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Buondì.
OnlineItalianClub.com has two components: the website, and a mailing list.
If you’re reading this in an email, then you ‘joined’ our club, voluntarily adding your email address to that mailing list, presumably in the hope that I’ll send you something useful.
This morning I received an update from the company that manages the mailing list, which informed me that last week around 250 people joined the club, that’s to say the mailing list.
Which is fairly typical.
N.b. Each emailed article – including this one – contains an unsubscribe link. So if you’re already fed up, scroll down to find it, then click it. Ciao ciao!
Last time I looked there were around twenty-five thousand ‘club members’, so learners of Italian from around the world, mainly English-speakers.
Two hundred and fifty new members a week, each week, comes to multiple thousands over the course of a year. Many of them never open the emails, so those I try to identify and – once or twice a year – delete.
Some, a very small percentage, become friends. They write emails, leave comments, perhaps even buy something.
But today’s article is for the rest of you, the vast, unknown majority of club members that I know little or nothing of, except for the email addresses, of course.
Who ARE you, and what do you WANT?
Let me start, that’s only fair.
I’m Daniel, British, married to an Italian. Nearing sixty, bit of a paunch, losing my hair gradually.
We have three adult children, one working in the UK, two at college/university in Italy.
I drink too much and like to siesta. I take lots of meds, which in Italy are free. I ride a BMW motorbike that’s so old it’s excused road tax.
My wife and I care for Bug, who’s nearly two, and has been with us since he was a cub. I’m not supposed to be more specific about Bug online, so read between the lines if you can. But Bug takes up a lot of my time and energy.
I started OnlineItalianClub.com back in the dark ages, circa 2012, when looking for ways to promote our Italian language school in Bologna, Italy.
Sometimes club members ring the school’s doorbell and say ‘ciao’ to my wife, who now runs the place (since the pandemic I work from home). Some sign up for courses, which used to be the whole point, though no longer is.
Over the years I and other family members have added elements to what we do for learners of Italian.
First we began commissioning and publishing ebooks, with the idea of making sure you’d have ample materials to practice reading and listening.
Next, and in part to help our regular teachers earn a little extra cash to top up their meagre, over-taxed salaries, we began promoting online lessons. After all, not everyone has a handy local language school, or can manage a study vacation here in Italy.
Lastly – inspired by a site I was using for my own language-learning – we added EasyItalianNews.com, which is completely FREE to use. You should take a look.
Besides changing diapers and cooking the dinner, the club, the ebooks store, the online lessons business, and the school all keep me pretty busy.
When I’m not working or taking Bug out to sniff at lamp posts, I read: mostly newspapers in various languages and trashy novels in Italian or English, depending what I can get my hands on.
And while doing chores or taxiing the kids around I listen to the radio in the languages I’m learning, which is mostly Swedish and French these days.
So that’s me. Your turn!
Who are you? And what do you want?
Please don’t email, as I don’t have the time or energy to reply.
LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE introducing yourself. That way other club members can read your contribution.
Who knows, you might find that there’s someone learning Italian just down the street from you, and you never knew!
News about where you’re at with your Italian is welcome, as are details of what you are or aren’t doing to improve. Sharing ideas with other club members is encouraged.
Which reminds me, the club has an Other Resources for Learning Italian page, and I’m always happy to add members’ tips. As I wrote there, “most successful learners use a mix of resources from different sources.”
How to leave a comment on this article and so ‘meet’ learners of Italian from around the world?
Click through to the article you wish to comment on FROM THE WEBSITE. You’ll find them all here.
Click on the title of the article that interests you – presumably the latest one or the one other people have commented on – to view the specific article page. At the bottom of that, there’s a comments box.
An email address is required but won’t be published. If you’re privacy-conscious, make one up. You can use a pseudonym too, if you wish.
Write your comment and press the POST COMMENT button. And then?
Then nothing will happen for a bit, so chill.
All comments are moderated (by me) to weed out automated spam. We get dozens of those each day and wouldn’t want you to be exposed to their contents.
Give me a few hours and I’ll approve your comment, assuming you’re not a spam-bot yourself.
If you provided a genuine email address, you’ll be notified when that happens, along with any replies. If not, then obviously not.
COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE HERE (click the link to go to the site, scroll down to find the comments box.)
E poi, given that I don’t actually know who you are or what you want yet, below are some interim suggestions.
Very few club members ever both to explore everything we have on the website, which is a shame, as some of it is very good,…
Grammar Exercises Index
“Use this alphabetical index to find an Italian grammar exercise or explanation.”
Listening Exercises Index
“Use the alphabetical index below to find listening topics and activities that interest you.”
Conversation Prompts
“…use your list of questions and answers when doing conversation practice with an Italian-speaking friend, or during an online lesson.”
History
“Build your Italian reading and listening skills, for free! Enjoy this series of articles written for learners and the accompanying audios…”
Vocabulary Index
“Use this alphabetical index to choose vocabulary topics that interest you.”
Dialogues
“Sixty free Italian dialogues (with transcripts), which start easy and gradually get harder. Listen several times BEFORE looking at the transcript!”
Verbs Index
“Over 600 common (and less common) Italian verbs conjugated in different tenses…”
Italian Literature
“Welcome to our ‘Italian Literature’ page, created for lovers of Italian culture but also for ‘culture deniers’ like myself!”
How to learn Italian (or any language)
“Ciao, I’m Daniel, ‘founder’ (I hate that word…) of OnlineItalianClub.com.”
And last but not least:
“Best of” OnlineItalianClub.com
“I’ve been publishing articles at OnlineItalianClub.com for a number of years now…”
Alla prossima settimana!
P.S.
And of course, don’t forget to read/listen to today’s FREE bulletin of news from EasyItalianNews.com.
Reading/listening practice will help you consolidate the Italian you’re studying, expand your vocabulary, and build vital comprehension skills.
Take a look at the website, then get started on improving your Italian – I explain how to do that on this page.
Subscribing – to get all three text + audio bulletins of ‘easy’ news via email each week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays – is FREE!
Just enter your email address on this page and click the confirmation link that will be sent to you.
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OnlineItalianClub.com | EasyItalianNews.com | Shop (ebooks) | Shop (online lessons)
Daniel says
Ciao a tutti! Daniel commenting, just to get the ball rolling. Now who’s next??
Amanda Mincherton says
Ciao tutti
Sono Amanda, abita in Western Australia,. Sono andata la scuola MadreLingua due volte e penso che né vela la pena.
Allora , se abati vicino Rockingham , abbiamo un gruppo per una chiacchierata ogni giovedì dalle 9 in un cafe si chiamo Chipper. Perché tu non venire per una chiacchierata in italiano ?
Spero che un giorno ritorneró a Madrelingua.
Bravo Daniel , mi piace leggere i tuoi messaggi.
Ciao , sta sanno , Amanda M
TULIO MAGNO TEODORO DE SOUSA says
Hello, I’m from Brazil. I’m seventy at next august, 29.
I,m a complete amateur respecfull to foreign languages, curious enough to go on studying some issues, about italian language, but in a very begginer,s way. Wish you success and long living.
