The Italian Escape: A bilingual English-Italian language podcast

Do I need to know Italian to work as a marketing expat in Italy?

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Ciao! Siamo Gabriele e Angelique. Benvenuti nel nostro podcast!

We are passionate language learners, and we record for you the language learning podcast we’d like to play when we learn new languages.

Our podcast, produced in mixed English and simple Italian, helps beginners and intermediate Italian language learners enjoy engaging content about Italy, its language, and its culture from day 0 of their language learning journey.

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Marketing in Europe can be challenging because of its multicultural environment.

Rather than seeing it as an obstacle, one can turn it into an opportunity.

This is what you will discover today through our conversation with Marta Romão.

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For a Portuguese, Marta had a unique childhood. Having been born in Lisbon in the 90s, she lived in Belgium with her family until she was six.

This experience opened her world.

Instead of pursuing an average Portuguese lifestyle, she ventured out of her home country by working as a multilingual marketing professional in Spain, and in Italy.

In this episode, we chatted with Marta about her life, her experience in the Italian marketing scene, and working with Italian tech start-ups in Rome.

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This episode will conclude our second season of the Italian Escape Podcast. We will take a break and launch our third season after the summer.

If you want us to cover any topic of interest, email us, and we’ll happily talk about it when we return.

In the meantime, support our podcast, leave us a review in Apple Podcast or a rating on Spotify, and join our Patreon community.

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Listen NOW to our conversation with Marta.

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Where to find Marta:

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com

Did you know that Ligurian cuisine is more than just pesto and focaccia?

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Ciao! Siamo Gabriele e Angelique. Benvenuti nel nostro podcast!

We are passionate language learners, and we record for you the language learning podcast we’d like to play when we learn new languages.

Our podcast, produced in mixed English and simple Italian, helps beginners and intermediate Italian language learners enjoy engaging content about Italy, its language, and its culture from day 0 of their language learning journey.

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It all started 6 years ago.

Having been a maritime lawyer for years, Enrica pivoted into her career by becoming a food storyteller.

She recounts her personal journey – both in English and in Italian - through the culinary tradition and flavors of Liguria with her food blog, “A Small Kitchen in Genoa”.

If she’s not writing recipes and stories in her blog, she is offering private Ligurian cooking classes and food tours around Genoa.

This month, she is releasing her new cookbook, “Liguria in Cucina – the flavors of Liguria”. It’s a recipe book that’s written both in English and in Italian – perfect for our listeners who want to replicate Ligurian dishes while learning languages!

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In this episode, we listen to the many stories behind some of Enrica’s favorite Ligurian dishes, and the particularities behind documenting food traditions across the region.

If you liked our conversation, check out the link in the show notes to order her latest cookbook.

In the meantime, support our podcast, leave us a review in Apple Podcast or a rating on Spotify, and join our Patreon community.

Listen NOW to our conversation and learn about Enrica and the underrated beauty of Ligurian cuisine.

Where to find Enrica:

Buy Enrica’s latest book, Liguria in Cucina – the flavours of Liguria by selecting your region:

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com

How do you learn Italian with a language co-pilot?

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Ciao! Siamo Gabriele e Angelique. Benvenuti nel nostro podcast!

We are passionate language learners, and we record for you the language learning podcast we’d like to play when we learn new languages.

Our podcast in mixed English and simple Italian helps beginners and intermediate Italian language learners enjoy engaging content about Italy, its language, and its culture from day 0 of their language learning journey.

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Language learning can be daunting, especially if you seek perfection.

In today’s episode, we look at another way of learning Italian with the help of a language co-pilot.

That’s where Andre comes in.

Born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, her love for music and singing led her to unknowingly teach herself English at the age of six and sparked her curiosity for other languages.

When she turned 18, she decided to do her first solo trip to Florence. Little did she expect that this will change her life in a massive way. Since then, she has met countless frustrated students who feel like they have no talent for learning languages.

Because of this, she created an easy, fun, and empowering method called, co-piloting.

Listen NOW to our conversation and learn about Mo Parlo and what it means to be a language co-pilot.

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Would you like to try out Mo Parlo's course?

She's offering our listeners a 10% discount. 

Here's what you need to do:

Where to find Andre & Mo Parlo:

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at [email protected]. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com

Welcome to the Italian Escape Podcast!

Today, before we start the podcast, we’d like to make a small announcement.

