Buying property in Italy / Learning Italian by reading

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Buondì.

I’m going to cheat a little today as this afternoon I have to go to a ‘notaio’ downtown, after which we’ll have to rush to collect Bug from the petting zoo on time. I haven’t showered for days, and the house is a tip.

In short, I’m pressed for time.

What’s a ‘notaio’?

Literally, a ‘notary’, though if notaries don’t play much of a role in your country, that might not leave you any wiser.

The company of which I’m director is buying a small apartment (notice the Italian ‘appartamento’ has a double ‘p’, which always trips me up…) to let to students at our Italian school who need a place to stay during their course.

In Britain when you buy a ‘bene immobile‘ (‘non-mobile property’, as opposed to say a car, mobile home or largish boat, which would be ‘bene mobile’, for obvious reasons) you’d typically instruct a lawyer, who would sort things out with the seller’s lawyer to everyone’s satisfaction.

In Italia lawyers aren’t required, as the ‘notaio’ handles the stuff that the two lawyers (in the UK) would do between them, checks everything is kosher with the ‘bene imobile’, draws up the sale contracts (more about those in a moment), witnesses them being signed and the payment being made (usually by means of an ‘assegno circolare’ – ‘cashier’s check), and records the change of ownership in the property registers.

Three things that all Italians know about notaios:

1.) They’re stinking rich, because they get paid huge sums for looking important while their underpaid minions do all the work. Meet one and you’ll notice the out-of-season tan. He/she’s just got back from a long holiday some place much warmer than here.

2.) Sounds like a good thing to get into, right? No chance, though. It’s effectively a hereditary thing, as plenty of jobs are in Italy. If your pa or ma is a notaio, then so will you be. The magic money fountain stays in the family!

3.) And the most incredible thing: once the notaio’s slaves have drawn up the contract, his/her job is to READ IT ALOUD in front of the assembled parties, so the buyer and seller in our case, ostensibly to check the details, annotating with an expensive pen if changes are needed. If the contract is twenty-five pages, you’ll appreciate that this can take a while, which is why I’m in a rush today.

Reading a contract aloud, even though no one listening understands a word of it, must be a legacy from the days when most people couldn’t read for themselves. Nowadays the only logic I can see for it is to justify the large fee, which is paid by the buyer, so us.

Where was I, before I got to moaning about how not much in Italy has changed for a thousand years?

Ah yes, so last night, around dinner time, the ‘agente immobiliare’ (real estate agent) emailed me the draft of the ‘compromesso’, today’s second stage in the purchase process.

Which naturally I decided to read, all six pages of it, in legal Italian (my Italian wife declined), while Bug was banging his toy metal watering can against every hard surface, testing to see which would make the loudest clang.

When you find a property you wish to acquire, you make a ‘proposta/offerta di acquisto immobile’, an offer to buy, though the ‘agente immobiliare’, who takes it to the owner, who signs it if she/he wishes to accept.

At which point the buyer pays a deposit (‘caparra’, the amount of which is specified in the ‘offerta’), usually via bank transfer (‘bonifico bancario’), and that’s the first stage done.

Once the deposit is paid, if the buyer backs out, they’ve lost their money, while if the seller backs out, the buyer is supposed to be compensated by the same amount (though how that could be enforced…) and the original deposit returned.

The ‘proposta/offerta’ is the first stage, the ‘compromesso’ (today) is the second stage, so the formal agreement to buy/sell, checked and witnessed by the ‘notaio’, and sealed with a further deposit payment, this time an ‘assegno circolare’.

We’ll get to the final stage, known as the ‘rogito‘, by the end of May (dates specified in our original ‘proposta’) at which point it’s back to the notaio, the document is READ ALOUD and signed, the rest of the purchase price is paid (another ‘assegno circolare’), and the property is transferred from buyer to seller.

The notaio shakes everyone’s hand and, while smiles of relief are being exchanged, presents his/her inflated bill. (The ‘agente immobiliare’, linchpin to the deal, got paid months previously, right after the ‘offerta/proposta’ was accepted by the seller.)

Beh anyway, last week I wrote about how I learnt Italian basically by learning to read, using ‘graded’ then ‘authentic’ texts. If you missed that one, it’s here: But at least I got that part right!

Meno male I learnt to READ Italian at least, even if my speaking is poor (the ‘agente immobiliare’ told me I sound ‘really English’…) I can at least more or less understand what I’ll be signing today.

Not many language learners can say that they’re confident with legal texts, often not even in their mother tongue. Pat on back, Daniel!

Coincidentally, earlier this week I got an email from a language teacher’s online magazine that I’ve been reading for decades highlighting 2024’s most popular articles, one of which was: Top grades for graded readers!

Simplified texts for learners are back, apparently. I wasn’t aware they’d ever been out of fashion, but the article’s worth a read if you’re a language teacher, or a language learner who wants to know more about what might work, and why.

Which brings me, finally, to the point: our ebooks store has a sale on, as I mentioned last week, though then I was wrong about the discount being offered: the coupon code is 25%, not 20%.

You’ll find it, and yet another article about why ‘graded/easy readers’ are such a good idea, below.

AND, for club members who have a ‘learn Italian’ budget of zero? No worries, we’ve got you covered, too.

Scroll right down to the P.P.S. and sign up to get three, weekly bulletins of ‘easy’ news from EasyItalianNews.com (text + online audio).

Those are absolutely FREE, as the site is funded by donations. I read every one (I used a similar site when first learning Swedish, so I know it works!)

