Buondì.

As orders come in, for online Italian lessons, ebooks and so on, I enjoy looking at where our customers live.

Of course, I send ebooks by email.

And online lessons are delivered, well, online.

So I never actually post anything, thank God. (Have you been in an Italian post office??)

Occasionally, I need to phone someone, say if they’ve written a duff email address and my ebook delivery email keeps bouncing back.

Or maybe if I just fancy a chat…

(Joke!)

Ideally, we wouldn’t collect such information.

But this is a very, very small business and we don’t have coders to modify the standard shop software.

Ever seen an order form that doesn’t require an address and a phone number?

Me neither.

Wonder why?

Sales tax, probably.

Yesterday, I was filling out a job application form which wanted to know how many children I had, and the age and sex of each one.

Weird.

(N.b. If you want to order something, but strongly object to being asked for your name, address and phone number, feel free to write ‘4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey’, or similar…)

As things stand, though, I get to see where people live (or say they live), which often piques my curiosity…

Possum Avenue, for example.

Or Poet’s Walk.

Belli!

I wonder if Possum Avenue is desert-like, or lined with eucalyptus trees swaying in the breeze?

And the poet?

Is she, or he, roaming the Highlands of Scotland?

Or just on their way to pick up the kids from school?

I’d love to live in either location, rather than in oh-so-boring Via Sant’Anna.

(Wikipedia: According to apocryphal Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus. Mary’s mother is not named in the canonical gospels nor in the Qur’an.)

I know well what a poet is, as a result of reading the marvellous (and free) emails sent out by the Poetry Foundation.

If you could use some culture, do subscribe to their ‘Poem of the Day’ newsletter (literally a poem each day) by clicking here and checking the ‘Poem of the Day’ box.

But what on earth is a possum?

Turns out that there are two sorts, one Australian and one North-American (a little like ebook buyers, or online students…)

PestStrategies.com has a useful guide, from which this extract (the bolding is mine):

The Australian possum has a round body shape and thick fur which is often golden in color—giving it the nickname the Golden Brushtail Possum. Its eyes take on a peanut butter color in the light, and true to its moniker, its tail is thick and voluminous like that of a squirrel. These animals look more like cuddly cousins of the koala bear rather than distant relatives of the opossum.

The North American opossum, on the other hand, has stark features: black eyes, a white face, jagged teeth, and a sharp, pointed face. These creepy animals skulk around waving their rat tails in the air, hissing at those who dare to come too close. This species can be found ransacking trash piles when they’re not migrating from one makeshift den to another; as migrant scavengers, they feed on whatever they can find during their transient lifestyle.

Wow, good job we don’t have opossums in Via Sant’Anna!

Here the only animals are a motley bunch of over-fed domestic felines.

Beh anyway, wherever you live (and we have club members everywhere from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe), don’t forget to…

Save 20% in the Spring Sale!

• Coupon code Spring-Sale-2019 will get you 20% off everything!
• No minimum or maxium spend
• Use the 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
• The coupon code cannot be used with other promotions
• Pay via Amazon, Paypal/credit card, or bank transfer (better not try this unless you have a UK bank account…)
• This promotion ends at midnight on Sunday 31st of March 2019

Stock up on online Italian lessons and ebooks and save £££!

Visit our online shop or browse the Catalog, which has free sample chapters for just about everything.

P.S.

Did you listen to yesterday’s FREE EasyItalianNews.com bulletin?

If not, why not do it now?

Buondì.

Yesterday’s article had this rather cryptic title: “Winter’s a good time to stay in and cuddle, but…“.

I guess the connection to learning Italian mightn’t have been immediately obvious.

Some diehards did open the email, presumably recognising the sender address.

But most were then distracted away, as I’d included a link to a singing and dancing snowman on Youtube.

204 million people have watched that clip, not all of them OnlineItalianClub.com members.

But tut-tut!

That was no way to announce the beginning of our ‘Spring Sale’!

In my defence, someone wrote to say how the dancing snowman had cheered her up.

Which was good.

Plus, we sold thirty-three packs of ten online lessons, which wasn’t bad either.

Some people bought twenty or thirty lessons at a time, rather than just ten.

Why, I wonder?

Most of those will be the regulars, some of whom have been with us forever.

If they’re anything like me, then the online lessons form a regular part of their week

It’s something they look forward to.

Like meeting up with a friend.

A chance for a chat, but in the language they’re studying.

(Do insist that the teacher doesn’t waste too much time ‘explaining’ things. The point is to practice speaking, listening – interacting!)

I do three lessons each week – two Swedish and one Turkish. I’m hoping to add Spanish at some point, but I have to finish Duolingo first, and I’m running out of days of the week…

Not only are the online lessons enjoyable, there’s little doubt that this sort of regular one-to-one contact does, over time, lead to better speaking and listening skills.

And certainly improved self-confidence.

E poi, most people can afford £15 for a half-hour one-to-one lesson (10 x 30 minutes = £150).

It’s the price of, what, a couple of movie tickets?

A cocktail?

Less than a massage, surely.

A mere fraction of what getting your car repaired or your hair styled would cost you!

Then… knock 20% off the usual price?

At just £12 for a thirty-minute personalised language lesson, that’s getting close to irresistible.

We do these offers approximately quarterly.

The next one will be in the summer, probably the first week of July, so 13 weeks away.

At a frequency of one lesson a week, taking into account holidays and so on, a pack of ten should do you.

Call it £120, if you remember to use the coupon code (below).

Or, if you’re the intense type, two lessons a week, and no breaks.

In which case, maybe three packs of ten.

So £360 with the coupon code.

Three packs of ten is two lessons a week for thirteen weeks.

With four left over…

For when Youtube runs out of dancing snowmen!

Spring Sale – Save 20% on Everything

• Use coupon code Spring-Sale-2019 to save 20% on everything!
• This promotion ends at midnight on Sunday 31st of March 2019
• No minimum or maxium spend
• Use the 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
• The coupon code cannot be used with other promotions
• Payment options: Amazon, Paypal (they process credit cards for us – you don’t need an account), bank transfer

Ready to save on online Italian lessons and ebooks?

Browse our shop!

Or find materials for your level on the Catalog page.

P.S.

Don’t want to buy anything?

No worries.

Go listen instead to today’s FREE EasyItalianNews.com bulletin.