Just too complicated

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Buondì.

Here’s the usual reminder that on Monday I published three more episodes of this year’s FREE Summer Series.

Actually it was on Sunday, as this week I’m working a few days ahead.

Stefi, Bug, and I are going ON HOLIDAY from Tuesday to Friday, at a campsite in Tuscany, this mostly because Bug’s petting zoo is closed for a fortnight, and keeping him amused at home all day (it’s approaching 40 degrees Centigrade outside) is beyond us.

So I’m writing this on Tuesday with the idea that it’ll be sent automatically on Wednesday, by which time Bug will be floating in the pool on his yellow, inflatable ring, and I’ll be looking forward to lunch cooked by someone else.

Anyway, click this link to find the three latest articles. Scroll right down to the bottom of the page. The grey non-links are the yet-to-be-published episodes, the red ones are live and ready to read/listen to. They’re free.

In response to last week’s article, Ciao ciao, little owl, a club member, who shall remain nameless and so unshamed, wrote this:

Dear online Italian club
This is just too complicated for me and so I am unsubscribing
Sent from my iPad

The last four words say it all, really. At risk of offending the doubtless thousands of iPad-using club members, y’all have to admit that there are some idiots amongst Apple’s billions of customers.

One fewer of those on our mailing list is always welcome, so I scrolled down the emailed Ciao ciao, little owl article that she’d replied to and clicked the link in the footer to see if she really had unsubscribed.

That’s the part of each emailed article that looks like this:

You’re receiving this because you joined Online Italian Club from our website. To stop getting emails, click the unsubscribe link below.

Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe

Not to my great surprise, the ‘Unsubscribe’ page showed that the overwhelmed lady had not actually unsubscribed. Must have been too complicated for her. So I helped.

Later in the week I was reflecting on that phrase, “This is just too complicated for me”.

What the former club member probably meant was that my weekly emails are long, take time to read, and require a certain amount of investment to extract any possible value from. And investment over time, to boot.

That’s deliberate.

We have approaching eighteen thousand club members right now. Hundreds more subscribe each week, and a big chunk of those unsubscribe soon after managing (miraculously) to click the link that the overwhelmed person couldn’t handle.

A chunk of that 18K, perhaps five or ten percent, never open any of the emails they receive. Those I prune away manually every six months or so, or the mailing bills get out of hand.

What remains is something approaching a ‘club’, so perhaps fifteen thousand hopeful learners of Italian from around the world, some of whom open every emailed article, some of whom open some of them, now and again, some of whom buy ebooks or lessons, and a very, very few who write comments on my articles.

For instance on last week’s article, here.

It’s these people I write for. The ones who signed up for whatever reason, some of them recently, some during the pandemic, some a decade ago, and who are STILL HERE.

They’re the ones, I assume, who (like me) feel part of something. Who, therefore, feel less alone in their language-learning journeys, which tend to be long, often lifelong.

Some club members admit to not having actually studied Italian for years now, but stick around anyway, which is fine.

We are – at least some of us, I hope – like old friends.

Most of my old friends have already heard all the useful advice I ever had to impart. Some even follow it.

Some of them have made such great progress with their Italian, with or without tips from me, that they no longer have need for instructions or free material.

Some just value the company, I suppose. A surprisingly large number are keen to hear the latest news about Bug, his predecessor Roomie, and the rescue animal we had before her, who didn’t often make it into these articles.

Così.

That said “This is just too complicated for me” could have referred, not to my round-about way of getting messages across about language learning, but instead to learning Italian (or any language).

In which case, she was spot on.

Learning a language is, from one point of view, very complicated. It’s beyond almost everyone who tries it. It’s confusing and demotivating. And the people who provide courses and materials which they promise will help understate the difficulties, and overstate the likelihood of success.

On the other hand, learning a language is totally uncomplicated. Almost every human, of any age, is capable of it. And there’s no secret beyond doing useful stuff that works and avoiding spending time and money on trickery that will mislead.

All language-learning really takes is to engage with the community of people using the language you choose to learn (which could be via written or audio texts, i.e. reading and listening) and continue doing that until the desired results are achieved.

Admitedly, that could be a very, very long time.

If you want to learn to play golf, joining a club might help.

You’ll meet other people with the same interest, share drinks and chat with them in the golf club bar, make new friends, have a place to go to escape from your husband/wife/children on Sunday mornings, and so on.

The golf club might provide motivation, offer support, and be a place to exhange tips with others who have learnt the game, or are learning.

At the end of the day, golf, language-learning, and life itself, is as complicated or simple as you want to make it.

Whatever we’re talking about, the trick is to stick with it. And having friends helps with that.

Alla prossima settimana!

Easy Reader of the Week, ‘I racconti della vestale’, £4.99

This week’s half-price eBook ‘easy reader’ is the C1 (advanced) – level ‘I racconti della vestale’, an original story that will keep you turning the pages, and so help improve your Italian reading/listening comprehension skills!

Comprendo che è un peso stare a sentire una vecchia logorroica, ma non ho molto pubblico ultimamente, però vorrei raccontarti la mia storia.

“La donna ha bisogno di essere protetta da un uomo perché è debole sotto molti aspetti. Per questo nessuna donna è libera. Né le attrici né le prostitute, né le cittadine, né le campagnole, né le matrone né, ovviamente, le schiave”.

Così aveva sentenziato mia nonna, accompagnandomi alla cerimonia di iniziazione, e poi aveva aggiunto, alzando il dito indice: “Ma le sacerdotesse della dea sono protette da Vesta, e sono preparate fin da piccole ad avere grandi responsabilità. Perciò possono scegliere cosa fare della propria vita, e quando finiscono di prestare servizio alla città, hanno la stessa libertà di un uomo”.

Avevo solo nove anni ma non ero stupida: sapevo che sposarsi significava sottostare al volere del proprio marito, produrre eredi per lui e accettarne le scappatelle. Questa era la vita di mia madre, e anche mia sorella Lucilla Maggiore stava per diventare esattamente quel tipo di matrona: a tredici anni aveva sposato un uomo di ventiquattro che aveva conosciuto il giorno prima del matrimonio.

Mi aspettavano dunque trent’anni di servizio alla dea e poi sarei stata indipendente!

• .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 upper-intermediate level or above
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Remember, this week ‘I racconti della vestale’ is 50% discounted, so just £4.99 rather than the usual ‘easy reader’ ebook price of £9.99!

Buy ‘I racconti della vestale’ just £4.99! | Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) | History/historical Italian ebooks | Catalog

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When your order is ‘completed’ (normally immediately after your payment), 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, where available, cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them. There’s a space to do that on the order form – where it says Additional information, Order notes (optional). If you forget, or if you have problems downloading the .pdf, don’t worry! Email us at the address on the website and we’ll help. Also, why not check out our FAQ?

P.S.

Don’t forget to find time to read/listen to today’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news, which was published a few hours ago.

The regular FREE text + audio bulletins are a great way to consolidate the grammar and vocabulary you’ve studied, as well as being fun and motivating!

To get all three text + audio bulletins of ‘easy’ news emailed to you each week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, subscribe (it really is FREE) by entering your email address on this page and clicking the confirmation link that will be sent to you.

Check out their website to get started on improving your Italian immediately!

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