What you’ll be able to do
Everything is built around real situations, so you learn Italian you can use the moment you arrive in Italy.
Hold a first conversation
Greet people, introduce yourself, and talk about where you’re from, your family and your work.
Eat out and check in
Order in cafés and restaurants, and check into your hotel.
Get around
Understand directions, use public transport and buy your travel tickets.
Cope with everyday life
Shop, talk about the weather, use the phone, and get help at the pharmacy.
Who’s in the lessons
Mark presents the course with Francesca, a native Italian speaker. Katie takes on the role of the learner: she asks the questions you’d ask, and Mark and Francesca explain how the language works as they go.
In the last ten lessons you travel to Italy with them. Several of the bonus lessons use conversations recorded with local people on the trip, and Mark explains each one.
Inside every lesson
All 40 lessons follow the same shape, so you always know what to do next, and each video lesson takes around 20 minutes.
What’s included
Pay once and it’s yours for life, on every device you use.
- 40 full lessons Over 20 hours of audio.
- Video lessons With the Italian on screen.
- Comprehensive lesson notes Grammar, vocabulary and transcripts.
- Interactive quizzes Check your progress as you go.
- Downloads Take the audio and notes offline.
- Top-up lessons Extra translation challenges.
- Lifetime access One payment, no subscription.
Video
The video lesson
Mark, Francesca and Katie work through the lesson, with the words and phrases on screen as you go.
Audio
The audio lesson
Download the same lesson to review on a walk, in the car or on the train.
Notes
Lesson notes
Read transcripts of the dialogues, with grammar explanations, vocabulary and cultural notes written out in full.
Bonus
Bonus audio
Test your understanding with review, translation challenges and extra vocabulary.
The 40 lessons
The lessons build up to a trip to Italy in the last ten.
Part 1 · Lessons 1 to 10
Meeting people
Greet people, say where you’re from and where you live, talk about your family, use numbers and ask the way around town.
- 1Hello and how are you?
- 2Greetings
- 3Saying where you are from
- 4Using the negative
- 5Introducing family members
- 6Numbers
- 7Asking where things are
- 8More places in town
- 9Dealing with the language
- 10End-of-unit review
Part 2 · Lessons 11 to 20
Eating out and getting around
Order in cafés and restaurants, check into a hotel, use numbers and dates, go shopping, and get around by public transport and train.
- 11Ordering drinks in a café
- 12Ordering in a restaurant
- 13Eating in a restaurant
- 14Arriving at the hotel
- 15Numbers, days and months
- 16Shopping
- 17Shopping for souvenirs
- 18Understanding directions
- 19Public transport
- 20Buying travel tickets
Part 3 · Lessons 21 to 30
Everyday life
Talk about the weather, explain aches and pains at the pharmacy, spell words out, use the phone, and talk about yourself, your job and what you like.
- 21The weather
- 22Aches and pains
- 23At the pharmacy
- 24The present tense and the alphabet
- 25Using the phone in Italian
- 26Talking more about yourself
- 27Talking about work
- 28Likes and dislikes about your work
- 29Possessive and descriptive adjectives
- 30Identity quiz
Part 4 · Lessons 31 to 40
Off on a trip
Travel to Italy with Katie, Mark and Francesca: check into the hotel, order breakfast, ask for information, go shopping, get help at the pharmacy, make tiramisù and take a first look at the past tense.
- 31Travelling to Italy
- 32Arrival in Italy
- 33At hotel check-in
- 34Breakfast in the hotel
- 35Conversation at breakfast about what to see and do
- 36More on shopping
- 37Asking for information at hotel reception
- 38Seeking help at the pharmacy
- 39Making tiramisù
- 40The perfect tense
From learners on the course
“I love the series. I do the video lessons on my desktop in the morning. Then when I walk, I listen to the audio. Later in the day I read the PDF and listen to the bonus. Works great for me! Grazie and buona giornata!”
“Completed season 1 a while back but forgot to leave a review. I found the course a great way of presenting the language in bite sized chunks which I could take at my own pace and revisit items as necessary. Have already acquired Season 2.”
“Love these listening lessons! It’s a great boost to find that I understand much or most of what’s being said. The fun challenge is trying to catch the guest speakers words with their dialects and rapid speech. It’s so helpful to have it all explained after. I often find that I already knew the words, but had just missed some because of the speed. These exercises are really helping with my listening comprehension! Grazie mille”
Questions
What’s the difference between the course and the free podcast?
The free podcast is the audio of each lesson. The course adds the video lessons, lesson notes, quizzes and bonus audio, all without ads, so you can study each lesson in depth.
Do I need any Italian to start?
No. Level 1 is for complete beginners and starts from your very first words. If you’d like a taste first, First Steps is a short free course.
Can I download the materials?
The videos stream online, and the lesson notes and audio download to your device, so you can listen and review wherever you are.
How long do I have access?
For life. Pay once and it’s yours, across all of your devices.
When does it start and finish?
It starts the moment you join and has no end date. It’s self-paced, so you set the timeline.
Can I try it before I buy?
Yes. Start with First Steps, our short free course, and you’ll see how the lessons work before you buy.
Find the course that fits you
Coffee Break Italian has three levels, from absolute beginner to intermediate. If this one doesn’t feel right, try the level above or below.
Coffee Break Italian · Level 1
Start speaking Italian
All 40 lessons come with video, audio and full notes, so you can work through them at your own pace.
$269One payment, yours for life
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