E così. How to buy property in Italy / How to learn Italian by reading. Your read it here first.

Alla prossima settimana.

2025 January Sale: 25% Off Graded Language Study Materials!

(This article was published on our ebooks store’s website earlier this week and covers the same topic. If you’d just like to see details of the promotion, scroll right down to where it says P.S.)

Everyone learning a foreign language is familiar with the concept of ‘level’.

Some materials are just too hard for where you’re currently at, others might seem just right, whereas the texts you worked on months ago will now, hopefully, feel easy.

We all know that it can be difficult (impossible!) to understand films and so on in the languages we’re learning, or to read an authentic article, say from a newspaper, which is written for educated native-speaker readers.

And yet, clearly, listening to the language as it is really used, and reading articles written in it, are important long-term goals, even if they seem unachievable for the moment.

Plus, it seems likely that the more we read and listen, the more meaningful our studies will be, the more new words we’ll pick up, and the more we’ll feel familiar with the grammar and structures of the languages we’re learning.

Reading and listening to the language you’re studying are unarguably good ways to speed your progress, and in any case, training yourself to listen and to read effectively in the new language is obviously going to be necessary at some point.

But authentic materials are HARD! Often too hard.

The solution to this quandry?

‘Graded’ texts, that is to say materials written by language teachers for learners like you, and designated as suitable for those who have reached or are above a particular level.

The CEFR level system uses six level bands, which are (from easiest to hardest): A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2.

Assume that students at the C levels should be reading and listening to authentic (real-life) texts and audio without too much difficulty. The graded materials at those levels, then, will approximate texts written for native-speakers.

People at the intermediate stage (the B levels) are not yet ready for ‘real’ or ‘nearly real’ listening and reading, but still need to build their skills in anticipation. So the graded materials will be an in-between step, aimed at challenging students to develop their skills further.

The easiest materials (at A1 and A2 levels) are designed to be unintimidating, which means short chapters and simple or simpler grammar and vocabulary. Their purpose is to encourage learners to get into the HABIT of reading and listening to the language they’re learning as early on in the process as possible.

The more reading & listening you do early on, the easier everything that follows will be. You’ll already be used to, for example, guessing meaning from context in a text, or getting the gist of the spoken language even when you can’t pick out every word.

Graded materials are useful at every language-learning level, but their real power can be seen when they are incorporated as an integral part of our studies right from Day 1 with a new language.

The difference between a learner who regularly reads and listens to graded materials, and one who never or rarely spends time on anything other than grammar and vocabulary exercises, is plain to see, if for no other reason than that a student who has no fear of reading and listening (because she is using materials that have been specifically written for her level, remember) comes across as being more confident and more autonomous.

How to find graded materials for your level? Our Catalog page lists materials by type and in level order, which should help.

But importantly, there’s always a free sample chapter, which you should absolutely look at before deciding to buy a particular title.

Have a look at the first few lines, the first paragraph, the first page, even the whole of the first chapter. Can you manage to figure out what’s going on in the story without too much effort, without constantly reaching for the dictionary?

If not, step down a level, try another free sample chapter, keep looking until you find something that you’re comfortable with. Don’t forget to check out the free online audio, if there is one. Usually the link is at the top of the first chapter…

Then, if the story grabs you, go ahead and buy a copy! Read a chapter a day, perhaps. There are usually eight short chapters, so in not much more than a week, you’ll be done.

At which point, you could check out other titles at the same level, or look at free sample chapters for the next level (or half-level) up, to see if you’re ready for something a little more challenging.

Aim to establish a reading/listening HABIT. Move up to the next level only when you’re comfortable, no need to rush,

Gradually, month by month, your reading/listening skills will improve, as will your knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language you’re learning.

With graded materials, such as ‘easy readers’ and ‘parallel texts’, you’ll master the language you’re studying step-by-step, almost without realising it!

P.S.

Don’t forget the 2025 January Sale is running this month!

Save a quarter on graded material for learning Italian, Spanish, French or German.

Everything in our online store, EasyReaders.org, is 25% cheaper until midnight on Sunday 2nd February 2025.

But only if you remember to use this coupon code:

2025-January-Sale-25%-Off

Browse Italian ebooks by level: A1 | A1/A2 | A2 | A2/B1 | B1 | B1/B2 | B2 | B2/C1 | C1 | C1/C2 | C2

Ebooks for students of French, Spanish and German can be found in our Catalog, where everything is organised by language, type, and level. Scroll down past Italian, or follow these direct links:

French | Spanish | German

Make your selection from our range of ebooks, which have been especially written to keep you interested and making progress.

Apply coupon code 2025-January-Sale-25%-Off in your shopping cart to reduce the cart total by 25%!

Stock up on online easy readers, parallel texts and grammar workbooks – at an unbeatable price!

EasyReaders.org

Here’s that coupon code again:

2025-January-Sale-25%-Off

Don’t forget to use it when you order to save 25% on the price of everything in your cart!

Italian | French | Spanish | German

P.P.S.

And of course, don’t forget to read/listen to Tuesday’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news.

While not ‘authentic’ (as described above) their regular text + audio bulletins are a fantastic, FREE way to consolidate the grammar and vocabulary you’ve studied, as well as being fun and motivating!

Get started on improving your Italian immediately: take a look at their website (it’s FREE!)

You can get all three text + audio bulletins of ‘easy’ news emailed to you each week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, subscribe (also FREE) by entering your email address on this page. Be sure to click the confirmation link that they send you.

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