Speak Italian Like A Local

About Speak Italian Like A Local

Italian language tutor and travel storyteller behind italialikealocal.com. Native Italian speaker dedicated to making Italian fun and accessible through clear, plain-English online lessons and inspiring travel tales. Every lesson starts with real everyday Italian in context, a dialogue or a short text, with a free transcript and translation. Paid subscribers get my full explanation of the expressions, practice activities, and a private community. Levels follow the CEFR, from A1 up. speakitalianlikealocal.substack.com (https://speakitalianlikealocal.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Italian with Lucy

Category

education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Mar 2023

Latest episode

18 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

41 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   18 Oct 2026

   Ten Italian words I wish English would steal

   Italian has plenty of everyday words that carry a whole attitude, a habit, or a social ritual. Here I share ten I wish English would borrow, from the shrug of boh to the late night joy of a spaghettata. By the end, you’ll see why most of them work less like vocabulary and more like permission. The ten words Boh, I don’t know, and I don’t care to Magari, maybe, if only, let’s hope so Apericena, aperitivo that turns into dinner Abbiocco, the happy drowsiness after a big meal Passeggiata, the evening stroll Menefreghismo, a shrugging indifference Spaghettata, an impromptu late night pasta with friends Scroccare, to get something at someone else’s expense Arrangiarsi, to make do with what you have Ti voglio bene, I love you in the way you’d say it to family and friends This week’s challenge Pick a question you usually over-explain and answer it with a plain, shrugging boh. Then answer one invitation with magari instead of yes or no. Notice what happens to the energy of the conversation. Your turn Which word would you steal first? Leave a comment or reply to this email. Lucy reads every response. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit speakitalianlikealocal.substack.com/subscribe (https://speakitalianlikealocal.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

2. 

   6 May 2026

   Le Tegole e la Valle d'Aosta

   This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit speakitalianlikealocal.substack.com (https://speakitalianlikealocal.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7) Questa settimana in Story Club leggiamo un testo sulla Valle d’Aosta. Una regione piccola. Molto piccola. La più piccola d’Italia, in realtà, incastrata tra le Alpi al confine con Francia e Svizzera. Eppure appena ci entri, ti accorgi subito che ha qualcosa che le regioni più grandi non hanno: quella sensazione di essere arrivata in un posto che esiste d…

3. 

   30 Mar 2026

   The Speak Italian Story Club

   I’ve created something for you. You’ve been reading Coffee Break for a while now. Every week, you get an expression, a word, a glimpse into Italian life. You read it. You save it. Maybe you try to use it once. Then Monday comes, and you forget all about it. It’s not your fault. It’s the method. Studying Italian for two hours once a week seems productive. It isn’t. Language learning doesn’t work that way. It requires repetition, context, and time. You have to learn it in small doses, often. Not in an intensive session that you’ll forget by Thursday. So I’ve created something that gives you a place to practice Italian every day. It’s called Speak Italian Story Club. It’s a private web app, available only to paid subscribers. Inside, you’ll find: Stories and dialogues in Italian, categorized according to your actual level. Levels range from A2 and up. Stories set in real cities. Legends. Culture. Conversations at the bar, the market, the hotel front desk. Real Italian, not textbook Italian. In the text, words and expressions underlined in green are clickable. Tap a word or phrase you don’t know once, and you’ll immediately see the meaning in English. Tap it twice to save it to your personal flashcard deck. Your deck grows as you read. Your flashcards are created with the words you actually didn’t know, not with a generic list created by someone else. There’s also a progress tracker. Consecutive days of reading. Words saved. Stories completed. A graph showing the days you’ve actually read. Seeing everything organized this way makes a difference. You’re not trying to study Italian. You’re trying to read Italian as Italians write it and gradually familiarize yourself with the language. That’s how I learned English, living between Naples and Brooklyn. Not from books. By living the language. This is your space to immerse yourself in Italian. It lives at its own URL. You log in with your email. Nothing to download, nothing to install. Phone, tablet, laptop, it all works. The first stories and dialogues are already inside, new content drops every week. If you’re already a paid subscriber, you’ll receive your login credentials in a separate email today. If you’re on the free plan and were thinking of upgrading to a paid plan, now is the right time. Paid access is €12 a month or €97 for the full year. Upgrade to unlock your Story Club access! Un abbraccio, Lucy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit speakitalianlikealocal.substack.com/subscribe (https://speakitalianlikealocal.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

20 ratings

Contact Speak Italian Like A Local

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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