Thanks for taking the time to leave encouraging feedback. We appreciate it!

Grazie also for donating. Sadly, most of our subscribers don’t, though we’re totally OK with people who have no resources using our material to learn from.

In June 2026 we had approximately 130 donations, totalling around $1500 (in a mix of currencies, so I can’t give you the exact figure.)

Currently there are 19,600 people ‘subscribed’ to receive the free bulletins of ‘easy’ Italian news.

Assuming that total includes plenty of people who aren’t interested any longer (or never were), and further assuming that incompetent email providers filter out bulk emails that people asked to receive and want to see, because it’s cheaper than running a proper spam filter, well…

– 5000 people (that’s total guesswork) receive and open the thrice-weekly emails
– 130 donated in June
– donors/learners = approximately 0.3%.

Conclusion?

You’re very precious to us, Anders. Please be careful when crossing the road!

See below for the answer from our FAQ, John ( https://easyitaliannews.com/faq/#faq14 ). And more specifically, I’d mention that in real-life language use, hearing particular consonant clusters clearly is a ‘nice to have’ rather than an essential. We recognise words and phrases not only from the phonemes but also from word and sentence stress patterns and above all from the micro and macro contexts. Slowing things down to listen exactly to how one word or part of a word is pronounced rather defeats the point of the material.

Why isn’t there a way to slow down the audio?

Italians don’t speak slowly, so training yourself with reduced speed audio isn’t a very good idea. Our aim is to get you used to listening to normal speed Italian so as to better prepare you for real life conversations and authentic materials. To this end we provide you with material which approximates ‘real’ (authentic) Italian news texts but with the difference – compare say an EasyItalianNews.com bulletin and an Italian TV news broadcast – that our material allows you to read and listen at the same time, or independently, according to your goals. The transcript supports the listening, and to an extent also vice versa.

And of course, these days ‘bro’ is a word in itself, not just an abbreviation. Tom’s generation spend their free time with their ‘bros’. See this article (in italiano): https://www.iltuocruciverba.com/il-significato-di-bro-e-perche-i-ragazzi-lo-usano/

I’ll pass that on to him. But the fact that he didn’t know illustrates a broader point – Italians may pronounce brand names and so on differently from the way English native speakers do. Being prepared for that is useful.

For instance, I’ve never met an Italian who could say the name of the Scottish capital city without making it sound like somewhere in Germany.

And it always startles me hearing people Italianianize names, as in “What do you think of Re Carlo? Big problem he has with Principe Andrea.”

Thanks for the feedback, Susannah. That’s Stefania’s voice, actually. She’s the editor, and at the moment is also covering for Tom, who normally does the audio but is currently on holiday. Sofia no longer works with us, but the team still use her account for the various jobs that contribute towards the bulletins.