Italian/English Parallel Texts: Colpo di forbici (A1)

.pdf ebook
(13 customer reviews)

Learn Italian with parallel texts: an original story in Italian with an accompanying English translation!

Antonio and Martina have been married for forty years and together run their own hairdressing salon. Naturally, they know everyone’s secrets, and like to help people if they can…

  • .pdf e-book
  • original text in Italian / translation in English
  • 8 short chapters to read and study
  • Suitable for students at any level
  • Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
How do I access my ebook?

When your order is ‘completed’ (normally immediately after your payment), a download link will be automatically emailed to you. It’s valid for 7 days and 3 download attempts so please save a copy of the .pdf ebook in a safe place. Other versions of the ebook, where available, cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them. There’s a space to do that on the order form – where it says Additional information, Order notes (optional). If you forget, or if you have problems downloading the .pdf, don’t worry! Email us at the address on the website and we’ll help. Also, why not check out our FAQ?

£9.99

Description

Learn Italian with parallel texts: an original story in Italian with an accompanying English translation!

Antonio and Martina have been married for forty years and together run their own hairdressing salon. Naturally, they know everyone’s secrets, and like to help people if they can…

  • .pdf e-book
  • original text in Italian / translation in English
  • 8 short chapters to read and study
  • Suitable for students at any level
  • Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
How do I access my ebook?

When your order is ‘completed’ (normally immediately after your payment), a download link will be automatically emailed to you. It’s valid for 7 days and 3 download attempts so please save a copy of the .pdf ebook in a safe place. Other versions of the ebook, where available, cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them. There’s a space to do that on the order form – where it says Additional information, Order notes (optional). If you forget, or if you have problems downloading the .pdf, don’t worry! Email us at the address on the website and we’ll help. Also, why not check out our FAQ?

Parallel Texts – How To View The Chapters Side-By-Side!

Viewing the chapters of your parallel text ebook side by side (so as to compare the different languages) is not hard, but probably won’t happen automatically.

There are a few simple, free things you’ll need to do first.

The file is a .pdf so will open with whatever the default .pdf reader on your device is.

These can vary and will probably NOT show the chapters side-by-side, as intended.

For this reason, we recommend the free Adobe Reader, which is installed on many computers in any case.

If you don’t have it, download it here (though I’d suggest un-checking the ‘Optional Offers’…)

Once you have Adobe Reader installed, this is what you do:

  1. Download the file
  2. Don’t just click on it or it will open in a browser, which probably works differently
  3. Instead, view it in your device’s downloads file
  4. Open with Adobe Reader (right click on the file, choose ‘Open with’, select Adobe Reader)
  5. In Adobe Reader…
  6. Look in the menu (at the top) for ‘View’, then choose ‘Page display’
  7. Choose ‘two page view’ (for the parallel text) or ‘single page view’ for normal documents
  8. Use ‘View’ / ‘Read mode’ to make the text larger or smaller so that it fits your screen
  9. Use the ‘zoom’ and ‘page up/down’ buttons to navigate through the book

Additional information

Format

.pdf ebook

13 reviews for Italian/English Parallel Texts: Colpo di forbici (A1)

  1. Kara (verified owner)

    This is a cute story which is simple to grasp at the beginner level and made me feel quite accomplished at being able to comprehend it easily. There were some words and expressions which were new to me, and it’s great being able to quickly verify them right in the text rather than having to use a translator app to confirm meaning.

  2. Bill Carmichael (verified owner)

    Hi – I enjoyed the book and for free you cannot complain.
    The story was good and well told and the language clear.
    I have been learning Italian seriously for about 12 months and to be honest I found this a bit too simple for my abilities.
    I would like something a bit more complex at my stage of learning.
    Having said that I understand that this is aimed at absolute beginners – so if this means you I would absolutely recommend it. It is a good, satisfying read and I wish I had found this when I was a beginner.
    I am tempted to buy the books aimed at more advanced readers – but to be honest £8 for a really short book is a bit steep.
    I have bought collections of much more complex and longer short stories in Italian on Amazon for a fraction on this price.
    Still – many thanks for the free book! Much appreciated!

