Buondì. In Wednesday’s rant, I argued that pretty Italy is a country of and for the old. That is to say, in terms of opportunity for betterment, it’s a wasteland. Italy is a country which the young (even if wealthy) are best advised to leave behind, in search of better prospects elsewhere. All this, of […]
“Hard to believe…”
Buondì. ‘La diaspora italiana – Italiani in Scozia‘ is selling well (details below), so many thanks to everyone who has bought a copy. Someone commented on Monday’s article: It’s hard to believe anyone would leave Italy for Scotland, much less be willing to fight for territory in the Highlands! Nah… not hard to believe at […]
New ‘easy reader’: La diaspora italiana – Italiani in Scozia
Buondì. This morning we published a new easy reader ebook, ‘La diaspora italiana – Italiani in Scozia’, which is part of a new series – on the Italian diaspora, obviously. But what’s a ‘diaspora’, when it’s at home? A ‘diaspora’ is a population that lives somewhere different from their original home, or that of their […]
The Google Maps of language learning!
Buondì. Riding my motorbike across the city at seven a.m. this morning, heading to the city’s main hospital to get my blood tested, I was reflecting on how old-fashioned I am about the way I navigate. If I have to go somewhere I haven’t been before, I’ll look at a map, ideally an actual map […]
Seven episodes of ‘Breaking Bad’ with no subtitles!
Buondì. Yesterday was my first day back, teaching English classes, week eleven of our English school’s thirty-week academic year. It being Tuesday, my two-hour evening class was the B1/B2 (intermediate/upper-intermediate) level. That group is three adults in their forties. Educated, professional people who never quite got to grips with English at school, or subsequently, but […]
‘Nattens nyheter’ and other profitable habits
Buondì. I have the Swedish public broadcaster’s news app on my smartphone and, at some point very early in the morning before I’ve opened my eyes, it sends a notification. It’s something like ‘Läs nattens nyheter’, plus a link to the relevant page in the app. ‘Read the night’s news’ it invites me, and so […]
2022 January Sale: it’s not what you spend, it’s what you do
Buondì. Tomorrow is the final day of the 2022 January Sale (details here) at our (now two!) online stores, EasyReaders.org (for ebooks) and NativeSpeakerTeachers.com (for one-to-one lessons). Use the coupon code below to save 20% on the online lessons and/or ebooks you’ll need to improve your Italian in the coming year: January-Sale-2022 And here are […]
2022 January Sale: the usual ‘ebook best-sellers’ article
Buondì. The January Sale is nearly done (as always, it’s been a lot of work) so I thought you might be interested in hearing what other club members have been spending their ‘learn Italian’ budgets on. Hence the usual, end-of-sale ‘ebook best-sellers’ article. E poi, it’s the first Friday morning in January. Who has ideas […]
2022 January Sale: Online Italian lesson dos and don’ts
Buondì. Here’s another article from our archive, and a reminder about the 2022 January Sale, which ends on Sunday night! The dos and don’ts of taking online Italian lessons Written from personal experience, as I use this method to learn languages (I’m also an online teacher, so see things from both perspectives…) Don’t put off […]
2022 January Sale: “Quite nervous. Out of my comfort zone!”
(This article was first published during last year’s January Sale. I’ve updated the links and added a few notes, but otherwise it’s the same. New Year resolution: work less!) Buondì. Why are ecommerce sites like Amazon, but also our own (now two!) online stores, EasyReaders.org and NativeSpeakerTeachers.com, constantly nagging at you to leave reviews? Well […]
