Archives for December 2017

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

This is just a quick, last-minute reminder that the 20% discount offer on 2018 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 2018 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 NEW school in Bologna in 2018, 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 2018 Italian course.

• Save a fifth on any group Italian course, of any length, starting in 2018!
• 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: 2018 Italian Course Offer: Save 20% From Today!

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 2018
• 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 2018 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 2018 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 2018!

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 2018 Italian courses at our school in Bologna, Italy ends in 48 hours or so.

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 415
• GBP 310
• CAD 527
• AUD 538

*I worked these out myself using the Euro foreign exchange rates listed for yesterday, Dec. 22nd, on the European Central Bank site. But hey, I teach languages not math, so do double check. And the rate your credit card provider, or Paypal, gives you is GUARANTEED to be worse…

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 20% 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 the best saving of 2018!

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

Buongiorno!

Tuesday’s article covered how to set next year’s learning goals, while yesterday we talked about what to put in your study plan.

I’m assuming an Italian course will be one of the possibilities.

After all, for at least part of the voyage, why not let someone else take the tiller?

Today, then, let’s consider the different types of Italian courses you could opt for.

As you’d expect for someone who works in a language school, I’ve written a lot about Italian courses over the years.

So I’ll keep today’s article brief by linking to some of the more relevant articles.

For example, ‘Which Italian course is right for you?’, which gives you an overview of the different types of course and explains why you might prefer one or the other.

Get more detail about the different types of Italian course our school offers from this page on our website, including links to prices, information about accommodation and so on.

Given the current promotion, you’ll most likely be interested in a group course, in which case you get to choose between the standard 20-hour-per-week option, or the more intensive 30-hour-per-week course.

Unsure which of those would work better for you?

Read what I wrote about that back in 2014: Should I choose an intensive Italian course?

Answers to the usual questions we receive from potential students can be found on the school site’s FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page.

And for general background reading about learning Italian, do take a look at Best Articles About Learning Italian.

P.S.

Don’t forget, this week Madrelingua is running it’s annual ‘biggest discount of the year’ promotion.

You can save 20% on group Italian courses of any length starting in 2018 at our school in Bologna, Italy.

• the ‘Winter Offer – 20%’ course deposit is just €120 instead of the usual €150
• that guarantees you’ll save 20%, not just on the deposit, but on the whole course
• Choose the length of your course: from one week to one year!
• You don’t have to know the dates of your course now, just email us when you’ve decided
• The offer applies to group courses only. We’re sorry, we can’t discount individual courses.
• This promotion FINISHES on Christmas Day (25th December 2017).

Go save 20% on your 2018 course now!

Here’s how:

1. Pick your Italian course then check the price
2. Research flights to Bologna and accommodation
3. Follow our extremely simple booking process
4. Pay your course / accommodation deposit in our online shop
5. And that’s it – you’ve saved 20% on your 2018 Italian course!

Still not sure?

Read more about studying Italian in Bologna on the school’s website:

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

Or if you’d like a personal response to your questions, email Stefania on info@madrelinguaitalian.com

Save 20% on your 2018 course

Yesterday I wrote about setting next year’s learning goals.

Let’s assume you’ve done that, you’ve decided on some specific goals for improving your Italian over the coming twelve months.

You’ve calculated the approximate number of hours you’ll put in during that time, perhaps comprising a combination of an Italian evening course in your home town and a summer course in Italy.

You’ve estimated the level you should be able to reach in the time you have available.

So far, so good.

I’m sure the time you spend studying here in Bologna will be the highlight of your learning year!

But it may not necessarily be the most important part…

You’ll get much more out of an Italian course if you combine it with self-study before you come, and follow up on it once you’ve returned home.

Doing some Italian BEFORE you come to Italy means you’ll be in a position to interact in Italian as much as possible during your stay.

And continuing to work on the language AFTER your course has finished means you’ll be maximising it’s value by consolidating what you’ve learnt and building on the progress made.

An evening course in your home town could (should) be part of that, but it’s likely to be just one element of an effective strategy.

What will really make the difference to your progress is the work you do outside of class.

Unlike with an organised group, the work you do alone is an opportunity to focus on your particular weaknesses. What’s more, you can personalise texts and vocabulary according to your interests.

Let’s suppose you love cooking (as well as languages), and that you have difficulty understanding spoken Italian when you hear it.

A course might touch on your culinary passions and give you SOME help with listening, but it’s unlikely to be as effective a use of your time as targeted self-study could be.

So, besides participating in a course or courses, what should you include in your 2018 study plan to accelerate your progress with Italian?

• an easy option to start with is to follow one of the free online courses available. Duolingo.com is good for beginners. OnlineItalianClub.com has masses of material, too
• as soon as you get beyond the beginners’ stage, do consider taking some online lessons. Feel the difference a few hours of intensive practice can make!
• nothing offers better value than reading and listening. Easy readers at your level are an excellent and affordable way to supplement a regular Italian course, online study, or online lessons
• and for intermediate and advanced students? You simply MUST be working on authentic Italian texts (websites, newspapers, magazines, books) and, to build your listening skills even further, listening or watching TV

So, for the cook who has lousy listening skills, the conjuntivo can wait!