Carolynn Campbell says
Keep at it Tulio. I was just a little younger when I started, beginners Duolingo at first. Now I can read Italian novels and chat. I still get stuck of course, and dialect can defeat me. I am 75. If you library has children’s books in Italian I recommend start with them. I think Daniel has easy readers too.
If you would like some solid grammar at free or low cost,I suggest checking out Wellesley College’s site http://www.edx.org. I did all 4 levels of their Italian. I know Daniel isn’t a grammar study fan, but it really helped me be fluent. I needed to understand the whys behind things like words that trigger the subjunctive tense.
You’ll gt there. Italian is such a beautiful language. Knowing it has deepended my understanding of the culture too.
Diane Horban says
Ciao Daniel. from Chicago, IL. I forgot how much “stuff” is available on the site,. Thanks for the consolidated list of useful links. I’ve been a member for several years and read every email. There’s so much to help one learn Italian which is what I’m doing – self-teaching/learning since 2015. I will be a forever student of the language, but I enjoy practicing it every day. Usually I mix it up between listening, reading, speaking and writing in Italian. I’ve built it into my daily schedule and use multiple resources, online along with my family. That’s why I began learning Italian – to talk with my family in Italy once a week. It’s invaluable.. Grazie mille. Diane H
Terri Kunkel says
Who am I: I am a 62 year old woman who lives in Ft Lauderdale, FL. USA. I’m married with 4 adult children who visit often. My husband is now a retired airline captain but while he was working, he flew to Europe a lot 2-3 times a month. It ends up that the family of a captain is allowed to fly for free if there is an open seat so my twin daughters and I flew to Italy often. The twins ended up enrolling in a study abroad program in Rome so the 3 of us set out. The twins lived in their apartment near their school and I got an apartment near Piazza Navona, walking distance to a school which I could take language lessons. During these years I only learned some words and small phrases, my listening skills were and still are very poor..
What do I want: I want to speak and understand fluent Italian. After all the children flew the nest, I decided that I had time for language lessons. I did take about 1.5 years of online lessons in which I learned that my memory was not what it used to be. Ugh. I learned about Online Italian Club from my teacher. I attempt to read the Easy Italian News however I only understand a small bit of the subject and I have a hard time picking out the words I know during listening practice. I read better than I speak or listen and I would read more of the easy readers if I knew how to download and save the books to my computer. I am not computer savvy…. Instead I have ordered paperback Italian readers and a workbook from Amazon. Shopping online is what I know how to do lol . For listening practice I put my earphones in while I’m out for a walk but I have to rewind and listen over and over to be able to distinguish the words. I also set my phone to speak in Italian when giving directions while driving but I only do that when I know where I’m going lol.
I enjoy reading Daniels letters, his sarcasm and frustration with the stupidity of the general public is what I find very entertaining. But I’ve never figured out if Bug is actually an animal or a child? I continually wonder if that is all a parallel narrative lol
Martha says
I haven’t been reading the posts much lately (Sorry, Daniel!), but I always come back to them. Just like you, I enjoy it for the same reasons, lol. They also help me return to the site and use it.
I’m 67 and have been working on my Italian for about 12 years, (I think). I speak better than I can understand and I read fairly well. Most days I read posts from 2 Italian fb pages and I’m starting to listen regularly again to EIN (Easy Italian News – it’s such a great site!). Yesterday, I met with an Italian-speaking group that I haven’t met with in some time and it energized me. I have been meeting with another one that meets at various restaurants. It’s a good one because there are usually several “italiani veri.”
I guess that’s it for the moment…
PS @Daniel: You can bet I gave them the links to your sites (and others). It’s fun being the experienced learner and being able give them the best sites (second0 me)
Kim Anderson says
I am Kim, 68 (as of yesterday) and I live in Missoula, Montana in the U.S. My friend and I travel to Italy about every other year and will be attending the Madrelingua School in Bologna this coming October. We have both been studying Italian for several years, using Native Speakers conversation classes and also local resources. Still, I’m afraid I’m probably just at about an A2 level. Someday I hope to spend a longer period of time in Italy so I can become more fluent. Before my retirement, I worked as a director at a cultural non profit and so I’m very interested in Italy’s rich history, its architecture, music, literature, art. I’m enjoying reading everyone else’s bios!
Cecelia says
Hi Daniel! I loved reading this first email and I am so excited to start learning Italian!
My name is Cecelia, 19 years old come August and from Wisconsin, USA.
I have had the opportunity to visit Italy a handful of times because my friends with whom I met during their exchange year in high school, live there! I love their families and I would love to connect with them on a deeper level because even though we communicate well, some members do not know English and I think it would be a nice surprise the next time I see them!
That being said, I had lived in Spain for 9 months as an AuPair and learned Spanish during my time there, and I think I am at a point where I can add Italian lessons to my routine without confusing the languages too much now.
Another reason why I am starting this Italian learning journey is because I want to solo travel parts of Italy and I want to be able to connect with the culture and people more, and I think it will definitely elevate my experience. I feel strongly pulled to Italy and I want to learn so much about it! Right now the only Italian immersion that I have is listening to Italian Music, but I am going to commit to integrating it more into my daily life.
I hope you have a good rest of your day!
Cecelia
Valerie A. Lindsey says
Buongiorno, Daniel et al.
I am 66, retired (a third Italian and half French), living in the high desert with my husband, two dogs and a cat. Oh, and six growing goldfish in a pond:) I’ve been to Sicily (just over a week) and spent 16 days in Italy last year. I think I would move there if I could get my husband to agree. I purchased a course and worked with it for over a year and it helped during my trip (one Italian kindly complimented me on my accent), but I am looking for additional ways to improve though I’m not sure I can become fluent without actually using it every day. I love traveling and want to be a good guest who does her best to abide by local customs and at least attempts to communicate in the local language.
Carolynn Campbell says
Ciao a Tutti. Sono Carolynn da Canada. Studio Italiano per otto anni. Ho seguito il consiglio di Daniel. Leggo, leggo, leggo. Adesso sono capace di leggere i romanzi italiani. Sono arrivato al livelo B2. La cosa che mi piace molto del onlineitalianclub e la lista dei verbi in tutte le conguzaioni.
E fantastico.
Ho cominciato imparare l’italiano dopo mio marito e’ diventuto un cittadino d’Italia.. Abbiamo visitato li’ frequentamente e avevamo avuto i piani di vivere li’. Lui non parla italiano!
Adesso mio marito adoto il Portugal. Mamma mia…Sto ancora cominicando del primo passo per imparare il portuguese. Fortunatamente le due lingue sono simili. .
MJ says
I’m from the USA. I’ve been using Easy Italian News for several years. I read the articles faithfully—they give me encouragement to keep studying and learning. I have purchase many books from this website and find them informative and helpful in learning Italian. The books show grammar being used in everyday situations and really help with my vocabulary. Keep up the good work1 Thanks.
Peter says
Pete, Clearwater Fl. First my compliments! I’m looking for locals near Clearwater to talk with live…. Hold the jokes please.. That is my weakest area. Conversation.
