More typical errors from Francesca, our ebook writer (and teacher)

Buondì.

I’ve been hanging onto a text that our regular ebook writer (and Italian teacher) Francesca sent me a while back.

For a rainy day, so to speak.

Or a day when I had little ‘voglia’, like today.

I’ve got to go pay the car insurance, and deposit money at the school’s bank. And it’s grey and cold outside.

But yes, I know!! Primitive or what?

We’ve discovered Google Pay, so spent our weekend in Glasgow, Scotland, paying for beers and public transport with our smartphones.

Once you get the hang of it, cool, or what? No more coins and wallets for us!

But back in Italy, I still have to pay for my car insurance by riding my motorcycle to the insurance office and writing a cheque/check, which is a bore, and time-consuming.

So here’s my emergency reserve, a follow up to last month’s ‘5 Common Mistakes to Avoid‘.

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Altri 5 errori comuni da evitare – Francesca Colombo

1) “È una problema serioso”

What’s wrong here? Mainly 2 things:

a) the article: è UN problema
b) the adjective “serioso” – the translation for “serious” is “serio”

As for our sentence, one should say: “È un problema serio.”

Wanna sound native? Say: “è un problema grave.”

Wanna sound really reeeeally native? Then say “è un bel problema!”

FYI the word “serioso” exists, and it defines a distant person who wouldn’t probably smile in a million years. Rather uncommon adjective, though, we’d probably just define someone as “antipatico” or “distante” or “freddo”.

2) “Ho goduto la serata”

Meaning “I enjoyed the evening.” The average Italian would surely go for the verb “divertirsi” instead of “godersi” and say something like: “Ieri sera mi sono divertito”.

One could say:

“Enjoy your summer!” = “Divertiti quest’estate!”

“Have fun!”= “Divertiti!”

“We really had fun.”= “Ci siamo proprio divertiti.”

You see the point…

“Godersi” is correct, if you use the proper auxiliar and the reflexive particle. So, when you talk about the past, remember:

the reflexive particle + verb ESSERE + past participle + the object

“Mi sono goduto la serata.”

Attenzione!

The verb “godere”, in its non-reflexive form, means “to experience sexual pleasure” mainly. This is another good reason not to take your chances using it unless you are confident enough with it…

3) “Hai una buona giornata!”

When you wish someone something, just use the adjective “buono/buona/buon/buoni/buone” + the object.

No verb “have”, just “Good day!”

For instance:

“Buona giornata!”
“Buona serata!”
“Buone vacanze!”
“Buon fine settimana!”
“Buon Natale!”

eccetera, eccetera…

4) “Mi non piace la pasta.”

Here it goes, the dreaded verb “piacere”, I know…

Remember to put the negation “non” first. Because “mi” is not the subject (“la pasta” is), it doesn’t come first.

One should say:

“Non mi piace la pasta.”

5) “5 più errori comuni”

Meaning “Five more mistakes”.

It’s obviously wrong, look at the title of THIS article: “Altri 5 errori”…

The expression “number + more” in English is translated with “altro/altra/altri/altre”:

“Altri 5 errori da evitare” (5 more mistakes)

“Vengono altre due amiche a cena, è un problema?” (2 more friends)

“Ragazzi, avete altri 10 minuti per finire l’esame” (10 more minutes/ 10 minutes left)

“Ho un’altra domanda, professore!” (1 more question)

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Many thanks, Fra, you saved me ‘un sacco di tempo’!

P.S.

Don’t forget this week’s new ‘easy reader’ ebook, Ti racconto la mia giornata, will you?

There’s a 25% discount this first week, so you’ll pay just £5.99. From Nov. 22nd, it’ll cost £7.99.

Check out the Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) before you consider buying a copy, so as to verify that the level is appropriate for you, that you’re happy with the length and format, and that you know how to make it work on your device.

Try also the audio. There’s a link at the top of Chapter 1 in the Free Sample Chapter (.pdf), and the recording for the whole text is available free online.

‘Tell us about your typical day’ is a classic classroom activity for practising the present, describing routines, likes and dislikes, and so on. So here, nine people do!

Read/listen to a nurse, a DJ, a tour guide, a carer, and five more, relating a day from their lives, from the vital issue of what they have for breakfast, to their jobs, their families and friends, and how they relax.

Once you’ve done all nine, test how much you’ve understood (and hopefully learnt!) using the exercises in the final section.

• .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
• 9 chapters to read and listen to
• 9 exercises at the end of the ebook, to check your understanding
• Italian/English glossaries of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
• Suitable for students at elementary level and above
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Buy Ti racconto la mia giornata | Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) | Catalog

P.P.S. “Oy! Where’s my ebook??”

At least three people have written to me this week, after having waited patiently for three or four weeks, to enquire, usually politely, but sometimes with a degree of irritation, when they’d get the ebook they paid for.

Which is why I always include this text, also present on the ‘product information’ page (go look, it is!)

How do I access my ebook?

When your order is ‘completed’ (normally immediately after your payment is confirmed), 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.

Not that it seems to make a lot of difference.

People even reply to the email CONTAINING THE DOWNLOAD LINK, to enquire where their ebook has got to, after all this time…

See that bit where it says ‘Download’, I reply. That’s what you missed. But it was valid for 7 days, and now four weeks of passed, so unfortunately it will have expired.

Never mind, I reassure them, I’ve refreshed that link for you and pasted it here (pastes link) so you don’t even need to scroll down to find the one you missed previously.

Let me know if you need further help, won’t you? I add, in my best customer service tone.

SUMMARY: if you buy an ebook, you WILL AUTOMATICALLY be sent an email CONTAINING THE LINK TO DOWNLOAD YOUR EBOOK, and that will happen immediately after your payment clears (that is to say, by your human standards of time, instantly.)

Assuming you see that email, read it until you see the word ‘Download’, accompanied by a clickable link. Then click that link. Hey presto!

If you don’t see that email, check your spam/junk folders for it.

N.b. If you’re using a smaller, older, or Australian email provider, please consider using one of the bigger/newer/non-Australian ones when ordering from us, and particularly when you write for help with missing ebooks.

Otherwise emails resending the link, or simply replying to your customer service issue, may well meet the same fate as the ‘missing’ ones, that is to say, getting ‘disappeared’ by your email provider before you even see them. And you wouldn’t want that, would you?

SUMMARY SUMMARY: Use Gmail, Outlook or whatever Apple gave you. Check the spam. When you find the email, read it! And if there’s still an issue, no need to wait three weeks before contacting me…

Also, why not be polite?

Someone this week who’d waited ages for her ebook turned out to have mistyped her own email address in the order form. That’s not hard to fix, but it does take time to identify what the problem was – not in spam, not the buyer ignoring the email with the download link, not the client having downloaded the ebook multiple times without saving a copy, ahah, and oops, the customer mistyped their email so of course, won’t have received anything from us.

That was half an hour of my life, gone and not coming back…

Oh well, off to ‘godermi’ the car insurance office!

A venerdì, allora.

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