Here’s a nice long Italian listening for you. And it’s FREE!

Buondì.

Many thanks to June, who wrote in with this translation of the nursery rhyme from Wednesday’s article.

Quando andavo alla Costa del Sole
Incontravo un signore con sette mogline
Ogni moglina avava sette borse
Ogni borsa avava sette gatte
Ogni gatta avava sette gattini
Mogline, borse, gatte e gattinini
Qnanti adavano alla Costa del Sole?

Brava June! Though you had me wondering… Isn’t the Costa del Sole in Spain?

And the spelling of the third person imperfetto of ‘avere’ should be ‘aveva’, I think.

Also, my wife objected to ‘moglina’ – she suggested you might have meant ‘mogliettina’, though either way it’s rather disparaging. Perhaps ‘moglie’ (wife), plural ‘mogli’ (wives), would be the best solution.

That said neither Spanish or Italian men are allowed more than one, and certainly not seven – imagine!

Anyway, you win an ebook for your efforts. Pick something out at your level from our online shop and email me the title – I’ll get it right off to you.

So, to business!

At this time of the year, a lot of us are travelling – to the beach for the weekend, perhaps, or off somewhere on an annual holiday.

Maybe you’re in Italy right now, or dreaming of it, but wherever you are, there’s an almost universal fascination with the idea of journeying to faraway places, meeting new people and (to a lesser extent) speaking new languages.

Hence today’s free material for learning Italian: a second interview on the topic of ‘Viaggiare (2)’.

Click the link to get the online audio (it’s a nice long one!) plus a transcript.

You can read along as you listen, or check your understanding once you’ve listened, or study unknown words BEFORE you listen – depending on your preferred way of studying.

The previous ‘Viaggiare’, which is shorter and in my opinion not so interesting, is on our ‘New’ page, along with all the others in this series so far.

Why not do them all? All you need is an internet connection, and a little willpower!

The questions the interviewer is asking come from our set of conversation prompts on the topic of travel – click here to find them.

Conversation prompts on other topics, once you’re done talking about travelling, are here.

A lunedì, allora.

Last Chance at the ‘Book of the Week’!

The ‘Book of the Week’ offer on Il giocoliere ends on Sunday, so this is a final poke for those of you who have been meaning to order it but haven’t done so yet.