We learn Italian step by step | Impariamo l'italiano piano piano
Impariamo l’italiano piano piano is a story-based podcast for B1–B2 Italian learners who want to improve their grammar and vocabulary by following an ongoing mystery, rather than studying isolated lessons. Beginners are welcome too - everything unfolds piano piano, one step at a time.
Each episode advances a serialized story, Le Pagine del Passato, allowing you to experience Italian in context as meaning builds gradually through memory, dialogue, and investigation. Grammar structures such as the imperfetto, passato prossimo, congiuntivo, and object pronouns emerge naturally through the narrative, helping you recognize how Italian works in real situations.
Hosted by Myra, an instructional designer and adult language learner, the show is joined by Antonio - a dramatic, opinionated presence who interrupts, comments, and occasionally derails things, making the learning process both human and entertaining. Together, they guide listeners toward greater confidence in Italian, step by step.
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Full transcripts are shared through the Companion Series on Substack, where supporters can access episode texts and study materials:
https://welearnitalian.substack.com
🎙 Listen, learn, and improve your Italian fluency - one episode at a time!
We learn Italian step by step | Impariamo l'italiano piano piano
Le piccole parole - Epi 1 - Una mini-serie sulle preposizioni italiane
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Have you ever learned that di means "of", a means "to", and con means "with" ... only to discover that real Italian doesn't seem to follow those simple rules?
Welcome to Le piccole parole, a new mini-series dedicated to one of the most challenging aspects of Italian: prepositions.
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In this introductory episode, Maira and Antonio explore why these tiny words cause so many problems for intermediate learners. Along the way, Antonio reminisces about learning prepositions as a child at the mysterious Scuola dei Grammatici, and together they discover that knowing the translations of Italian prepositions is only the beginning.
You'll hear examples such as:
- Vado in banca
- Vivo a Roma
- Vado da Marco
- Parliamo di politica
- Ci vediamo tra due ore
...and you'll see why direct translation from English often leads us astray.
If you've ever wondered when to use di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra or fra, this series is for you.
In the next episode, we'll begin with one of the most common and versatile prepositions in Italian:
di.
Buon ascolto!
⏳ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:30 Antonio's School Days
1:18 Are Prepositions Really an Intermediate Topic?
2:38 The Nine Simple Prepositions
3:42 When Translation Doesn't Work
6:04 Welcome to Le piccole parole
7:49 Wrap-up
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Email: welearnpianopiano@gmail.com
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📄 Episode Transcript & Study Materials
For this episode, the full transcript is available on Substack, where it’s easier to read, search, and follow along with the explanations.
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I’ve moved transcripts there so everything can live in one place: the episode text, examples, and Companion Series materials all together.
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