Italian ?

[Kirk]

Anyone know a reasonable and preferably free site to learn some simple basic Italian.
Did have one, it seems to have ceased. But I never really tried a great deal with it. The PC I had at the time did not lend itself to such.

Also from having been in Holland and learnt some I found that what a course offers and "teaches" has little real resemblance to how people actually say things. Courses seem to be sort of "Proper old school grammer as per the book" but people do not talk like that.

Beginner means I can find Italy on a map and have no real ability to learn languages at all. Hence the free bit.

[rtcres]

Duolingo is a good one also the OU usually have free basic courses for lots of languages.

[Nicos]

Have a look in charity shops. You might find books and cds at great prices.

[Snoop Puss]

You could have a look at the BBC. They offer free Italian courses. I've done a few BBC courses on tapes (them were the days) and books and rate them highly for structure and ease.

BBC - Languages - Italian - Talk Italian - An introduction to Italian

Good luck.

[Thelma Sanders]

Having learnt a little Italian from family, I learnt most at night school where there was a native Italian tutor. See what local classes are available.
The thing is Italian does still have formal address and familiar. Young people will mostly use the familiar,(chatty speech) except with the elderly. Everybody else will use formal speech with anyone they don't know, so don't think you can avoid learning/using formal speech altogether, without being rude.

[Thelma Sanders]

You could try this site...

https://www.italianpod101.com/

[bramble]

I would also recommend Duolingo because you can listen to how the words are pronounced.
I do the Spanish on this and find it very good.
It's also free.