Archives for December 2016

Hope you had/are having a very enjoyable Christmas Day.

This is just a quick, last-minute reminder that the 20% discount offer on 2017 Italian courses in Bologna ends in just a few hours.

At midnight Italian time.

That’s 9 a.m. on Boxing Day in Sydney, Australia but 11 p.m. this evening in London, 6 in the afternoon in New York, 3 p.m. on the U.S. west coast, and so on.

Wherever you are, it’s soon.

To take advantage of the year’s biggest savings, click here

You have been reminded.

Get it done.

Then, no more emails for a while!

Buon Natale!

P.S.

Make 2017 the year you get serious about learning Italian…

Go here to get your 20% discount!

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ

Stefi and Daniel, along with all of the teachers and support staff at Madrelingua Italian Language School, join to wish you, your family and your community:

‘Auguri di Buon Natale!’

We hope to see you at our school in Bologna in 2017, in particular all our old friends, but also many, many new faces!

‘Mille grazie’ to the many people who’ve already taken advantage of our ‘best offer of the year’ to save 20% on their next course.

The offer ends at midnight tonight (25th Dec.), so it’s still not too late to secure this great discount on your 2017 Italian course.

• Save a fifth on any group Italian course, of any length, starting in 2017!
• No need to decide the dates now – just let us know the period you want to study when you’ve decided
• LAST DAY to get your 20% discount by paying a deposit of just €120
• No more to pay until the first day of your course

CLICK THIS LINK NOW – it takes just seconds to pay your course deposit with a credit card or Paypal account.

Lock in your discount before the offer expires at midnight tonight. Go here to pay your €120 deposit.

Questions? Need more info?

Full details of this offer are here: OK – tell me how to save 20% on my Italian course!

Stefi and I will be eating lunch with her extended (Italian) family in a cousin’s restaurant (just like last year, and the year before!)

These things tend to go on all afternoon.

But thanks to the wonders of smartphones, she’ll still be able to answer any questions you might have.

Contact her any time up until midnight tonight on: info@madrelinguaitalian.com

Or go here, now, to complete your deposit payment.

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ

There are just thirty-six hours left to take advantage of the ‘best offer of the year’!

So, in case you’ve been too busy to read your emails, here’s a summary of what you’re missing:

• save 20% on your next Italian course at our school in Bologna
• the discount is good for any GROUP course (not for individual lessons)
• you can start your Italian course on any date in 2017
• your saving applies to courses of any length – the longer you study, the more you save!
• you DON’T need to decide the dates, or the length of your course, right now
• just let us know once you’ve made your plans – no rush
• secure your 20% discount by sending a deposit, via Paypal or bank transfer, by midnight on Dec. 25th!

And here’s the summary summary:

• take two minutes to pay a small deposit by midnight on Christmas Day & save €€ on your 2017 Italian course!

As the kids say, this is a no-brainer.

But you’re probably pretty busy right now, right?

So here are step-by-step instructions on exactly what you have to do.

It’s a low-stress process that’ll take just minutes, promise.

Ready to go?

1. Click this link to visit our ‘How to book your Italian course’ page
2. If you’re not sure when in 2017 you’ll be coming, skip the booking form and go directly here
3. Click ‘Add to Cart’, then ‘Proceed to Checkout’
4. Fill in the form with your details
5. Choose your payment method – the ‘Paypal’ option includes credit card payments
6. That’s it – see you in Bologna in 2017!

P.S.

We have real people ready to help you, or answer your questions about our Italian courses.

Just e-mail Stefi on info@madrelinguaitalian.com – she’ll sort you out with whatever help you need!

Even on Christmas Day. Try us!

Save 20% Now!

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ

The ‘best offer of the year’ on 2017 Italian courses at our school in Bologna, Italy ends in 48 hours.

A two-week Italian course, which normally costs EUR 437, is just EUR 350 with the 20% discount.

What’s EUR 350 in real money?

• USD 456
• GBP 372
• CAD 615
• AUD 632

Naturally you’ll have to add in the cost of accommodation (not much) and your flight (depends where you start from..)

