Join Mark and Gian Luca today in our Italian edition of Festive Phrases. Italian is spoken in Italy and is also an official language in Switzerland. Find out more about Italian and learn to say “happy Christmas” in today’s episode.
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If you would like to learn more Italian, join Gian Luca and Lorraine in One Minute Italian, or learn Italian step by step, day by day, phrase by phrase in My Daily Phrase Italian. Find out more by clicking on the icons below.
We’re delighted to announce that our One Minute Italian course is now available on the iBookstore. iBooks can be viewed on all iOS devices including iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. You need to have the iBooks app on your device, and the title is purchased directly through iTunes.
This iBook provides all ten lessons of the course in video format, along with notes and further explanations, and includes the same content covered in the traditional “podcasts + pdf lesson guide” version of the course. You can purchase this iBook directly from the iBookstore in the iBooks application.
The pricing of One Minute Italian is standardised across the iBookstores currently active as detailed below:
We’ve combined our popular One Minute Languages courses into a bundle and are making these available for a hugely reduced price. Each course normally costs £5 (French, Greek, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin are £10 as they include additional bonus items), but we’re offering the entire One Minute Languages library for the reduced price of £37 (+VAT). You can learn the basics of sixteen languages for less than the price of a coffee* per language!
Topics covered include:
saying hello and goodbye
basic words including yes, no, please, thank you
saying your name and asking other people what they’re called
talking about language – say that you’re learning the language and that you speak a little
counting 1-10
asking people how they’re feeling and answering the question yourself
other common phrases including happy birthday, good luck, I love you
If you’d like to be able to communicate in basic Catalan, Danish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Luxembourgish, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Turkish then click here to take advantage of this offer or view the whole range of One Minute Languages available individually.
*What’s all this about “less than the price of a coffee”?! Well, a Venti Cappuccino in Starbucks in the UK costs £2.65, and we’ve reduced the price of each course to £2.31. Obviously a coffee is priced differently depending on where you purchase it, but we think this is a good deal anyway!
In the final lesson of this season of TwitterLearn Italian, you’ll learn some phrases which will help you improve further in Italian. Listen here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
sto imparando l’italiano – “I’m learning Italian” mi può aiutare? - “can you help me?” (formal) mi puoi aiutare? - “can you help me?” (informal) vorrei migliorare il mio italiano - “I’d like to improve my Italian”
If you would like to improve your Italian further, why not check out our other courses? One Minute Italian provides an alternative short course to the language and is hosted by Lorraine and native speaker Gian Luca. Alternatively, you can try My Daily Phrase Italian, hosted by Mark (the host of TwitterLearn Italian) which provides a more in-depth study of the basics of Italian in 100 5-minute episodes. Don’t forget to use the coupon code which was provided via @learnitalian if you would like to purchase the premium version of any of our Italian courses.
When you’re talking with native speakers sometimes you may not fully understand. Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
non capisco – “I don’t understand” può parlare più lentamente, per favore? - “can you speak more slowly, please?”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
Now that you know how to tell the time in Italian you can put it to practical use. Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
a che ora…? – “at what time…?” a che ora apre la banca? - “at what time does the bank open?” a che ora parte il treno? - “at what time does the train leave?” a che ora arriviamo? - “at what time do we arrive?” alle sette - “at seven o’clock” alle otto meno venticinque - “at twenty-five to eight”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
Sometimes you have to be more accurate when telling the time. Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
sono le quattro e cinque – “it’s five past four” sono le quattro e dieci - “it’s ten past four” sono le quattro e venti – “it’s twenty past four” sono le quattro e venticinque - “it’s twenty-five past four” sono le cinque meno venticinque - “it’s twenty-five to five” sono le cinque meno venti - “it’s twenty to five” sono le cinque meno dieci - “it’s ten to five” sono le cinque meno cinque - “it’s five to five”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
In the final week of this season of TwitterLearn Italian, we’ll be completing our discussion of time and learning some useful phrases to help you move forward learning the language. Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
undici – “eleven” dodici - “twelve” sono le undici – “it’s eleven o’clock” sono le undici e mezza - “it’s half past eleven” mezzogiorno - “midday / noon” mezzanotte - “midnight” è mezzogiorno / mezzanotte - “it’s midday / midnight”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
We’re talking a little more about the time today. Listen here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
è l’una – “it’s one o’clock” è l’una e mezza - “it’s half past one” sono le sette e un quarto - “it’s quarter past seven” sono le otto menu un quarto - “it’s quarter to eight” (7:45)
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
If you’re trying to catch a train or if you’re waiting for the museum (or shops) to open, it’s useful to know how to ask, “what time is it?” Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
che ora è? – “what is the time?” sono le due - “it’s two o’clock” sone le tre - “it’s three o’clock” sono le quattro - “it’s four o’clock”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
Going to the bank or changing money is always easier when you can use your language skills. Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
dov’è la banca? – “where is the bank?” vorrei cambiare dei soldi - “I would like to change some money” c’è un bancomat qui vicino? - “Is there a cash dispenser / ATM near here?”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
Today we’ll learn how to buy train or bus tickets. Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
vorrei un biglietto – solo andata – “I would like a single (one way) ticket” vorrei un biglietto di andata e ritorno - “I would like a return (roundtrip) ticket”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
This week on TwitterLearn we’ll be covering a number of situations which you may encounter while on holiday in Italy. Today, we’ll be dealing with travel. Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
voglio andare a … (Lucca) – “I want to go to (Lucca)” questo autobus va alla spiaggia? - “does this bus go to the beach?” questo treno va a Lucca? – “does this train go to Lucca?”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
In today’s lesson you’ll learn to talk about places in the town. Listen to today’s show here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Today’s words and phrases:
c’è una banca qui vicino? – “is there a bank near here?” c’è un supermercato qui vicino? - “is there a supermarket near here?”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
In today’s episode you’ll learn to ask if places in the town are near or far. Listen to today’s show here:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Today’s words and phrases:
è lontano? – “is it far?” è lontano - “it is far” è qui vicino? - “is it near here?” è qui vicino - “it is near here”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
We’re delighted to announce that our One Minute Italian course is now available on the iBookstore. iBooks can be viewed on all iOS devices including iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. You need to have the 
We’ve combined our popular One Minute Languages courses into a bundle and are making these available for a hugely reduced price. Each course normally costs £5 (French, Greek, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin are £10 as they include additional bonus items), but we’re offering the entire One Minute Languages library for the reduced price of £37 (+VAT). You can learn the basics of sixteen languages for less than the price of a coffee* per language!
