“Ho già dato!”

Buondì.

Someone wrote to me this week asking if I had plans to offer EasyItalianNews.com also for other languages – he provided a list of those he’s learning. It would be great if we could do the same thing, that is to say, produce 150-odd FREE bulletins each and every year, for this language, and that one, and that other one, and maybe…

No plans, no, I replied, and explained why.

We’d love to offer free reading/listening content for other languages but, and they’re big buts:

1.) Much of the work producing and recording the thrice-weekly free bulletins of ‘easy’ Italian news is done by my wife (Italian native speaker), who works for love, and my kids (bilingual Italian/English), who do it for pocket money.

2.) We were able to quickly build a viable audience for EasyItalianNews.com by cross-promoting the new site to people who already know us – you, for instance, OnlineItalianClub.com member, who are currently reading this article. Given that we don’t have large mailing lists for other languages, we’d have to advertise, which would cost a FORTUNE! Simple truth of marketing – everything costs a fortune, even convincing people to do things that are free and will benefit them. I bet it would cost €50 euros per free subscriber, and we’d need thousands. You do the maths.

3.) E poi, for each new language, we’d have to hire competent, diligent native speakers, to do the editing and audio recording, at the very minimum (it’s not usually hard to get writers, but they need to be managed.) So we’d need to pay them, in money And we’d need to be able to replace them when they quit to do something more lucrative, which everyone does, sooner or later. Hard to hire people for their foreign language editing skills if you don’t actually know the language yourself…

So, great idea but “Ho già dato!”, as Italians say when asked to throw a coin in someone’s cup. “I’ve already given!”

Somebody should definitely do it, though, I agreed.

It would be cool to be able to follow ‘easy news’ bulletins in all the languages I’m learning, as well as listening to ‘real’ news, which is what I mostly do, for lack of a better alternative.

The world would definitely be a better place if more people were willing to devote years of their lives, basically for free, to producing something that thousands of others could benefit from.

Here’s an idea, though…

Maybe you know a venture capitalist, with oodles of cash to burn, I mean ‘invest’, in prestigious projects of this type?

A couple of million per language should do it, just enough to pay for a year-long advertising campaign, plus a generous salary for the founder.

If so, do feel free to mention my name.

Or my wife’s, for that matter, as she does most of the work.

A venerdì.

P.S.

Have you listened to/read Tuesday’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news, yet?

There’s no better way to build your Italian vocabulary and reading/listening skills.

And it costs precisely nothing!

P.P.S.

Don’t forget this week’s half price ‘ebook of the week offer’, the B1/B2 (intermediate/upper-intermediate) L’imperatore e i giochi.

‘The philosopher’, Marco Aurelio (121 – 180 CE), was the last of the ‘Five Good Emperors’ who ruled during the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability.

Join him and his son as they head off to the Colosseum for an afternoon of ‘entertainment’ – watching gladiators fight to the death.

The boy can’t wait! But his father is less than enthusiastic…

• .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
• .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
• 8 chapters to read and listen to
• Comprehension questions to check your understanding
• Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
• Suitable for students at any level
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Also this week,  ALL OUR HISTORICAL TITLES, a further ten ebooks, at different levels, are 25% off the usual price!

Buy L’imperatore e i giochi just £3.99! | History titles 25% off! | Catalog

How do I access my ebook?

When your order is ‘completed’ (allow up to 24 hours), a download link will be automatically emailed to you. It’s valid for 7 days and 3 download attempts so please save a copy of the .pdf ebook in a safe place. Other versions of the ebook (.mobi/Kindle-compatible, .epub) cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them.

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OnlineItalianClub.com | EasyItalianNews.com | EasyReaders.org (ebooks) | NativeSpeakerTeachers.com (1-1 lessons)