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Italian Short Stories for Beginners: 20 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Italian & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way! (Easy Italian Stories Vol. 1)
Do you know what the hardest thing for an Italian learner is?Finding PROPER reading material that they can handle…which is precisely the reason we’ve written this book!Teachers love giving out tough, expert-level literature to their students, books that present many new problems to the reader and force them to search for words in a dictionary every five minutes — it's not entertaining, useful or motivating for the student at all, and many soon give up on learning at all!In this book we have compiled 20 easy-to-read, compelling and fun stories that will allow you to expand your vocabulary and give you the tools to improve your grasp of the wonderful Italian tongue.How Italian Short Stories for Beginners Each story will involve an important lesson of the tools in the Italian language (Verbs, Adjectives, Past Tense, Giving Directions, and more), involving an interesting and entertaining story with realistic dialogues and day-to-day situations.The summaries follow a synopsis in Italian and in English of what you just read, both to review the lesson and for you to see if you understood what the tale was about.At the end of those summaries, you'll be provided with a list of the most relevant vocabulary involved in the lesson, as well as slang and sayings that you may not have understood at first glance!Finally, you'll be provided with a set of tricky questions in Italian, providing you with the chance to prove that you learned something in the story. Don't worry if you don't know the answer to any — we will provide them immediately after, but no cheating!So look no further! Pick up your copy of Italian Short Stories for Beginners and start learning Italian right now!
187 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 17, 2018
621 people are currently reading
246 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 30, 2020
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.
This was a really good book, especially for people who are intermediate learners of Italian as it does assume that you have some level of understanding. I particularly liked the vocabulary sections. The stores themselves are fun and varied and I quite enjoyed it.
This was a really good book, especially for people who are intermediate learners of Italian as it does assume that you have some level of understanding. I particularly liked the vocabulary sections. The stores themselves are fun and varied and I quite enjoyed it.
November 27, 2018
‘Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City and western Istria’
Lingo Mastery has embarked on a new mission – to make Italian more accessible to a wider population. In the Introductory Note the goal is stated well: ‘Probably Italian is not a "stranger" to you and you already know some words. Beginners will be relieved to know that if you know English, learning Italian will be less difficult than you think. About 30% of English words have Latin origins, and Italian is one of the languages that derives almost entirely from Latin. The phonetics of the language is easily understood by reading the written words, which is a great help for new learners. Learning vocabulary means accumulating and remembering individual items. These are stored in our memory, which is short-term or long-term - according to the number of words that can be stored and the sedimentation time - or working memory, where the information is held for 20 seconds, studied and then filed. The challenge of this book is to help students to move the vocabulary from their short-term memory to their long-term one to boost words retention.
To do this, a learner needs to meet a word at least 6 times in one or more specific lexical sets. The organization of words in thematic groups - as in this book - is of great help for students to understand the context and recreate the same interconnections between words as in their first language acquisition. Each word will be presented in Italian and English in its lexical set. Sets are listed in alphabetical order even if the words are not. This is supported by the idea that learners don’t have to memorize just lists of words from A to Z but choose those more interesting or attractive and give them a meaning. One of the best ways to improve your vocabulary is to read and read often.’ The specifics of the language are outlined (especially the importance of masculine and feminine) and then the lessons begin.’
Each of the twenty stories follows the pattern Summary of the story, Vocabulary Questions about the story, and Answers. Or as the authors state, ‘Each story will tell a different tale involving unique, deep characters with their own personalities and conflicts, while ensuring that you understand the objective of the particular language device in Italian. Verbs, Pronouns, Nouns, Directions, Time and Date; all of it will be covered in this Basic-level book for Beginners. At no point will we introduce concepts too difficult for you to grasp, and any complicated vocabulary will be studied at the end of each story.’
