Buondì.

Today I am going to reveal the perfect app for learning Italian!

Or perhaps you’d prefer to know about the best language school in Italy?

Or the most-able teacher, within a short drive of your house?

Or the best ‘learn Italian’ website?

Or the company selling online lessons that has both the best reviews and the lowest prices?

Or a ‘method’ that will make you fluent in, say, three months?

(Or three weeks, or three hours…)

Or THE grammar book – I mean the one that has everything, in the most logical order for you to learn it, and doesn’t have stupid rules with a thousand exceptions, which are harder to remember than the grammar point itself?

Or the absolute best, don’t-miss-this-or-you’re-shooting-yourself-in-the-foot, FREE podcast?

Or the series of course books used in the most professional schools?

Or the techniques that top universities use to turn out the college graduates that will go on to be diplomats, interpreters at the U.N., and so on?

Actually…

No.

I’m not going to tell you any of those things.

Because in fact?

There isn’t a single, guaranteed, ‘best’, fastest, most-effective way to learn Italian.

And I should know.

My wife and kids are bilingual. She has a degree in Japanese and speaks perfect English, too. The ‘bimbi’ are Italian/English native speakers.

I’ve lived in Italy for twenty years now.

Yet I still don’t speak Italian perfectly!

Nevertheless, I run an Italian language school, and a website for learning Italian, and a business which sells online lessons.

And for fun?

I publish ebooks for people learning languages.

When I’m not doing any of those things, I’m learning Swedish and Turkish, or reading a newspaper in French.

Did I mention I’m an ESL / EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher by profession?

Insomma, I’ve been in the language-teaching/learning business most of my adult life.

Trust me – there’s no magic solution.

Anyone who tells you there is just wants your cash.

Many (perhaps most) people dream of learning a foreign language.

So there’s a lot of potential revenues to accumulate using shiny promises of instant results.

But while language-learners have their favorites, their enthusiasms and their pet hates, it’s been my experience that most of them will have done a variety of DIFFERENT things during their (sometimes very long) language-learning journeys.

Perhaps they started with an app?

Then took a course?

Then tried a more ‘immersive course’ in Italy?

Then started taking online lessons with a teacher, so as not to lose what they’d gained?

Then got into reading and listening to simplified materials for learners?

Then maybe worked on gaining qualifications in the language?

Then started with ‘authentic’ media, newspapers and novels?

Assuming they didn’t give up immediately, as most people do, they probably did several of these things over the years.

I BET, and I’m not kidding, you couldn’t find two language-learners (you and I, say, or you and a classmate), who had used exactly the same materials, done exactly the same lessons, made exactly the same progress.

People are all the same.

We have the same brain architecture, the same basic psychological drives and processes.

But people vary immensely.

How often do you see two people, say two women at a party, dressed in exactly the same way?

It’s rare, right?

Unless they’re twins, or wearing a uniform.

And getting dressed up for a party is a choice of perhaps only half-a-dozen elements.

Whereas learning a language involves dozens of grammatical structures and phonemes, thousands of words and expresssions, millions of possible combinations, which can create billions or trillions of possible meanings.

Where’s the app that’ll take you from ‘zero’, know nothing, just-starting-out?

To ‘hero’, here defined as native-speaker-like proficiency?

There isn’t one.

Have a good day.

P.S.

Don’t forget! We have a new B2/C1-level Italian ‘easy reader’ in our online shop.

‘Il bar‘ is by Francesca Colombo, author of the popular ‘Prometeo e la guerra dei titani‘ (read her reviews!)

As always, there’s a Free Sample Chapter (.pdf), so you can get an idea of the type and level of the material before you buy.

If it’s too hard, simply choose something more suitable from our Catalog.

But THIS one is on offer right now….

It’s 25% off the usual ‘easy reader ebook’ price of £7.99.

Buy ‘Il bar‘ before midnight on Tuesday and pay just £5.99.

• .pdf e-book (other formats not YET available, but Kindle & ePub will be ready in a couple of weeks – just add a note to your order form and I’ll send them on later)
• 8 chapters to read and listen to
• Comprehension questions to check your understanding
• Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
• Suitable for students at upper-intermediate level or above
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Your e-book will be e-mailed to you within 24 hours of purchase.

Buy ‘Il bar‘, just £5.99! | Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) | Catalog

P.P.S.

Thursday’s EasyItalianNews.com bulletin is here. It’s free!

A lunedì.