Buondì. When you’re learning a new language, there are certain things that come up in lessons, or that teachers point out (or possibly forget to, as they are so obvious they can’t imagine you not knowing), which are easy for some learners to miss. Tenses are a good example. Italian teachers know they’re really not […]

Buondì. I was a terrible spendthrift as a young man, probably for around a year or so, aged 20. Before that I had been careful by necessity, as I was always skint, so had to save up for anything I wanted. I recall trudging to the post office to deposit pennies in a savings account, […]

Buondì. You know those places where you can pick your own fruit/vegetables etc. directly from the field? They’re usually good value, as the farmer is saving the cost of havesting and transport, and doesn’t have to split the margins with a supermarket chain. Picking your own is a fun thing to do with kids, plus […]

Buondì. What does being ‘advanced’ or ‘fluent’ in Italian feel like? I taught English to Italians for over twenty years, including kids from the age of three, but mostly adults, at all levels from complete beginner to ‘advanced’, groups and individuals, ‘general’ and ‘business’, conversation and writing. The beginners were always the happiest, despite the […]

Buondì. I have a bandwidth issue. It’s nothing to do with groups of people playing music, nor their expanding waistlines (though I have one of those.) It’s more of a metaphor, actually, (read about real bandwidth issues here) my brain as an increasingly slow and unreliable internet connection. You’ll know that feeling when you try […]

Buondì. I’ve got a lot on today, and am starting later than usual due to traffic, roadworks, red lights, and a surplus of morons on Italian roads. So I’ll just do a couple of quick notes on ‘How to…’ do things, that is to say things that some people seem not to have figured out. […]

Buondì. Driving back home this lovely spring morning, after dropping Bug at his petting zoo on the other side of town, I was half-listening to the news headlines in Swedish, while pondering – as you do – whether I could have made much more progress, in the five years or so I’ve been learning that […]

Buondì. I’m a little late starting today, as I’ve been out for a walk. Nothing exceptional, just a limp down to our local park, once around the lake, and back home again. I’ve been off exercising lately, due to pain in ‘i tendine d’Achille’ (yes, both legs, otherwise it would have been ‘il tendine’), which […]

Buondì. I don’t usually email on Sundays – I’m busy in the kitchen. However, between washing the dishes and cooking lunch, here’s a quick reminder that the ‘Free Trial Online Italian Lesson‘ offer ends tonight. The next chance to try a FREE one-to-one lesson with a native-speaker teacher won’t be until February 2024. Why wait? […]