Sandra says
Hello Daniel’
Your site is great! Thank you. You have grammar sections, listening, history everything really. Your Easy News is something I don’t always read all of, because often the news can be so depressing in ANY language. You wrote and I quote ‘some of it is very good.’
All of it is very good.
I’m 83years old and it is refreshing to learn other elderly people are also fans of your club and I am not alone struggling to feed my curiosity and improve. I have not got any Italian family, or Italian friends to practice with. I love languages and also try learning French, Greek, German and Spanish. I just like it.! Curious. I started to learn Italian because an elderly neighbour moved in who was Italian and couldn’t speak English. Her daughter said I wouldn’t be able to understand her anyway because of her dialect . I’ll never know now, she died before I had the chance to say much more than Buorngiorno to her – no consideration!
Sandra
Judith Babarsky says
Hi Daniel,
Me, I’m a transplanted American living in Bergamo with my husband. I LOVE reading your email missives (especially the snarky ones as they give me a laugh and are often in line with my own thoughts) and often wonder how you find the time to write them! I have often wondered if Bug is a dog, a small child, a ??? The fact that you take him out to sniff lampposts leads me to believe he’s a dog, but … the mystery continues!
I’m a dual US-IT citizen (by matrimony). My husband has the Italian roots (in Calabria). Me … not a drop of Italian blood although I am a more proficient Italian speaker (B2) than he is. I’ve studied in Bologna (at the ARCA school) previously and love the city, although we find the climate in Bergamo preferable to Bologna. Who knows though, what with global warming!
I find your language study tips useful and have bought a number of your e-books. I listen to your Easy Italian News. Your site offers a wealth of information and resources and I’m appreciative that so much is free. That said, I try to support your work through small purchases and donations (Easy Italian News) in the hopes that your business will continue to flourish!
I’d love to meet you when we are in Bologna. Aperitivo on me!
Daniel says
Let me know when you’re in the city, Judith, and we can meet up for a drink. Time it right and I’ll bring Bug with me!
Judith Babarsky says
Sounds like a plan!!
And reading your comment in your email today about Bug not being able to keep “sandy fingers out of his mouth” makes me think that perhaps Bug is not a dog!
Leti Labell says
Thank you, Daniel. I enjoy your posts, and the resources on the website are very useful.
CAROL SCOTT says
I am a long time fan of your weekly (once upon a time almost daily missives). I live in Cornwall and started learning Italian back in 1997. Di solito leggo tue paggine ogni volta anche Easy Itaian News. Molto utile.
Ho parecchi delle Easy Readers, e guardo i punti: grammatica ogni tanto.
Grazie per continuare a fornire questi articoli li trovo molto divertenti e spesso molto utili.
Mnesarete says
I’m mnesarete and while I wish I could say this all in Italian because I discovered your online lessons a year ago, I can’t. At least not yet. I’ve been receiving your emails over time and this article is the first I’ve read through. The AI article. I’ve just learned a new word as well. ‘Luddite’. Your agitation is very understandable. It’s a shame really, your website helped me learn so much for FREE and I’m all the way in Nigeria.
Well, Daniel, I am Mnesarete and what I ‘want’ is to be a proficient Italian speaker. I was well on my way to that goal if I continued learning consistently. I’m willing to give it another try and be more consistent this time.
Thank you (I really mean that) and have a great day!
Beth Eschenfelder says
Thank you, Daniel.
This was a fun and lovely blog post/email to read. It’s great to know a little more about you.
I have been tapping into the OnlineItalianClub a lot over the past several months. I’m trying to up my game on the learning Italian language.
END GAME: I’d love to move to Italy. I live in St. Petersburg, Florida now. My husband qualifies for Italian citizenship, and we may just move to Italy some day and start the process, which we are allowed to do, as best I’ve learned.
In order for me to qualify for citizenship, of course, I would need to pass a language test. So that’s my end goal.
ME: I’m an “early-retired” professor. I actually had to leave my job on disability because of cognitive impairment issues…so that makes learning a new language especially challenge — and it often feels hopeless, but I’ll keep trying.
While teaching, I took an Italian 101 course at the university. I also have participated in our local Italian club, which teaches Italian (but I didn’t find it helpful).
Face-to-face Italian courses are not readily available nearby, so I’ve been diving into online learning and self-study as much as I can.
I might try to take Italian 102 at my old university this fall, but honestly, I hate leaving the house these days, and it will feel weird to be back on campus.
In addition to trying to learn Italian:
I’m a licensed real estate agent, but I only help my husband a little with his real estate brokerage — simple things that I can manage, and I’ll accompany him when he works with women or couples, so they feel more comfortable.
And my husband and I care for a colony of feral cats at our home — feeding and caring for 10 cats twice a day, in addition to our household crew.
We also helped start a nonprofit last year that does the same — cares for homeless cats around our county that have no caregivers, usually in some of our poorer communities. I also serve on their board of directors.
WHAT DO I WANT? Again, I just want to learn as much as I can — preferably, learn to understand and speak Italian. I’m going to keep at it.
The OnlineItalianClub has been a great resource for me; a blessing to find. THANK YOU! Please continue doing what you’re doing.
All my best,
Beth
marilyn anne woods says
Ciao Beth,
I have been studying Italian for such an embarrassingly LONG time. Poor Sonia, my on line Italian teacher has been very patient and I think it is absolutely the best way to go if you cannot take in-person classes. I have been moving around a lot and plan to reorganize my life. to include living in Italy. All of this takes time and cooperation from loved ones and family., endless bureaucracy Italian style and lots of time and money. However, I must say that the money part is quite manageable compared to all places I have lived on the West coast of the USA, I feel that the country is quite fair , reasonable and quite kind to it’s citizens unless they are not! I wanted to respond to your letter because of the gatti. My husband and I purchased an apartment in Orvieto over two yeas ago. We are both architects, designers, and real estate people, trying to retire. My service dog, Lillianna is obsessed with cats. We live among a large colony of gatti, protected and cared for by the locals.. This gives her great entertainment and frustration. They taunt her daily and it provides great entertainment for the throngs of tourists we receive in this lovely town. Orvieto in Umbria. the most amazing place to live. Come visit. Marilena
Wendy Hartnell says
Ciao! I’m 67, live near London and have been learning Italian for 25 years. I enjoy Italian novels and Italian Netflix series. Am joining a class at Citylit in September.
Kevin says
Ciao – I’m 67 and live in the New Forest, in Southern England. I have been learning Italian since I took early retirement some years ago. I attend a class with up to 4 others (varies) with an Italian from Tuscany. I have reached a sort of plateau in the past couple of years – and think the only way I am going to improve further is to spend more time in Italy – but family commitments prevent that. In the meantime I listen to EIN each time (I rarely need to refer to the text now). I use some of the activities on the site to practise things I have got wrong in my lessons. I read some Italian novels – mainly translations of Agatha Christie. I also watch Italian TV programmes on ‘Walter Presents’ on All4 (UK steaming service) – particulaly enjoyed Lolita Lobosco.
