Buondì.
A super-short one today, as I am absolutely exhausted from a week of ‘Summer Sale’ (which is now over, by the way) and because we have the beginning of our new, 30-part FREE ‘History of Rome’ series.
I’ve just been formatting, editing and listening to Episodo 1, and very interesting it is, too. I plan to use the summer to become knowledgeable about Roman history (and not skip the boring bits…).
Though of course, I still have to read 700 more pages of ‘I promessi sposi’, which rather stalled during the sale due to lack of time (follow my progress, and that of other club members, over on the Mini-Book Club page.
You could even join us, or read one of the other classics we’ve recently featured on our Literature page).
Anyway, Roma.
There’ll be an index page, to which I’ll add links to all thirty episodes as I publish them – so you don’t have to keep a track yourself if you miss any during the summer. But I haven’t had a second to put that up.
Here’s the link to the first episode: La storia di Roma, Episodio 1
In case you’re wondering, the level is probably at least B1, maybe a B2 (my opinion only). However, this is not literature, it’s not a ‘story’ (or not as such). So if you want to treat it like ‘study’ material, use a dictionary, learn the new words and so on, well why not?
Which means that this free series should be suitable for just about anyone who has the patience to engage with it. Super-advanced students can just listen to the audio, for example, then read through the transcript to check their understanding.
If you’re more of an intermediate, then I’d suggest reading/listening at the same time, which will get you through the text in around ten minutes and provide valuable skills practice.
Whereas for those of you who are new to Italian, perhaps start by scanning the text, reading the sub-titles, and so trying to get a general feel for what it contains, before perhaps reading/listening to selected sections only? There’s no law that says you have to do the whole thing. Or break it up into sections and study each one separately, using a dictionary if you wish.
Beh, hope that gives you all some ideas. Here’s that link again:
Watch out for Episodo 2 on Wednesday. E nel frattempo?
Well of course there’ll be Tuesday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news tomorrow.
With three of those, and three ‘Roma’s each week, I reckon we’ll be keeping you busy this summer!
A mercoledì, allora.
La storia di Roma, Episodio 1 | our various ‘book clubs’ | EasyItalianNews.com | The club website has masses of free stuff | Wanna buy something?
