Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

101 Conversations in Simple Italian: Short Natural Dialogues to Boost Your Confidence & Improve Your Spoken Italian

Rate this book
Improve your spoken Italian from home with 101 real-world conversations in simple, everyday Italian. Real Italian people don’t speak like your textbook… so it’s no wonder you feel unprepared when it’s your turn to speak! This book fixes that. For the first time, you’ll learn to speak Italian in the REAL world, with 101 authentic conversations in simple, spoken Italian, so you can become confident in the words, phrases and expressions you need to communicate like a local.
You’ll be transported into a real-world story that unfolds between six Italian characters, told by the people themselves in 101 authentic conversations. Over 15,000 words of real Italian, you’ll immerse yourself in a gripping Italian drama and get an education in natural Italian in the process. Here’s what you’ll get: 101 conversations in simple Italian, so you can learn the real Italian spoken in the street, understand spoken Italian with ease, and have Italian roll off your tongue more fluently Over 15,000 words of dialogue - an unparalleled resource that will immerse you in Italian, at a level you can understand, so you can learn real spoken Italian without getting lost or overwhelmed Real, daily spoken Italian throughout - it’s as if we held up a microphone and recorded the exact words coming out of people’s mouths - so you can learn the expressions that real people use on the street (not in textbooks). You’ll sound more authentic when you speak and make Italian-speaking friends more easily. Situational dialogues from typical daily circumstances, so you’ll prepare yourself to survive realistic Italian encounters, in shops and cafés, and make meeting people and making arrangements second nature Conversations that are carefully written to be accessible for beginners (A2-B1 on the CEFR), so you can start to learn from real, spoken conversations, even as a beginner, without having to go through the rollercoaster of difficult conversations with strangers Each conversation is limited to around 15 lines of dialogue (150 words), so you can get that crucial sense of achievement and motivation when you finish each conversation, and say “I actually understood all of that!” Word lists with English definitions in every chapter, so you can get instant translations of any difficult words and focus on reading and enjoying the stories rather than wasting time in a dictionary Summaries of each conversation which contextualise each dialogue, so you can easily follow the plot and enjoy the story without getting lost
Created by Olly Richards, internationally-renowned language teacher and author, 101 Conversations in Real Spoken Italian gives you an education in real Italian that you won’t find anywhere else. You’ll be better prepared for using Italian in the real world, speak with more confidence, and take a giant leap towards fluency in Italian!
SCROLL UP AND GRAB YOUR COPY NOW

231 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 28, 2019

223 people are currently reading
104 people want to read

About the author

Olly Richards

158 books274 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
87 (48%)
4 stars
67 (37%)
3 stars
19 (10%)
2 stars
3 (1%)
1 star
2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for Holly.
114 reviews
November 29, 2020
I agree with others who said that there were not enough words in the chapter glossaries. I had to look up a lot of words. But aside from that it was a good beginner reader (my first!). The chapters were nice and short, and there was a lot of repetition of the words so that they could become ingrained. The story became a little boring after awhile and I found myself wanting to just get it finished so that I could move on to something else, but overall I learned quite a bit and it was a good exercise for me. :)
7 reviews
February 19, 2020
Perfect intermediate read

