Be wary of your assumptions / Bulk Buys!

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Buondì.

I’ve been pondering an article about how people’s assumptions may be unhelpful, even dangerous, when they find themselves (whether temporarily or permanently) in another country.

But I also need to write about our ebook store’s Beach Reads! -25% promotion.

And I couldn’t see a way to do both things in the same article.

Until… I saw a connection!

So, the title of the marketing part of this text is Beach Reads! Save Even More with Ebook ‘Bulk-Buys’, which I assume is clear to everyone?

Buy two, get three! Buy ten, pay just 50%! etc.

Simple, obvious, and universal.

Right?

Except no.

(Scroll down if you’d prefer to avoid the lengthy preamble and read about the promotion.)

In Britain, where I come from, if you buy a two- or four-pint container of milk in a supermarket, you’ll pay less per pint than if you’d bought two or four one-pint cartons.

I’m sure it’s the same in the USA, except they’ll be doing it in quarts (a quart is two pints) or gallons (eight pints.)

Go to an Italian supermarket and the largest carton of milk available is one litre (or liter), which is just two point one US pints. Look in vain for a ‘buy more, save more’ offer on milk. There won’t be any.

I went to the local auto store to get oil for my knackered old Fiat and asked the guy for four liters of his cheapest goo, which I thought would be enough for now, plus some extra to keep in the garage, for next time.

The guy went into the back, and came back with four one-litre pots, balanced in his arms. Wouldn’t I save money buying a larger container, I asked?

Nope. They don’t exist, apparently, just like with the milk.

Funnily enough, you CAN save cash buying wine in bulk (there’s hope for this country.) A five-litre box or demijohn (would that be around 10.5 pints?) is a great bargain compared to buying the same exact wine in 75cl bottles or 1 litre cartons.

Go figure. But my assumption that bulk-pricing works the same way in Italy as at – what was once – home is clearly wrong.

Here are some other of my assumptions that turned out to be off:

– private schools are better than public schools (NOT in Italy!!!)

– private hospitals are better than public hospitals (you’re kidding?)

– the best universities are hard to get into (they’re open to everyone, equally)

– the best universities are more expensive (nope…)

I guess all of those statements are debatable, to an extent. I have a future-son-in-law, and my wife has nephews, who went to a famous private university.

And ‘international’ schools (who employ trained staff, unlike state schools) are well-renowned for modern teaching methods. And are indisputably better for your kid’s English.

It’s certainly the case that you can jump the heathcare queue (Americans call the European system ‘rationing’) by paying to be treated privately.

BUT – and this is where you need to pay attention – there are few private schools and colleges worth paying big bucks for.

Private healthcare providers are minnows compared to the big-fish regional hospitals, where admission is based on need (i.e. the triage system at ‘pronto soccorso’ – ’emergency room’ in U.S. English).

Getting into the ‘best’ university or college is based on a competitive entrance test (sports stars and children of donors don’t get any sort of free pass) or is open to anyone, the idea being that future exams will be so horrible that the weakest will all quit.

In short, if you want your Italian kids to speak great English so as to be able to emigrate (to the USA, say), then send them to an international school in Italy, then abroad as soon as feasible. It’ll cost you, though.

But if you want them to have any sort of career in state-dominated systems here in Italy (education, health, etc.) then you should choose:

1.) good local public schools at elementary and middle school level;

2.) a really tough public ‘liceo’ (= high school), ideally in the downtown, where all the ‘best’ families live;

3.) followed by an Italian public university, the best your child can get into, or remain in. The cost is approximately the same, in any case.

Italian doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. will have (mostly) followed that same route.

And if you find yourself under the scalpel in what may look like a rather rundown hospital, in a tatty suburb of a multi-ethnic, Italian city, the surgeons cutting you open will likely have followed the same route.

Sure, medical staff in public hospitals might not earn much more than your auto-mechanic, but they’ll be used to competing with the best that Italy can educate, and won’t have a pile of college debt to pay off, either.

High-school teachers in Italy might be untrained, self-regarding idiots, unworthy of the title of ‘educator’ in any reasonable country, but what they do know about is testing, testing, testing!

Choose the right public school for your kids (entrance is unrestricted) – that being the one that other aspirational families also want their offspring to attend – and while they might have a miserable four years, they’ll be in good company, networking with the most ambitious of their peers and learning to compete with the most talented of their generation. Idiot teachers notwithstanding.

I heard a story recently about a foreign person visiting Italy, who needed an operation, and naturally assumed that paying to have it done privately would be a better choice. Well, you would, wouldn’t you?

Who would want to sit for hours in the nearest ‘pronto soccorso’, surrounded by drunks and vomiting babies, so as to eventually be evaluated as a priority case, admitted to the tumble-down hospital, and sliced up by teenage medics on poverty wages?

The person I heard about got their private treatment, in a private hospital (where no one spoke English, apparently), then later suffered some complication, so ended up being rushed in an ambulance to the intensive care unit of the local state hospital, where it was touch and go (but at least everyone spoke English…)

Should have gone there first, we all agreed, on hearing the story. Everyone knows that you’ll get better care in the state hospitals. Except everyone obviously doesn’t know…

Were I to be visiting another country, and fall ill, would my assumptions turn out to be harmful? From what I see on the telly, should I ever visit the USA again (highly unlikely), I’d rather have expensive medical insurance and hope that paying more meant better care.

Here it probably doesn’t, though. Be aware that, rather than expecting to be treated like a valued client, you may be better off swallowing your pride, joining the drunks and vomiting tots, and getting triaged by a snotty nurse into a properly-staffed hospital.

I’ve had a heart attack in Italy, followed by two strokes, and survived all three thanks to Bologna’s well-regarded Sant’Orsola and Maggiore hospitals.

Which brings me back to discounts for quantity: milk no, motor oil no, strokes no, but ebooks YES!

See below for details.

Alla prossima settimana!

Beach Reads! Save Even More with Ebook ‘Bulk-Buys’

(Sent to the ebooks store’s mailing list yesterday…)

There’s still a week or so remaining of the 2026 Beach Reads! promotion, which ends on Thursday 11th June (see the P.S below for details).

So still time to use coupon code 2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off to so save 25% on materials that will help you progress with your Italian, French, Spanish or German in 2025.

But did you know that coupon code 2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off is also valid to save 25% on our bulk-buy ebook ‘Multi-Packs”, which are already significantly cheaper than buying the materials individually?

For example, an ‘easy reader’ ebook normally sells for £9.99, which would be £7.49 if you use coupon code 2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off …

But we have a ‘Three For Two’ Multi-Pack (scroll down to see them) – at each of ten half-levels – which contain theee £9.99 ebooks (normal price £29.97) but cost the equivalent of two, so just £19.99.

Use coupon code 2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off on those (the coupon code is only valid until Thursday 11th June) and you’ll end up paying just £14.99, so £4.99 per ebook compared to the undiscounted price when bought individually of £9.99.

That’s a 50% saving.

But you could do even better than that with the really big ‘Bulk-Buys’ (scroll down to view them), which are ALREADY discounted 50% for quantity!

Remember to use coupon code 2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off and you’ll end up paying just 37.5% of the cost of undiscounted ebooks bought individually, which is a bargain, by anyone’s standards.

N.b. To get the 2026 Beach Reads! promotion 25% discount, remember to use coupon code 2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off in your shopping cart. Full details of how to do that are below, in the P.S.

Ebook ‘Bulk Buys’!

ITALIAN

There are free sample downloads for all the titles included in the Bulk Buys, which you can find on our catalog page or by clicking through to the individual ebook product information page using the link on the product information page of the ‘Bulk-Buy’ that interests you.

Don’t forget, either, that our ‘easy reader’ ebooks, while being .pdf files by default, also allow you the option to request .epub and .mobi versions of the text, for use on ebook readers such as the Kindle, at no extra cost! Just ask us – email or add a note to your order.

Parallel-text ebooks are .pdf only, because of the special formatting required… Sorry Kindle fans!

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Learning Italian but not so into reading/listening? Prefer to work directly on grammar/vocabulary instead?

Check out these six self-study workbooks, one called ‘The Tenses You Need To Speak Italian’, and five levels of our ‘Italian Workout’ series (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1/2).

Each has a substantial free sample to download, so you can see if they’d help your learning, and find the right material for your current/future level.

These are .pdf only (no .epub or .mobi versions), because of the special formatting, which isn’t suitable for ebook readers such as the Kindle.

The Tenses You Need To Speak Italian £19.99 | Download FREE sample (.pdf)

Italian Workout! A1 £19.99 | Download FREE sample (.pdf)

Italian Workout! A2 £19.99 | Download FREE sample (.pdf)

Italian Workout! B1 £19.99 | Download FREE sample (.pdf)

Italian Workout! B2 £19.99 | Download FREE sample (.pdf)

Italian Workout! C1/2 £19.99 | Download FREE sample (.pdf)

P.S. Don’t forget, the Beach Reads! promotion ends Thursday 11th June

Until Thursday 11th June everything in our ebooks store (including the Bulk Buys, and Grammar Workbooks!) is 25% cheaper, though only IF you remember to use this coupon code:

2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off

Make your selection from our range of ebooks, which have been especially written to keep you interested and making progress:

Catalog

Or browse Italian ebooks by level: A1 | A1/A2 | A2 | A2/B1 | B1 | B1/B2 | B2 | B2/C1 | C1 | C1/C2 | C2

Then, to get your discount, copy and paste coupon code 2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off into your shopping cart and scroll down to check the cart total has been reduced by 25%.

Coupon code 2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off also works on graded material for learning Spanish, French or German.

Apply coupon code 2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off in your shopping cart to reduce the cart total by 25%!

Stock up on online easy readers, parallel texts and grammar workbooks – at an unbeatable price!

Italian | French | Spanish | German

Here’s that coupon code again:

2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off

Don’t forget to use it when you order to save 25% on the price of everything in your cart!

P.S.

Did you read/listen to Tuesday’s bulletin of news from EasyItalianNews.com?

Reading/listening practice will help you consolidate the Italian you’re studying, expand your vocabulary, and build vital comprehension skills.

EasyItalianNews.com is FREE to read/listen to.

Subscribing, and so receiving all three text + audio bulletins of ‘easy’ news via email each week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays – is also FREE.

Just enter your email address on this page and click the confirmation link that will be sent to you.

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Be wary of your assumptions / Bulk Buys!