An example, in Story 1 Come due gocce d’acqua - the story (translated for demo) ‘Elena and Caterina are two twin sisters who look very much alike and to distinguish them, their parents have given them two bracelets of different colours. Elena has been wearing a yellow bracelet and Caterina has been wearing a blue bracelet. Wherever they went, they were always very careful never to lose the bracelet. But the two sisters have a big secret. One day Elena would have to go out with her mother to buy a swimsuit, but she did not want to. Caterina reveals her trick to take off the bracelet that seemed to be too tight and from that day on they would often exchange their role, without ever revealing the secret to anyone.’ This is but one of the well-written stories with the summary in both Italian and English and the task of this tale is Vocabulary (very well defined) and a series of questions about the story written in Italian with the answers likewise in Italian.
The stories vary, as do the lessons taught. This is a very fine introduction to Italian, appropriate for all age levels, and a book much needed at this time in our national status!
Lingo Mastery has embarked on a new mission – to make Italian more accessible to a wider population. In the Introductory Note the goal is stated well: ‘Probably Italian is not a "stranger" to you and you already know some words. Beginners will be relieved to know that if you know English, learning Italian will be less difficult than you think. About 30% of English words have Latin origins, and Italian is one of the languages that derives almost entirely from Latin. The phonetics of the language is easily understood by reading the written words, which is a great help for new learners. Learning vocabulary means accumulating and remembering individual items. These are stored in our memory, which is short-term or long-term - according to the number of words that can be stored and the sedimentation time - or working memory, where the information is held for 20 seconds, studied and then filed. The challenge of this book is to help students to move the vocabulary from their short-term memory to their long-term one to boost words retention.
To do this, a learner needs to meet a word at least 6 times in one or more specific lexical sets. The organization of words in thematic groups - as in this book - is of great help for students to understand the context and recreate the same interconnections between words as in their first language acquisition. Each word will be presented in Italian and English in its lexical set. Sets are listed in alphabetical order even if the words are not. This is supported by the idea that learners don’t have to memorize just lists of words from A to Z but choose those more interesting or attractive and give them a meaning. One of the best ways to improve your vocabulary is to read and read often.’ The specifics of the language are outlined (especially the importance of masculine and feminine) and then the lessons begin.’
Each of the twenty stories follows the pattern Summary of the story, Vocabulary Questions about the story, and Answers. Or as the authors state, ‘Each story will tell a different tale involving unique, deep characters with their own personalities and conflicts, while ensuring that you understand the objective of the particular language device in Italian. Verbs, Pronouns, Nouns, Directions, Time and Date; all of it will be covered in this Basic-level book for Beginners. At no point will we introduce concepts too difficult for you to grasp, and any complicated vocabulary will be studied at the end of each story.’
An example, in Story 1 Come due gocce d’acqua - the story (translated for demo) ‘Elena and Caterina are two twin sisters who look very much alike and to distinguish them, their parents have given them two bracelets of different colours. Elena has been wearing a yellow bracelet and Caterina has been wearing a blue bracelet. Wherever they went, they were always very careful never to lose the bracelet. But the two sisters have a big secret. One day Elena would have to go out with her mother to buy a swimsuit, but she did not want to. Caterina reveals her trick to take off the bracelet that seemed to be too tight and from that day on they would often exchange their role, without ever revealing the secret to anyone.’ This is but one of the well-written stories with the summary in both Italian and English and the task of this tale is Vocabulary (very well defined) and a series of questions about the story written in Italian with the answers likewise in Italian.
The stories vary, as do the lessons taught. This is a very fine introduction to Italian, appropriate for all age levels, and a book much needed at this time in our national status!
December 13, 2018
I was very happy to get hold of this book. Although I am not a beginner in Italian, I found it very fun and useful to read. It is a fantastic way to learn and practice Italian. You need to have some basic knowledge of Italian to be able to read the stories in this book because it is not really an ABC of the language. What a great idea to provide at the end of each story a summary of it in English! This helps the English-speaking readers check their reading comprehension in Italian. Even more useful is the vocabulary included for each story - a great way to learn new words and be reminded of those you already know but may have forgotten with time. I recommend this book to everyone and anyone who is learning Italian or knows it but wants to refresh vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension.
