Buondì. Yesterday, in a rare idle moment, I was flicking through the Le Monde (French newspaper) app, which I pay monthly for but use less than I should, when I came across the ‘podcasts’ section. And while scrolling down through that, a recent ‘program’/podcast, whatever the correct word is, on the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s […]

Buondì. Here’s a reasonable question from Sue: I would just like to know if you are allowed to make notes when doing listening exercises and of course during an exam. I find it impossible to remember details in English, never mind Italian. Many thanks in advance. And my reply: In an exam your approach should […]

Buondì. Wednesday’s article, entitled ‘Building your listening skills‘, generated this interesting comment: But … but isn’t Easy Italian News “audio with English subtitles” effectively? which I think I wrote was a waste of time, which opinion I stand by, until death do us part. My reply (just published now, sorry for the delay) was: No, […]

Buondì. Someone emailed me this week with a question: “Do you also recommend watching TV without Italian subtitles?” To which I replied: “It depends on the person. If you’re a beginner, you won’t understand much, but if you’re OK with that then fine. Italian subtitles help you get the general idea, so are better than […]

Buondì. How to learn new words? I had this conversation with Alberto, an Italian that I teach for two hours online each Wednesday evening. He’s a star, has learnt a lot in the six months we’ve been working together, and is very responsive to new ideas, especially learning how to learn (he wasn’t the most […]

Buondì. I am occasionally called rude, last night it was ‘horrid’, though rarely ‘unhelpful’, which would be unjust, given that the friction with club members and customers usually comes when I am attempting to assist them (day, night and weekends) with their customer service issues. Lots of people are pleased with my customer service, a […]

Buondì. Is Italy once more open for language study/travel? There’s much talk of ‘vaccine passports’, travel corridors, and such like. And many, perhaps most, Italian language schools are already showing on their websites that they are ‘open’. But concretely? Nothing seems very certain… If you live in the UK, for instance, travel abroad is still […]

Buondì. A short one today because… well, frankly, because I’m rather tired of people asking me how they can achieve the improbable, in very little time, and with no particular effort. On the club website, over the years, I’ve written just about everything I know about language-learning, a whole career’s worth of teaching, and direct […]

Buondì. A quick one today, as I’m supposed to be in an online conference… Wednesday’s article included Language-Learning Tip #01, which was: ‘Apps and courses aren’t written for you personally. Nor necessarily well.’ If you missed it, you can read it here. The gist of it was that language courses are rarely put together to […]

Buondì. Imagine the world’s best, that is to say most-able, most-competent language-learner. I’m thinking of a mid-level diplomat from a continental European country. A diplomat because language skills are essential to the job, mid-level because the most.junior people will lack experience and the most-senior will be judged on other things besides language competence. Unfortunately that […]