Angela says
Hi Danuel, I’m Angela. I am 74, i wasted years reading. grammar books! Then I found you and others and started listening and reading.. I have had a weeks tutition in Bologna and some online lessons.with yours school. I have family in Italy that want to speak English, so annoying ha ha. Anyway I keep at it, read a bit listen a bit, quite fancy throwing myself into a small town somewhere where no-one speaks English …. ummmm who knows 😁
Thanks for all you do Daniel, I enjoy your emails x
Christopher Mitchell says
Salve!
I’m intrigued Daniel by how you find the time to write so much on your site. It’s impressive! My commitment to work on my Italian is less so. It’s not for want of trying! The fact that I read, write and speak French should help me – and to some extent it does. But having a partner who speaks six languages ( she is of Dutch parentage and was born in Mexico, which provided her with a good start) means that I tend to be a bit lazy, particularly when travelling in Italy – and particularly Emilia-Romagna and , of course, Bologna.
Our last visit to Italy was at the beginning of June when she received her Ph.D. diploma in a ceremony on the Piazza Maggiore – an interesting event which was disrupted by a pro-Palestinian demonstration. I was happy to see the demonstration but also wanted to witness the ceremony. It was handled well and the protestors were given an opportunity to speak.
Why a Ph.D. in Bologna? Because she had followed a double thesis between the university here in Grenoble and the university of Bologna. It was a thesis on the role of the body and voice in live interpreting! (I should add that she is roughly your age and came to her Ph.D; after a career as a dancer and choreographer )
Which brings me to me! I am a few years older than my partner. We met in a university research project into which I had been invited as an English teacher, theatre teacher and voice coach. Our research work and associated workshops, for teachers,were focused on the role of body and voice in language teaching, and particularly the role of prosody – much neglected in language teaching. The French have a big problem with the music of the English language. A book on our work is being published by the university, and I also have a collection of my theatre texts associated with this work is to be published shortly. I run theatre workshops in English and write plays for these as well as, this year, writing a monolgue in French and English entitled ‘Conversation with a Dolphin’, inspired by an article of George Montbiot in The Giardian.
I had been hoping that my partner might have continued into postdoc research in Bologna – or Forli. That is not to be – for the moment Meanwhile I have to do more work on my Italian. I was thinking of going to Trieste – a city I do not know, in September to do a summer school – but may have to forego that to go to the UK, a rare visit, to demonstrate against the visit of a mobster who pursues his trade under the title of president of the USA.
Ciao
Chris Mitchell
Abbie says
Ciao! I ‘learnt’ Italian at uni nearly 20 years ago but because it was all very old-school with a focus on literature and grammar exercises with minimal functional chunks of language and practice, I came out with a degree in Italian but very little Italian! I then had the audacity to work as an Italian to English translator (NOT an interpreter – written word only) and unsurprisingly found that reading and translating 2000 words a day of common-usage lexis for over a decade improved my Italian exponentially. What I found most interesting was that I never practised listening to Italian in all this time but I found that my massively increased vocabulary meant I could now understand high-level written AND spoken Italian: it was like someone had put a babel fish in my ear. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this as a learning strategy though (!) and it probably only really worked because Italian has such regular sound-spelling correspondence. It definitely would have been better to focus on all areas of Italian, and, as a result, my productive Italian is still a little woeful, but it really does go to show how reading can hugely help your language learning efforts. These days I no longer translate – AI put pay to that really as a financially viable career – but I’ve just come back from two years teaching English in Italy with plans maybe of training to be an MFL teacher in the UK because getting the opportunity to learn a language is, in my opinion, one of life’s little pleasures! Looking forward to hopefully seeing more people say “Hi” on here. Grazie Daniel for your website and emails. I always look forward to reading them!
Mario Martini says
Hi, very interesting article. My love for Italian began back in 1985, I’m now 71, when I was in Majorca. My wife and I went to visit the Caves of Drach where a young Spanish student was describing the place. He spoke to us in English, French and Italian and asked did anyone want to hear his spiel in any other language as if he knew all languages. He made it sound so simple I wanted to do the same. Perhaps I could learn one language every two years or so?
39 years ago and I still haven’t mastered the one, Italian. Work did get in the way.
My learning matched the evolving of I.T. I started with 33 long playing discs from the local library. Anyone remember Parliamo Italiano? Linguaphone, Sunday morning BBC language episodes. Where did they go? Local classes. Italian books with explanations on how to pronounce the sentences. More like formulae for algebra equations. That was about it.
Then books with cassettes. The internet was a revolution. Get a pen pal from Italy to check each other’s work. Skype where you could talk to someone in Italy. Your own excellent contributions. Artificial Intelligence, the greatest revolution. Grab an article from your local paper online, drop it into Grok and translate it into perfect Italian. Drop this into Crikk and hear a real Italian voice speak it back at any speed. Do the same with any online novel. Download any Italian movie or anything from Italian from YouTube. Drop it into Turboscribe and it’ll transcribe what is being said. Read it as you listen to the sounds. Listen to it a few times, understand it. Then rewatch an Italian movie you can understand. With an iPad capture a section of an Italian movie from Netflix. Do the same. In the past two years my Italian has improved more than the previous 37. Of course, I’m now retired and 4 hours studying a day is a minimum.
Carolynn Campbell says
Skype has now closed down. You can register on http://www.conversationexchange.com aka scambiodiconverzaione to match with an Italian native speaker whose English is at about your Italian level. I did this 2 years ago and was actually invited to stay with my friend after a few weeks. We are still weekly conversation exchanges.
Colleen says
Buondi! I have been enjoying the italian language since I was a child- i had no idea what i was singing, but I loved Volare , Lasciatami cantare, and other pop songs on the air waves in Chicago and New Orleans where there are large Italian communities. When I began voice lessons in middle age(!) I decided to translate the Italian songs and arias into English so that I knew what I was singing. How could I really express the song without knowing what it actually meant? Some English translations in some song books are misleading at best. I was fortunate to be fairly fluent in French thanks to unusually good teachers who made us listen and read with very little attention to grammar. So I had a clue how to proceed.
Fast forward to my senior years and this Italian Language Club! I can read Italian literature , watch Italian movies, learn new Italian songs and listen to RAI or watch Youtube videos on subjects I have a clue about. I started with cooking, gardening and needlework videos – no subtitles, no dictionaries! I LOVED the Book Club – I had read The Name of the Rose in English when it was published. It was challenging enough in English! I was delighted to read Il nome della rosa , I promessi sposi etc, By that time it had become easier to buy books in italian. I also love L’ultimo elfo and the Montalbano series (books as well as films).
Thank you for enriching my life with this beautiful language!
I do not speak or write Italian well, but I manage to get by on a few social media platforms. I also managed to get by on a trip to Italy some years ago. Italians were very forgiving as my grammar was shaky at best!
Mille Grazie!
Lynne F says
Good morning from Lynne I am a retired early years teacher.. Having been told many years ago by my French teacher that I didn’t have an aptitude for languages I gave up. Many years later i tried Italian I am now able to chat with Italian friends , talk with locals on holiday read Italian books newspapers and more. I am married have adult children and have recently become a ‘Nonna’ I have. many varied hobbies reading , various crafts gardening and cooking to name a few along with learning Italian , so my days are pretty full.. My Italian journey has led to new friendships .and with varied hobbies we always have plenty to talk about. .
