Home > Research > Subject Guides > Italian Language

Welcome

This guide points you to some of the Library's main resources that will support the Italilan language classes on campus and so focuses on resources to help learn Italian, as well as resources that are IN Italian.

If you are more interested in studying the linguistics of Italian, please see the related subject guide: Linguistics

Make sure to also check the resources of the Language Labs on the first floor of Paterson Hall run by the School of Linguistics & Language Studies

For a list of Italian Language classes at Carleton see the undergraduate calendar.

Reference Materials: 

Language Dictionaries

Verbs

Encyclopedias

Books

Recommended Books: 

E-Book collections

  • Libri Online Pelagus. Italian classical authors online. Works and biographies of twenty-one authors from Alberti to Verga, including Dante, Boccaccio, Machiavelli and Manzoni.  In HTML for your web browser.
  • The Manuzio Project, a free Italian online book site. Covering fields from Arte e architettura to viaggiare, including letteratura fantastica, poesia, teatro, and much more.
  • Ozoz.  Classic texts in Italian, English and Latin. Available as HTML (versione ipertestuale); RTF (ideale per la stampa dei libri); TXT (puro testo): & for download zipped.
  • NetLibrary  There are a few books in the collection in Italian and about Italian topics

Ottawa Public Library

  • Use the advanced search in the Ottawa Public Library catalogue to limit your searches to Italian language books.
  • If you don't live in the city of Ottawa, get a Sm@rtLibrary card from our Circulation Desk to allow you to borrow from the Ottawa Public Library
Suggested Subject Headings: 
Italian Language
Italian Language -- Dictionaries
Italian Language -- Grammar
Italian Language -- History
Italian language -- Textbooks for foreign speakers -- English

Journal Articles

Key Databases for Journal Articles: 
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
MLA International Bibliography

If you are looking for journal articles  about an Italian topic, choose a journal article database based on the topic (example Historical Abstracts for Italian history; MLA International Bibliography for Italian Literature; Business Source Complete for Italian Business)

If you are looking for articles that are also written in Italian look on the database advanced search screen for the ability to limit by language. (You can ususally do your search in English since these databases often translate titles into English and sometimes translate abstracts as well).

Since we do not subscribe to many journals written in Italian, you can use Interlibrary Loans service to order these articles.

Databases

Key Databases: 
Factiva
Additional Databases: 
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
MLA International Bibliography
ERIC

The "Additonal databases" have information mostly in English about Italian related topics such as Italian as a language, Italian literature, teaching of Italian....

The "Key databases" have articles in Italian. The Factiva database has fulltext of Italian language news sources from around the world.

To search just the Italian languague material in Factiva select the "source category" by choosing "publications by language" or "publications by region" AND change the "Language" to Italian. Then, do a keyword search, in Italian, for your topic.

Government Information

Foreign: 

Media

Videos: 

Videos in our Collection (For more details see our Find Videos guide)

  • You can borrow videos from the Library's collection for 3 days at a time (with 2 renewals).
  • You can pre-book a video for a specific date by using the "Book this Title" button in the catalogue
  • You can search for videos that are either in Italian or have Italian subtitles by doing a keyword search and choosing to limit to just the video collection. TIP: to browse ALL films in Italian/with Italian subtitles use * as your keyword:

Other Videos

  • Check out iTunesU on iTunes to see if any Italian courses have been posted online. 
  • Mediaset Italia Telelatino's all Italian channel. available on Rogers cable. Some of their programming includes Friday night Italian cinema, all with English subtitles
  • Rai.it Italy's state owned broadcaster
  • YouTube: search for Italian language videos of all kinds

Where to find foreign films in Ottawa:

Borrowing:

Renting:

 

Music

Music: 

Listening to Italian music and following along with lyrics, can be a great way to improve your language skills, especially pronunciation

Our Collection:

  • The Library has a number of operas sung in Italian, but not much in the way of popular music.
  • Search by keyword in our catalogue for a particular piece of music or artist, or find ALL of our Italian recordings by doing this:

     

Online:

These sites may help you find music you will like as well as lyrics

Websites

Writing & Citing

Avoid Plagiarism
Citing Your Sources

The Library has a lot of guides to help with writing papers at a university level. Some selected titles:

  • Fit to print: the Canadian student's guide to essay writing
    Floor 2 Reference LB2369.B83 2009
  • Making sense: a student's guide to resarch and writing
    5th edition, Floor 2 Reference LB2369.N67 2006
    4th updated edition, Floor 4 LB2369.N67 2004
  • Writing with sources: a guide for students
    Floor 2 Reference PE1478.H37 2008

Italian Grammar Books