Are you prejudiced? Do you see the world as a collection of stereotypes? Or perhaps you’re a stereotype, yourself? Maybe you’re a Brit with a plummy accent, or an Australian wearing a hat with corks dangling from it… The reason I ask is that ‘Stereotipi e pregiudizi‘ is the topic of our newest, free Italian […]
Excuse me, where would I find books for people learning Italian?
Buondì. It’s raining here in Bologna, so I came to school on the bus. Which is much drier (and safer) than riding my motorbike. Walking to and from the bus stop gave me a chance to look around, in a way I wouldn’t normally do when I’m concentrating on not getting killed. The city is […]
Tu sei portato per le lingue?
Buondì. “Tu sei portato per le lingue?” is one of the conversation prompts in the latest addition to our ‘Free Materials for Italian Conversation Lessons‘ series. Today’s new page of interview-style questions is on the topic of ‘Imparare una lingua straniera‘, ‘learning a foreign language’. That’s something of interest to everyone reading this, I should […]
To subtitle or not to subtitle, that is the question
Buondì. My (Italian) wife speaks excellent English. Like really, really well. Americans tell her she has a British accent (though they aren’t being complimentary…) However, when as a family we sit down to watch the latest thrills on Netflix, she insists on having the subtitles on. Otherwise she “doesn’t understand”. Becoming this sub-title-dependent is not […]
A follow-up to the recent post on learning by watching TV
Buondì. I got an email from Jenny this morning, which I thought would be of general interest. It’s a follow up to the recent post on learning languages by watching TV. She wrote: You mentioned in your email that you listen to the news on Swedish TV, and even to a simplified version of the […]
How fast do fingernails grow? Faster than you think.
I was going to write about how fast my beard has grown since I stopped shaving before Christmas. Think not quite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant, but well on the way. Then I remembered that 70 percent of people reading this are female, and I’m politely assuming you ladies don’t have facial hair. So today […]
“What do you want to study today?”
“What do you want to study today?” asked my online teacher this morning. Actually, I was hoping she’d have an idea. “Jag vet inte”, I replied. “What do you suggest?” “Let’s start a circus!” she said. Must be some sort of Swedish idiom… But it wasn’t a problem to find stuff to talk about – […]
Caravaggio in the alleyways of Rome
Buondì. I’m late today as I had an online lesson this morning, then spent a couple of hours preparing our new easy reader for publication. This one’s a B2 (upper-intermediate) level, so probably on the hard side if you’re just starting out with Italian. But ideal for all you old hands! It’s called ‘Caravaggio nei […]
“How you are managing to improve your vocabulary?”
Buondì. I’m massively early today, as my wife had to get up at five-something to catch the train to Roma, for the annual general meeting of ASILS, to which our Italian school in Bologna proudly belongs. Beh, that’s the commercial break done for the day. So on to business! Thanks to those of you who […]
Studying Italian? What’s important, and what’s less so
Never be afraid to argue with your teacher (some of us talk such nonsense!) This morning I had an interesting conversation with my online Swedish teacher, in Swedish mostly, which was good. She wanted me to study a certain area of grammar, again. It’s important, she said. I’ve already studied that particular perversity at least […]