Buondì.

It’s been very hot and humid here in Bologna for the last couple of weeks.

To the extent that I was chatting to a Brazilian girl at our school the other day, who was mopping her forehead with a tissue and moaning about the heat.

“Surely you must be used to it, coming from Brazil?” I enquired. “Yes, but not like THIS!” she insisted.

It’s true – this part of Italy has the most unpleasant climate, both in the summer and the winter. Spring and fall can be lovely, though!

For that reason, the school has air-conditioning/heating in each classroom, which is nice. Yesterday, I escaped from a sweaty house full of adult children and dirty dishes, with the excuse that I needed to go to work. When I got there, I switched on the air-conditioning at reception and, lying back in the receptionist’s swivel chair, took a siesta.

Anyway, Sweden’s disappearing bookshops?

Because it’s been so hot lately, I’ve got into the habit of getting out of bed a little earlier and going out for the daily, cardiologist-mandated, 30-minute-minimum walk, while the temperature is still bearable.

There’s not much to look at in an urban park at eight a.m.. Though we have a nice lake and the sun is shining, the sweaty joggers that pass me are only so interesting. I’ve therefore taken to wearing my headphones and listening to the Swedish news headlines, pardon me for mentioning this yet again.

This morning for some reason, as I listened, I was berating myself for all the words I had forgotten, all the listening practice that I used to do that I no longer had time to do, and of course the long sections of the (real, not simplified) news stories that I wasn’t getting at all, that I simply had no idea about.

And then there was a piece about how many regions in Sweden no longer have booksellers (the translation from Swedish might be something more like book-traders, or maybe bookmongers, which I think is cute.)

Why? Either they didn’t go into the whys and wherefores, or I didn’t understand or didn’t hear that part – perhaps having been distracted by a pretty jogger.

But it got me thinking – how nice it would be to run a bookstore!

And right after that I thought – hang on a minute, but I already AM running a bookstore, at least a virtual one, with ebooks instead of lumps of paper. I too am a bookmonger! At least of sorts.

At which point it occurred to me, tangentially, that I was being foolish to lament my Swedish listening comprehension skills given that:

a.) My level is probably not better than B1/B2, and

b.) I was listening to authentic material, once only, and yet still managing to get the gist of some articles and understand at least something of others.

“You, of all people, should know better than to expect to understand EVERYTHING that you hear or read”, I told myself.

“Dumb, dumb, dumb to get demotivated by what you don’t know, rather than to take strength and encouragement from what you can understand!”

It’s human nature, though.

As we progress with a language, we forget the joys of understanding anything at all, and our expectations switch to hoping to understand everything we hear or read.

It’s sort of a tipping point – one minute we’re proudly boasting that we passed a B1-Intermediate listening test, and a few days later we’re beating ourselves up for not understanding C2 material, an improvement which would normally require three years of part-time study.

Take heart, then. Even those who should know better get down in the dumps sometimes about not undertanding what we hear or read.

But then?

Then we give ourselves a slap and tell ourselves to keep listening every day, and keep reading, even when it’s hard! For if we do – we’ll get there in the end.

Talking of reading, and bookstores, the catalog page at EasyReaders.Org lists all of our ebooks (we only sell ebooks, not books made from dead trees) by type and level.

Which means it should be easy to find something that will suit where you currently are with your Italian (also other languages!)

Use the free sample chapters (linked to next to each title in the catalog) to check the length and level of the material. Whizz down through the free sample chapters, not forgetting to also listen to the audio, which might be easier or harder than you are used to, until you find something that is stimulating but not too difficult.

I’d always suggest thinking of reading and listening in the language or languages you’re learning primarily as ‘skills practice’, also ‘strategies development’ (i.e. how to deal with the parts you don’t get), rather than ‘study’ (so NOT looking up every word or unfamiliar grammar structure.)

Most students get enough ‘study’ already, but lack opportunities to practice understanding, in preparation for real-life situations, such as conversation, or reading authentic materials. One day, though, you will need to do these things.

Our ebooks are designed to bring you gradually up through the levels to the point at which you will have a fighting chance!

Take a look at the ‘bulk-buys’ / ‘multipacks’ section of our online bookstore, for instance.

See the ‘Three for Two A1 Easy Readers‘ product? (Top line, second from left.)

And that next to it, on the right thre’s a ‘Three for Two A1/2 Easy Readers‘ product, and that next to that, on the right again, there’s a ‘Three for Two A2 Easy Readers‘ product?

Each pack of three simplified stories (with audio) is graded, fairly approximately, to a half level.

The idea being that you build up your comprehension muscles on level X, before stepping cautiously up to level X1/2, then 2X, then 2X1/2 and so on.

Until you are the Mr or Ms Universe of Italian listening and reading comprehension! And so ready to kick sand in the faces of your fellow U3A evening class participants.

Some people go the whole hog and buy eighteen easy readers, ranging in level from A1 to B2, all in one go, perhaps with the idea of forcing themselves to progress with their reading/listening.

There are eight chapters in each, so were you to do a chapter a day except at weekends, that would be something like six months’ worth of practice material – at a 50% saving on the cost of buying each ebook individually!

Non male.

(N.b. Use the Summer Sale coupon – see below – and everything in our online shop, even the bulk-buy/multi-packs, costs 20% less!)

Così, allora.

Bologna is nice in the fall and the spring, hint, hint.

And don’t berate yourself about not understanding – look at how far you’ve come, not what you still can’t do.

