Use the links below to browse frequently-asked questions about EasyItalianNews.com.
Questions about subscribing to receive bulletins via email
Is subscribing really free?
So how is EasyItalianNews.com funded?
How do I subscribe?
I have tried to subscribe many times, without success. Am I doing something wrong?
Why have I stopped receiving Easy Italian News bulletins?
Why are the emailed bulletins ending up in my email junk/spam folder?
I’m no longer interested. How do I unsubscribe?
Questions about bulletin content/editorial policy
When will you stop publishing articles about politics, plane crashes and crimes?
Why are your writers/editing team so left-wing?
Questions about how to use the material – educational
Why are there so few words on each line of the transcript?
How can I let the things I don’t understand go so I can listen to the next part rather than missing it all?
What language level are the news articles written for?
Questions about how to use the material – technical
How can I read and listen at the same time?
Why isn’t there a way to slow down the audio?
Why don’t the audio controls remain visible as I scroll?
Questions about donating
Why do I have to use Paypal to donate?
I don’t want to donate using a credit card. Can I send money directly to your bank?
Can I donate without opening a PayPal account?
Why do you need my personal information when donating?
Other questions
Why did you use a picture of the wrong train crash?
Why is the text of Easy Italian News in English again?
And if you have a question that’s not yet answered here? Email us: info@easyitaliannews.com
Questions about subscribing to receive bulletins via email
Is subscribing really free?
Yes. We don’t charge for anything we do at EasyItalianNews.com. Use the website to read/listen to the thrice-weekly bulletins without ‘subscribing’, or ‘subscribe’ by entering your email address and so receive each one as soon as it’s published, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
So how is EasyItalianNews.com funded?
People who value what we do send donations. There’s a donations page on the site, and links to our Donate page at the bottom of each emailed bulletin. Every second month we add a short written and audio text to four of the bulletins inviting people to help, but that’s in no way obligatory.
How do I subscribe?
On the EasyItalianNews.com website, there’s a signup form in the sidebar, visible in the top-left of every page. Fill in your email address (carefully) and press the button. THEN LOOK OUT FOR THE ‘PLEASE CONFIRM YOU WANT TO BE EMAILED’ EMAIL, which is sent automatically. If you don’t see the ‘please confirm’ email in your email inbox (make sure you’re checking the correct email – some people have several and forget which they used…) LOOK IN THE SPAM/JUNK FOLDER. Once you’ve found the ‘please confirm email’ and clicked the link it contains, you should directly receive future editions. There’ll be one each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. If you don’t get your bulletins, LOOK IN THE SPAM/JUNK FOLDER!
I have tried to subscribe many times, without success. Am I doing something wrong?
If you miss the initial ‘please confirm’ email, with the link to click to make sure it’s really you trying to subscribe, then no further attempts to subscribe will have any effect. Check your spam/junk folder to see if the ‘please confirm’ email is there, but if your inital attempt to subscribe was a while back, it likely won’t be. At this point the only solution is to try again with a different email address, ideally from a different email account provider: Gmail, Apple, Microsoft all provide reliable, free email accounts. Use the new address to subscribe and be sure to look out for the ‘please confirm’ email, which will be sent only ONCE. If you don’t see it immediately, check your Spam/Junk folders.
Why have I stopped receiving Easy Italian News bulletins?
Unfortunately this happens all the time, but always with ‘weak’ email providers which don’t invest in their spam filters. Assuming you’ve checked your spam/junk folder, and there’s nothing there, then your email provider is blocking the ‘bulk’ mail, deliberately, to ‘protect’ you, before it ever gets to you. There are three or four around the world that do this. As you can’t subscribe again using the same email address (because you are already on our list), the only solution is to try with an alternative email address. Gmail, Microsoft and Apple all offer them free, and don’t usually block emails that their customers have asked for and want to receive. Most people these days have smartphones and tablets, so having multiple email accounts, perhaps for different purposes, shouldn’t be a problem. Or you could read/listen to the bulletins directly on the website, so avoiding your unreliable email provider…
Why are the emailed bulletins ending up in my email junk/spam folder?
Your email provider is unreliable. We get lots of complaints from people who use it. So why not get a better one? Gmail, Apple and Microsoft all offer free email accounts, and they invest in their spam filters, meaning that emails you’ve chosen to receive are less likely to end up in the spam/junk folder. N.b. It’s a good habit to always check your spam/junk folder…
I’m no longer interested. How do I unsubscribe?
All bulk email contains an unsubscribe link. At the bottom. Mine looks like this: Manage your email settings or unsubscribe
Questions about bulletin content/editorial policy
When will you stop publishing articles about politics, plane crashes and crimes?
Politics and other bad news stories are staples of national newspapers and TV/radio news bulletins. Our aim is to prepare you to read/listen to such extended texts. If the typical content of extended ‘authentic’ news bulletins ever lightens up, so will we.
Why are your writers/editing team so left-wing?
Well, they aren’t really, but they are all Italian, mostly female, and some quite young. Draw your own conclusions. Our freelancers are encouraged to choose their topics from what is current in Italian media, and link to their sources so you can see what the ‘real’ journalists wrote. The editor’s primary concern is ensuring the stories you read/listen to at EasyItalianNews.com are adequately written and recorded, and ideally differ in content from others we’ve published recently. We don’t have editorial policies (i.e. pro- or anti-abortion) but accept that it might appear otherwise. Public discourse in a foreign language will, very likely, differ in attitude and assumptions from what learners may be used to reading and listening to in their own language.
Questions about how to use the material – educational
Why are there so few words on each line of the transcript?
By breaking sentences down into very short ‘chunks’, the idea is to make them ‘easy’ to read and hear. It’s unusual, but seems to work. The feedback so far has been almost 100% positive. Bear in mind, that this is basically a LISTENING exercise. The text support is supposed to help you follow the audio.
How can I let the things I don’t understand go so I can listen to the next part rather than missing it all?
Set yourself the goal of reading/listening to the end. Repeat at least once, ideally twice. Then stop. It wasn’t a test, there was no requirement to understand everything. While listening, concentrate as well as you can, but think of it as listening/reading practice NOT as a source of unknown words and additional complexity/stress. You do the listening. You let the parts that you don’t understand flow over you. You stop. Repeat often, you’ll find there are fewer and fewer gaps in the puzzle and you’ll become really good at piecing together meaning, which is exactly what you need for real life!
What language level are the news articles written for?
We don’t aim at a particular level. The ‘easy’ part is a function of the formatting, the support that the text provides to the audio, and vice versa, and how a person uses those. Listen to the audio without the text and it’ll be harder than listening with the text, for instance. Use this material regularly and your familiarity with the format and topics covered will make it easier than it would be for someone using it for the first time. Even in coursebooks aimed at a specific level, such as A1 (the easiest), or C2 (the hardest), the difficulty depends on the chosen task, not on the text itself. Potentially a course book designer could use the same text at every level, choosing tasks which are suitable for different types of student. EasyItalianNews.com bulletins are suitable for anyone who follows the advice we give about how to use it (different approaches for different levels, see our Advice page) and keeps at it for long enough for the effects to be noticeable.
Questions about how to use the material – technical
How can I read and listen at the same time?
It depends on the device you’re using, how you are using it, and whether you are reading/listening from an emailed bulletin or directly on the website. On a computer, looking at the website itself, if you click the .mp3 audio link, a separate browser window will open. If it doesn’t start playing by itself, click the play button, then go back to the tab showing the website and read as you listen. Two browser tabs, one playing the audio, one showing you the text. That works the same way when I open the emailed bulletin on my computer, using Gmail and Chrome. It should be simple. On smartphones or tablets though, while the principle is the same, it very much depends on the device and the apps. Android phones and tablets work much the same way as Windows computers, but Apple device users often report problems.
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.
Why don’t the audio controls remain visible as I scroll?
We recommend that you treat the audio as ‘extensive’ listening practice and so listen to it all the way through rather than stopping/pausing and trying to understand everything you hear. Understanding ‘everything’ is not the point of this material, and aiming to do so would be less effective as preparation for real life listening – say TV or conversation – in which you are processing input in real time and with no pause button…
Questions about donating
Why do I have to use Paypal to donate?
You don’t. Paypal processes card payments on our behalf, in return for a commission. But we’re delighted to receive money directly in our bank account. There’s no commission that way (see the next FAQ question.)
I don’t want to donate using a credit card. Can I send money directly to your bank?
Certainly. On our donate page there are bank details for sending us different currencies bank-to-bank, so to speak. Set up a bank payment directly to our account in GBP, EUR, USD, AUD, or NZD. Our account details are here: https://easyitaliannews.com/support-easyitaliannews-com/#bank_account
Can I donate without opening a PayPal account?
Absolutely. Paypal actively encourages people to open an account, but it’s not necessary. We show how on our Donate page, where there are instructions, with pictures! On that page, scroll down to the bottom and look at the numbered steps, particularly Step 2: choose the ‘Donate with a card’ button, not the more visible, blue, ‘Donate with Paypal’ button.
Why do you need my personal information when donating?
If you donate via bank transfer, no transfer of personal information is involved. We only see your name, the donated amount, and any message or reference you chose to include. Payments via credit or debit card are processed on our behalf by Paypal, and just like with any other online payment the processor will ask for certain details so as to confirm (to your card issuer) that it is really you making the payment. It’s totally normal to be asked for your name, address and phone number. Paypal retains this information securely in case of any future dispute, for instance if you contact your card issuer to question the validity of the payment. Such personal information is not shared with us.
Other questions
Why did you use a picture of the wrong train crash?
We try hard to find a picture for each story without infringing copyright, but we’re Italian teachers and language learners rather than ‘real’ publishers, so don’t have a professional picture editor or a budget for images. The solution is to use photos that symbolize the story rather than ones that show the actual event or its aftermath. For instance, we often use stock pictures of emergency vehicles (accidents) or police cars (crimes).
Why is the text of Easy Italian News in English again?
Well of course it isn’t. You have your browser set to translate Italian content, in all likelihood. Perhaps you clicked that by mistake while viewing a different, Italian language page? So now your browser, following what it assumes to be your preference, translates all Italian. Visit the EasyItalianNews.com website using a different browser, and/or a different device, to see that our content is, in fact, in Italian, as always. Then go back to your usual browser, find the language settings, and change them.