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Showing posts with label audiolibri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audiolibri. Show all posts

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Emons Audiolibri

In a previous post, I wrote how useful audiobooks can be for learning Italian because, if you have the book handy, you can follow along with the book while you listen to the person reading it to you. This is a great way to hear the language while reading along and allows you to hear the correct pronunciation of the words while at the same time enjoying some great literature. You can also easily re-listen to sections that you miss or even practice listening without the book. There are many ways that these books can be helpful in improving your listening and listening comprehension.

Today, I stumbled across Emons Audiolibri, an audiobook publisher in Italy. You can purchase their audiobooks online through Internet Bookshop Italia or through select bookstores that they have listed on their web site. If you're curious to hear the quality, you can listen to short excerpts of various books on their web site. I listened to a dozen selections and was pleasantly surprised by the quality and the fact that many of the authors who wrote the books (at least the more contemporary and recently published ones) read their own books. And I think that that can be an experience itself.

If you're worried about understanding or enjoying it because of your level of Italian, they also have a section for Children's/Young Adults, too. They also read Italian translation of some English classics as well as some Italian children's books. You can find out more about this from their web site.

If you want to learn more about them, check out their YouTube page that shows some of the "Behind the Scenes" action that goes on in producing the book along with interviews with some of the readers/authors.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Practice Italian With Audiobooks! (updated)

The great thing about audiobooks is that not only can you practice your listening skills but you can also read along if you have the book as well. This can be a great way to double check your comprehension of anything that you've listened to. I think that it is important to hear Italian being spoken by as many different kinds of accents and voices as possible since the way language is spoken is different just like it is in your own native language. I think that this throws people who are learning Italian because they don't always recognizes the differences in their own language.

So where do you find audiobooks?

There are several places that you can find them. Some of the RAI sites have them online that you can stream and listen to. The links for those (Terzo Anello) can be found in the sidebar. Another great site for audiobooks is Il Narratore. Some of them are free to download while others must be purchased. If you're looking for a larger selection, check out an online bookstore, such as Internet Bookshop Italia. To do a search for audiobooks, simply type the word audiolibro in the search box, and you'll receive hundreds of hits.

Another up-and-coming place to purchase audio books is from Lapo Art Films, a company based in Tuscany. They currently have a very enchanting and well-done version of Pinocchio for purchase and, as they have informed me, are in the process of creating future audiobooks. In the meantime, you can listen to excerpts through Itunes (do a search for Pinocchio published by Lapo Art Films) or on their web site (also via RSS feed here:http://www.pinocchioaudiolibro.com/it/feed/pinocchio.xml).

I've listed below some audiobooks that you might find interesting to purchase (you'll probalby have difficulty finding them in American libraries so they'll have to be downloaded or purchased):
Many English books are translated and then made into Italian audiobooks. By doing the search that I mentioned above, you might find many Italian audiobooks for works that you might have already encountered in English.

If you know of another place to find purchase or download audiobooks, please leave a comment.