But when all is said and done, you could be giving your Italian a major boost, and enjoying a great holiday in Bologna (home of Europe’s oldest university) for relatively little.

And to confirm your discount, all that’s required is a deposit of EUR 120!

By midnight on Christmas Day.

No need to decide the dates of your course yet – just let us know when you know…

But don’t miss this chance to lock in your 20% discount.

Pay the EUR 120 deposit NOW to confirm your 20% discount.

More information on this offer.

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ

Have you saved 20% your 2017 Italian course, yet?

If so, you might want to take a look at this classic article from 2014:

What should I expect on my first day at your Italian school?

If not, well perhaps there are still some questions in your mind…

Our FAQ should deal with a lot of them.

Read the Frequently Asked Questions

Check out also these thirty-six reviews from former students (scroll down the page and click the ‘Reviews’ tab.)

Our Tripadvisor page is also worth a look.

And if you STILL have doubts?

Well, why not email, phone or even visit us?

Our reception staff (Stefi and Natalia) both speak excellent English.

They’ll be happy to take your call and/or respond to questions in an email.

Contact us

All questions answered?

All doubts resolved?

Then it’s time to…

Save 20% on your 2017 Italian course!

A bunch of Italian-learners from around the world have already saved €€€ with this week’s ‘Best Offer of the Year’ promotion!

Full details can be found in Monday’s article:

Best Offer On 2017 Italian Courses – Starts Today!

The deadline to take advantage of this promotion is midnight on Dec. 25th, but why wait?

Get it done today, while you think about it.

It’ll take just a minute or two!

No need, even, to decide when, or for how long, you’ll be studying. Let us know the dates once you’ve finalised your plans.

Lock in your saving with a small deposit, and you’re done!

Save 20% on your 2017 Italian Course

A domani!

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ

I know that you’re interested in learning Italian, or you wouldn’t be reading this.

But are you one of those annoying people who seem to find foreign languages easy?

Or do you have to work at it, like the rest of us?

A year ago, as part of the ‘save 20% on your 2016′ Italian course’ campaign (doesn’t time fly?), I published an article on this very topic.

I won’t repeat myself, but if you weren’t with us 12 months back, or skipped the article in your haste to save 20%, do go take a look:

Ever wished for the super power of learning languages?

Anway, here’s another question for you.

Remember being a baby?

Probably not, huh?

I’m wondering why the baby that you once were wanted to learn to crawl, and then to walk.

It probably wasn’t just for the sake of it.

I’m betting you did it so you’d be able to manouvre yourself rapidly around the house.

And so grab that fascintating stuff you shouldn’t really have been handling – the cat’s dinner, ashes from the grate, and so on.

It’s the same with languages.

You need to have the possibility of learning, but also the motivation.

Usually that means having people around you who are using the language you want to learn to communicate with each other.

The motivation not to be excluded is a powerful one.

Once you have motive and opportunity, as they say on the detective shows, the rest tends to follow.

Which brings us to the point.

If you really want to learn Italian, or build the skills you already have, you’re going to want to visit Italy.

Otherwise, what would be the point?

Ideally, you’ll make friends, buy a house to do up, or fall in love with someone who only speaks Italian.

But in the absence of capital to invest or romantic opportunities to pursue, why not spend some time at our language school in Bologna?

You’ll meet people to interact with in Italian, while at the same time developing your ability to express yourself and to understand others.

To get off your baby butt and start taking your first steps with Italian, all you have to do is to pay a modest deposit on a 2017 Italian course!

And if you do it by midnight on Dec. 25th, you’ll save 20% on our regular prices.

Full details of the ongoing offer can be found in Monday’s article:

Best Offer On 2017 Italian Courses – Starts Today!

But here’s the stuff you really need to know:

• Pay the ‘Winter Offer – 20%’ course deposit (just €120 instead of the usual €150)
• You’ll save 20%, not just on the deposit but on the whole cost of your course
• The offer applies to group courses only, not to individual or online lessons
• Your course can be of any length: the longer you study, the more you learn
• No need to decide the dates now. Let us know later, when you’ve made your plans!
• Offer ends at midnight on Dec 25th 2017

And here’s the link to click to ensure you’ll know more Italian in 2017 than you did in 2016:

Save 20% on your 2017 Italian course

A domani!

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ

Today I’m republishing an article originally called ‘How Italian courses for adults aren’t like high school French’.

If you remember it from the first time, scroll down to the end to get to the part about saving 20% on your 2017 Italian course in Bologna.

But if you’re new around here?

Well, you might want to read on.

Find out HOW we’ll help you learn to speak Italian!

Remember studying languages at school? This is different!

I studied French at school.

Several times a week, for what always seemed like forever.

Remember that cliched scene of a surging crowd of noisy children finally released from the tedium of school work?

That was us.

I started at the age of around nine, and endured studying a foreign language until I was permitted to give up at the age of sixteen.

Do I speak French now?

Of course not.

But I have fond memories of our French teacher, who once grabbed my ear and twisted it painfully.

She regularly lamented my horrible French pronunciation in front of the class.

Without, so far as I remember, giving me any clear idea what I should do about it.

Thirty years have passed and now I own an Italian language school, which specialises in courses for adult learners.

Clients include university students and young people, but also professionals – business people, teachers, the occasional diplomat or sports star – and many, many retired people.

They choose to study Italian at our school in Bologna because Italian is a great language and Bologna is the ideal place to study it.

But mostly because someone who had already learnt Italian with us told them that they should try it.

Clients who’ve learnt a lot of Italian at our school come back, again and again.

And they tell their friends!

For this to happen, we ensure that our Italian courses for adults are absolutely NOT like my French lessons at high school!

Here are some thoughts on that:

• Our success depends on your positive response to what we do and how we do it. And on the improvement in your Italian as a result of the time and money you invest. Obviously, not every student will easiy reach their goals, and we won’t be able to please everyone all of the time. But we do our best!
• Your teacher is trained to teach adults. She (it’s usually a she) does that every working day of her career, so there’s no reason for her to talk down to you, and every reason for her to be encouraging and supportive.
• Your Italian classs will have a maximum 10 students, so you can count on plenty of opportunities to speak, and you can expect feedback on the mistakes you make (but in a positive, encouraging way!) The other students will be from various countries and should have approximately the same level in Italian. Hopefully, you’ll make friends, and so have people to practice speaking Italian with, both inside and outside class.
• Grammar’s important in Italian, but we don’t fill class time with boring, repetitive exercises. Homework is optional – we set it because it may help you consolidate your learning and progress faster. Whether you do it or not is completely up to you. Oh, and we understand you want to learn to SPEAK and UNDERSTAND Italian, which means you’ll need plenty of opportunities to interact in Italian during class time. We’re on that.
• Speaking of speaking, the ‘lingua-franca’ of our school is Italian, not English. We don’t do English-language medium Italian lessons because we believe they’re counter-productive (and because not all our students even speak English.) You’ll be studying in Italian from the first minute of the first lesson.
• Learning happens outside of class too. For example, the ‘coffee break’ is not just a break but a chance to chat in Italian with students and teachers from other classes, all together in the local coffee bar. The same is true for the regular social activities we organise – you and your class can see the city, drink wine, visit a museum, eat out – but it should always be in Italian!
• Finding your class hard-going, or way too easy? Talk to your teacher first. And if you get no joy with her, try the Director of Studies (the teacher’s boss), who’s there to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. One or the other of them will be able to help you. We might, for example, suggest changing to an easier/harder class.
• Most days there’ll be a tutor available in our library to help you with your homework (you’re not expected to sweat over it alone!) You can also ask the tutor for extra speaking practice, or to go over things you didn’t quite understand from your lessons. He/she is usually a university student or teacher-trainee gaining the experience needed to graduate.

And if your Italian pronunication is not up to scratch?

Don’t worry – we won’t twist your ear!

+++

A few days ago we had a good review on our site.

It was from Paul (Thanks Paul!)

As he put so much effort into writing it, I thought it was worth republishing here.

