It’s a Saturday afternoon at the end of June and I’ve just finished a pleasant lunch, consumed on the terrace in the company of my Italian in-laws, who each speak several foreign languages, my three kids, who are bilingual, and my wife who is trilingual. Since you ask, we enjoyed spaghetti with a fish sauce, […]
Archives for June 2013
7 smart ways to find accented Italian characters on your keyboard
Many thanks to Joan, who raised this issue in a comment on my last post. Rather than reply to her there and then, it occured to me that the problem learners have finding accented Italian characters on a computer keyboard is one that would make a great topic for an article. So here it is. OK, the situation […]
Do they think I’m stupid??
Ragazzi… Thanks for the GREAT response to the last article. I was in a dreadful mood on Saturday (see below for the reason) and admit my writing may have been a bit, how shall I put it, intemperate. But your responses really cheered me up. There were lots of comments, forum posts, and even personal e-mails […]
Use it or lose it: please read this if you value our site
Oh. You ARE reading? Cool. So, hey, you must have visited our website, OnlineItalianClub.com at some point. You may also have signed up to our mailing list (thanks!) In which case you’ll get this article automatically as an e-mail. First the good news There’s some great content on our site. Lots of it. Besides articles like this one, there are […]
Watch out! Your dictionary is out to GET you
You thought it was your friend, did you? You thought it wanted to HELP you? Well you were wrong! Your dictionary is out to GET you. It wants to see you fail so badly, it will do almost anything to stop you learning Italian. If you really must give room in your home to one, don’t say I didn’t warn you. […]
How to write in Italian (even if you don’t know the grammar)
How much time do you spend learning how to write in Italian? If you’re like most people, it’s probably not one of life’s greatest priorities. Speaking the language, on the other hand, and understanding what others say to you, usually comes high on the list. But sometimes, you may have to write in Italian. And […]
Il sole sorge e il sole tramonta
Il sole sorge e il sole tramonta, si affretta verso il luogo da dove risorgerà. (The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.) Tried using parallel texts instead of grammar books to learn Italian? Reading is a great way to learn new words, and to consolidate […]
How not to learn Italian
I’ve been learning Italian for around 16 years now, by virtue of having an Italian partner and living in Bologna, Italy. So how come I STILL can’t remember if weekend (fine settimana / end of week) is masculine or femminine I was asking myself yesterday, when someone at work helpfully corrected my ennesimo mistake. Well, […]
