Just as these days we buy lottery tickets in the vain hope of changing our lives for the better, so in Mattia Pascal’s era it would have been off for a day at the ‘casinò’ in the hope of winning big. Note the accented final letter of ‘casinò’ – that is to say ‘gaming house’. […]
Il fu Mattia Pascal – Capitolo 1 (simplified book + audio)
Yesterday you had the intro to our simplified version of Pirandello’s novel ‘Il fu Mattia Pascal’. If you didn’t get round to reading/listening to it yet, you can find it here. And perhaps sometime today you’ll find a minute for ‘capitolo 1’. Click the white arrow in the orange button of the audio plugin here […]
Hate your job? Bored with your partner? So, what’s to do?
Obviously that’s a completely hypothetical question… But one faced by the main character in Pirandello’s classic ‘Il fu Mattia’. What’s to do? Stick with the boring job and nagging partner? Or seize your chance to start a new life? Find out in our e-book version of the story, which we produced around a year ago […]
How to write an essay in Italian, even if you barely speak the language
In 2003 I scraped together my meager savings and signed up for the part-time MBA at Alma Business School, here in Bologna where I live. At the time, freelance English teaching was keeping me busy all hours, but didn’t generate much of an income. And as our third child had just been born, I was pretty […]
Three neglected secrets of writing well in Italian
You’re going to say “But I know that!” People always do. But then, when they need to write something, they don’t do these things. And the end result is weaker than it could have been… So pardon me, but I’m going to write about this anyway. To be reminded of the three neglected secrets of […]
How learning to write in Italian is like learning to dance
I don’t dance. Dancing doesn’t interest me in the slightest. But if I wanted to learn, I know how I’d go about it. I’d sign up for one of those ‘salsa’ courses, checking carefully first to make sure that the other students weren’t all men. I’d expect to be all left feet at first, but […]
Where to find the Italian listenings…
Just a quick one to let you know that, now the B2 series of Italian listenings has been completed, all of the material has been copied over to our B2 Italian Exercises page (along with the other material at the same level.) Scroll down to find the listenings. What about if you’re not quite up […]
Final B2 Italian listening with transcript!
It’s been the first really hot weekend of the year, as demonstrated by both the thermometer and our website statistics, which show that everyone has switched off their computers and headed for the beach. Can’t say I blame you… … as long as you get back to studying Italian again soon! Which brings me to […]
Saper argomentare (7th B2 Italian listening, with transcript)
We’re coming to the end of our series of B2 level Italian listenings. This is number 7, out of 8. Judging by recent comments about the use of adverbs and discourse markers at this level, I think you’re going to find this interesting. Basically, what we have here is an essay on the topic of […]
Uso-abuso del computer (6th B2 Italian listening with transcript)
Are you ‘computer-dependent’? Given that you’re probably reading this on a smartphone, tablet or computer, it seems likely the answer is ‘si’! In which case, check out today’s B2 Italian listening, which is entitled ‘The Use and Abuse of Computers’ (notice how that translates a little differently into English…) As always, if you can’t see […]