🎧 In italiano – a podcast for Italian learners (A1–B1): listen to short real stories, learn natural vocabulary, and improve your listening skills. Exercises and vocabulary in the description!

🇮🇹​🎧​📝​ In Italiano: Short listening practice & exercises 

BookClub & Cappuccino è il podcast dedicato a chi studia italiano attraverso i libri. 
Scopriamo lessico, espressioni, temi culturali e spunti di conversazione. 

BookClub e Cappuccino: libri italiani contemporanei

When was the last time you made a joke? Would it be funny in other languages? What makes sense of humour specific to a culture? So many questions. Let's figure it out.

The Age of Humans

Episode 2: Sense of Humour

¡QUÉ PASA! Hoy llega un capítulo normal, real sobre mi vida. ¿Queréis saber qué hago un martes cualquiera? Pues aquí os lo cuento. ¿No queréis? Lo cuento igual.

La vida de Héctor (Spanish Podcast)

Un día normal en mi vida

Speaker 1: For me, having a dumbphone would be …dumb. I really like surfing the web on my phone to find out about things. If I hear the name of an actor I don’t know about, I can look them up, or if I‘m in a new place and I want to find a restaurant to go to, I can find somewhere easily. Plus, I love Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I follow loads of celebrities and I love to watch concerts and live-tweet what is happening. Without my smartphone, my friends wouldn’t know what I was doing. It would feel very strange.

Speaker 2: I’m seriously thinking about getting a dumbphone. I hate how the battery on my smartphone is in control of my life. I always have to find somewhere to charge the phone when I’m out and I’m always worried about it. I also don’t like the way search engines record your history and use it to sell you things. I feel as though my attention is always taken away from everything I do with my smartphone because I use it so much. I was with a friend the other day and after a while, we were sitting there not talking, just looking at our phones. It was like our phones just killed the conversation. We didn’t even realize it was happening.

Speaker 3: I like the idea of a dumbphone. I’m just not sure if I would like it in practice. I travel a lot with my work, so it really helps being able to access my inbox when I’m out. If I didn’t, I would spend all my time in the office answering emails. I also have a favorite podcaster who I listen to all the time when I’m traveling. I can download his latest episode and pass the time when I’m on a flight or a train. I do enjoy being offline as I feel as though I am always using my phone to communicate, with email, Skype, phone calls, and text. But I think if I didn’t have access to the Internet most of the time, I would worry.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

DUMBPHONES

In questo episodio vedremo la storia dell'università di Bologna che è considerata l'università più antica dell'Europa. Ancora oggi Bologna è una città piena di vita e di studenti dove l'università ha un ruolo molto importante.

Testo: 

L’università di Bologna è la più antica università del mondo. Ha quasi 1000 anni. Nasce infatti nel 1088.  Dopo l'università di Bologna, nel 1096 nasce l'università di Oxford nel Regno Unito e nel 1170 l'università di Parigi in Francia. Da quel momento in poi l’università ha un grande sviluppo soprattutto in Italia e Bologna diventa un modello per tutte. A Bologna all'inizio sono gli studenti a scegliere e a pagare i maestri più prestigiosi1, che a volte vengono anche da città lontane. Di conseguenza solo i ragazzi più ricchi possono studiare. I maestri più stimati guadagnano tanto e possono diventare molto famosi.  Gli studenti sono solo maschi, perché a quel tempo le donne non possono studiare, arrivano a Bologna anche da lontano e cercano alloggio, cibo e divertimenti per il loro tempo libero. Grazie alla presenza della sua università, Bologna diventa il centro più importante dell’Emilia Romagna e passa alla storia come “Bologna la Dotta”, che vuol dire la sapiente. All'università le lezioni sono in latino, perché nel Medioevo il latino è la lingua della cultura....



Italiano espresso

Lettura livello A2: l'università più antica dell'Europa: Bologna 

Hello, and welcome to the Beyond the Textbook Korean podcast! 🌟
In today’s episode, we explore so-called “sleeping expressions” that appear in textbooks but sound awkward in real-life conversations.

For example, phrases like “Bikisehyo (비키세요)” and “Cheonmaneyo (천만에요)” are grammatically correct but often avoided in daily speech. Why?
Because of Korea’s cultural preference for indirect speech and humility.

📌 Bikisehyo → Jamkkanmanyo / Excuse me

📌 Cheonmaneyo → Aniehyo / It’s okay / No problem

Still, there are exceptions. In emergencies or professional contexts, direct expressions like “Bikisehyo” may be necessary for clarity and safety.

👉 Remember: Language is not just grammar—it’s culture.
By practicing expressions that reflect the Korean mindset, you’ll sound more natural and take your Korean to the next level.

See you in the next episode! Hwaiting! You got this! 💪

Reading Korea.

Textbook Korean vs Real Life: Why “Bikisehyo:비키세요” Sounds Awkward

In todays episode we discuss the stress of taking examinations and practice some vocabulary included in the podcast.

Let's have a chat (Discussions In English) 

Episode 20 : Exam stress (Vocabulary and discussion)

All at Once (with transcript)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iHnhq6DMDuSG7vu7GQum70EtzV05otV1/view?usp=drivesdk

Teacher Joseph's Podcast

All at Once (with transcript)

Song Lyrics - The Carpenters, Rainy Days and Mondays - please send me a message if you want the transcript. 