Instead, consider creating a study plan which includes watching Italian cooking videos, studying Italian cookery books, and perhaps talking about recipes with an online teacher.

Perhaps you won’t want to attempt all of this at once, and certainly not if you’re just starting out with Italian.

But do be careful not to get stuck in the rut with just the one form of self-study, especially if you’re repeating the same material over and over.

As you progress and improve, it’s important that you try different ways of studying, and different types of materials.

A free course like Duolingo.com, for example, can be fun and satisfying but will only take you so far.

There comes a time when you have to let go of the side of the pool and swim!

My own 2018 study plan looks something like this:

• consolidate what I have learnt by finishing my study workbook to the end of A2, then beginning the B1 level
• develop a reading/listening habit through daily visits to a website that offers simplified materials for learners
• continue with one-to-one lessons, which activate what I’m learning and help me build communicative skills (I like to talk about my work and learn the words to describe it better)
• and finally, I’m planning a trip so I can practice everything I’ve learnt!

That’s it for today.

Tomorrow, we’ll cover what sort of Italian course you should choose.

P.S

You’ll have heard by now that December is the month when we run our popular ‘Best Offer Of The Year’ on Italian courses over the coming twelve-month period.

This week only save 20% on group Italian courses of any length starting in 2018 at our school in Bologna, Italy.

• Just pay the ‘Winter Offer – 20%’ course deposit (€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 of your course now, just email us when you know
• The promotion ends on Christmas Day (25th December 2017).

Here’s how to save 20% on your 2018 course:

1. choose your Italian course and check the price
2. research flights to Bologna and accommodation
3. check out our simple booking process
4. pay your course / accommodation deposit in our online shop
5. and that’s it – you’ve locked in a fantastic 20% discount on your 2018 Italian course!

You should find everything you need to know about studying Italian in Bologna on our website:

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

But if not, email Stefania with your questions: info@madrelinguaitalian.com

Save 20% on your 2018 course

If you’re reading this, you’re interested in learning Italian, or if you already speak some, in raising your level.

If that’s not the case, apologies. To stop receiving emails from me, follow the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of the page.

Click it and follow the simple instructions, so as not to be bothered again.

OK, so let’s talk about how to set next year’s learning goals.

“Learning what”?

Learning goals.

Deciding you want to learn Italian, or improve your existing knowledge, is a good start.

But as a guide to action, it’s on the vague side…

Perhaps you’re considering doing an Italian course in Bologna, which would, of course, be an excellent idea.

That should help you improve your Italian, right?

And it’ll be lots of fun, too.

But ‘doing the course’ is not, presumably, your ultimate goal.

‘Better’ Italian is.

So you can travel, work or study here.

Or just for the joy of learning something new, for the satisfaction of achieving something.

Whatever your reason is, though, ‘improving’ and ‘better’ aren’t very precise.

What exactly do you want to develop?

Grammar? Vocabulary? Speaking? Listening? Reading? Writing? Pronunciation? Cultural knowledge? Accuracy? Fluency?

All of those?

And by how much?

Let’s say you’re a beginner, right now.

By which we mean that you know nothing, or next to nothing, of Italian.

An objective, then, could be to ‘not be a beginner anymore’.

On the plus side, that’s a pretty achievable objective.

Go for it!

On the flip side, though, it’s still not very precise.

It could cover anything from ‘knowing a bit more than I did when I started’ to ‘having enough Italian to cope with most everything’.

Or any intermediate point!

How much you study, what you study, and in what way you study in 2018 will obviously depend on the time you have available.

But your decisions should also reflect where you plan to be this time next year.

You might therefore find it helpful to set yourself some more concrete learning goals for the coming twelve months.

You may not reach the end of your Italian studies in 2018.

But setting concrete goals will help you ensure that WHAT you learn is commensurate with the REASON you are learning.

So that you’ll advance in a measured and predictable way towards the point you eventually want to reach.

Doing this is much less difficult than you might assume.

Most people studying foreign languages will progress at a fairly predictable rate.

Obviously, if you’ve learned a foreign language before, that previous experience might speed things up with Italian.

Whereas if you’ve never stepped foot outside your country’s borders, that could slow you down some.

Especially at the start, when everything seems very strange…

Typically, though, if do, say 20 hours of classes, you should be able to cover ‘X’ amount of material.

Courses, course books and language-learning websites are designed to include a certain quantity of material to be learnt.

It’s expected that some people will go faster, others slower, but give or take a few weeks, most people will get there in the end.

But where is ‘there’?

Set next year’s learning goals by looking at where you are now, the time available (a year in this case), and where you could therefore expect to be at the end of the period.

Here the concept of ‘level’ is essential.

We use the ‘Common European Framework of Reference’, which has six levels.

