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Buondì.
A short one today, as here in Bologna we’re all sick. There’s a nasty, wheezy, chesty thing going around, which causes a booming, dry cough, along with general exhaustion. Not to say that we’re not already worn out from caring for an energetic and easily-bored young animal. But right now the vibe is ‘even more knackered than usual’.
So anyway, buoni sconto.
‘Buono’ – besides being the masculine form of the Italian adjective for ‘good’ – is also a noun, and in that case means, basically, ‘voucher’ or ‘coupon’, as in what you might once have snipped out from a newspaper so as to save 50 cents on detergent.
‘Sconto’, pronounced ‘sk’ as in ‘school’, means ‘discount’, a great word to memorise if you’re planning to visit Italy and are the bargain-hunting type.
Which reminds me, back in the day when our Italian school in Bologna was also an English school in Bologna, it was noticeable that the parents of Chinese kids would always ask for a ‘sconto’ when signing their kids up for extra English. It was evidently a cultural thing. Italians rarely did, Chinese-Italians always did.
And if they can do it, well so can you! No harm in asking, right? SCONTO??
Talking of cultural differences, yes, Italy is in Europe, but no, this isn’t France. Here, you’re not obliged to tip.
My Italian wife never does. I let the young sikh guy who delivers takeout pizzas keep the change occasionally, but only because it’s raining and because it makes me feel rich.
None of us leave tips in bars or restaurants. Non si fa.
I get (from reading U.S. newspapers in my library app) that in the U.S.A. tipping is ‘de rigueur’. You have to pay for the servers’ smiles. In Italy, except in tourist hotspots, not.
Dai (Go on!), break the habit of a lifetime and don’t tip! Perhaps you’ll more easily pass as a local.
N.b. Don’t bother asking for a ‘sconto’ in a bar or restaurant, unless there was a real issue – a bit of glass in your meal, or something, in which case you totally should.
But you can definitely try it in, say, a car repair shop. When you’re presented with the usual, inflated bill, look sufficiently shocked, taken aback, and disappointed. A (small) discount might spontaneously be offered. And if not, then: SCONTO?
So anyway, buoni sconto, the two words together basically meaning ‘coupon codes’. The word ‘codice’ IS used with ‘buono’, but to refer more to a specific ID number, for example on each, unique Amazon voucher.
We use coupon codes quite a lot in our businesses: for each quarterly promotion in our online lessons store, to encourage new students to give our Italian school a try, and so on.
Typically you get the ‘buono sconto’ (coupon code) emailed to you when you sign up to a mailing list. Use it when you buy something to save £££ or €€€, depending on the product or service. Unsubscribing from the mailing lists should be one-click, so what’s to lose?
Which brings me to the point.
Yesterday, someone I’d not heard of, from a country far, far away, joined the ebooks store mailing list ( https://easyreaders.org/mailing-list/ ), received his 33% ‘buono sconto’, and used it to buy four ebooks at a saving of approximately $20, which isn’t bad.
If you need Italian materials to read/listen to you could do the same ( https://easyreaders.org/mailing-list/ ).
But be aware (your country needs wares) that the generous 33% ‘buono sconto’ is ONE USE PER PERSON ONLY.
So you might want to save your 33% coupon code for when you’re ready to order multiple titles (i.e. not immediately, when you don’t know us, our products, or how to use them.)
And if you already used the 33% ‘buono sconto’ at some point in the past???
Beh, we have literally hundreds of Italian ebooks, at twelve different half-levels, from beginner to advanced (browse the catalog page to see them all and download FREE SAMPLE CHAPTERS), so we’d hate you to miss out on materials that could accelerate your progress.
So every four months there’s an ebook 25% ‘buono sconto’ promotion. On those happy occasions, there’s no limit on how many times you can use the coupon code.
By no coincidence at all, the EasyReaders.org seasonal ‘Beach Reads 25% coupon code’ promotion begins tomorrow, May 14th. Anyone already on their mailing list will hear about it then, wheezy breathing permitting.
However, for you, the thirty-thousand or so very special OnlineItalianClub.com members, who may or may not have opened today’s emailed article and read this far, I can reveal the 25% ‘Beach Reads’ buono sconto, which is already active from today:
2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off
– Browse the catalog page
– Download free sample chapters for materials at your level
– Open the free sample chapters on your device, so you know what you’re getting, how it works, and whether it will help with your learning
– Back to the catalog page, where clicking on the ebook titles will take you to the ‘product page’ for each title, from where you can ‘add to cart’
– When you’re done ‘adding to cart’, view your cart page, copy/paste in the ‘buono sconto’, press the ‘Apply coupon’ button, and scroll down to check the cart total has been reduced by the expected 25% (not the prices of individual ebooks, which don’t change…)
Easy as pie! But please, please, check out the free samples first, which saves me hassle and grief.
If you don’t know how to read/listen to an ebook on your iPad, do us both a favor and find out (using the free sample chapter or chapters) BEFORE you buy.
Here’s that buono sconto again:
2026-Beach-Reads-25%-Off
Catalog page | Cart | FAQ
Alla prossima settimana!
What I’m reading/watching this week
Still going with Jonathan Lethem’s ‘Il detective selvaggio’, less than a hundred pages to read and the ebook library loan has three days left. I’m confident.
Back in Italy, back to the evening Netflix regime, the primary objective of which is to lull Bug to sleep. That’s been working less and less well as he’s grown into an insistent little fellow who knows his own mind: I DON’T WANT TO GO TO SLEEP! We’re still going with the first series of ER (in English), supplemented with ‘The Mentalist’ when we feel the need for something shorter and less gory. Yesterday evening we watched half an hour or so of 1973’s ‘The Sting’. Remember that? I’d never realised my wife had a thing for Paul Newman.
P.S.
And here’s the inevitable reminder to read/listen to Tuesday’s bulletin of news from EasyItalianNews.com which – unlike our ebooks – is completely FREE!
Reading/listening practice will help you consolidate the Italian you’re studying, expand your vocabulary, and build vital comprehension skills.
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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