This is a list-clearing exercise, as we’re just about to start a major promotion on Italian courses at our school in Bologna, Italy.

Whether you’re interested in learning Italian or not, we want to make it easy for you to choose to stay on our list, or to get right off it and so receive fewer emails.

So we’ve laid out three options for you to pick from.

Option 1: “I don’t want to learn Italian”

If you’re not interested in learning Italian at all, you’d probably prefer not to have received this information.

Fair enough. Let’s see that it doesn’t happen again.

At the top or bottom of this text, depending on which of our systems sends it, you should see an ‘unsubscribe’ link. Click it and follow the simple instructions to remove your details from our mailing list.

Sorry to have troubled you. You won’t be contacted again (unless you’re on both of our lists, in which case just repeat the process.)

Option 2: “I might be interested in courses at your school”

Cool.

And we have a major offer coming up next week, the biggest discount of the year! Stay on the list to get details hot off the press, straight to your in-box. That’ll be on Monday next week, once we’ve finished the ‘list-clearing’.

In the meantime, check out our new FAQ, which contains everything you ever wanted to know about Italian courses at Madrelingua.

Option 3: “I study Italian, but won’t be coming to your school”

Thank you for your honesty.

We’d still suggest you click the ‘unsubscribe’ link, as most of the content sent to this list won’t be relevant to you, and we don’t want to spam anyone.

But if you’re still interested in learning Italian, why not check out these FREE resources?

• OnlineItalianClub.com (thousands of pages of FREE exercises and resources)
• DontSpeakItalian.com (FREE beginners’ course – 50 or so exercises, very easy to follow!)

Saluti!

So, ‘addio‘ to you Option 1 people. No hard feelings we hope. Enjoy your emptier in-boxes.

Instead, we’ll say ‘a presto‘ to you Option 2’s. Thanks for staying on our list for news of the up-coming offer (and don’t forget to check out our FAQ!)

We hope ‘arrivederci‘ might be appropriate for those of you who still want to learn Italian but not at our school. Hope to see you over at the other place!

The Internet has gone rather quite today, probably because it’s Thanksgiving, a holiday celebrated in the USA and Canada, where a lot of our students come from.

Someone wrote last night to thank me for replying to their question so quickly ‘on a holiday’.

‘You’re very welcome’, I replied, ‘though of course it’s not a holiday here in Italy.’

While it’s true we do have a lot to give thanks for here in Bologna (not least the food, Europe’s oldest university, the many museums and historic buildings, and so on…), sadly today is just a normal Thursday.

Same old same old.

As usual, there are Italian classes going on, people are sat chatting or studying in our library, and there’s a trip organized to a local place of interest.

Anyway, the reason I’m bothering you is to remind you that our “Fantastic Off-Season Offer” is ending in a few days.

If you’re quick, you could save 20% on a group Italian course of any length, as long as it starts in December, January or February.

To take advantage, all you need to do is pay a deposit of €120 by the end of this month (that’s Monday) and make sure you start your course by the end of Feb. 2016.

Click here for full details and to get the offer code you’ll need to lock in your discount.

Or find out more about learning Italian at our school in Bologna Italy by following these links:

Courses | Bologna | Prices | About Us | How to Book

If you have a question about anything you see on our site, visit our Contact Us page or…

• Phone: + 39 051 267 822
• E-mail: info@madrelinguaitalian.com
• Address: Via San Giorgio, 6 – 40121 Bologna, Italy

Are you retired, unemployed, a student with long holidays coming up, or just yearning to get away for a break over the next few months?

Then why not take advantage of reduced ‘off-season’ prices on Italian courses in Bologna?

Give your Italian a boost, have a great holiday in Italy, and all at a discount!

For the rest of this month, use discount code off-season-offer to save 20% on group Italian courses OF ANY LENGTH starting in the three winter months of December, January and February 2015-16.

Just cut and paste the discount code off-season-offer when paying your course/accommodation deposit so that we know you’re entitled to the 20% saving.