Here are brief descriptions of what you should be able to understand at each level, just to give you the idea:

• A1 Beginner or Elementary – can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases
• A2 Pre-Intermediate – can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance
• B1 Intermediate – can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
• B2 Upper-intermediate – can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation
• C1 Advanced – can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning
• C2 Proficiency – can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read

(For more on levels, see this article: What’s my level in Italian?)

Let’s take me as an example.

I’ve lived in Italy for nineteen years and I’d certainly be able to pass a C2 level listening test.

Do I understand everything?

No, of course not.

But ‘virtually’ everything?

More or less.

In contrast, I’ve been learning Swedish for just a year, teaching myself and taking a few online lessons.

I could put a check mark next to A1 – familiar expressions, very basic phrases – yup, no problem!

And I can understand sentences and frequently used expressions, blah, blah, but probably with some pretty big gaps.

So I’d want a bit more practice before I put myself up for an A2-level exam.

Anyway, the point is that, once you have an idea of how long it might take you to complete a level, you can look at the time you have available, make a realistic evaluation of your level of motivation, and bingo – you’re in a position to set learning goals for 2018!

So, how long does it take to complete a level?

On the school website, we suggest between 80 and 120 hours of classes.

Think of a 20-hour-a-week class. That’s four hours each morning, from Monday to Friday.

For an experienced, motivated learner, four weeks at twenty hours a week would likely bring an improvement of approximately a level.

We talking not just grammatical knowledge here, or new words, but the ability to understand, to express yourself, to read, to write, and so on.

Less-experienced learners, or those whose native language is very different from Italian, might take five weeks, or six, to show the same improvement.

Spanish and French speakers learn Italian faster, as their native tongue is so similar. If you’ve already learnt one of those languages, you’ll find Italian easier too.

Suppose, then, that you plan to attend an evening class in your home town for say two hours a week, from January to December, with a break for the summer.

Call that thirty weeks, so sixty hours.

Add a bit of homework, but knock off time wasted because the teacher has the flu.

That’s a good chunk of a level, at least half.

For part-time, evening courses, a level a year would be perhaps a little ambitious, but achievable for those who put in the extra work.

Reading and listening more outside class, taking a few one-to-one lessons for the extra speaking practice, these things will help.

Turning to full-time courses, at our school in Bologna we’d expect you to progress much faster, simply because you’d be doing so many more hours in a week.

You could go from ‘complete beginner’ to ‘end of level A1’, as explained above, in a month or so. Six weeks, if you want to be on the safe side.

What then, if you planned to combine study at home with a course, perhaps in the summer, in Italy?

Now you’re talking!

A chunk of evening classes, a chunk of ‘intensive’ study in Italy, total up the hours and what do you have?

With sixty hours of evening classes, plus forty hours (two weeks) in Bologna, you’d certainly improve a whole level in 2018.

The neighbours will be amazed!

Personally, I’m aiming for the end of A2 by June, when we’re planning a holiday in Sweden.

Then in the autumn, I’ll start the B1 material, hoping to get around half-way through it by this time next year.

So do the math and set your next year’s study goal.

Tomorrow, I’ll have some suggestions as to ‘What To Put In Your Study Plan’.

And on Thursday I’ll be writing to help you decide ‘What Sort Of Italian Course?’

P.S

December is the month when we run our popular ‘Best Offer Of The Year’ on Italian courses over the coming twelve-month period.

This week only save 20% on group Italian courses of any length starting in 2018 at our school in Bologna, Italy.

• 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 of your course now, just email us when you know
• The promotion ENDS Christmas Day (25th December 2017).

Don’t put this off – save 20% on your 2018 course now!

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 2018 Italian course!

Find out more about studying Italian in Bologna on our website.

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

Or email Stefania with your questions: info@madrelinguaitalian.com

Save 20% on your 2018 course

As I mentioned 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 2018 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 2017).

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 2018 Italian course!

Of course, you may not yet know when exactly in 2018 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 me.)

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

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

Less than two weeks until the Christmas/New Year festivities!

But even ten days can seem like a long time if you’re waiting for Santa to come down the chimney with a jute sack over his shoulder…

So, to help the days pass more quickly, we’ve scheduled our ‘2018 Italian Course Offer’ for next week!

You’ll have a chance to save 20% on a group Italian course at our school in Bologna.

You could study for as little as a week, or as long as a year.

And you don’t even have to decide when exactly.

This is, after all, a busy time.

More details about the offer on Monday.

In the meantime, though, have you seen these articles about learning Italian?

Picking out a few for you, almost at random, what about:

‘Why can’t I understand spoken Italian?’

or

‘Ever wished for the super power of learning languages?’

or even…

Will an Italian course make me richer and more attractive?’

There are plenty more in a similar vein on the ‘best articles’ page.

And when you’re done with those, don’t forget, Madrelingua also has a FAQ.

But if reading’s not your thing?

No problem.

Whatever you want to know about Italian courses in Bologna in 2018, just ask Stefi!