Buondì. Time’s running out to book your free online Italian lesson via Skype. The offer ends on Sunday night. 115 people have already signed up, though if past performance is a guide, not all of them will get around to actually doing the free lesson. We usually figure that if we get 150 people to […]
Free Online Italian Lesson via Skype – Reminder!
Buondì. A quick reminder about the ‘Free Online Italian Lesson via Skype’ offer, which began on Monday. Full details are here. 60 people already signed up in the first two days. The offer lasts until Sunday night and the plan is to give away a hundred free lessons… So if you’re interested, better ‘darti una […]
This week, the Free Trial Online Italian Lesson Offer!
(The articles I’ll be publishing this week are the same as or similar to those published in November 2018 and February 2019, at the time of our previous Free Trial Lesson Offers. They worked well then, so I’ll be taking a break and catching up on other work. Things’ll be back to normal on Monday […]
Online lesson tips for students (and teachers!)
Buondì. I’ve just been having an online Turkish lesson with my regular teacher, Ayşegül. It’s her ‘name day’, she tells me, the first of November being the day that Italians celebrate anyone who isn’t named after one of the other three hundred and sixty-four saints. I’ve just checked and found that mine is October 10th. […]
Like a first date
Buondì. Next week, starting on Monday, we’ll be having our popular November ‘Free Trial Lesson’ offer. Which means that, FOR NEW STUDENTS ONLY, the price of this: Online Italian lessons: 1 x 30-minute lesson in our online shop will be reduced from £20 to an unbeatable £0! Obviously, the idea is to get people to […]
‘How Not to Be a Nerd’
Buondì. I’m finally reading a book (in English) that’s been gathering dust on a shelf in my bedroom for several years. I managed to buy this particular paperback twice in successive summer holidays in the UK, but not read it on either occasion. I was finally prodded into doing so (and into discovering that I […]
“E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle”
Buondì. Don’t the stars look good today? Well, the overcast, late-October, Bologna-Friday-morning sky, anyway. Though it is drizzling some as I write. So damp, yes. But refreshing! And importantly, with no whiff of sulphur, nor even an echo of the cries of the damned. Yes, we’ve escaped hell at last! (This is NOT a Brexit […]
“Why bother babbling to a babbler?”
Buondì. Below is another entry in the Dante/Nimrod translation competition, from Killian in Ireland. Sorry not to have seen it before, Killian – it ended up in spam. We get so many spam comments that it’s virtually a full-time job separating the thousands of fake ones from the infrequent real ones. It’s interesting though – […]
A special place in hell for…
Buondì. Today we have the third in the Anselmo trilogy, plus a few items sent in by club members. In fact, I think I’ll do those first… Manju sent in this photo from Saturday’s anti-Brexit march. The cheerful-looking protestor is clearly a Dante fan, as well as a remainer. The caption at the top (sorry […]
Two Entries in our Dante Translation Competition!
Buondì. We had two responses to Wednesday’s challenge to translate this section from Canto XXXI of Dante’s Inferno: Poi disse a me: «Elli stessi s’accusa; questi è Nembrotto per lo cui mal coto pur un linguaggio nel mondo non s’usa. Lasciànlo stare e non parliamo a vòto; ché così è a lui ciascun linguaggio come […]