also among Erasmusstudents Italian is often thé language. I guess because I met a lot of Spanish people and as I don't speak Spanish and they most of the times didn't speak English, Italian was the most appropriate language. And in the end you get used to thinking in Italian and it got even quite difficult to use English after a while!

It actually came as a surprise that there were so many courses in English where to choose from. I had prepared myself to struggle with academic Italian, yet finally chose only courses taught in English, for they were really interesting and Master's level. It admittedly held back my Italian skills, but since the quality of the courses was so good I have no regrets.

The beauty of Bologna is that it is not, unlike other popular Italian study-abroad spots, a tourist attraction. As a result, beyond the international students who speak your language, you'd be hard pressed to find a city citizen who speaks your language well. If you make an effort, they will speak to you in Italian. So make an effort from the beginning!

For us spanish it is easy to understand italian language, even if we don't know anything when we arrive. Speaking it could be a little bit more difficult and it is true that lots of spanish guys are back in our country and they dont speak correctly italian, but if you want and make a small effort, you will be able!