Master and Commander

No time to read this? Why not find something to study instead? A1 – Beginner/Elementary | A2 – Pre-Intermediate | B1 – Intermediate | B2 – Upper-Intermediate | C1 – Advanced | C2 – Proficiency | What’s my level? | Italian level test

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Buondì.

The stress of the recent U.S. elections, and tips from Seth Godin and Oliver Burkeman, led me to reconsider my habit of reading online newspapers from the moment I woke up in the morning until the moment I went to sleep at night.

As well as sometimes during the night, when Bug was so restless that no one but him could get any sleep before/after he’d had his ‘biberon’.

I resolved to get my global news update weekly, rather than hourly!

The Economist is a costly weekly magazine, but it covers more or less everything of interest that has happened since its last edition, and is usually available to download – for free – via the app provided by our local library.

And to supplement that – after all, something really vital might happen – I look at news apps on my smartphone, and newspapers from the library app, but ONLY IN THE LANGUAGES I’M LEARNING, not English.

That way it counts language-learning plus points (for improving reading skills, vocabulary, grammar, and ‘cultural knowledge’) rather than headline-addict penalties. Win, win.

This week I’ve browsed in Italian, Swedish and Spanish. I didn’t get around to French, but listen to French news when I’m out for a walk, so didn’t really need to.

Can’t read Turkish worth a damn. It’s all back to front. One day I need to get to grips with that…

Anyway, done with the news headlines, and the occasional article, and throwing caution to the winds in terms of getting any real work done, I thought I’d try reverting to a habit from my pre-news-addicted youth, when I used to spend hours each day reading bestselling novels.

You know the sort of thing – spies, detectives, legal dramas, historical sagas – certainly nothing too challenging.

Turning to the library’s other app, which is for borrowing and reading ebooks, I typed in the name of one of my go-to authors for quick, cheap reads, and downloaded an Italian-language ebook I figured I probably hadn’t read yet.

It can be difficult to know with translations into Italian, as the titles often bear zero resemblance to the originals. But I guessed right with this one, the first of my five-per-month free downloads.

In not more than a couple of days –  of amazing feats of deduction coupled with super-human acts of violence –  I was done. Satisfied with myself, and fully-entertained.

There’d been words I didn’t know, which is only to be expected when reading a foreign language, even one you know very well. But I didn’t let them faze me.

That’s the advantage of airport-novel-style page-turners, at least when it comes to language learning: you’re so keen to find out what happens next, there’s no time for worrying, or dictionaries.

Buoyed by this success, and experiencing a bargain-hunters’ high at getting something for free, I set about finding another ebook.

I searched for novels by other go-to authors, but couldn’t find much I hadn’t already read, or that would still hold my interest, decades after I’d first read it.

In the end I plumped for a Napoleonic-war-era Royal Navy romp, the first novel in a series of twenty that had all been translated into Italian, and that apparently few other readers in my ‘provincia’ were anxious to download.

Sea battles, sword fights, and sex – what could be more perfect for idling away the hours in the twilight of my so-called career, while avoiding Trump headlines and improving my Italian reading skills?

And yet, while I’d manage to zip through the previous novel undisturbed by new words or complicated turns of phrase, this one was very different.

Right from page one there were dozens of words I didn’t know, along with idioms and expressions which presumably made some sense in Italian but didn’t seem like anything I could guess at in English.

Ships have lots of components, of course. And sailing them involves plenty of unfamiliar verbs. But even though I once had an Italian-language ‘patente nautico’ (sailing licence, now expired), I was pretty lost, a lot of the time.

Crappy novel A = easy and fast

Crappy novel B = the opposite

And yet, the important part isn’t the absence or presence of unknown vocabulary and unfamiliar structures, but the power of the plot!

Insomma, I still wanted to know what happened next. So kept turning the pages, despite the hordes of new words.

Long descriptions of the parts and workings of historic ships? Well, who cares?

Just keep reading, until the next fight, until the hero fills his boots with Spanish gold coins, and whisks the girl from his rival’s arms.

‘Authentic’ texts (i.e. those not written for learners) vary enormously in difficulty, from the easiest and most manageable to the ones you don’t have much of a hope with.

But your approach to reading them can be the same.

Focus on the bones of it, the overall structure, on finding out what’s important, what happens next.

Don’t – absolutely DON’T – look up the words that are unfamiliar in a dictionary, or you’ll not get far.

Before reading more than just a few paragraphs, pages, or chapters, you might have a list of dozens or even hundreds of new words: unfamilar vocabulary which is – by definition – infrequent, so also hard to remember.

Yet you’ll forget what’s happening in the story, so risk abandoning your reading in a state of depression and disillusion.

How many people think reading something in the language they’re learning might be a good idea?

How many of them give up in disgust, before finishing?

That’s why.

There are likely thousands of new words in ‘Primo commando‘, but I’m reading it to forget recent events in the USA, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.

I’m reading about long-forgotten sea battles in the Adriatic to establish saner ways spend my free time, not to ballon my historical/nautical vocabulary.

You don’t have to understand everything in an ‘authentic text’.

No really, you don’t, and you cetainly don’t have to look words up in a dictionary.

You have my permission/full-encouragement not to do so.

So don’t.

If you’re buying a house, or selling your soul to the bank, then sure, read the small print.

Then you can get your dictionary out. If you have the time, and can be bothered, be sure.

But if you’re reading in your foreign language for fun (which will promote learning, I promise), then do not bother.

