What’s in store for fortune-tellers & the last good Emperor

Buondì.

It’s raining today, for the first time in months. So I plan to keep this short and get out and enjoy the cool.

I might take an umbrella, or I might just get wet.

For the fun of it!

So…

1.) Dante’s Inferno Canto XX, in which Dante finds out what punishment God has in store for fortune-tellers and the like. Hint, in involves nudity and tears. View all twenty cantos published so far on our Literature page.

2.) Monday we have a new ebook coming out, and it’s a good one! Well, I enjoyed it, at least. The level is intermediate, so it’s accessible to more or less anyone, whether your level is low or high. A good read is a good read, right? And there are gladiators!

Oh go on, then… you convinced me. Here’s a link to the free sample chapter (.pdf), which also has a link to the online audio for the entire tale! More about that on Monday.

3.) For beginners or near-beginners, don’t forget this week’s two half-price ‘Books of the Week’, both oldies from when we were just starting out publishing ebooks.

They are Ciak si gira and La crisi di mezz’età. If you’re NOT a beginner or near-beginner invece, but need something to tide you over the weekend until the Imperatore ebook comes out on Monday, check out our catalog to get something more suited to your level and interests.

4.) People keep writing to me with the same question, which is basically: ‘What can I do to improve my listening comprehension?’ And well you might ask! I had exactly that problem with my Swedish eighteen months ago, but given that Sweden was/is awash with refugees and so had a generous budget for integrating them, I was able to easily find simplified news broadcasts to listen to each day.

After a few months of daily listening, my comprehension skills had improved massively (and continue to improve.) For which, I ripped off the idea and created EasyItalianNews.com. If you haven’t read the ‘Advice‘ page, you should. And if you haven’t joined the 3887 other people who have subscribed for free to get three news bulletins via email each week, you should do that too. (Italian teachers – do me a favor and tell your students? This is a no-brainer, as my kids would say.)

That’s it – time to go for a stroll in the rain.

A lunedì, allora.