Short Stories in Italian for Intermediate Learners

by Olly Richards

An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young and adult learners.

"I love Olly's work - and you will too!" - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers

Short Stories in Italian for Intermediate Learners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to B1-Approaching B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you, and give you a feeling of progress when reading.

What does this book give you?

· Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary
· Controlled language at your level, including the 1000 most frequent words, to help you progress confidently
· Authentic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability
· Pleasure! It's much easier to learn a new language when you're having fun, and research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!'
· Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way

Carefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress, including

· A glossary for bolded words in each text
· A bilingual word list
· Full plot summary
· Comprehension questions after each chapter.

As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Italian for Intermediate Learners uses reading as the perfect tool to not only delight in learning Italian, but to start your journey towards fluency.

Genres: Italian Literature, Italy, Short Stories

224 pages, Paperback

Published December 3, 2019

Reviews

[Dak · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories feel like they were written by bad AI, but at least I'm learning Italian...

[Jake Markarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

allora non mi è piaciuto, a dir la verità. sto libro era leggibile, ma le storie non erano interessanti come quelle del primo libro. anche, penso che ci siano degli errori ma io non sono un’autorità.

[Gary Lavenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

È stato buono leggere in italiano per continuare ad imparare.

[Lisa Lucie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content of this, in terms of storytelling, was quite out there! 😅 While I did enjoy the process of learning new words, and I'm quite proud that I managed to read I'm Italian at an intermediate level, I did not enjoy the stories whatsoever.
Buuut... it has helped in terms of language skills, so it does the job!

[Isabella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good vocabulary, dumb stories. I struggled to get through it.
Following is a much better book
https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Italian-R...

[David Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot more than the beginners book, the stories were more interesting and engaging probably because there was more vocab and the stories were more developed. more interesting plot lines and plenty of new vocabulary for the learner to get stuck into.

With my approach i am going for mass readings this book being quite brief did not take me long to get though, but if you can read at this level you can certainty enjoy simple children's books such as Harry Potter (at least the first two).

[Gary Conachan III · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my third time reading one of Olly Richards’ “Short Stories” books, the first two being the beginner level stories, also in Italian. I’ve really enjoyed making this part of my language learning. I’ve found that my language ability, especially reading and comprehension, improve very quickly when I don’t get caught up on every word and use context to help me understand what’s happening. Additionally, the book offers key vocabulary, chapter summaries, and quizzes to boost your learning. I’d highly recommend these books if they have them in a language you’re looking to improve in!

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dit boek helpt heel goed bij het leren van nieuwe woorden. Vreemd genoeg worden er ook veel ongebruikelijke termen niet uitgelegd, maar daar heb je Reverso.com voor.

Wat wel irritant is dat de verhalen nogal kinderachtig zijn. Over graaf Dracula en zo, of datende jong volwassenen.

De meeste mensen die Italiaans willen leren zijn al lang van de middelbare school af, maar in de taalonderwijswereld heerst het onuitroeibare idee dat mensen met het taalniveau van een kind ook de hersens en de emotionele ontwikkeling van een kind hebben.

[KBiagioli · Rating 4 out of 5]

More difficult than I thought it would be because the verb tenses used in the stories are not simply present tense and past tense. I did follow Olly Richards's recommendations to not use the included glossaries or a dictionary before or during the reading of each section. Surprisingly, I was able to correctly answer almost every one of the multiple choice questions by getting the main ideas of each story.

I learned from this book that I am somewhere between Beginner and Intermediate.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giving this 5 stars because it's the best intermediate level book I've come across that helps to teach Italian learners the language.

Each short story is constructed of 3ish chapters complete with a summary, new vocab and a few questions at the end to gauge comprehension. I'm bummed there's only one intermediate level of this!

Recommend to anyone looking for this type of book.

[Aura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as entertaining as the beginners' collection I read before this, and not at all too challenging for someone who has only just started on B1 level courses. I found the vocabulary and grammar to be just right, easy enough to follow and also good for picking up new words naturally while reading. Makes for good supplementary reading material while revising stuff from my textbooks.

[Sarah Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho imparato molte nuove parole italiane mentre leggendo questo libro, ma le storie non erano interessanti per me a parte di una storia che si svolge in una fabbrica. È per questo motivo che leggevo questo libro così lentamente.

[Craig Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories themselves aren't all necessarily the most interesting, but that isn't really the point of this kind of book. It does what it promises to do, and does it well.

[Shacoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. The stories were actually entertaining and unique.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 stars.

Stories were better than the beginner edition and provided good practice with reading.

[Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories are at an intermediate level, and in Italian. The narrative, however was not at the same level.

[Mic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molto bene. Era non facile perche estremamente informativo.

[Rebecca Rickard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixed opinions of stories but thrilled to have read my first book in Italian !

[Maria Reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book

[Michelle Jankovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging stories

[Alex Coch · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, great work

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - This one is fun! The layout for learning to read in another language was excellent. The stories are sometimes silly but kept my attention. The only note I have is that some of the stories employed sexist tropes and/or didn’t include female characters.