Buondì. I’m in a rush today as we had the internet technician in (problems with the line…) so I was offline for an hour or so and reduced to cleaning the kitchen, rather than writing. Very briefly then, there’s a new page of conversation prompts up on the club site. The topic is ‘Lavoro e […]

Buondì. For those of you here to enjoy our thousands of pages of free materials, with no intention of buying anything (prego!), I’ll start with a link to something new. You’ll recall that the club has a new section, labelled ‘Conversation‘ in the menu at the top of the site? These are prompts for conversation […]

from: Sherry to: Daniel date: Fri, Dec 29, 2017 at 8:33 PM subject: Re: How to find reading materials for your level in Italian Wow! I’m seriously impressed! I know you just started Swedish recently and you’ve apparently been working really, really hard. Could you do a post of what your study routine is? Is […]

A couple of months ago I took my first online lesson with a native-speaker teacher. I was, I admit, apprehensive, having never had a conversation in Swedish before, even after studying the language for getting on for a year. My fears went unrealised. In fact, I enjoyed my lesson. Since then, I’ve done around twenty […]

Buonasera. Yes, you noticed. I usually start with ‘Buondì’. But we were driving back from my in-laws’ place on the coast this morning. And I’ve spent the entire afternoon doing this. So I’m only getting around to writing something now, at ‘aperitivo’ time. But no matter – as we’ve been away, there’s nothing cold in […]

Buondì. Hope you had an enjoyable Natale! Perhaps, after all the excitement, you are now scratching around for something useful to do in the next few days, before the New Year festivities bring yet more gluttony. Well, here’s an idea… What about studying Italian? Hence the convenient timing of the club’s annual January Sale. And […]

Buondì. This year I’ve exchanged emails with hundreds of club members, from many different countries. Off the top of my head… ‘Ciao’ to Maria in Canada, who gets through the winter there by dreaming of sunny Italy. Also to Karen in the UK, who hosted an Italian teenager for a few weeks, and survived! Many […]

Free time? What’s that? No, seriously. Well, I suppose I read The Economist each week. Most days I cook for my wife and kids, wash the dishes and go to the supermarket. I study Swedish, and I try to go for a walk, even if it’s only down to the park, round the lake, and […]

Buondì. As I’m learning a language myself, it becomes increasingly apparent to me that listening skills are fundamental. I can keep up a conversation in Swedish, now, for the best part of an online lesson. But I’m frequently stumped by the simplest of questions from my teacher. Yet again I’m forced to trot out that […]

Buondì. This time next week is Christmas Day. Now, how do you say that in Italian, I wonder? Coincidentally, today’s ‘tided up’ page from the club’s vocabulary section covers Festività [Festivals and Holidays]. It’s basically just a list of the names of the main holidays, plus some associated words like Christmas tree and Easter egg. […]