Buondì.
Hope you had a pleasant weekend, wherever you happen to find yourself.
In all likelihood that’s not in Italy, as most of our members herald from the English-speaking countries strung out around the globe (for the obvious reason that the website is in English, I suppose.)
Going west from Italy, we have plenty of members in Britain and Ireland and loads across the Atlantic in North-America. Diagonally down across the Pacific there are enthusiastic communities of Italian-learners in both Australia and New Zealand. And to complete our rather wonky world tour and take us back towards Italy where I’m writing this now, there’s South Africa.
Ciao a tutti!
Beh anyway, today I have another episode from our series of free articles with audio ‘La storia di Roma‘. We’re up to the first century BC, which was a busy time it seems. Julius Caesar has met his violent end and the scene is set for a mammoth power struggle to decide who controls which part of the Roman territories, the outcome of which will shape the future of the empire!
It’s all very exciting: there’s Ottaviano, Caesar’s adopted son, educated and very, very rich, then we have Marcus Antonio, a large man, popular with the army and famous for, amongst other things, his prodigious sexual appetites. The last of his many wives was Egyptian, apparently, though I hear it didn’t end well.
Leaving aside the violence and salacious detail so beloved of playwrights, Hollywood directors, and Monday-morning bloggers, this episode covers a defining period in the story of Rome – we’re at the nexus between the Rome that was, with its evolved political systems crudely balancing the interests of different social groups, and the Rome that will be, governed mostly by one individual and characterised by the generational struggle for succession and the peaceful, or less-peaceful, transfer of power.
Get it while it’s hot! La storia di Roma, Episodio 13 Ottaviano e Antonio (44 a.C. – 27 a.C.)
Or catch up on the previous 12 epsiodes first. You’ll find them all linked to from our History page.
Don’t forget, either, to listen to Saturday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news, will you?
It’s got protests, penguins, and an article about my absolute favorite Italian cheese, the ‘puzzolente’ blue-veined gorgonzola, which I find just perfect on a pizza, accompanied by salame piccante and olives. Yum!
A mercoledì.
EasyItalianNews.com | OnlineItalianClub.com | EasyReaders.org
Michael Logan says
Hi Daniel, saying hello from Ireland.
I like OnLineItalian club, I like easy Italian news dot com, I like the easy readers too, you could say I’m a bit of a fan.
In Jan I activated a long held idea to learn some Italian. Started with a little local beginners class and was making some slow progress. Along came covid and everything changed. No face to face no discussion with others making their first valiant steps. Zoom just didn’t hack it. I needed something more. Google threw you up and I clicked. It’s been very useful to me and whenever my pension allows I make a small contribution so maybe I’m of some benefit to you.
What’s the best thing about OnLineItalian Club?
Your thrice weekly missives. I never know what’s going to come up apart from a blast of energy and encouragement. You’re like the rare teacher who keeps the class interested and working along without it seeming to be hard work. Stories, news, try this, try that, try others stuff or methods, just keep at it folks it’ll sink in.
I was very sceptical about your advice against using the dictionary as I went along. It was central to how I was “taught” German, Latin and Irish many years ago. I didn’t like it and didn’t make much progress despite having lots of time and applying myself reasonably well. I’ve been trying the Listen: Listen and Read; Listen again technique and i think it works pretty good. Looking at how children learn and how we all learn our first language, it’s clearly better than learning conjugations , past participles or future imperfect. Listen, speak, learn.
I use a few other resources just to mix it up a bit and boost my energy. Babbel and Easy Italian on YouTube, though I’m a long way off being able to translate Don Giovanni in real time as I cook!
Thank you and everyone there.
Kind Regards
Michael
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