Scudit
Italian Language and Culture
School for Foreigners
A FEW BOOKS...
Books for learners of Italian? Over forty years of teaching have resulted
in quite a few.
Here are some of them.
ROBERTO TARTAGLIONE
Paese che vai
Ci.elle.i Edizioni, 1985
Twenty reading texts with exercises, carefully graded from every point of view: language, grammar and vocabulary. Looking back at it today, some of the topics inevitably feel rather dated - but its teaching effectiveness has stood the test of time.
R. TARTAGLIONE - G. GRASSI
Lingue italiane
Ci.elle.i. Edizioni, 1985.
Perhaps the first advanced Italian coursebook to treat language and culture as two sides of the same coin: the language of politics, advertising, songs, prose and poetry, together with careful attention to both formal and informal registers.
R. TARTAGLIONE
1500 quiz
di lingua italiana
Ci.elle.i Edizioni, 1993.
A collection of multiple-choice language quizzes. Nowadays there are plenty of books - and countless online exercises - of this kind. What made these a little different was the attempt to slip into the examples a touch of current affairs and, whenever possible, a hint of humour. Whether readers would find the same jokes amusing today... I'm not entirely sure.
R. TARTAGLIONE
Grammatica
italiana
Alma Edizioni, 1995.
Despite its age, this is still my favourite. Everything that really matters, in as few pages as possible.
It also happens to be, as far as I know, the first "feminist grammar" ever published. If you're wondering why, you'll find the answer at the end of Fiorenzo Toso's article.
ROBERTO TARTAGLIONE
Il Decameron
Perugia Editore, Atene 1994.
Whether adapting twenty of Boccaccio's stories so that learners of Italian can enjoy reading them is really a good idea... well, that's open to debate.
But in terms of design, paper and printing quality... I'm not sure I've seen a better-looking book since.