‘Off-Season Offer’ details

• ACT NOW: offer ends on Nov. 30th!
• apply the discount code off-season-offer when paying your standard course/accommodation deposit to save 20% on your entire course
• your deposit payment will be reduced to €120 from the usual €150
• pay nothing more until the first day of your course
• the balance (total less deposit) will also be discounted 20%
• offer applies to all Italian group courses and excludes individual and online lessons
• offer does not apply to accommodation (we don’t sell accommodation, but can book it for you)
• your course must start in the off-season months of December 2015, or January/February 2016
• choose the length of your course, from one week to one year
• the longer you stay, the more you’ll learn and the less you’ll pay!
• N.B. the off-season-offer code cannot be used together with other codes or discounts

Choose your Italian courses in Bologna

Follow these links to find out more about Italian courses at our school in Bologna

Courses | Bologna | Prices | About Us | How to Book

Contact us with your question!

Visit our Contact Us page or…

• Phone: + 39 051 267 822
• E-mail: info@madrelinguaitalian.com
• Address: Via San Giorgio, 6 – 40121 Bologna, Italy

Do you believe the customer reviews you read when shopping online, booking a hotel, or choosing an Italian language school??

Well perhaps you shouldn’t. Caveat emptor, and all that.

According to this article in The Guardian, in June this year the UK Competition and Marketing Authority opened an investigation into possible widespread abuse of online reviews.

Apparently, deceitful practices include:

• paying for hundreds of fake positive reviews
• hiding or just failing to publish negative reviews
• leaving misleading reviews about competitors

There are some naughty people out there…

That said, it IS useful to know what other people think before you commit your time and money to an Italian course.

Taken with a pinch of salt, comments and reviews can at least give you a flavor of what the experience might be like.

For example, here are a few extracts from genuine client reviews on our site:

• I first visited Madrelingua in 2009, and found the program, the teachers, and the rest of the Madrelingua team to be outstanding, and very friendly.
• I’ve attended five language schools in three cities in Italy in the past 2 1/2 years and Madrelingua is the best of the best.
• I recently did a short beginner’s course at Madrelingua and was very impressed with the structure of the course and the very high standard of teaching. Right from the beginning it was clear to me that I was in good hands.
• Madrelingua is the third language school I’ve attended in Italy and it’s by far the best. I was nervous that it would be above my level but the teachers, Francesca and Giulia and Paulo, made it so much fun than you hardly noticed you were actually having a lesson…

Too good to be true?

Well obviously I’ve picked out some of the best ones. But take a look and decide for yourself!

More Articles About Learning Italian | FAQ

Just a quick update from anyone working or studying in Bologna and interested in Italian evening classes this term…

Classes start next week!

Check the level, days & time of your course here:

• A1 lunedì-mercoledì, inizia lunedì 5 ottobre ore 18.00
• A2 martedì-giovedì, inizia martedì 6 ottobre ore 18.00
• B1 lunedì-mercoledì, inizia lunedì 5 ottobre ore 18.00
• B2 martedì-giovedì, inizia martedì 6 ottobre ore 18.00
• C1/C2 lunedì-mercoledì, inizia lunedì 5 ottobre ore 18.00

Don’t know what these levels mean? Here’s a helpful article: What’s my level in Italian?

Find out more about:

• Italian evening classes in Bologna
• Italian courses in the mornings
• Intensive Italian courses
• Personalized Italian courses
• Online Italian lessons

Or contact us.

If you want to speak and understand Italian better, you should give some thought to selecting the approach that will be best-suited to your style of learning and circumstances.

You might, for instance, get on very well ‘teaching yourself’ Italian using materials available on the Internet. If that sounds like you, take a look at OnlineItalianClub.com, which has thousands of pages of grammar and practise exercises.

But perhaps you’d prefer something more structured? Maybe you’d appreciate the chance to learn Italian in Italy? Or need to study online with lessons from an Italian native-speaker teacher?

No matter what your situation, Madrelingua Italian School offers a variety of Italian courses so you can be sure you’ll find something to suit you. Choose between standard or more intensive courses, courses personalized to your specific needs, evening classes in Bologna, or online lessons from your home or office.

Courses in Bologna, Italy

Bologna is the ideal place to study Italian! It’s small enough to get around on foot, but has all the facilities of a city, including an international airport and Europe’s oldest university.

Taking an Italian course at our school is an excellent way to boost your Italian. It’s also totally flexible, as courses can be of any length, the minimum period being just one week.