Online Italian club has been a breath of fresh air over the years and has encouraged me to change my learning style and the results speak for themselves.. the resources ebooks and the. Book club during lockdown have been brilliantYour weekly article has been a source of interest , amusement and full of useful information . So thank you Daniel .
You asked What do you want? obviously you are not asking for ideas that would create a huge amount of work for you I love cooking you could proviide a recipe in Italian and people share their variations ( in English or. Italian Instead of cooking sustitutec another interest, sport , an italian city it would then be. Up to us to develop the conversation you can but try 😃
Danny Buckley says
Ciao a tutti, sono Danny Buckley. Vivo in Sydney e studio l’italiano da 7 anni, sono appassionato della lingua e la cultura italiana. Sono stato in italia tre volte negli ultimi siete anni e spero di tornare presto.
Anthony James Capelin says
Hello, i am 86, I live on the South Coast Near Worthing. I have for many years attempted to study the Italian language, appreciate the culture and Historical architecture and naturally the cuisine , Who could resist!! The “Club” without question creates the most amazing opportunity for any student of Italian.
I really cannot produce the words i feel sufficient enough to “Compliment” the quality and quantity of work from the whole organisation. Thank you.
Dianne says
Ciao. Grazie Daniel. A me piace tantissimo il tuo notizie. Sono da vicina Boston, US. Tutti gli nonni sono nati in Italia ma ho impara solo un po’ quando ero giovane. Ho iniziato a imparare forse otto anni fa con le lezioni. Viaggerò in Italia quest autunno per molti settimane.- Genova, Sardegna , Lucca.
Grazie ancora per tutti le risorse!
Tom says
Hi Daniel, I am from the US and had hoped to spend more time in Italy. Although I have travelled there three times I don’t think I will ever stay for an extended time so the utility of learning Italian has waned. I still like to read and communicate with a few friends and find your newsletter interesting so stay engaged. Good luck in all you do.
Julie Lewis says
Hi. Thank you for all the time and hard work you put into this. I have been learning Italian for just over 2 years using a variety of podcasts. I always read the News articles and enjoy using the levelled exercises for variety and finding out about the history of Italy. I prefer to read a physical book rather than an e-book but do occasionally look at what’s available.
All the best.
Cristina says
Ciao! Mi chiamo Cristina e ho 39 anni. Abito a Miami con la mia famiglia (marito e due figli). Parlo inglese e spagnolo. Mio nonno era italiano, di un paese vicino a Napoli. In cuesto momento, ascolto Pimsleur quando guido ogni giorni per il lavoro. Mi piacerebbe incontrare altre persone locale con cui parlare italiano, ma anche qui sarà eccellente.
Alan Thompson says
Ciao Danny,
I’m an American so I always use the informal, both in English and Italian. I’m a geezer who is rapidly closing in on 80. . I started with Duolingo 10 years ago because a friend was doing it and it’s free. I grew up in Brooklyn around many Italians and Jews even though we were Norwegian extraction. Being comfortable around other languages I’ve always been studying, in varying degrees of seriousness.; French, Greek and Latin in college and I was stationed in Germany for two years.
I read your articles and E. I. News sporadically. I meet with a couple of other guys once a week to converse in Italian but while they are serious about mastering the language and traveling to Italy I really do it for the mental gymnastics and make no attempt to learn the more exotic tenses. I don’t do subjunctive for example… occasionally I’ll meet an Italian visitor at a casino or airport or museum and will have a basic conversation; sono nato a Brooklyn, tutti I miei amci erano siciliani, sono in penzione etc.. I doubt I’ll ever buy anything from your site so I guess I won’t be use to you but in my limited way, i look forward to receiving your newsletter.. Ciao, Scarecrow, I’ll mio sottonome
Tricia Daw says
Ciao, mi chiamo Tricia (anche se la mia insegnante di educazione per adulti mi chiama Trizia). Quando sono stata licenziata nel 2019, ho deciso di lasciare il lavoro e andare in pensione a 55 anni. Sono venuta alla scuola di Daniel per una settimana per farmi un regalo.
Studio italiano dal 2011/12, non ne sono sicura. Ho seguito un corso serale e, da quando c’è il Covid, ora è su Zoom.
Ogni anno la mia insegnante porta in Italia un gruppo di studenti di ogni classe. Anche io e mio marito, come coppia, andiamo in Italia ogni anno. Mi piace imparare la lingua e ho fatto amicizia grazie ai corsi. L’anno scorso, infatti, siamo andati a Bergamo per quattro giorni. Siamo stati anche a Genova.
Vivo a Camberley, nel Surrey, nel Regno Unito, e se c’è qualcuno in zona che vuole formare un gruppo per chiacchierare (il mio punto debole), sarei interessata.
Jane says
I have been a grateful member of this group for a long time. I have taken Italian and German lessons with excellent teachers, I have bought numerous e-books and regularly read Easy Italian News.
Thanks Daniel and team.
Christiane says
Hi Daniel
I am 69 and live in Wales and have been learning Italian for 9 years now. My reason for learning this language is that my son fell in love with a beautiful lady from Sardinia and I wanted to be able to converse with her family members who do not speak English.
Although my mother was French (a translator for the Americans during World War II) and my father became bi-lingual they rarely spoke to us in French. My French was learnt at school and never proficient enough to converse with my French relatives.
I am delighted that my son and now daughter in law have taken an entirely different approach to bringing up their children whilst living in London, each speaking to them in their native tongue. I now have a four year old bi-lingual granddaughter who is a delight and keeps me on my toes with my pronunciation when I read her bedtime stories in Italian! (It did help that she recently spent 10 weeks at pre-school in Sardinia)
My son whose language skills were well hidden as a child, introduced me to the free material at Online Italian Club in 2017 and I have dipped in and out of these over the years, buying many of your ebooks and as a result learning from you how to clear my cookies when the down loads have failed to ‘download’.
Like many of the comments already left whilst I am pleased with my comprehension of Italian, I think that my conversation will require an environment where I do not have the ability to revert to English when I am stuck.
Each Wednesday I look forward to reading your emails of your excursions with Bug and formerly Roomie and your words of encouragement. Thank you.
I will now sign off as I need to listen to some Italian to prepare for my online lesson
Catherine Kett says
Hi Daniel and other members, It was most interesting to read all the comments and as others have stated, I do enjoy Daniels emails, and humour.
I am Canadian, although I am currently a permanent resident of the US, residing near the Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi, not far from New Orleans. It would make sense that I study Spanish, which I may some day but I fell in love with the Italian language after a trip to Italy, with my husband in 2017. I find the process of learning another language fascinating. As a child in Western Canada we were forced to learn french in school, which does not work so well if the language is not spoken at home. Unfortunately I have the same problem with Italian as I do not have an opportunity to actually speak to anyone who would understand me, lol. I message and speak to my husband in Italian, which I think he finds mildly amusing… One day I will make the leap to an online tutor, Or move to Italy for a year which would be way more fun!