It’s much, much better that you resist the siren calls of seductive new vocabulary items, if for no other reason (though there are plenty) than that avoiding dictionary deviations will help you to more-quickly develop vital ‘macro’ reading skills.

That feeling – for instance – of ‘flow’, which you get when you’re focused on the fights (or kissing, for female club members) and are so absorbed in the story that you forget you’re reading in an unfamiliar language.

Keep turning the pages.

Don’t look up new words.

It’s not complicated, so why not try it?

Guilt free.

You are, after all, doing something that’s hard (reading in a foreign language, teaching yourself), that most people don’t/can’t do, and that, with time, will be good for you.

So why make it even harder?

Alla prossima settimana!

P.S. Want to REALLY learn Italian?

(The below is a copy/paste of an article from our ebooks store’s website, published and sent out to their list yesterday. Most club members aren’t on that list, but given the above, it should be of interest.)

Want to REALLY learn Italian?

Then put aside that grammar book!

One thing that will speed up your progress with the language is spending at least part of your learning time building your reading and listening skills.

Being able to confidently read Italian texts and understand what you hear opens up a whole new world of opportunities, both for learning and for living!

Conversation, for example, has to be easier if you know what the other person is saying, which takes lots of practice listening, rather than just grammar and vocabulary.

Our ‘Three For Two’ bundles, at different half-levels, each contain three ‘easy reader’ ebooks, at a discounted price.

Each of the three .pdf ebooks in the bundle, which are printable, or readable on any device with a .pdf reader, contains an original story, along with glossaries of difficult words and exercises.

And importantly, there’s an audio recording to listen to online, as often as you wish!

This material is written by Italian teachers, especially for learners like you. The finished story is then recorded by an Italian native speaker.

You read and listen, check unknown words in the glossary, do the exercises if you wish, then go back and read and/or listen again.

Spend as much or as little time on this material as you wish – the important thing is to finish the story!

Read one, then another, then another!

Building a study habit which includes regular reading and listening to material adapted to your level will, over time, improve your knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.

As well as boosting your confidence with Italian texts of all types!

What’s in each bundle, and which level would be right for you?

Follow the links below to find out, download the sample chapters and listen to the online audio, until you have a good feeling of where to start (not TOO easy, but not too hard either!)

The A1 (elementary) ‘Three For Two’ bundle includes three .pdf ebooks:

• Colpo di forbici
• Rosa, la cuoca disastrosa
• La sorpresa

The A1/2 (elementary/pre-intermediate) ‘Three For Two’ bundle includes three .pdf ebooks:

• Cena con delitto
• Il giocoliere
• Il grande pesce rosso

The A2 (pre-intermediate) ‘Three For Two’ bundle includes three .pdf ebooks:

• Cielo libero
• La montagna
• L’amore ai tempi del supermercato

The A2/B1 (pre-intermediate/intermediate) ‘Three For Two’ bundle includes three .pdf ebooks:

• Missione segreta
• Un viaggio nel tempo
• Il campo di papaveri

The B1 (intermediate) ‘Three For Two’ bundle includes three .pdf ebooks:

• Caccia all’autografo
• Correre a tempo
• Alta moda, alto pericolo

The B1/2 (intermediate/upper-intermediate) ‘Three For Two’ bundle includes three .pdf ebooks:

• Segreti e polpette
• Le tante facce del futuro
• Un’indagine molto privata

The B2 (upper-intermediate) ‘Three For Two’ bundle includes three .pdf ebooks:

• La cicatrice
• Le italiane
• Valeria, Michele e le maschere

The B2/C1 (upper-intermediate/advanced) ‘Three For Two’ bundle includes three .pdf ebooks:

• Il bar
• Il mistero della quercia
• Prometeo e la guerra dei titani

Whichever bundle(s) you choose, you’ll receive three .pdf easy readers for the price of two!

N.b. We also have other formats (.epub, .mobi) which are better for ebook readers, such as the Kindle. These are available at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form, or email us, and we’ll send them on to you.

Save an additional £5 on your bundle!

Remember to use this week’s coupon code ( £5 Off ‘Three for Two’ Italian Easy Reader Ebooks ) and you’ll save an additional £5 off the total of any order which includes a ‘Three For Two’ bundle.

• Add a ‘Three For Two’ bundle to your cart
• Paste in this week’s coupon code ( £5 Off ‘Three for Two’ Italian Easy Reader Ebooks ) in the box where it says ‘Coupon code’, then press the ‘Apply Coupon’ button
• Scroll down to check that £5 has been deducted from the ORDER TOTAL (not the individual item price, which remains unchanged)
• Proceed to the payment stage in the usual way
• The coupon code is valid until November 26th
• Use it as often as you wish until then on orders containing one or more ‘Three For Two’ bundles

Already have the bundles? So browse our catalog to see other categories, or find more ebooks, organised by level:

A1 | A1/A2 | A2 | A2/B1 | B1 | B1/B2 | B2 | B2/C1 | C1 | C1/C2 | C2

How do I access my ebook?

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.P.S.

Did you read/listen to yesterday’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news?

The thrice-weekly text + audio bulletins are a fantastic, FREE way to consolidate the grammar and vocabulary you’ve studied, or might one day get around to studying, as well as being fun and motivating!

Subscribing is FREE, too.

To get the three weekly bulletins by email, just enter your email address on this page and click the confirmation link that will be sent to you.

If you don’t see the ‘please confirm’ email, check the spam/junk folder.

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