2020 Summer Sale!

• Use coupon code 2020-Summer-Sale-20%-Off to save 20% on everything!
• This promotion ends at midnight on Sunday 12th of July 2020
• There’s no minimum or maxium spend
• Use the above coupon as often as you wish while the offer lasts
• The coupon code is valid for items which are already discounted, such as ebook multipacks or packs of online Italian lesson credits
• Payment options include Amazon, Paypal (they process credit cards for us – you don’t need to open a Paypal account) and bank transfer (only advisable if you have a UK bank account)
• If you experience problems at the payment stage, email info@imparareonline.co.uk for help and reassurance!

Italian | Catalog

P.S.

Tuesday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news is here.

Reading/listening to it is an excellent way to do what I was writing about above, without spending any money.

EasyItalianNews.com is free to use because it’s funded by its readers.

See who donated.

Buondì.

The Summer Sale starts today, which means you can save a fifth on online Italian lessons and ebooks for learning Italian (assuming you remember to use coupon code: 2020-Summer-Sale-20%-Off ).

The next sale won’t be until the end of September, which is approximately thirteen weeks away. So if you’re one of our regular online students taking one-to-one lessons with a club teacher, make sure you stock up on lesson credits this week, while the Summer Sale is on.

That way, besides saving money, you’ll be able to spend the summer months usefully, building your Italian speaking skills, and self-confidence, with the help of one of our friendly and professional online teachers!

Browse Italian lessons and ebooks.

To get the 20% discount, don’t forget to carefully copy and paste coupon code –  2020-Summer-Sale-20%-Off   – into your shopping cart (where it says ‘Coupon code’).

When you’ve done that, press the dark blue ‘Apply Coupon’ button, then finally scroll down to check that the discount has been applied to the cart total (do all this BEFORE you proceed to the payment stage!)

N.b. We’ve been having problems with payment processors lately – some people have used our online shop and the various payment options (credit/debit card, Paypal, Pay with Amazon, bank transfer for those with a UK bank account) without experiencing any problems.

While others have had to try multiple times, which is frustrating both for them and for us. I’m not sure whether this is an intermittent technical problem (because most people do manage to pay in the end if they keep trying) or whether it might be something to do with the new security protocols that all online payment processors now have to use.

Paypal, Amazon, and your bank, of course, have to be sure it’s really you trying to make a payment, not someone who has acquired your card details. This to prevent fraud, but it does mean that all sorts of glitches can occur during the payment process…

For example, if the address you give on the order form is then used also for the payment, but that address doesn’t match the one on your credit/debit card. That would cause alarm bells to ring, probably.

Or if you’re asked for a phone number (so an SMS can be sent asking you to verify that it’s really you making the payment) but the area code you give doesn’t match the address, or even the country. I have an Italian mobile but gave a UK address – you can imagine how happy the system was about that.

Or if (THIS IS NEW FOR MANY PEOPLE) you are asked during the payment process to log into your online bank to confirm the payment – this happened to me recently – and you weren’t expecting it, or didn’t realise that was necessary because you never had to do it before, so didn’t. As a consequence the payment request expires, and when you come to try again you get an unhelpful (and incorrect) message informing you that the order has already been paid for.

For the technically-minded, the payment authorisation has a unique reference ID, precisely to prevent erroneous payments, so if you try again using the same ‘link’  that previously failed, it won’t be accepted. In theory, if you reorder, you should get a new payment authorisation with a different ID, but, well… cookies and stuff.

Oh my goodness, there are so many things that can go wrong, I’m beginning to panic myself!

But remember, these systems are designed to be secure, so fraud probably isn’t one of the many potential pitfalls. People are constantly telling me that they don’t ever buy anything online because it’s so DANGEROUS.

Actually, you know? I’ve been using Paypal to process card payments since 2005 and it has never happened that a client has lost money. Not once. Not for our school, not with the club, not with our online shop. Not ever. Really. No kidding.

People make mistakes regularly – that is indeed common. They add the same thing to their shopping cart twice, for example, then pay the total without checking why it’s more than it should be. I usually notice, though. Or they think the payment wasn’t successful, so order everything one more time just to be on the safe side, and pay for it again, too. But it’s no problem whatsoever for me to refund an unintended or duplicate payment.

Insomma, mistakes can easily be fixed. So there’s no need to worrry, panic, or get stressed and snap at your husband or wife. If you run into issues, I’m here to help!

We are not a big company with one of those customer (dis)service departments that take forever to not solve your problem. Basically, it’s just me and Lucia, plus our team of freelance teachers and writers. If you have a teaching-related issue, write to her. If it’s about an order or something on the website, then I’m the one to bug.

Email me details of what happened, or didn’t happen if something’s not working, and I promise I will reply within a few hours at the most. Unless it’s night in Italy, in which case, I’ll write back in the morning.

Naturally, I’m also happy to answer questions about online Italian lessons and ebooks for learning Italian.

A presto, allora.

2020 Summer Sale!

• Use coupon code 2020-Summer-Sale-20%-Off to save 20% on everything!
• This promotion ends at midnight on Sunday 12th of July 2020
• There’s no minimum or maxium spend
• Use the above coupon as often as you wish while the offer lasts
• The coupon code is valid for items which are already discounted, such as ebook multipacks or packs of online Italian lesson credits
• Payment options include Amazon, Paypal (they process credit cards for us – you don’t need to open a Paypal account) and bank transfer (only advisable if you have a UK bank account)
• If you experience problems at the payment stage, email info@imparareonline.co.uk for help and reassurance!

Italian | Catalog

P.S.

Saturday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news is here.

Read/listen to it before you forget!