Buona domenica a tutti. Wednesday’s article, Language-learning habits checklist provoked an emailed question from Jonathan, mentioning that he found listening to Italian “mentally exhausting” and asking for “tips about dealing with the frustration of not understanding anything at first”. I enjoy responding to learners’ questions (I was a language teacher for three decades, so just […]
2025 Spring Sale: Save Even More with Ebook ‘Bulk-Buys’
Apologies for bothering you on a Friday, but we have bills to pay… Buon fine settimana! (Copied/pasted from our ebooks store website) There are just a few days remaining of the 2025 Spring Sale promotion, which ends on Sunday March 30th 2025 (see the P.S below for details). So still time to use coupon code […]
Language-learning habits checklist
Buondì. Like a lot of ‘big things’ in life – building a career say, or sustaining a happy and committed realationship with a signifcant other – learning a foreign language involves paying attention over a period that may last for many years, even multiple decades. It’s a reasonable assumption that most adults will have had […]
Lost a week, wrote an email, the ebooks sale started
Buondì. The P.S. to last week’s article mentioned that the Spring Sale at our ebooks store was coming up, on March 25th… Well, I don’t know what was happening with my head that day, but I’d somehow managed to lose a week of my life – the Spring Sale at our ebooks store was actually […]
“Why are we doing this, teacher?”
Buondì. A quick message for Patricia, who left a comment on the website, politely wondering why she hadn’t heard from me about her prize for entering the translation competition a couple of weeks back. This is what I wrote about that in last week’s article: “But everyone who entered deserves a prize… If they email […]
Translation competition results
Buondì. The title of last week’s article was ‘I expect you could do a better Italian/English translation‘. If you missed it and are interested in translating and/or ‘portici’ then take a look before reading on. OK, up to date now? Bene. And if you’re NOT interested in translating? I updated the club’s ‘Best of’ page […]
I expect you could do a better Italian/English translation
Buondì. It’s raining this morning in Bologna, and when it rains in Bologna, it REALLY rains. As our automobile (an ancient Fiat Punto) has a broken clutch, Stefi and Bug set off – all dressed up in waterproofs and armed with umbrellas – to catch the bus into the historic center, where Bug spends his […]
Feb. 2025 FREE Trial Online Italian Lesson offer ends soon
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 November. Why wait? February’s […]
February 2025 FREE Trial Online Lesson Offer: last few days!
(Here’s an article from our archive, which we use each time we do a Free Trial Lesson Offer. Things will be back to normal next week, when the promotion is over.) Buondì. Time’s running out to book your free online Italian lesson via Skype or Zoom! This week’s offer ends on Sunday night. Plenty of people […]
“Best of” 2023, Free Trial Lesson Offer, Half-price Ebooks
Buondì. Today, bits and pieces: “Best of” 2023 articles Remember 2023? It was an eventful year for us. Roomie, who’d been sharing our bed for over a year, left for pastures new. So we took a brief holiday in the UK, which made a nice change after years of not being able to travel. Right […]