I was able to understand quai tutto! It had the right mix of new words (for me of course) and words I knew well. I highly recommend also because it’s conversational as opposed to traditional Italian language stories that use passato remoto which no one uses when they are speaking.
Profile Image for Paul.
36 reviews
October 3, 2023
The book provides meaningful and relevant educational content at the beginner level.
To more experienced readers, it may be somewhat dull. This may be, since it is supposed to be a crime mystery, however if you understand most of the written text, the solution is given away relatively straightforwardly in the beginning.
But since the story is almost exclusively told in dialogue, it holds educational value to someone who is willing to accept his.
Profile Image for Karol Pasierb.
39 reviews13 followers
July 10, 2025
It was a very nice and simple book. Normally, it probably wouldn't be so enjoyable... However, for my FIRST BOOK READ IN ITALIAN, it was absolutely GREAT!!! It was simple, relatively easy to understand, quite interesting and well-made and prepared for beginners. I definitely recommend it to start reading in Italian with this book.
Profile Image for Jean.
358 reviews1 follower
Read
December 29, 2023
If you are just starting or only A1 level, this book will be too hard for you. However if you are closer 2/3 of A2, this is a fun read. I picked this book up when I first started learning Italian and was quickly frustrated. Now after starting future and conditional tenses, I understand more than not. Chapters are very short and story very enjoyable.
Profile Image for Bob.
191 reviews1 follower
October 12, 2022
About halfway through, I was expecting actual conversational assistance rather than stories told in dialogue that would have no use in my real life. I can breeze through it pretty quickly but that doesn't really speak to his teaching but rather to what I've leared over 3 year with the apps.
Profile Image for Thomas Trenner.
12 reviews1 follower
September 13, 2021
La lingua è abbastanza facile, le parole e le frasi più difficile sono spiegate alle fine di ogni capitolo. Mà quello che non mi è piaciuto è stata la storia: troppa irrealistica.
72 reviews
Read
March 22, 2025
I am at the tail end of my A1 journey and found this a little too difficult - my fault since this book is intended for A2-B1, but I was impatient and wanted to try it anyway. Reading on the Kindle app helped a lot, I was constantly using the translate function at the end of each chapter to check my comprehension. It's a cute enough story and it's fun to see more colloquial language than what I get in class, but would not recommend for true beginners unless you also are stubborn and like to struggle through things (lol). Will reread in A2 as a benchmark for improvement.
95 reviews
May 7, 2020
This was a really good book the length of the short dialogues was perfect and the story fairly interesting.

I echo a previous review that the end of each dialogue could have had a better vocab list as i found myself looking up a lot.

Really good for beginners it certainly improved my italian but could do with some improvements.
2 reviews
August 20, 2024
What a treat ... reading my first book in Italian!

I enjoy reading mysteries and I have also been learning Italian. The story in Olly's 101 Conversations in Simple Italian is presented in small bites, each one an Italian lesson in itself. I had a true sense of accomplishment reading the book. Lo consiglio!
Profile Image for Kristina.
268 reviews43 followers
November 30, 2025
That was good and useful. I expected the conversations to be on different topics but rather it was one story told in 101 conversations which actually made it more sticky and engaging. I noticed there were not enough words in the glossary which was not an issue because I read it on kindle, and was able to translate instantly.
6 reviews
February 3, 2020
Good, and interesting

Good short dialogues, but the "helpful" dictionaries at the of each chapter were not much help - I found frequent reference to a full dictionary was essential.

Profile Image for Loke.
224 reviews8 followers
July 8, 2022
Come già sapevo, il livello era un po' troppo basso per me, ma ho comunque imparato qualche parolina quindi non era per niente una perdita di tempo. In ogni caso, l'idea di questi libri e bella e continuerò sicuramente a leggere quelli francesi!
Profile Image for Lesley Van Dam.
13 reviews
July 15, 2024
I liked this book and I hope I’ve also learnt a lot from it. I agree with the other reviews about the lessico. But at the same time I didn’t mind looking up new words :) also the story itself I very much enjoyed. So I would say 5/5. ✨✨✨✨✨
Profile Image for Bow Wheaton.
10 reviews
January 14, 2021
Great learning experience. Storyline entertaining enough to add motivation. Complimenti all'autore!
59 reviews
June 26, 2021
Very enjoyable way to learn

This book had a very enjoyable way to learn Italian through a series of conversations in a story format - a mystery.
Profile Image for Nick.
217 reviews6 followers
December 15, 2019
This oddly titled (SEO? Sigh) book is in fact a short story, Nancy Drew mystery style, focused on dialogue and targeted to the intermediate Italian student. The story line was fun and engaging; it’s very useful to see conversational grammatical forms in action, and a fine source for vocabulary. It’s particularly useful read on a kindle, where highlighting and dictionaries make study and follow up easy. Highly recommended.

This is my first book in Italian.
Profile Image for Gianna.
55 reviews1 follower
December 9, 2022
Una bella storia e una buona costruzione dell'intero libro, che vede la prima parte dedicata a come affrontare la lettura stessa. Inoltre, sono presenti: un breve dizionario per ogni capitolo in ita-eng e un intro a ogni inizio capitolo.

Di certo un ottimo supporto per chi sta imparando l'italiano. Consigliatissimo per un livello intermedio.
(Solo un paio di typo qui é là)
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.