Daniel, I do enjoy hearing about your life in Italy and I hope you that you continue on with your encouragement for the language and ways to learn it.
dick jones says
Hello Daniel. I am Dick Jones. I am studying Italian to enable communication with my new Italian in-laws! I am looking for exercises in converstional intalian to supplement written exercises in “Duo Lingo and from an Italian class at a local community college
Mike says
Hi Daniel. I am now 71. I lived in Firenze for 6 months when I was about 11, went to a local school, and learnt some Italian. I have been back to Italy many times since, but my Italian remains “tourist rudimentary”. Sometimes I have a burst of enthusiasm and read – or try to read – your Italian News, but it does not last long. I enjoy reading your emails.
Mike
Mayken says
Hi Daniel, ciao tutti!
That was a lovely article, after two weeks of summer sale mails. I’m not complaining, it’s my quarterly reminder to ask my lovely Italian teacher how many lessons I have left, and then top them off. Thanks for the list of links to resources! I do browse the site occasionally for a particular grammar point or the corresponding exercises, but now I realise there’s stuff I never knew about!
But let’s go back to the beginning: I’m German but live in France where I’m busy raising a kid with as many languages as I speak myself (I’m at three and a half, she’s at three), with a husband who speaks only French but is hugely supportive both of our family language arrangements and of my learning Italian. I started that as a self-learner maybe 20 years ago after giving up on Russian. (That seemed like a good idea in the mid-1990s.) I took it up again seriously during the pandemic when I came across an online teacher. However he stopped online teaching when I was half a year in, and after some searching I found your site and have been studying with one of your lovely online teachers for almost four years now. I listen to EIN, usually a few days behind, as well as a daily 5-minutes news podcast, and I recently got myself some books and Italian editions of Asterix comics. And some of your easy readers too., but I haven’t been able to find a time slot in my daily life for regular reading yet, so it’s on-off. After a short trip to Torino last year to practise (it was huge fun and perfect – a guided tour at the Museo Egiziano, where the guide asked me during roll call if I was sure I wanted to be on his tour, and several delayed trains, so now I know how to say “My train was late, I missed my connection and would like to exchange my ticket please”) I’m planning to come to Bologna and your language school next year. I hope to be able to say hi to not only your wife but also yourself!
Oh, and I found an app to find language exchange partners (language tandem) and am exchanging text and voice messages with some very nice Italians who are learning German or French.
So as you say, a mix of different stuff, reading, listening, speaking, writing. It works for me, I just wish I had more time. But the cub wants to be raised and fed.
Thanks for the club and your mails and the news and the books and everything!
Mayken
Mark Boggie says
Ciao a tutti! Sono Mark e vivo confine sud degli Stati Uniti, in Arizona. Ho studiato italiano per tre anni sia corsi formali che studi informali. I miei bisnonni paternale emigrarono da Borgotaro negli Stati Uniti nel mille ottocento novanta sette. Ho avuto la fortuna di ricevere il riconoscimento della cittadinanza italiana nel due mille venti tre insieme a mia moglie. Parliamo di trasferirci in Italia, ma devono succedere molte cose perché ciò sia possibile.Speriamo di vivere in Italia tra dieci anni, almeno per una parte dell’anno. Abbiamo dei nipoti che dobbiamo vedere e che vivono negli Stati Uniti. Dal momento che avere la doppia cittadinanza potrebbe rendere più facile trascorrere del tempo in entrambi i paesi.
Se troviamo una residenza in Italia per sei mesi e una residenza negli Stati Uniti che sia economica, questo potrebbe succedere prima che poi.
Voglio diventare esperto nel comunicare con gli italiani mentre viaggio in Italia.
John Allcock says
Thanks for your invitation to comment. Here goes! I am an eighty-three year old retired academic, living in the North of England. I became interested in the Italian language because my wife already had some familiarity with it, and we decided to study as something we could do together. I have become very involved in things Italian, particularly Italian modern art, and I am the President of the regional Italian Circle. My most regular contact is through Easy Italian News, and I also take lessons on-line, now that my wife has dropped out. As a walker and mountaineer (less so than once was!) I have spent quite a lot of time in the north-east of Italy, but the main modern galleries have been important destinations. I guess that my standard is probably B1, although it depends upon the context and topic under discussion. Having left the academic world I now occupy myself as an artist. If you want to find out more my website is: http://www.artbyallcock.co.uk. Many thanks and best wishes. John Allcock
Allan says
Hi Daniel, I’m Allan, I live in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. I’ve been learning Italian since I retired 7 years ago, and still I can hardly put a sentence together 🤣, but I enjoy the journey.
I too don’t know how you find the time to write every week, god knows how you managed to do it 3 times a week like you used to.
I love your site, it’s a great source of information and inspiration, thank you.
Norman says
Buongiorno,
Mi chiamo Norman e abito in Gran Bretagna a Winchester (80km sud ovest da Londra). Sono interessato all’ italiano perche sono figlio di immigrati italiani. Quando ero piccolo la mia prima lingua era italiano ma poco a poco me l’ho dimenticato, e dopo tanti anni ho dovuto ammetere, con vergogna, che mi ricordavo quasie niente. Adesso che sono propio anziano – piu di 70 anni – voglio remettermi e spero che parlando, leggendo e scrivendo l’italiano magari mi migliorero un po (sensa aiuto di Google).
Ringrazio Daniele per le sue email divertenti e informative, e naturalmente per il website.
Saluti a tutti
Michael says
Daniel, I am Michael. retired 5 years living in Washington DC area. Native English, reasonably good German. Love traveling in Italy, wanted to learn to read and speak Italian. Began taking Italian at Community College January 2020. In March we all went online-only and I finished my 2nd semester there. But for a lot of reasons (online format, poor tech support, insufficient instructors) I stopped after that. Kept intending to re-start somehow but we moved, and other things got in the way. I have purchased a couple of e-books which I am working on gradually, and I think “if I could just get my proficiency back to A2, I would try to take a class or online language learning” but never get around to brushing up my skills. I enjoy reading the newsletter most of the time (sometimes it’s too much complaining). I rarely listen to Easy Italian News. Am I correct in thinking that Italian, like German, uses a specific verb tense when describing the news? I felt like I wasn’t getting any practice with other verb tenses. Maybe I should give it a try again. Still hopeful to find time to practice!
Judith Babarsky says
Hi Michael,
We used to live in NoVa. If you are 60+ and live in Virginia, you can take classes at George Mason (or any other Virginia state school) Through the Senior Tuition Waiver program (https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title23.1/chapter6/section23.1-640/). There are also in person classes offered in DC at Casa Italiana (https://www.casaitalianaschool.org/learn-italian). I’ve taken classes in both places and have been pleased.
Amanda says
Ciao a tutti! Spero che stiate bene. Ho iniziato a studiare due anni fa, quando la famiglia di mio marito è tornata in Italia. Ho seguito tantissime lezioni sul vostro sito. Un giorno (presto) verrò a Bologna e frequenterò la vostra scuola. GRAZIE per tutto quello che fate per aiutarci tutti!
