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Coffee Break Italian

A special thank you from Coffee Break on International Podcast Day

Every 30th September, the podcasting world comes together to celebrate podcasting on International Podcast Day. We're celebrating today by saying thank you to the Coffee Break community in this special podcast episode. International Podcast Day aims to raise awareness about podcasts and gives podcast creators and listeners a chance to celebrate the medium and the podcast industry.


But podcasting has been around for a lot longer than that! Back in 2004, broadcaster Adam Curry asked developer Dave Winer to develop an audioblogging system and without going into the technical side of things, or indeed who specifically “invented” podcasting, it was Curry and Winer who got the ball rolling. The word “podcast” however, was first mentioned in a newspaper article in the Guardian by technology reporter Ben Hammersley. It was declared Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary in 2005.

 

Of course, at this stage Coffee Break hadn't yet launched, but Coffee Break host Mark did start podcasting for an education project he was running at the time called Partners in Excellence or “PiE”, and The PiEcast was used to bring a community of learners together and help them develop their language skills. Mark quickly realised that podcasting was the perfect medium for publishing language lessons, and for sharing his passion for languages with a wider audience. 


Coffee Break Spanish was launched in October 2006. As the very first Spanish podcast for beginners on iTunes, it quickly gathered an audience and learners around the world started learning with us. Since then we’ve gone on to produce Coffee Break French, German, Italian, Chinese, Swedish and English and we have plans to develop more Coffee Break languages in the future. We’ve also created shorter podcast series called One Minute Languages covering over 30 languages from Arabic to Zulu. 


We’ve published well over 1,000 episodes across the different languages and our podcasts have been downloaded over 290 million times, and we currently deliver over 2 million free language lessons every month to a community of Coffee Break learners.

 

So that’s why today, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you, our podcast listeners, our Coffee Break community. Without you there wouldn’t be any Coffee Break! Thank you for choosing to listen to our shows, to learn with us and to share your 15 or 20 minute coffee break with me and my cohosts on each episode of the show.


Now just before we finish, a couple of important points: if you’d like to hear about the latest episodes and series from Coffee Break, make sure you join Mark on Sunday 4th October at 4pm UK time / 11am Eastern / 8am Pacific for a live broadcast on YouTube and our Facebook pages. You can go straight to our YT channel - Coffee Break Languages - and click the “Set Reminder” button.


And, if you’d like to help us celebrate International Podcast Day, why not simply tell a language-loving friend about what you’ve learned with our podcasts and help us grow the Coffee Break community even further?


Merci beaucoup - vielen, vielen Dank, muchísimas gracias, grazie molte, xiè xie nimen, tack så jättemycket and thank you! There’s lots more coming from Coffee Break and we hope you continue to enjoy learning with us. Happy International Podcast Day!

More episodes

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  • Coffee Break Italian – Preview Episode

    02:47
    Join teacher Mark, learner Katie and native speaker Francesca in this preview episode of Coffee Break Italian.Listen to the episode More informationCoffee Break Italian launches with lesson 1 on Monday 26th January.This season of Coffee Break Italian features a total of 40 episodes. If you'd like to benefit from lesson notes, bonus audio recordings and video versions of the lessons featuring 'synchronised video flashcards' to help you understand how the words and phrases are written, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Italian on the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Italian on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Italian. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram.
  • Coffee Break Italian – What you will learn

    02:55
    In this short episode, Mark outlines the structure of the Coffee Break Italian course. Season 1 is organised into four blocks of ten lessons:Lessons 1-10: you’ll be learning how to greet people, introduce yourself, talk about where you’re from, introduce your friends or members of your family, use Italian in basic travel situations like buying things, getting around and coping with language difficulties;Lessons 11-20: you’ll learn more travel language and will be able to order drinks and food, check into hotels, go shopping, ask for information and use public transport;Lessons 21-30: you’ll perfect your travel language, learn to deal with a visit to the doctor or pharmacy in Italy, use the phone, and also talk more about yourself, your job, and your hobbies and pastimes;Lessons 31-40: we’ll be recording these episodes in Italy and you’ll join us in a series of conversations putting all the language you’ve covered so far into practice and extending your vocabulary and understanding of Italian grammar.Listen to the episode More informationCoffee Break Italian launches with lesson 1 on Monday 26th January. This season of Coffee Break Italian features a total of 40 episodes. If you'd like to benefit from lesson notes, bonus audio recordings and video versions of the lessons featuring 'synchronised video flashcards' to help you understand how the words and phrases are written, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Italian on the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Italian on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Italian. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram.
  • 1. CBI 1-00 | Introductory Episode

