2009 has been a fantastic year for Radio Lingua and we’d like to thank all our listeners for your support and enthusiasm over the past twelve months. To celebrate the end of 2009 and a new year of language-learning just around the corner, we’re delighted to announce our Holidays sale and give you some exciting advance notice of our plans for 2010. Read on!
No festive period is complete without a sale, and we’re offering you 25% off all our courses right through until 31 December, midnight GMT. If you’ve been thinking about taking your language-learning more seriously next year, perhaps now is the time to jump on board and purchase one of our Season Passes. We’re delighted to be able to offer free language-learning materials to hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world, but you can take your learning to a new level with our premium materials which include lesson guides, extra listening materials and exericses for each of our courses.
To receive your 25% discount, simply use the coupon code holidays09 (lower case) at checkout when you’re buying one of our courses. If you’ve not purchased an item from us before, you can view our full range of products here, or visit the appropriate store front for Coffee Break French, Coffee Break Spanish, Show Time Spanish, One Minute Languages, or School Run French. When you complete the form, make sure you enter holidays09 in the coupon code area at the bottom of the signup page.
Please note that the 25% reduction will be applied at checkout. EU customers should be aware that the prices quoted on our signup pages do not include VAT. If you use the coupon code then the 25% discount will be applied and then 17.5% VAT will be added to the total cost. It’s worth also pointing out that as of 1st January 2010, the VAT charges will have to increase to 17.5% in line with the Inland Revenue arrangements in the UK.
Please remember to use the coupon code as you’re purchasing: no refunds will be given on any materials purchased at full price if the coupon codes have not been used.
Would you like to purchase a gift membership? If so, please contact us at support@radiolingua.com and we’ll get things set up for you. Let us know what product you wish to buy and the email address of the recipient. We’ll process your payment and send the gift membership invitation in time for Christmas. Please note that the deadline for any Christmas gifts is 17 December.
New for 2010: the Radio Lingua Club. We’ve been listening to comments from our existing premium customers and one of the most common requests is for more help and advice for learning languages. We’ve decided therefore to create a ‘club’ around this. Membership to the club will last 12 months and during this time members will receive the following benefits:
- Weekly podcasts in a brand new “how to learn a language” series featuring tips, tricks and advice on learning language. We’ll also be including interviews with language learners from all walks of life who will share their learning tips. The course will feature tips for beginners and for experienced learners and we’re sure that everyone will be able to benefit from this course, regardless of the language they are learning.
- Reduced prices on all our content. Members will have access to a special discount rate for any purchases made within the membership period. At certain times we’ll also offer special discounts on certain products.
- Refer-a-friend refunds. Members of the Radio Lingua club will be able to introduce a friend to Radio Lingua courses at a discounted rate, and receive an affiliate payment. So if you’re a Coffee Break Spanish Season Pass holder and you introduce your friend to the show and they purchase the show, you’ll receive a special payment from us to say thanks.
The Radio Lingua Club will involve a monthly payment of just £4.00 GBP. Alternatively you can purchase a twelve-month subscription for £36. The club will launch on January 1st 2010 with our first weekly language-learning tips podcast. We’re offering a special early-bird purchase offer where you can get 25% off the twelve-month subscription: for just £27 you will get access to a full year’s worth of podcasts, you’ll access the reduced prices throughout 2010, and you will be able to use the refer-a-friend refund too.
Please note that the Radio Lingua Club is no longer available, as of July 2011.
If 2009 has been a big year for Radio Lingua, we’re really excited about what’s coming in 2010! Our Coffee Break French listeners will be aware that we’re moving into lessons 71-80 of Coffee Break French, and we’re often asked about “what happens when Coffee Break French finishes?” Well, we’re busy planning new content for intermediate learners at the moment, and we’re sure that everyone will enjoy what will come after our existing course content.
This year we introduced our first experimental video show – Walk, Talk and Learn French. We were overwhelmed at the response to Walk, Talk and Learn, but as a small company we’ve been limited in terms of the time required to produce more shows. Fans of the show will be delighted to know that we’ve filmed a second series and are working on the content at the moment, ready for launch early in 2010.
We’re a couple of days away from releasing the last ever episode of Show Time Spanish, which has developed into one of our most popular shows. As we’ve explained to listeners, Show Time took an enormous amount of work to produce each episode and we feel that we can’t continue the show in its current format. However, we are sure that Show Time Spanish listeners won’t be disappointed with what we have planned for release in the new year. We’re working on new content which will continue to feature native-speaker conversations and in-depth study of the language. We can’t say too much now, but we’ll be making some announcements early in the New Year.
If you’re interested in languages other than French and Spanish then we’re very pleased to announce that 2010 will bring more content for Italian and German learners and that we’ll continue to increase our range of One Minute Languages.
Last, but by no means least, since September we’ve been working in conjunction with schools in the UK through Radio Lingua Schools, and we’ve been involved in several projects involving languages and creative technologies. In 2010 we’re going to be looking more at the resources side of Radio Lingua Schools and have started work on a major new course for children, due to be launched in August 2010.
Of course, as we’ve said many times, we’re still a small company and we’re doing our best to continue to produce high quality, engaging materials. We hope that 2010 will bring further opportunities for new projects, collaboration and new ideas!
Of course we have lots of ideas as to our new developments, but we’re really interested to hear about your ideas. To this end, we’re asking for 10 minutes of your time and we hope that you’ll be willing to share some of your thoughts about language-learning and your next steps as a learner.
We’ve devised a survey and would be very grateful if you would tell us a little about your language-learning and your experience using Radio Lingua materials. You can give as much or as little detail as you wish, but obviously it’s extremely useful to us if you can provide as much information as possible. There are different sections of the survey, depending on which language(s) you learn with Radio Lingua, and on whether you listen to the free content or use our premium materials. You’ll be guided through the survey and we’ll try to explain why we’re asking what we’re asking.
If you complete the survey you’ll be invited to enter a prize draw – there’s an iPod Touch up for grabs along with five platinum season passes to a language course of your choice!
To start taking the survey now, click here.
All that remains for us to do is to wish each and every one of our listeners and friends a very happy holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous 2010.
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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:
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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:
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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.
In today’s lesson you’ll learn to understand basic directions. Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
sempre dritto – “straight on”
gira alla sinistra - “turn left”
gira alla destra - “turn right”
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 ask where things are. Listen to today’s show here:
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Today’s words and phrases:
mi sono perso – “I’m lost” (used by males)
mi sono persa - “I’m lost” (used by females)
dov’è…? - “where is…?”
l’ufficio turistico - “tourist information office”
il centro - “the town centre”
la stazione - “the station”
la spiaggia - “the beach”
Remember that by following @learnitalian on Twitter, you can learn Italian in 140-character lessons linked to these audio programmes.
