Benvenuto!
I'm Daniel and I live in Bologna, Italy. I started learning Italian in 1998, and I'm still trying!
This site offers free materials and exercises for anyone, like me, who wants to speak and understand Italian better!
We also sell e-books and online lessons in our shop.
Start improving your Italian now:
Latest articles about learning Italian!
How to feel less nervous when speaking Italian
Saying your first few words in a foreign language can be terrifying.
The fear of making mistakes, of not understanding, of embarrassment, may be truly paralysing.
No one wants to look an idiot, especially in front of strangers.
So, how to feel less nervous about speaking Italian? [Read More...]
Here’s an article about learning Italian that might interest you
Just a quickie today.
I’ve published an article this morning on our sponsor school’s website that I thought might interest you.
It’s about the psychological challenges of taking language classes taught only in that language. And about quality of teaching, or lack of it.
Italian lessons IN Italian? How does that work then?
If you’ve ever taken an Italian course, or thought of doing so, you might want to go over there and have a look.
As an experienced learner of the language, your comments on the article would be welcome, too.
Just fill in the box at the bottom of the page.
Maybe be can get a debate going.
That would liven up a quiet Friday in December, wouldn’t it?
Why Google won’t show your ideal Italian language school
Looking for a really good Italian language school? The one that’s perfect for what you want?
These days, the first thing that any of us does when searching for information is to type what we’re after into Google.
There ARE other search engines (bing.com, duckduckgo.com, yahoo.com), but the vast majority of people use Google.
However, just because Google is ubiquitous in search, that doesn’t mean that it, or any other search engine, will find you your ideal Italian language school:
The perfect school for you may exist. But it is statistically very unlikely to be visible on the first page(s) of the search results you’re shown.
Secret algorithm
Type “italian schools italy” or something similar into Google and what you will be shown is a “ranking” of thousands of websites. This ordering is achieved with a secret search algorithm (a sort of formula).
It’s secret for obvious reasons – if it wasn’t, it would be much easier for unscrupulous businesses to game.
So what factors does the secret algorithm take into account, when deciding which language schools you should take a look at first? [Read More...]
How to learn Italian without boring yourself to death
In a word, variety.
Any one thing, done repeatedly for long enough, is likely to get tedious.
And if you’re not interested any more, or not as interested as you were, your motivation will start to flag.
What’s more, if you’re going to learn Italian to a good level, you’ll need to think medium-long term.
And sustaining interest in the medium-long term is a real challenge.
Conclusion? [Read More...]
Great-grandma’s piadina receipe (and Italian listening practice!)
When I see my Romagnoli in-laws they’ll often proudly present me with plastic bag of frozen piadine and crescioni, a traditional local food made for them by the widow who lives downstairs.
Don’t know what my father-in-law does for her, but she’s certainly very grateful. As am I.
Piadine and Crescioni are not the sort of thing you’ll see on the menu in an Italian restaurant, so you may not be familiar with them.
We’re talking peasant food, nothing fancy.
They’re made with cheap ingredients and are easy and quick to prepare, if you know how.
To amaze your kids/spouse/dinner party guests with authentic Romagnolo cooking, give these two recipes a try.
Both are suitable for even the most inexperienced cooks.
They’re also great for practising your listening in Italian! [Read More...]
Three for the price of two
No, I’m not talking about the -30% offer on e-books in our shop (not this time, at least.)
But about this useful exercise on compound words in Italian.
‘asciugare’ (to dry) + ‘mano’ (hand) = l’asciugamano (towel)
See?
Three words for the price of two! [Read More...]