-Amanda
Wendy says
Ciao,
Sono Wendy e habito a Canberra in Australia.
Devo dire che sono rimasto un po’ scioccato quando ho visto quella e-mail, °Who are you and what do you Want ?”. Ho pensato che fosse piuttosto maleducato, ma poiche’ sono molto curiosa e ho sviluppato una corazza dopo molti anni di insegnamento, ho letto la tua communicazione.
Non sono essattamente sicuro di come finito nella tua lista. Penso che un giorno stavo cercando degli esercizi di grammatica, scorrimento semplicemente usando Google. Ora, che ho letto il tuo blog sono entusiasta di vedere cosi’ tante opportunita’ per aiutarmi con il mio italiano, grazie a Lei.
Ho cominciato a studiare l’italiano nel 2009. Il mio primo corso e’ stata alla Dante Alighieri di Brisbane. C’era la opportunita’ di fare yoga, quindi l’ho seguito il corso di cucina. Alla fine, mi hanno convinto a fare un po’ di lavoro sui libri, ha ha!! Ora, ho conseguito il master in studi linguistici presso la Flinders University nel sud dell’Australia. Potresti aver sentito parlare della mia insegnante li’, la Dotoressa Luciana D’Arcangeli ? Lei ha scritto, “I persoaggi femminili nel teatro di Dario Fo e Franca Rame, ” ed ora credo che sia tornata a vivere a Roma. Per quanto me, sono stata tre volte in Italia per studiare; a Firenze, a Roma ed a Lecce.
Sfortunatamente a causa di problemi di salute tutto si e’ fermato nel 2015. Ora sto ripassando e sto sequendo un corso TESOL, voglio tornare in Italia e insegnare inglese da qualche parte. L’Italia continua ad attirarmi.
Grazie per tutte le informazioni nel tuo Blog, ora mi conosci (un po’), per favore non chiedermelo piu’ “Who are you, and what do you Want”. Non e’ stata davero colpa mia….
Cari saluti, Wendy
Felicity Thomas says
Ciao Daniel – what a lovely introduction from you, thank you and for asking us too! Great idea to exchange backgrounds and comments, all very motivating!
I have over the past year dipped into your grammar exercises, so good, but also now had a thorough look at your website..Wow! Everything is there, I just need time and discipline to follow. I am 75 and learned italian at 16 for two years and got the O level.
Always loved the language and decided to revisit it to ward off senility and challenge my brain. I have been attending Adult Ed weekly classes Beyond Beginners for the past year in Woking, Surrey and am hooked! So I am A2 moving to Intermediate . I probably will never go to Italy again but I do enjoy the learning process and hope to find a native speaker friend locally or online to put into practice what I am learning. It’s the speaking which is so frustrating – why do our brains go into a scramble when having to speak! That aside I am fortified by your website and look forward to the weekly lessons I signed up to I think !
About me, I am 47 years married with two adopted children and three delightful grangirls, I love my gardening and also play bridge and do Pilates (love it) – I used to be an Image Consultant and do Colours etc for men and women – very enjoyable and still love fashion! It’s holiday time now so will look to your website for continued learning until term starts in September. Onwards and upwards ! Ciao e buona giornata ! Felicity or Felicita as I would be if I lived in Italy!
Deborah Battisti says
I appreciated learning about you, Daniel! Sono Deborah e vivo vicino Seattle in Washington state. Ho studiato l’italiano da 2019 e lo faro’ finche potro’ perché’ e’ divertente. I now have a private lesson every other week and a group lesson every week. I study grammar, but thanks to your advice, Daniel, I read and listen far more than I study and thanks to my teacher’s advice I talk to myself out loud in Italian every day. It’s helped me with my shyness in speaking! I enjoy EAN, the listening exercises and especially reading and listening to easy readers. I’ve read a couple young adult novels and I will try a full novel one day soon. I know that I will never be fluent, but if I can understand my teacher in class and the Italians I meet when I travel there and if I can communicate when I need to, I’m happy. It’s discovering something new in the language every day that I like most.
Jonathan says
Ciao! I’m 55, and for some reason, I’ve always felt a special pull toward Italian, more than any other language. I just have this strong desire to be able to communicate with my Italian friends and colleagues!
I love language in general — learning grammar, building vocabulary, understanding the origins of words and phrases — but I’ve never been fluent in any language other than English. In Italian, I can read and understand far better than I can speak, which makes sense, since I read and listen every day, but I rarely have the chance to speak with a native.
Thanks to Daniel’s advice, I now learn in two ways: the micro, where I focus on grammar and vocabulary (which I genuinely enjoy), and the macro, where I try to understand the overall message and just communicate without worrying about mistakes.
I’ve been to Italy three times, though only once since I started learning the language seriously. To truly become fluent, I probably need to spend some time in a small Italian town where no one speaks English. Maybe one day.
Thank you, Daniel, for the incredible resources you provide!
Helen says
Hi Daniel, I live in Warwickshire, England and I first started learning Italian about 25 years ago when I went to an evening class. That finished after 2 years but since then I’ve been to various formal and informal classes which I really enjoyed and I now have lessons over the internet with one of your teachers which I can definitely recommend even though I still get a bit anxious before each lesson.
I watched the film Io Non Ho Paura a few years ago, so I bought the book and found I could understand a lot of it having watched the film and loved it. Like many others have said I find reading Italian a lot easier than speaking it. I follow your advice to listen to Italian radio and EIN whenever I can but sometimes, I have to confess, my love for James Taylor’s music wins and I listen to him instead.
My husband and I try to go to Italy once or twice a year and we’re hoping to go in September and maybe spend a few weeks in an area where English isn’t really spoken and I’ll be forced to use my Italian.
I look forward to reading all of your weekly emails with news of Roomie and now Bug, plus the sarcasm and rants😂.
Thanks for all you do for us learners of the Italian language, culture, history etc.
AnnaMarie says
Ciao! My name is Anna Marie and I live in Elk Township New Jersey, which is South Jersey. My grandparents were all from Sicily and I love Italy. I have been there 3 times and going again this fall. I have been following Daniel and his adventures for a few years and although I feel I should know more Italian than I do, I try to listen as much as I can. There used to be an Italian Club near me which had an Italian Class but they stopped the class during the pandemic and never started up again. So I try to do as much as I can on my own. This site has so much free information to help. It’s my fault for not taking more time to learn. I need to get myself more motiviated!
Harriet says
Ciao tutti,
It’s great to hear all these different life stories and approaches to language learning. I’m in the middle of England, I’ve been learning Italian on-line for a few years. I love the Easy Italian News and the history articles and I find if I just relax I can understand quite a lot. Reading I find much easier, that’s probably common. And I’m happy to admit to liking grammar too, I like the bones and tendons of a language and I remember better if I have those to build the flesh onto so find grammar exercises rewarding.
I wish you all the best with your learning goals.
