Buondì.

Here’s a clarification about two of the types of ebook we sell in our online shop, revenues from which go to maintain the free material on the club website and support the development of EasyItalianNews.com, which so far is only partially-funded by donations (many thanks to those who help!)

So, there are two types of ‘simplified story’, both specifically written by Italian teachers for learners of Italian.

‘Easy readers’, such as this week’s Book of the Week offer, Un viaggio nel tempo, come in different levels to suit learners from beginner to advanced levels. If you click that link, you’ll see that the cover artwork is red and green (like the Italian flag!) and that in the top left-hand corner there are two icons, one supposed to represent an ebook and the other indicating that there is online audio, so you can listen to the story online while you read the text.

Each chapter has a glossary of ‘difficult terms for the level’ and an exercise, so that those who are into exercises can check their understanding. Personally, I always skip those but I definitely read and listen to the texts all the way through, often several times during and after the editing process.

IF these were available for the languages that I’m studying, I’d certainly buy them (all of them) because for me they represent an excellent opportunity to gain confidence with a foreign language. As well as building reading and listening skills, they’re a fine way to consolidate the grammar and new words I studied way back when, and to get exposure to new words and grammar structures that I might not yet be familiar with.

However, if the idea of reading anything at all in Italian without a direct translation to help HORRIFIES YOU, then we also have another format, usually the same story as in the ‘easy reader’ version but without the audio, glossary and exercises. Instead, you get a line-by-line translation into English, so you can check your understanding at sentence level.

An example is ‘La montagna‘. Click the link and you’ll see that the cover artwork is sort of grey-blue and that, instead of the two icons, there are two flags to represent the two language versions of the text (we also do other languages, so different flags…) And, just to be on the safe side, right at the top of the cover are the words ‘PARALLEL TEXTS’, and at the bottom, ‘ITALIANO/ENGLISH’.

N.b. because of the difficulties of formatting parallel texts so that, for example, line 3 of Chapter 1 Italian version matches line 3 of Chapter 1 English version, we don’t offer these in Kindle or .epub formats, only in the standard .pdf format.

Printing a parallel text is the easiest way to use it, but it is possible to view the two versions of each chapter side-by-side on your screen with a little fiddling. There are instructions on the product page for each parallel text ebook: click here and scroll down to where it says ‘Parallel Texts – How To View The Chapters Side-By-Side!‘

I’m less of a fan of ‘parallel texts’, I admit it. But other people like them and so we have, in the past, produced twenty-one of them. You’ll find them on our Catalog page or on the dedicated Italian/English parallel texts pages.

Ditto with the ‘easy readers’ of course. Check the Catalog page to see a full list, ordered by type then by level, or view the sub-types on the dedicated pages:

• Italian easy readers
• ‘Day in the life of’ series (which shows a mix of ‘easy readers’ and ‘parallel texts’)
• Classic Italian Movie series (all ‘easy readers’ but with different cover artwork, don’t get confused!)

Così. Hope that clears things up for anyone who was unsure.

ONE OTHER THING: clicking on any of the cover images anywhere in the shop should take you to the product page, where you’ll find a description of the ebook and a link to the free sample chapter, which you can download to see whether it’s what you need. The Catalog page also links to the free sample chapters.

And one other, other thing – on Monday we’ll be publishing a brand new Italian ‘easy reader’ (concept check: that’s a simplified text with glossaries, exercises and online audio, but NO TRANSLATION, right?)

It’s called ‘Natale a sorpresa‘ and guess what it’s about?

Christmas!

You’ll love it, I’m sure. Watch this space for details.

A lunedì, allora.

Final reminder

The half-price ‘Book of the Week’ offer on Un viaggio nel tempo ends on Sunday night.

Check out the FREE sample chapter .pdf (it’s an ‘easy reader’ NOT a ‘parallel text’.)

If it’s suitable for your level, and for your preferred way of studying, for a few more days the full version is just £3.99, rather than the usual ‘easy reader’ price of £7.99.

Un viaggio nel tempo | Free sample chapter (.pdf) | Catalog

P.S.

And here’s the usual nag about listening to and reading Thursday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news, which is completely free, though donations are appreciated.