    04:15
    If you can learn how to pronounce spaghetti, tagliatelle and bruschetta properly in Italian, you’ll have no bother with the 40 episodes of our first season of Coffee Break Italian. Join Mark, Francesca and Katie in this introductory episode.This season of Coffee Break Italian features a total of 40 episodes. If you'd like to benefit from lesson notes, bonus audio recordings and video versions of the lessons featuring 'synchronised video flashcards' to help you understand how the words and phrases are written, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Italian on the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Italian on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Italian. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram, and check out our videos for language learners on our YouTube channel.
  • 1. CBI 1-01 | Saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ in Italian

    22:03
    Take your first steps in learning Italian with teacher Mark, learner Katie and native speaker Francesca. In this lesson you’ll learn to say “hello” and ask the question “how are you?” You’ll also learn some appropriate answers for this question, and discover more about Italian culture.This season of Coffee Break Italian features a total of 40 episodes. If you'd like to benefit from lesson notes, bonus audio recordings and video versions of the lessons featuring 'synchronised video flashcards' to help you understand how the words and phrases are written, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Italian on the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Italian on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Italian. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram, and check out our videos for language learners on our YouTube channel.
  • 2. CBI 1-02 | Greetings in Italian

    20:39
    Join Mark, Katie and Francesca in the latest lesson of Coffee Break Italian. In this lesson you’ll learn to greet people at different times of the day. You’ll also learn to introduce yourself and ask the question “what is your name?”This season of Coffee Break Italian features a total of 40 episodes. If you'd like to benefit from lesson notes, bonus audio recordings and video versions of the lessons featuring 'synchronised video flashcards' to help you understand how the words and phrases are written, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Italian on the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Italian on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Italian. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram, and check out our videos for language learners on our YouTube channel.
  • 3. CBI 1-03 | Talking about where you come from in Italian

    21:33
    Join teacher Mark, learner Katie and native speaker Francesca in this third lesson of Coffee Break Italian. In this lesson you’ll learn to say where you’re from, to talk about nationalities and lots more.This season of Coffee Break Italian features a total of 40 episodes. If you'd like to benefit from lesson notes, bonus audio recordings and video versions of the lessons featuring 'synchronised video flashcards' to help you understand how the words and phrases are written, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Italian on the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Italian on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Italian. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram, and check out our videos for language learners on our YouTube channel.
  • 4. CBI 1-04 | Talking about where you live in Italian

    21:30
    Take your first steps in learning Italian with teacher Mark, learner Katie and native speaker Francesca. In this lesson you’ll learn to say where you live in Italian. You’ll also learn some appropriate answers for this question, and discover more about Italian culture.This season of Coffee Break Italian features a total of 40 episodes. If you'd like to benefit from lesson notes, bonus audio recordings and video versions of the lessons featuring 'synchronised video flashcards' to help you understand how the words and phrases are written, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Italian on the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Italian on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Italian. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram, and check out our videos for language learners on our YouTube channel.
  • 5. CBI 1-05 | Talking about your family in Italian

    22:37
    Join teacher Mark, learner Katie and native speaker Francesca in the latest lesson of our series for beginners in Italian. In this lesson you’ll learn to introduce members of your family and give their names.This season of Coffee Break Italian features a total of 40 episodes. If you'd like to benefit from lesson notes, bonus audio recordings and video versions of the lessons featuring 'synchronised video flashcards' to help you understand how the words and phrases are written, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Italian on the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Italian on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Italian. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram, and check out our videos for language learners on our YouTube channel.
  • 6. CBI 1-06 | More about family, counting and phone numbers in Italian

    23:41
    Join native speaker Francesca, learner Katie and teacher Mark in this latest lesson of our series for beginners in Italian. In this lesson you’ll learn to talk more about your family, and you’ll learn the numbers from zero to ten, allowing you to talk about phone numbers in Italian.This season of Coffee Break Italian features a total of 40 episodes. If you'd like to benefit from lesson notes, bonus audio recordings and video versions of the lessons featuring 'synchronised video flashcards' to help you understand how the words and phrases are written, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Italian on the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Italian on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Italian. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Italian Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram, and check out our videos for language learners on our YouTube channel.