I Social Media in Italia – Social Media in Italy

Ciao a tutti bei lettori!

Oggi, vorrei parlarvi di come usare i social media per migliorare il vostro italiano. Today, I’d like to talk to you about how to use social media to improve your Italian!

Clubhouse

For the last two weeks, I have been on the new social media app Clubhouse. If you haven’t heard of it, it is an audio only social media app. Think of it like a live podcast that you can actually participate in. You have the option to just be in the audience and listen, or you can “alzare la mano¹raise your hand” and be brought “sul palco²on stage” and participate in the conversation. You can join clubs, enter rooms with a wide range of topics, and talk to people all over the world.

I have been spending a lot of time in Italian rooms speaking with and creare connessioni3create connections with Italian native speakers. It has been a great way to keep up with my language skills, meet interesting people, and hear a lot of new social media related vocabulary. Last night I even found myself in an Italian room with musicians and singers who took turns playing music and singing. I requested La ballata dell’amore cieco by Fabrizio de Andre and was promptly serenaded through my phone.

I would highly suggest it, although it is currently iPhone only and through invitation only. That will certainly change in the future, however.

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook can be used to follow friends or family in Italy so you are always connected and seeing their stories/news in Italian. These sites can also be used as a way to follow celebrities, journalists, content creators, or even Italian teachers who share information in Italian to help non-native speakers. I especially like to follow ‘meme’ pages on Instagram since studying a language through jokes and comedy is a fun challenge. Not only do people play with language when they are informally making jokes, but they also have cultural and/or historical references that make it even more challenging. When you start to understand, and even participate in, the humor of the language you are studying, you know you are really on your way.

YouTube 

There are so many Italian YouTubers and creators, it’s such a great way to be immersing yourself and practicing your listening skills. One thing I like to do is stream foreign music through YouTube (or Spotify) as I work or as I am driving. You can also find news, comedy skits, or full-length movies on the site.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Qualche vocabolario per i social media. You will notice there are quite a few anglicisms!

seguire/followare – to follow

chiedere l’amicizia/aggiungere qualcuno – to add someone

togliere l’amicizia – to unfollow

mettere il like/mettere mi piace – to like a post

messaggiarsi – to message someone

chattare – to chat

fare videochiamate – to video chat

chat di gruppo – group chat

scrollare – to scroll

fare il refresh – to refresh

aggiornare lo stato – to update your status

condividere una foto o un video – to share a photo or a video

lasciare un commento/commentare – to leave a comment/to comment

postare – to post

taggare – to tag

mandare un DM – to send a DM

mettere nelle storie –  to add to your stories

googlare – to google

twittare – to tweet

screenshottare – to screenshot

linkare – to link

instagrammare – to put something on Instagram

instagrammabile – ‘instagramable”

____________________________________________________________________________________

E voi? Come usate i social media? And all of you? How do you use social media?

• 1
  raise your hand
• 2
  on stage
• 3
  create connections