Italian language courses

Does anyone know of anywhere where I can do an Italian course in the evenings at a reasonable price? (preferably close to an SBahn station as I don't have a car here.)

Alys, if you are still looking to learn Italian I can give you some lessons.

VHS. All over Munich and the 'burbs, and cheap as chips.

Can anybody recommend a good Italian course to buy for self-study? Preferably one that includes cds you can listen to while driving? I have been trying to learn Italian now for almost a year, but I am an imbecile and am still not fluent. I have a trainer coming to my home by now, but the trainer is just getting more frustrated with me and I am by now very embarrassed at still not being good enough. My trainer(ex-VHS teacher)developed a method to learn Italian in 6 months, but his method failed with me. My tandem partners have all gone back to Italy and I generally didn't find tandem to be that useful. I have tried a course by Huber verlag, but I have listened to it a few times by now and want something new. Somebody mentioned "Superlearning" to me, but it costs €147 and I am not sure if it's any good? Any ideas what a half-wit like myself should buy? A half wit who keeps getting confused between Spanish and Italian? Many thanks.

Well, not really what you're asking, but I find the VHS and self-study courses pretty useless for me. The only real progress I feel I've made has been when doing a 1 or 2-week course in Italy. Two weeks in Calabria was like a holiday, with the bonus of learning. Also did a week in Florence and a week in San Bartolomeo, just down the road from the burning German towels!

Normally when I am in Italy, I try to use my po Italiano but the Italians always answer in English. I go to Italy very often.

Yeah, I've found that quite a bit in the North, especially tourist cities like Florence, but in Calabria it was otherwise. However, everyone seems to assume you're German, and indeed most non-Italian tourists there seem to be. Still, I was only spoken to in Italian, not German.

In fact it was quite amusing when I was in an internet cafe and a German came in, asking in German to use the internet, then making gestures to try and get it across. The Italian guy just pretended he didn't understand, in the end I stepped in and helped, but I could see the Italian guy chuckling to himself as I explained things in German to the other guy.

How much did the 2 week Italian course you did back then set you back by(more or less)? I really also need something to listen to on a daily base as I forget things quickly and am now starting to use Italian words when speaking Spanish. Oh the woe. My trainer is fortunately in Italy at the moment so I don't have to fear making an arse of myself this week.

I think it was around €500 at the time for a two-week course incl. a single room in a shared apartment. Seems a bit more pricey now at €840.

Sprachcaffe Calabria

I've also had good experience with iST, though not in Calabria.

I'm trying to keep going by watching video podcasts from La Repubblica. RAI also have the TG available on the web, but not as a podcast.

Thanks, though it looks like I am going to have to save up a bit before being able to do something like that.