Terry Robinson says
Hi Daniel
I am responding to your request for contact from the “silent majority”. I am Terry from the UK, 67, and retired as a university lecturer (economics) in 2018. I am married and live near the coast in Lancashire. I started learning Italian in 2015 after a trip to Sicily with a private teacher (Italian) and continued for almost 7 years, taking the GCSE exam on the way. By 2022 I was also studying French and Russian, and wanted to start on Spanish, so something had to give, and it was Italian. I had reached a reasonable conversational level about B2/C1 by this time. Since then I have been trying to maintain my Italian but it is difficult. Your articles and Easy News in Italian help to do that, along with general reading and listening. I totally agree with you though that there is no substitute for talking to a native speaker. regularly, and I miss that. . Grazie Mille per tutti!!
Jenifer ogevia says
I will like to study online please help
Esmeralda Herrera says
Ciao soy Esmeralda de Chile viviendo mi sueño de una vida knowmade. Actualmente vivo en Roma, anteriormente vivimos 1,5 años en Londres y en dos meses nos vamos a vivir al sur de Italia o España (dependiendo de la visa)
Amo los idiomas , soy muy curiosa y aprender lo mas importante de la identidad de las identidades de las distintas culturas siento que me abre el mundo a perspectivas y creaciones del ser humano que enriquecen mi intelecto y mi vida.
Mille grazie per Online Italian Club!!! È veramente molto ottimo!
Wences says
Hello
I am Wenceslao, from Burgos (Spain), I want to learn Italian. It could be easier for a Spanish speaker but I want to try and I want to use it in my daily activities.
I have new responsabilities with Italy, even I could talk in english wich is the official lenguage, I imagine that I will have to take some conversations in italin.
Best regard, and thank you for the web site 😉
Jennifer says
Greetings. Firstly, thank you Daniel for your emails, news in Italian and for all the free resourses in the online Italian club.
I love your emails snarkiness and all. The snarkiness I very often have to take on board myself as I don’t use as I should what is there. However, I think its wonderful all that you have offered so freely so I recommend your club to anyone interested, donate and buy easy readers occasionally.
I am and 77 year old who has been interested in languages since a small child. I grew up in a country with many immigrants, Italians, Greeks Polish Turkis etc and was fascinated listening to them. And was sorry for school friends who had to accompany parents every where to interpret for them.
I have learnt a bit of Greek and German, a very little bit.
I had often thought of sending an email but feel too much of a fraud because my learning is basically self taught and very spasmodic. But I do enjoy it!
Living on a busy farm I don’t have much time and am always tired. If I sit down I’m very quickly dozing off. But I’ll keep at it in my own fashion. And keep enjoying.
My aim would be to be able to read comfortably in Italian.
Sometimes I’m surprised at what I have learnt and understand and sometimes horrified at what I don’t.
I find with being self taught that when I try a more formal way of learning in some things I’m way behind and some know well and tend to lose attention..
Not sure if others are like me but I’ve somehow got this weird feeling that if I buy well recommended books or courses that somehow ill absorb it’s knowledge just but owning it/ them. I’ve managed to stop that now but only after spending too much money and not using.
Everyone of our kids has left this country and gone to my birth country. Maybe life will be a little quieter and ill be able to give more time to my Italian, hopefully
I hope you are well Daniel, I thought that you sounded a bit flat/down/depressed lately.
All the best and happy learning to All.
Jennifer
Lynne B says
Buondi! The Online Italian Club website has been part of my Italian language journey from irregular attender of night classes in Brisbane, Australia back in the mid 2000s to PhD student of Italian in Wellington NZ today. I’ve used the online grammar resources, bought the ebooks and was spurred to tackle Umberto Eco’s Il nome della rosa during Covid by Daniel’s read along. I fully admit to not listening to Easy Italian News as often as I should, but I get my listening practice as part of my research! There are times when the weekly emails have been exactly the wake-up call or antidote to procrastination I needed, and I’ve followed the progress of Roomie and now Bug.
Like others have said – thanks for all you’ve done.
marie salisbury says
The question I have had for a long time, as have several of the other members who have written above, is who or what is Bug? Is it a primate? Why do you have it?
Thanks.
Daniel says
As explained on multiple ocasions, I’m not at liberty to say in a public domain, so keep Bug’s exact nature vague (though the gist of his behaviour and effect on our lives is true.)
I’m always happy to respond privately when people ask i.e. in an email.
JoAnn says
Salve !
Sono una nonna e vivo in California, USA. Ho studiato l’italiano un po’ molti anni fa e vorrei ricominciare a studiarlo. Capisco abbastanza bene e parlo un po’. Buona giornata.
Linda says
I’m a bit late to this conversation, but I just wanted to say I always appreciate your pep-talk emails, and enjoy Easy Italian News. I also really liked the long summer history series you did (although I’m far from having consumed all of them). Italian is a hobby for me, and very often gets pushed aside by other things (including other languages). But your updates are a great way to touch base. Thank you for all the effort you put into them and the site generally!
Kiara says
Ciao!
I’m Kiara, 30 years old, from Brazil! Mom taught me English and all my nonna taught me in Italian were cuss words.
Being a Portuguese native speaker, I find it quite easy and fun to learn Italian (only if I wasn’t absurdly lazy about it).
To celebrate my 31st birthday in September, I’m going to Italy on a solo trip. I’ll try my best to learn some Italian from locals and not cuss.
I’m “beginner level” and what works best for me is to be familiarized with the language, so just like I learned my mother tongue, firstly I listen, try to repeat it. I try exposing myself to it through music, reading, and listening to podcasts or watching short videos by Italian speakers, some are teachers, on social media.
The articles written by Daniel are always an enjoyable read! I’ve sent the “How to learn Italian (or any language)” to my Croat friend who’s on a quest to learn Spanish!
This website is very rich in content and I love that the school isn’t gatekeeping the whole “learning the Italian language”, it feels approachable and possible!
Thank you for the brilliant work!
Christina says
My name is Christina, I am 70 years of age.I live on the island of Cyprus. I have been studying Italian for about 6 years. I have one lesson weekly with a tutor. I follow the on line club, watch Italian films and listen to the radio. My Italian level remains stubbornly at B1/B2 as grammatically progression is extremely slow. My vocabulary is much improved my reading and understanding developing well, I can hold a conversation with confidence but even make myself wince with my inability to remember or apply the rules of grammar ! My first language is English and it seems that my Italian tutor also needs to teach me grammar as well as Italian.
Linn Harrar says
My husband and I are 74. We moved to the eastern part of Abruzzo near the coast, almost 4 years ago. I have been using a lot of the material on this site and have bought many of the books. I have a great on-line teacher from another source that I started with prior to finding this site. She teaches the way Daniel suggests. I do follow his advice. Admittedly I am a slow learner but I do understand a lot more. I understand much more of what I read, a little more when people speak to me. Ma palare è ancora difficile per me.
Marjorie says
Thank you Daniel. When I started to learn Italian there was little to nothing to help online. Then I found your website and it has been so very useful over the years. I have bought e-books, listened to Easynews and found wonderful Italian teachers for conversation … and all thanks to you. Wishing you and your family all the best.