January 14, 2019
Excellent Source of Italian Input
This book serves as an excellent source of comprehensible input for advanced beginners or intermediate learners of Italian. The summaries, key vocabulary and comprehension questions for each story give readers the support needed for reading and working to understand the story, learning new words in context without providing all the answers. This enables true growth in learning naturally. The stories are varied, fun, and interesting and use several genres so that there is sure to be something engaging for any reader. The length is just long enough to be challenging but not so long as to be overwhelming. I highly recommend this book as a helpful resource for those who are serious about learning Italian and enjoying the process along the way; I truly believe that if you enjoy it, you’ll learn more effectively.
This book serves as an excellent source of comprehensible input for advanced beginners or intermediate learners of Italian. The summaries, key vocabulary and comprehension questions for each story give readers the support needed for reading and working to understand the story, learning new words in context without providing all the answers. This enables true growth in learning naturally. The stories are varied, fun, and interesting and use several genres so that there is sure to be something engaging for any reader. The length is just long enough to be challenging but not so long as to be overwhelming. I highly recommend this book as a helpful resource for those who are serious about learning Italian and enjoying the process along the way; I truly believe that if you enjoy it, you’ll learn more effectively.
July 30, 2023
Google Translate worked hard on this production. Such sloppy work which clearly wasn't checked by ... I guess ... anyone. Some the the translations are just (sigh) strange! I understand why nobody wanted to put their name on this mess. I wanted to read Italian, and I did, but boy is this a poor production. This is it! I'm never going to buy another self-published book again. Ever! I reluctantly give this book two stars because it was Italian and it was short stories and I did read them. But I didn't enjoy it, too distracted by the atrocious translations.
February 11, 2019
It was an interesting listen and very helpful with phrases and stories that will have you master Italian like a native. The voice-over performer was quite fluent and very good and patient when he was going back and forth with the easy translations and what they mean. So when you get a chance pick up a copy of the book or the audio version, and enjoy.
"I was provided this audio book at no charge by the narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBoom dot com".
"I was provided this audio book at no charge by the narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBoom dot com".
October 21, 2025
The idea of using stories to learn the language is a good idea. however, not all the words that are used in each of the chapters has the definition at the end of it, which means you have to keep clicking into the dictionary. it got very confusing at times going backwards and forwards between the story and the dictionary. I have completed the book but feel I need to go back to the start and go through the chapters again.
April 11, 2019
I love the book!
I Love the format! It was so easy to read and go from one great story to the next. It was a very helpful resource to find and expand on how I wore things in Italian.
I Love the format! It was so easy to read and go from one great story to the next. It was a very helpful resource to find and expand on how I wore things in Italian.
June 7, 2020
The concept is excellent and the stories are easily readable if a little mundane but then the idea is to get you reading Italian. So, if you haven’t read an Italian book yet, (and you’re learning the language), then I would recommend it
March 8, 2020
A really interesting way to improve my Italian. I've picked up some useful words and phrases from this.
February 10, 2021
Fun book and a great read
A great book to improve your grasp of Italian and all the stories were really enjoyable and full of surprises
A great book to improve your grasp of Italian and all the stories were really enjoyable and full of surprises
March 28, 2024
These stories are entertaining and I have read worse. I woild say the level is Advanced Beginner or Intermediate. The book is worth reading again without vocabulary helps to show improvement.
September 10, 2025
Very good
September 16, 2025
Loved it
September 10, 2025
Good practice
September 21, 2020
Easy enough but also learned enough
Better than “See Spot Run” and not too challenging if you have some vocabulary. Would like to have seen more dialogue
Better than “See Spot Run” and not too challenging if you have some vocabulary. Would like to have seen more dialogue
January 7, 2023
Very nice stories for people that are learning Italian.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews