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Intermediate Italian Short Stories: 10 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Italian & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way! (Intermediate Italian Stories)
Improve your Italian skills and grow your vocabulary with these 10 entertaining Italian short stories!The best part of learning a new language is experiencing the culture and diving into activities that will enrich your life and vocabulary. The best way to learn a new language is by reading, and in this Italian book you will find yourself turning page after page to get to the end of each captivating story that will engage your mind and help you improve your Italian.In this book you will 10 captivating stories among topics that you will find easy to relate to.The stories are broken down into manageable chapters, so you always make progress with the story.Carefully written stories with you as an intermediate level reader in mind, using straightforward grammar and commonly used words so you can enjoy reading while learning new grammatical structures without being overwhelmed. Plenty of natural dialogues in each story that you would actually use in an everyday conversation, which will drastically improve your speaking and comprehension ability at the same time!At the end of each chapter there will be a comprehensive guide specially designed for beginner level readers, it will take you through a summary of each story followed by a vocabulary of some of the words from the story to make sure that you understand the story fully.Chapter by chapter you will find yourself effortlessly reading each story. Not struggling like in basic textbooks or boring reads. You will get involved by reading the dialogue of the characters by learning how to express yourself in different contexts and more importantly by learning new Italian words that will get you closer to your goal of becoming fully conversational.
147 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 2, 2019
166 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 24, 2022
This book was right at my level and I really enjoyed the stories. Some of them had rather contemporary topics like treatment of refugees, women working in traditionally male jobs or coping with a trauma.
June 10, 2019
‘Soddisfazione: Satisfaction!’
Lingo Mastery continues the mission to make Italian more accessible to a wider population. In the Introductory Note the goal is stated well: ‘Learning a foreign language is always a challenge. However, it doesn’t have to be as complicated as it may seem. Being constantly exposed to the language one aims to master is the best way to speed up the learning process. It’s not just by listening to a language that you get to learn it. Reading has also been proven to be a very effective was to learn a foreign language as it helps the student to become familiar with the proper grammar use, the rhythms, forms and rules of the language and according to research, it exposes the pupil to more sentences per minute than the average movie or TV show…The stories are fluid, continuous and filled with a variety of helpful vocabulary combined with a grammatical richness. Additionally, at the end of each story, a learning support section will help you whenever you need it by providing you with English definitions of words, a summary of the story and multiple-choice questions about important features of the story.’
An example, in Story 1 Un San Valentino diverso dal solito - the story (translated for demo) ‘On February 14th, Valentine’s Day, the computer assistant Valentino decides to quit his job because it brings no satisfaction to him anymore. After sending an email to the human resources manager, he leaves his office and decides to stroll around the city, Rome. After lunch he meets Paolo, a friend he has known since the time he was at the university, who needs a reliable partner and a computer manger for a project he has started. So, he asks Valentino if he wants to work with him. Even if at the beginning Valentino was not sure about Paolo’s proposal, at the end he accepts.’ 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 continues the mission to make Italian more accessible to a wider population. In the Introductory Note the goal is stated well: ‘Learning a foreign language is always a challenge. However, it doesn’t have to be as complicated as it may seem. Being constantly exposed to the language one aims to master is the best way to speed up the learning process. It’s not just by listening to a language that you get to learn it. Reading has also been proven to be a very effective was to learn a foreign language as it helps the student to become familiar with the proper grammar use, the rhythms, forms and rules of the language and according to research, it exposes the pupil to more sentences per minute than the average movie or TV show…The stories are fluid, continuous and filled with a variety of helpful vocabulary combined with a grammatical richness. Additionally, at the end of each story, a learning support section will help you whenever you need it by providing you with English definitions of words, a summary of the story and multiple-choice questions about important features of the story.’
An example, in Story 1 Un San Valentino diverso dal solito - the story (translated for demo) ‘On February 14th, Valentine’s Day, the computer assistant Valentino decides to quit his job because it brings no satisfaction to him anymore. After sending an email to the human resources manager, he leaves his office and decides to stroll around the city, Rome. After lunch he meets Paolo, a friend he has known since the time he was at the university, who needs a reliable partner and a computer manger for a project he has started. So, he asks Valentino if he wants to work with him. Even if at the beginning Valentino was not sure about Paolo’s proposal, at the end he accepts.’ 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!
November 4, 2020
I wouldn’t say that this was the most entertaining book. However, the language used is intended to gradually challenge the reader. If the authors could just make it a slightly more interesting read, I would have scored it top marks.
July 16, 2021
The stories in this collection were just the right level for me, although the list of vocabulary was unusable on the kindle as it involved going backwards and forwards through the pages. Having them at the foot of the page would have been better.
December 5, 2023
Fantastic stories
This is an amazing book. The stories are fantastic in and of themselves; when you add the fact that you’re also improving your Italian at the same time, you’ve got a winner.
This is an amazing book. The stories are fantastic in and of themselves; when you add the fact that you’re also improving your Italian at the same time, you’ve got a winner.
June 21, 2019
Excellent reader for even advanced Italian learners in review.
Well worth the price!
Its stories are engaging.
There is a story by story vocabulary list as well as summaries.
Well worth the price!
Its stories are engaging.
There is a story by story vocabulary list as well as summaries.
July 5, 2019
I really enjoyed this book!! It has very simple and friendly stories, very useful for learning italian vocabulary. I loved them! I really recommend it.
September 15, 2021
Niente di speciale. Le storie non sono troppo interessante ma ho imparato qualche vocabolario. Livello e forse B1 ma insomma non è un ottimo libro ma era buon divertimento per me.
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September 4, 2024Not sure how to rate or review this. The stories weren't good but it was a great tool for studying Italian. I mean, that's the point, right?
September 10, 2025
Recommended
September 16, 2025
Lingo Mastery never disappoints
July 12, 2020
I liked the stories presented in Intermediate Italian Stories and found the unique and interesting.
I am thankful that Lingo Mastery included a Vocabulary at the end of each story although I don't think it included many words which are nuanced in Italian such as impiego- job, meaning white collar job, and the entire phrase ferie non godute (unpaid holidays) rather than just ferie (holiday).
While the addition of questions at the end of each story was welcome, the questions lacked depth in that they really didn't require comprehension of the stories and were not very useful in checking overall understanding. I would have preferred some fill in the blank questions with different words (either in the story or synonyms) that might be used to complete the sentence.
As our study group is not lead by non-native Italians, we could have benefited from the authors rephrasing some concepts and situations several times throughout the story, to show us some flexibility in the expressions.
While I understand that Italian literature is written in Passato Remoto, I would have been happy to read it the book in Passato Prossimo, with quoted sentences in the tense being used in conversation.
I am thankful that Lingo Mastery included a Vocabulary at the end of each story although I don't think it included many words which are nuanced in Italian such as impiego- job, meaning white collar job, and the entire phrase ferie non godute (unpaid holidays) rather than just ferie (holiday).
While the addition of questions at the end of each story was welcome, the questions lacked depth in that they really didn't require comprehension of the stories and were not very useful in checking overall understanding. I would have preferred some fill in the blank questions with different words (either in the story or synonyms) that might be used to complete the sentence.
As our study group is not lead by non-native Italians, we could have benefited from the authors rephrasing some concepts and situations several times throughout the story, to show us some flexibility in the expressions.
While I understand that Italian literature is written in Passato Remoto, I would have been happy to read it the book in Passato Prossimo, with quoted sentences in the tense being used in conversation.
April 10, 2023
4.5 stars - Only lost half a star because some of the translation words were not...translated. Random words were missing which was kind of annoying.
Otherwise, this is my favourite Italian short story collection so far! The level was perfect, the vocabulary was on point for me, and more importantly, the stories were interesting and current! What a great time :)
Otherwise, this is my favourite Italian short story collection so far! The level was perfect, the vocabulary was on point for me, and more importantly, the stories were interesting and current! What a great time :)
August 26, 2020
questa raccolta di piccole storie intermedie in italiano è stata molto interessante da leggere! ho potuto scoprire molti nuovi vocaboli su temi diversi, divertirmi
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews