Archives for August 2017

If you’ll be working or studying in Bologna this fall, you might be interested to know that the dates are now up for our Italian evening classes.

Taking two evening lessons per week is a great way to improve your Italian, while making new friends to practice with!

But what about if you’re not in Bologna?

Never say never!

Take a look at our Italian courses page to find out more about standard or intensive Italian courses, or personalised individual lessons.

And if you really, really can’t get away from home, the family, the career, or all three?

Well, there’s always the option of online Italian lessons!

Try the one-to-one experience, via Skype, from the comfort of your home or office!

For more information about learning Italian at, or with, Madrelingua Italian Language School:

Bologna | Italian Courses | Prices | FAQ | How To Book | Contact Us

If you’ve studied Italian at Madrelingua at some point in the past, you’ll know it can be a struggle to keep up the Italian you’ve learnt.

Once you’re home again, back to the normal routine, your interest in Italian may end up taking second place to life’s other demands…

Ditto for anyone planning to come and learn with us this year.

You’ll not want to invest your time studying Italian, only to have your new skills start to fade away once your course is finished.

One solution is to develop the habit of reading in Italian!

Even just a few minutes a day with an Italian text can make a massive difference in the medium/long term, by keeping the language ‘alive’ in your head.

Reading helps consolidate the grammar and vocabulary you’ve studied, while giving you the chance to develop what you know further.

And if you choose the right KIND of text, it can be almost effortless.

That said, many people lack confidence reading in Italian, and so just don’t do it, thus missing out on the benefits.

Well, here’s something that might help get you started!

A week ago some new FREE ebooks were added to the Italian, French, Spanish and German departments at EasyReaders.Org.

In the Italian section they have a simplified ‘easy reader’ that’s IDEAL for beginners or those who have never read anything in Italian before.

It even has online audio, so you can work on your listening skills!

There’s also an Italian/English ‘parallel text’, which means that you get an original Italian story (written by the sister of one of our former teachers, incidentally) along with an English translation.

In a parallel text each line is numbered, so you can compare the Italian with the English translation.

This is perfect for those who like to analyse the structure of the language.

Also for anyone who just hates looking up new words in a dictionary!

Both ‘easy reader’ and ‘parallel text’, as I said, are completely free.

There’s absolutely no charge or obligation, and you don’t have to input payment details, or other sensitive information.

Just your name and email.

The process of downloading these free ebooks is very, very simple.

I’ve included full instructions below, if you’d like to give it a go.

And do, please, mention these free ebooks to anyone you know who might be interested in learning Italian (or French, Spanish or German) so that they can get reading, too!

How to get your free ebooks

1. Visit EasyReaders.Org and select the language category or categories that interest you:

• Italian https://easyreaders.org/product-category/italian/
• French https://easyreaders.org/product-category/french/
• Spanish https://easyreaders.org/product-category/spanish/
• German https://easyreaders.org/product-category/german/

2. Normally the ebooks at the top left of the page are the free ones. There should be a ‘SALE’ flash…

For example, in the Italian department there are two:

https://easyreaders.org/product/il-ristorante/ (this is a beginner-level easy reader – very short and simple, with audio!)

and

https://easyreaders.org/product/italianenglish-parallel-text-la-sorpresa-a1/ (this is an Italian/English parallel text, no audio but you get a translation so you can compare the two versions.)

3. Click on the ebook cover images in the shop to find out more.

If you want to download one or both, click the ‘Add to cart’ button.

4. If you want ALL of the free ebooks (French, Spanish and German too), that’s seven in total.

Find them, click the cover images, then the ‘add to cart’ button, repeating until you have the lot!

There’s no need to do seven separate orders for each one.

5. Next, view your shopping cart:

https://easyreaders.org/cart/

(or there’s a dark blue button at the top right of the screen that’ll take you right there…)

6. In the cart, SCROLL DOWN until you see the ‘Proceed to checkout’ button, which is large and orange so it’s hard to miss. Click it.

7. Once you reach the checkout page, the only obligatory fields are ‘Name’, ‘Surname’ and ‘Email’. The rest is optional.

8. If you plan to return occasionally, to see what’s new, I’d suggest checking the ‘create an account’ button, which you’ll find right below the ‘Phone’ section in the form.

That’ll save your information so you’d be able to log in and get your downloads were you to lose the email with the download links (about which, more below.)

9. Filled in the form? Now scroll down and look for the big orange button with ‘Place order’ on it.

Assuming you’ve only selected the free ebooks, there’s no payment stage.

If you’re also buying something, you’ll see payment options such as Paypal and Amazon.

10. What if you’ve selected something, then changed your mind?

No worries! Just go back to the cart https://easyreaders.org/cart/ and click the RED X next to the product you no longer desire.

That’ll delete it.

Then repeat from stage 6, above.

11. Where were we? Oh yes, no. 9. We were in the checkout and clicking on the big orange ‘Place order’ button.

12. Having clicked that one, you’ll be shown the next page and see the message:

“Thank you. Your order has been received.”

13. At which point check your email account for an email from EasyReaders.Org.

The subject line will be something like:

Your EasyReaders order from August 24, 2017 is complete

14. It’s THAT email which contains your download link (or links.)

There’ll be a download link for each of the free products.

Any paid for ebooks are sent separately, but the free ones are automatic.

15. Click the download link in the email you received.

The .pdf file containing the ebook should download to your device.

Repeat that process for each link/ebook.

Normally the downloads will be saved in your ‘Downloads’ file.

(If you don’t know where that is, ask a teenager!)

15. IMPORTANT: The download link is valid for three downloads only and expires after seven days.

Which means you should save a copy of the .pdf some place where you’ll be able to find it when you want to study or revise.

Once you’ve got your free ebooks, read them, and had time to form an opinion, why not give something back, by leaving a review?

There are instructions on how to do this here:

https://easyreaders.org/how-to-review-easy-readers-and-parallel-texts/

Reviews need to be left on the correct ‘product page’, which you can find by visiting the shop and using the ‘search’ box.

For example, here are the links for the two free Italian ebooks.

Click them to read what others have written and to add your own comments:

https://easyreaders.org/product/il-ristorante/#reviews (the easy reader)

https://easyreaders.org/product/italianenglish-parallel-text-la-sorpresa-a1/#reviews (the parallel text)

If you find any of this difficult, just write to the guys at the online shop and ask for help.

Also, please help them spread the word…

Maybe you’re a teacher, and could tell your students?

Or perhaps you attend an Italian class, and think the others in the group would be interested?

You may even have kids or grandkids studying a modern European language. Let’s try and get them reading!

Here are the links to all four language categories, again:

Italian https://easyreaders.org/product-category/italian/

French https://easyreaders.org/product-category/french/

Spanish https://easyreaders.org/product-category/spanish/

German https://easyreaders.org/product-category/german/