Most students choose our standard 20-hour-a-week option, which means studying from nine-thirty to one-thirty each morning from Monday to Friday. Afternoons can be spent studying in the school with a tutor, participating in activities organized as part of our social program, or just exploring the city.

A typical student completes a level in four to five weeks. If you’re able to stay away for longer, you could even reach an advanced level. Longer courses bring greater fluency and confidence with Italian, but also offer excellent value for money since each subsequent week costs less!

Find out more about the 20-hour-a-week Italian course

Intensive Italian courses

For more experienced language learners, or for those who wish to cram as many lessons as possible into each day, we offer the 30-hour-a-week ‘intensive course’.

You study with the morning students, but get an extra two hours of lessons each afternoon. You should bear in mind that learning a language can be tiring… this is not an option to be chosen lightly!

More on intensive Italian courses

Courses personalized to your needs

If you have a specific objective, you may prefer individual or semi-individual Italian lessons. Choose how many hours you would like to study, and when. There’s no minimum, but there are discounts for greater numbers of hours.

Your teacher will personalize lessons based on your needs. You might, for example, want to speak as much as possible, or to work on preparing for an exam or a job in which you’ll need to speak or write in Italian.

Details of individual Italian lessons

Evening classes at Madrelingua

For students who are already in Bologna for study, work or family reasons, we offer Italian evening classes during the academic year, from October to December and then again from January to June.

There are two lessons a week, each of three hours duration. So a three-week evening course module is approximately equivalent to one week of our 20-hour-a-week ‘morning’ course.

We’d expect you to be able to improve your Italian by about a level in each of the two ‘terms’.

Dates and times of Italian evening classes

Online lessons from your home or office

Wherever you are in the world, there’s always the option to study online with one of our staff of professional Italian teachers.

For online teaching we use Skype video calling software, which is free to download and easy to use.

All you need is a decent broadband Internet connection and a PC or tablet and you could be taking lessons from your home or office at a time to suit you.

As for our individual courses, online lesson content is personalized according to your needs and preferences.

Book online Italian lessons

More Articles About Learning Italian | FAQ

It’s that time of year again.

August’s sticky weather and deserted streets are gone. Now the sidewalks are crowded, and with the milder September climate there’s barely a place to be found at the tables outside bars and restaurants.

Besides being a popular tourist destination, Bologna is home to Europe’s oldest university. With its traditions and vibrant social life, it’s a magnet both for Italian students and for young people from all over the world.

The European Union’s Erasmus program encourages the continent’s youth to spend time in another member state as an exchange student. Needless to say, Italy is one of the most popular choices, and Bologna one of Italy’s premier destinations. So in September young people arrive here in droves, though often without knowing a word of Italian!

Bologna is also ‘capoluogo’ of the Emilia-Romagna region, and as such attracts many a foreign specialist to work in its companies and factories. They bring with them their expertise and skills, but are often only able to communicate with fellow workers in English, which not all Italians know well…

Hence the timing of our evening Italian classes! They’re aimed specifically at students and workers, and run at up to five different levels, two evenings a week, between the end of September and Christmas (and then again from January until the beginning of the summer.)

Italian evening classes are the ideal solution for anyone who finds themselves in Bologna and needs to brush up on their foreign language skills, while leaving the days free for work or for lessons at the university.

The classes are organized in three week modules. That’s two lessons of three hours each week, eighteen hours in total, that being equivalent to approximately a week of studying full-time.

With four modules you could improve an entire level, and over an academic year complete two, or even three levels (similar to studying four, eight or twelve weeks full-time.)

Italian evening classes are also a great way to meet people, especially when you first arrive and don’t know anyone. As Italian is the ‘lingua franca’ of our classes, you’ll get used to using it to communicate.

And who knows? Maybe you’ll stay in touch with the friends you make in your Italian class, and so continue practising the language with them long after your course is over!

Follow this link to find out more about Italian evening classes in Bologna.

Or, if you’re not able to work or study here, visit our Italian courses page to find out about studying Italian full-time or taking online Italian lessons from your home or office.

Got a question? Here’s how to contact us.

• Tel. 00 39 051 267 822
• E-mail: info@madrelinguaitalian.com
• Address: via San Giorgio, 6 – 40121 Bologna (BO), Italy