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Riima
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Learn Italian, word for word

Learn Italian for beginners by listening and reading along: short episodes about Rome, the market, the bar and the restaurant. The Italian text above, under every word its literal English, and below that the sentence the way you would say it in English. Like a short audiobook that you listen to many times, and that sits entirely offline on your device.

Ten of 94 episodes are recorded, 31.6 minutes in total. Recording continues.

Try it free — Opens TestFlight at Apple

For iPhone, iOS 18 or later. The app is currently available as a beta through TestFlight, the link takes you to Apple.

The sections

  1. Rome
  2. The Market
  3. The Bar
  4. The Restaurant
  5. Chiara tells the journey
  6. Arriving at the Harbour
  7. Work at the Guesthouse
  8. People and Places
  9. Plans and Winter
  10. Saying Goodbye to the Summer
  11. A Year in the City
  12. The Bookshop
  13. Country and History
  14. Opinions
  15. Stories
  16. Ideas and the Meeting
  17. The Row over the Harbour
  18. The Newspaper
  19. The Speech and the Verdict

The episodes

The first episode leads to the Colosseum. After that, the episodes follow Chiara, who comes to Rome, and later her year on the coast.

  1. 1The Colosseum

  2. 2The Arrival

  3. 3The Neighbour

  4. 4The First Morning

  5. 5The First Week

  6. 6The Market

  7. 7The Seller

  8. 8The Money

  9. 9The Way Home

  10. 10The Invitation

  11. 11The First Coffeebeing recorded

  12. 12The Orderbeing recorded

  13. 13The Waiterbeing recorded

  14. 14Small Changebeing recorded

  15. 15The Regularbeing recorded

  16. 16The Table in the Eveningbeing recorded

  17. 17The Menubeing recorded

  18. 18The Food Arrivesbeing recorded

  19. 19The Billbeing recorded

  20. 20A Day in Romebeing recorded

  21. 21Chiara tells: Romebeing recorded

  22. 22Chiara tells: the marketbeing recorded

  23. 23Chiara tells: the barbeing recorded

  24. 24Chiara tells: the restaurantbeing recorded

  25. 25At the Ticket Windowbeing recorded

  26. 26Breakfast at the Guesthousebeing recorded

  27. 27The Journey Westbeing recorded

  28. 28At the Harbour Cafébeing recorded

  29. 29The First Letter from the Guesthousebeing recorded

  30. 30The roomsbeing recorded

  31. 31Rain by the seabeing recorded

  32. 32The lost umbrellabeing recorded

  33. 33The harbour marketbeing recorded

  34. 34The Saturday at the harbourbeing recorded

  35. 35At the Doctorbeing recorded

  36. 36The Neighboursbeing recorded

  37. 37The Old Photographbeing recorded

  38. 38The Bus to Townbeing recorded

  39. 39A Day Offbeing recorded

  40. 40In the shopbeing recorded

  41. 41The trip to the coastbeing recorded

  42. 42Winter in the mountainsbeing recorded

  43. 43On the telephonebeing recorded

  44. 44Sunday by the seabeing recorded

  45. 45The Workshopbeing recorded

  46. 46The Concert in the Hallbeing recorded

  47. 47The Movebeing recorded

  48. 48The Old Woman's Storybeing recorded

  49. 49The Last Eveningbeing recorded

  50. 50A room in the citybeing recorded

  51. 51The first day in the bookshopbeing recorded

  52. 52The tenant under the roofbeing recorded

  53. 53A city in the rainbeing recorded

  54. 54A letter to Grandmotherbeing recorded

  55. 55The Market and the Mayorbeing recorded

  56. 56A Question of Politenessbeing recorded

  57. 57The Library by the Riverbeing recorded

  58. 58A Day Without Powerbeing recorded

  59. 59What Remains When It Gets Darkbeing recorded

  60. 60The Way to the Old Millbeing recorded

  61. 61A Village and Its Churchbeing recorded

  62. 62The Language of the Regionbeing recorded

  63. 63The Man Who Drew the Mapsbeing recorded

  64. 64What the Maps Toldbeing recorded

  65. 65I think you are wrongbeing recorded

  66. 66If I had more moneybeing recorded

  67. 67A mistake in the orderbeing recorded

  68. 68The boss's decisionbeing recorded

  69. 69What I have learnedbeing recorded

  70. 70A train that did not comebeing recorded

  71. 71How it came aboutbeing recorded

  72. 72The grandmother remembersbeing recorded

  73. 73The summer that passedbeing recorded

  74. 74A year in storiesbeing recorded

  75. 75Two opinions about a housebeing recorded

  76. 76What a letter can dobeing recorded

  77. 77The meetingbeing recorded

  78. 78After the meetingbeing recorded

  79. 79The end of the yearbeing recorded

  80. 80A new plan for the harbourbeing recorded

  81. 81What the plan is accused ofbeing recorded

  82. 82If they had asked earlierbeing recorded

  83. 83Numbers that say somethingbeing recorded

  84. 84The session at the town hallbeing recorded

  85. 85A Newspaper in Changebeing recorded

  86. 86What a Headline Saysbeing recorded

  87. 87A Letter to the Editorbeing recorded

  88. 88The Reader's Phone Callbeing recorded

  89. 89Tomorrow's Newspaperbeing recorded

  90. 90A farewell speechbeing recorded

  91. 91The teacher and the citybeing recorded

  92. 92What people say and what they meanbeing recorded

  93. 93Who decides what is goodbeing recorded

  94. 94The end of a long storybeing recorded

Base languages

The Italian course can be listened to from English and from German. You choose the base language in the app’s settings.

Rome

The course begins in Rome, with buildings you already know from pictures. That is deliberate: whoever knows what a text is about understands it more easily, and the words attach themselves to something that is already there.

A vocabulary for the start, built up episode by episode. What you heard in one episode comes back in the next ones.

The Market · The Bar · The Restaurant

After Rome, the course moves to the places where a beginner actually speaks: the market stall, the counter of the bar, the table in the restaurant. The episodes tell what happens there and what it is called, and you hear the words for it in whole sentences, not as a list.

What an episode says was checked before recording.

Courses

Listen to Italian

Riima is currently available as a beta through TestFlight. Start with the first episode, and listen to it until the English underneath is no longer needed.

Try it free — Opens TestFlight at Apple

For iPhone, iOS 18 or later. The app is currently available as a beta through TestFlight, the link takes you to Apple.