‘Posso parlare un po’ d’Italiano, ma non capisco niente’

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Buondì.

Bit short of time today, as it took me an hour and a half to drive Bug to his petting zoo on the other side of the city, then get home again through the maze of potholes, closed roads and one-way systems that will, inshallah, one day be the ‘Verde’ line of Bologna’s future tram system.

But I’ve been meaning since before last week’s promotion to mention a thought-provoking column by Guardian columist Tim Dowling, which I read at the end of last month: ‘Tim Dowling: six years of Duolingo and I speak a little Italian, but understand nothing‘

There’s no paywall on The Guardian’s content so you can click the link and read the article yourself if you so choose. If not, suffice it to say that the final part (“understand nothing”) is clearly not true. Any experienced language learner, reading about Tim’s family skiing trip to Italy, will know that Tim’s Italian listening comprehension skills are way better than he’s letting on. And his speaking, too, given that he seems to manage a series of communicative situations fairly effectively and without resorting to English.

Ignore what he says about ‘speaking a little’ and ‘understanding nothing’ and compare him to his adult sons (also on the ski trip), who genuinely know no Italian. Tim takes the lead at the car hire office, in the ski rental store, in the bar, and so on, not just managing to communicate his family’s needs but also translating back for his kids’ benefit what’s being said. He’s even able to eavesdrop on bar staff talking amongst themselves. None of that is easy, or comes quickly, even with Duolingo…

So well done, Tim, and enough of the false modesty. From what he writes, his foreign language skills are well above the average for a non-bilingual Brit, probably at least an A2 on the CEFR system. If you’re not familiar with the CEFR levels, check out their ‘self assessment checklist‘, read FAQ)

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What I’m reading/watching this week

Becuase of last week’s promotion, which ate up a lot of my time, I’m still reading the second of Robert Graves’s novels about Roman emperor Claudius, ‘Il divo Claudio’ (in italiano). It’s awfully long, so I had to renew the ebook download in the library app. Fortunately no one else wanted to read it. I should finish by next week. Also from the library app, I’ve been dipping into ‘La Psicologia di Soldi’ by Morgan Housel, which has some interesting insights but hasn’t held my attention as well as Claudio invading Britain (accompanied by elephants and camels, to frighten the natives).

TV-wise, we watched a Netflix film in German (with English subtitles), about a dog trainer. It was more entertaining than I’d expected, and listening to a different language made a nice change. The German trailer for ‘Eat Pray Bark’ is on Youtube. And ‘Suits’, of course (in English). Last night we began season 2. This week, Bug has been watching ‘Morph’, on Youtube – many thanks to the Google boys for some rare moments of calm a casa nostra. Morph is fun for adults, too, so why not check it out?

Half-Price Italian Easy Reader Ebook ‘Roma città aperta’

This month’s half-price Italian ‘easy reader’ ebook has been chosen because April 25th will be the eighty-first anniversary of Italy’s liberation from Nazi occupation (in World War II, for those who slept through history lessons…)

This one is from our ‘easy reader of the classic Italian movie’ series, so it’s the simplified story of the movie. Read/listen to it first, then find the movie online and watch it in Italian! We don’t promise you’ll understand everything, but our ebook will certainly help, besides being valuable reading/listening practice material itself.

Love movies? We have plenty more ‘film easy readers’. Browse them all here (though the others are not half price, sorry!)

This moving masterpiece of Italian neo-realism, set in WW2 Rome, tells the story of how resistance leader Giorgio, along with his friends, neighbours and family members, fight the Nazi forces occupying their city.

• .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 B1 level and above
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Remember, this month ‘Roma città aperta‘ is 50% discounted, so just £4.99 rather than the usual ‘easy reader’ ebook price of £9.99!

Buy ‘Roma città aperta‘ just £4.99! | Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) | Italian Movie Easy Readers | Catalog

Find more ebooks, organised by level, then type: A1 | A1/A2 | A2 | A2/B1 | B1 | B1/B2 | B2 | B2/C1 | C1 | C1/C2 | C2

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P.S.

Don’t forget to read/listen to Tuesday’s bulletin of news from EasyItalianNews.com, will you?

Reading/listening practice will help you consolidate the Italian you’re studying, expand your vocabulary, and build vital comprehension skills.

EasyItalianNews.com is FREE to read/listen to.

Subscribing, and so receiving all three text + audio bulletins of ‘easy’ news via email each week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays – is also FREE.

Just enter your email address on this page and click the confirmation link that will be sent to you.

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