    • easyreadersorg

      Bill, thanks so much for your review.

      As you say, this ebook is aimed at beginners, or near beginners.

      As regards the price, we’re talking the price of your lunch. A sandwich and a cappucino.

      Sure, there are (desperate) people on Amazon that do this for 0.99 cents.

      But we’re actually searching out and hiring new writers, paying editors to check their drafts, and offering a recording too!

      If you compare the price to a 30-min online Italian lesson (€20), I’d say it was a bargain!

      Daniel

  3. Harvey (verified owner)

    I enjoyed reading about Antonio and Martina, the text was at a comfortable level for me to understand without too much cross referencing to the English text. I have tried to read other parallel printed stories but the language level was above my ability so I was making slow progress going backwards and forwards between the two. As Anne mentioned the chapters may be a bit short.

  4. Patricia (verified owner)

    I’d give it 5 stars if the default format could be set at a double page display (only found the instructions for downloading Adobe Reader after finishing the book). Could they be more prominently displayed?
    Are there plans for parallel readers at B1/2 levels?

    • easyreadersorg

      Thanks for the review, Patricia. I appreciate you taking the time.

      In answer to your comment and question, the default IS set for two page display, but there appears to be no way of ensuring that the multiplicity of different .pdf readers in use on computers, tablets and smartphones actually pay any attention to that (logical, if you think about it.)

      Sorry the instructions were not more visible. I have now made attempts to remedy that by including them in our FAQ, and in the product description for each of the parallel texts.

      Yes, we have plans for parallel texts at higher levels. Our translator is currently on holiday, but when she gets back she’ll be working on some of the more complext texts.

  5. John (verified owner)

    Excellent book, really handy to have the translation to check the words I don’t know – so much quicker than using a dictionary.

  6. Vida (verified owner)

    Liked the book, got it free (btw, thank you for that). It’s great to have translation, especially at higher levels it could be very handy.
    Love all of your site.

  7. Maria Evans (verified owner)

    Only recently discovered this site. I really enjoyed the book; good length to read at one sitting. I very much enjoyed the parallel texts. I was pleased to see that I understood more than I thought I would. Also the level was a good entry for me. Grazie per il regalo!

  8. Aleksandra (verified owner)

    I love your short stories. I learn so many expressions that are very common in Italy. My boyfriend is Italian and always laughs at my expressions saying they are very real and funny. I am happy I found this website and you guys! Greetings!

  9. bernadette (verified owner)

    I enjoyed the format and content. The Italian text was easy enough to read and predict, and having the translation as not a word for word translation, but a meaningful interpretation was good.
    The format is short and digestible which is good – easy to read in a sitting – so not as daunting as some texts.
    Recommended! A great format for ‘on the go’ learning. I look forward to reading the more advanced levels

  10. Fran (verified owner)

    I really enjoyed the story of Antonio e Martina and learning new words and phrases. Even though I still tend to research words and their meanings it’s was so helpful to refer to the English translation. It was also easy to find the audio in SoundCloud which allowed me to listen to the pronunciations. i know with continued reading my italian will definitely improve.

  11. Rasha (verified owner)

    Very nice story. I enjoyed it and im in love with the idea. Thank you.

  12. Anne (verified owner)

    Liked the story and yes the parallel text was helpful, however, I preferred my version with the SoundCloud link as a prefer to have the spoken Italian to help me with the pronunciation. Does this mean there will be no more audio available? I’d rather find the translation myself and have audio!

    Did enjoy the book though.

    • easyreadersorg

      Hi Anne,
      Thanks for the review.
      The parallel texts are an ALTERNATIVE to the readers (we published one of those, with audio, last week, remember?)
      Some people prefer to read with an accompanying translation.
      Others, like you and I, enjoy reading the original and listening.
      Different strokes for different folks!

  13. Anne Quieti (verified owner)

    I managed to read this one quite easily. Checked up some phrases etc. using the parallel text. I look forward to reading more. I have purchased two more but not read them yet. The words used in this were day-to-day language and easy to relate to. My only negative would be that the chapters are a bit short.

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