It works as a sort of P.S. to the article above.

I have been a student at Madrelingua twice, for three weeks in 2015 and for two weeks in 2016. As soon as I boarded the plane to leave Italy—and Madrelingua—I began scheming to come back. Studying at Madrelingua is easily the best language learning experience I’ve ever had—and I’ve had many, mostly boring and mostly not terribly successful. The teachers at Madrelingua are full of energy and are clearly concerned for their students’ success. The office staff could not possibly be warmer and more helpful. The teaching assistants, drawn from the University of Bologna, are as engaged and available as the permanent teachers..

But there’s more. The students are fun. Spending hours together, speaking an unfamiliar language in a beautiful city is a bonding experience. Madrelingua tries hard to help students get to know one another through social events that are scheduled almost every day. I remember each of my fellow students fondly.

Finally, the formal education itself is wonderful. The classes are small and the emphasis is almost entirely on conversation. There is, of course, attention to grammar, but grammatical structures are immediately used in conversation. These alone—the small classes and the emphasis on conversation—make Madrelingua very different from my previous language learning experiences. I cannot recommend Madrelingua highly enough. There are simply not enough stars. To study a gorgeous language, in a beautiful city, with talented and committed teachers and staff is a privilege and a joy.

Read more reviews on our site here.

Or if you’ve studied at our school, why not write your own?

Also, check out what people have written about Madrelingua on Tripadvisor.

Save 20% on your 2017 Italian course!

The ‘best offer of the year’ promotion is ON, and people are already saving €€€!

Full details can be found in yesterday’s article:

Best Offer On 2017 Italian Courses – Starts Today!

You have until midnight on Dec. 25th to save 20% on your 2017 Italian course.

But why wait?

There’s still shopping to do, and a turkey to baste!

So get this done now, while you think about it.

It’ll take just a minute or two.

And there’s no need to decide now when, or for how long, you’ll be studying at our school.

Which keeps things simple, doesn’t it?

Just let us know when you’ll be coming once you’ve finalised your plans.

All you have to do TODAY is to pay the special, reduced deposit of €120.

That will lock in an unbeatable 20% saving, not just on the deposit but on the whole cost of your 2017 group Italian course, however many weeks you stay:

Pay the special ‘Save 20%’ deposit NOW!

Click the link above.

Add the product to your cart.

Proceed with the payment (Paypal, credit card, bank transfer.)

And that’s it – you’ve saved 20% on your 2017 Italian course!

Need help?

Email Stefi on info@madrelinguaitalian.com

(or just reply to any email you receive from us, including this one.)

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ

As I mentioned several times last week, December is the month when we run our popular ‘Best Offer Of The Year’ on Italian courses over the coming twelve-month period.

And the waiting is over! Starting today you can save a full 20% on group Italian courses of any length starting in 2017 at our school in Bologna, Italy.

This is what you need to know:

• Pay the ‘Winter Offer – 20%’ course deposit (just €120 instead of the usual €150)
• You’ll save 20%, not just on the deposit, but on the whole cost of your course
• The offer applies to group courses only, not to individual or online lessons
• Your course can be of any length: the longer you study, the more you learn

Read more in our online shop.

This promotion runs from today until Christmas Day (25th December 2016), but why wait? Start making your plans today!

1. Choose your Italian course and check the price
2. Check out flights to Bologna and accommodation
3. Read about our simple booking process
4. Then over to our online shop to pay your course / accommodation deposit
5. That’s it – you’ve saved 20% on your 2017 Italian course!

Of course, you may not yet know when exactly in 2017 you’ll be able to devote some time to improving your Italian…

No problem!

There’s no need to decide the details of your course right now. Pay the deposit to lock in your discount (this offer won’t be repeated for another twelve months.)

Then just send us an email with the start and finish dates when you’ve finalized your plans.

So, you’ll have some questions, I expect. Write to Stefania, who’ll be happy to help you!

Her email is: info@madrelinguaitalian.com (or reply to any email you receive from us.)

Here are some links to pages on our site where you can find out more.

Contact us | Prices | Italian Courses | How To Book | FAQ

On Monday I’ll be publishing full details of our seasonal ‘Best Discount Of The Year On 2017 Italian Courses’ offer.

But today, how to improve your Italian for free!

Yes, that seems a bit contradictory, but an Italian course at our school in Bologna is likely to be just one component of your strategy to learn (and eventually master) the language.

What you do before you come, and then after you return home, can be just as important in the long term, and will certainly help you maximise the return you get from your course.

Self-study before the course begins will mean you’re not coming in cold.

Your brain will already be ‘switched on’ to Italian.

You’ll hit the ground running!

Later, when you’re back into your normal routine, continuing to do some Italian regularly will ensure that you’re building on the grammar and vocabulary you learnt.

It’s vital to keep practising the skills you acquired, rather than letting things fade…

OK, so below are three sites to take a look at.

There’s a brief description of each, along with a few sample links to get you started.

Full disclosure, they’re all run by a UK company of which I am director (so they must be good, right?)

dontspeakitalian.com

dontspeakitalian.com is specifically designed for beginners, but the contents would be useful for anyone looking for revision or practice material.

There are fifty pages of free materials including ten grammar explanations, ten grammar exercises, ten dialogues and ten listenings, each with a transcript.

Visit the site >>

onlineitalianclub.com

onlineitalianclub.com is more or less what it says, though NO registration is required.

This is a monster of a site with, for example, over 600 verb conjugations, 54 grammar lessons, and hundreds of exercises and audio recordings.

There’s enough free material here to keep you going for however long it takes to learn Italian!

Visit the site >>

learnitalian4free.com

learnitalian4free.com is just a tiddler by comparison with onlineitalianclub.com, but has some nice listenings.

Tackle one or two of these each day in the weeks before coming to Bologna and you’ll find you’ll be more atuned to the sounds and rhythms of Italian.

The ‘Un giorno nella vita’ series is nice, for example.

Visit the site >>

P.S.

Full details of the ‘Best Discount Of The Year On 2017 Italian Courses’ offer will be published on Monday!

Madrelingua Italian Language School | Bologna | Italian Courses | Prices | FAQ | Contact Us

On Tuesday I gave you advance notice of next week’s ‘Best offer of the year on 2017 Italian courses‘.

Check out the link for some general details about the coming promotion.

To actually take advantage of the limited-time discount, however, you’ll need to wait until Monday 19th December.

I also explained what to do if you’d rather not hear any more about it.

Here’s that part again briefly.

At the bottom of each email we send out, there’s an unsubscribe link. It might say something like ‘For heavens sake, won’t you stop sending me this stuff??’

The idea is you click on that, choose unsubscribe, and, as if by magic, all will be peaceful again!

So, if you’re not interested in a large discount on your 2017 Italian course, do head down to the end of this article, locate the ‘unsubscribe’ link, and click it. Problem RESOLVED.

Also on Tuesday, I mentioned that today I’d be linking to our best articles on learning Italian.

Old Madrelingua hands will have already read this stuff, I’m sure.

But for anyone new around here, our most useful articles are collected on the ‘Learning Italian‘ page of our site.

If you’ve got plenty of time on your hands, read through the sections that most interest you.

They’ll give you an idea what we’re about, and help you know whether studying Italian in Italy is really for you.

If, on the other hand, time is the one thing you never have enough of, I’ve got your back!

Here are the two articles that Google thinks you should see (based on the number of visitors they send to our site to read them):

• How long will it take me to learn Italian?
• Is Italian a hard language to learn?

Who knew there’d be so many people asking Google those two things?

But perhaps you have OTHER questions about learning Italian?

In which case, feel free to write to us at the school.

Questions about our Italian courses, or more generally about learning the language, always receive a personal reply: Contact Us.

OK, enough for today.

On Saturday, I’ll be linking to some excellent FREE resources, which you can use to prepare before coming to Bologna, and/or to maximise the value of your Italian course by continuing to study afterwards.

Madrelingua Italian Language School | Bologna | Italian Courses | Prices | FAQ | Contact Us