Buondì. Here’s an exercise for you: 1.) The spaghetti is/are just right this time, not too soft, perfectly salted. Well done! 2.) Can we just have two pizza/pizzas and two wine/wines? Grazie! This provoked by emails received from a variety of Ancient Greek enthusiasts, pointing out that I used the phrase ‘hoi polloi‘ incorrectly while […]
This week why not brush up your Ancient Greek?
Buondì. British club members will know that certain odious recent prime ministers have been the products of the ‘public school’ system, ‘public’ in the British context actually meaning ‘private and very costly’. ‘State’ schools are for the hoi polloi, ‘public’ schools in the UK being reserved for the sort of elite who will be ‘first […]
How do you know?
Buondì. Our miniature new house guest, Bug, and I were sitting outside, enjoying a little late-afternoon sunshine, and chatting with neighours as they passed by, mostly on their way home from work. Bug was awake, which he is more and more each day, and telling me loud and clear that he’d like to eat, and […]
Deb emailed
Buondì. Deb emailed. I got permission to share her missive here, and have added my replies (IN CAPS), hoping that it might be helpful more generally to club members, some of whom, no doubt, have similar issues. +++ I’m … wondering if you might talk about, in a future message, on the importance of immersion, […]
Don’t buy these ebooks if…
Buondì. I’ll be brief and commercial today as we had a brutally bad night. Something was bugging Bug, who screamed in agony for what felt like hours at a time throughout the night. We took turns, so did sleep some, in short bursts at least. But the total hours of ‘sonno’ couldn’t have been more […]
Imagine you’re new in the world
Buondì. (DO NOT USE A DICTIONARY WHILE READING THIS) Imagine you’re new in the world. Sure, you’ve been you as long as you can remember, though the concept doesn’t mean a lot yet. But the context has recently changed. Now you’re you some place different. The main things that interest you right now are stomach […]
Read me
Buondì. We’re exhausted this morning, and worse, it’s a local holiday in Bologna, where I live. October 4th is San Petronio – he’s Bologna’s patron saint. The enormous unfinished church in the even-more-enormous central piazza is named for him. On this day each year our Italian school is closed (courses of one or two weeks […]
Introducing Bug
Buondì. A quick one today, as I’m exhausted after all the extra work involved in last week’s (now concluded) Autumn Sale, and because of a new house guest, who’s been keeping us up at night. Club members who’ve been with us for a while, so the majority, will remember Roomie, so-called because she shared our […]
2023 Autumn Sale: Just a few hours left to save 20%!
There are just a few hours left of the 2023 Autumn Sale. Today is the final day, so the last chance to save 20% on everything at our online stores, EasyReaders.org (ebooks) and NativeSpeakerTeachers.com (one-to-one lessons). The coupon code you need to save 20% on the online lessons and/or ebooks is: 2023-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off And here are […]
2023 Autumn Sale: it’s not what you spend, it’s what you do
Buondì. Sunday 1st October 2023 is the final day of the 2023 Autumn Sale at our two online stores, EasyReaders.org (for ebooks) and NativeSpeakerTeachers.com (for one-to-one lessons). Until then you can 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: […]