Roughly one year ago, we launched the Italian Escape Podcast to provide more resources for beginners and intermediate Italian language learners and give you confidence in learning the language.

At first many thought that this was a crazy idea and that it would be impossible to maintain it.

And yet here we are one year later, with hundreds of listeners tuning in to our episodes.

So, THANK YOU dear listeners for following us in this bilingual journey.

Now we need your help. 

If you think that our podcast has helped you in any way please grab your phone now and send us a message.

You can do that by sending us a voice message provided by anchor.fm. You’ll find the link at the end of our episode description. Or, you can send an e-mail to [email protected]or send a dm through social media.

Do it now.  We need your help and support to keep on delivering free and valuable content.

Let us know how our podcast helped you.

And now let’s dive into our episode.

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In today’s episode we are going to talk about the mythical posto fisso

There’s a dream circulating in Italy about “posto fisso”, the jobs from which you cannot get fired from easily while getting a lot of benefits from the government.

Because of these long term/unfirable jobs, Italian companies are struggling to keep innovating as quickly as other countries within and outside the EU.

In this episode, we discussed its cultural significance, its history, and its influence in Italy today.

Support our podcast and leave us a review in Apple Podcast or on Spotify and join our Patreon community.

Listen NOW to our conversation and learn how hard being a fair country is.

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Show Notes:

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at [email protected]. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com

Is a native Italian the best choice for a teacher? Maybe not.

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Ciao! Siamo Gabriele e Angelique. Benvenuti nel nostro podcast!

We are passionate language learners, and we record for you the language learning podcast we’d like to play when we learn new languages

Our podcast in mixed English and simple Italian helps beginners and intermediate Italian language learners enjoy engaging content about Italy, its language, and its culture from day 0 of their language learning journey.

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In our previous episode with Heidi (Ep. 25), she shares with us one of her secrets to learning Italian, which is by having two types of teachers – one who is native, and one who isn’t.

By having both native and foreign tutors, you get to have the best of both worlds – one who teaches you how Italians speak, and another who teaches you why Italians follow rules that do not match your native language’s rules.

In this episode, we sat down with Kenny, also known as “something polyglot” on the web. From his nickname, you can tell that his biggest passion is all about languages.

We learned about Kenny’s life story, exchanged with him our thoughts on language learning and explored the reasons why and when you should consider getting a non-native speaker as your language teacher.

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If you like our podcast, leave us a review in Apple Podcast or on Spotify and join our Patreon community.

Listen NOW to our conversation and learn how to boost your Italian learning journey with a non-native speaker.

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You can find Kenny here:

Show Notes:

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at [email protected]. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com

Do you know about the time when Italy tried to rebuild the Roman Empire?

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Ciao! Siamo Gabriele e Angelique. Benvenuti nel nostro podcast!

We are passionate language learners, and we record for you the language learning podcast we’d like to play when we learn new languages.

Our podcast in mixed English and simple Italian helps beginners and intermediate Italian language learners enjoy engaging content about Italy, its language, and its culture from day 0 of their language learning journey.

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Slowly but surely, more people are becoming more aware of the dark past of colonialism that was led by countries such as Spain, Portugal, the English, and the French, to name a few.

But what about the Italians?

In this episode, Gabriele recounts the highlights or milestones – be it the good and the bad - that took place during one of Italy’s almost forgotten chapters of its history – its colonialist history in Africa.

Sadly, many choose to neglect this part of history and associate it with fascism. It turned out that Italy started its colonial history by purchasing the Bay of Assab in 1869, 52 years before fascism started.

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As an Italian, Gabriele believes that we should not recount these episodes because we are proud of having dominated and conquered other populations.

Disclaimer: Nothing to be proud of over there.

Instead, we must remember the strength we showed and the challenges we overcame as a reminder of what we can achieve in the future when fighting for a more fair and just goal.

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If you liked our episode with Garibaldi, you should not miss out on this!

In the meantime, you can support us by leaving us a review in Apple Podcast and on Spotify and joining our Patreon community.

Listen NOW to our conversation and learn about colonialism by the Italians.

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at [email protected]. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com

How easy is it to go vegan in Italy?

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Ciao! Siamo Gabriele e Angelique. Benvenuti nel nostro podcast!

We are passionate language learners, and we record for you the language learning podcast we’d like to play when we learn new languages

Our podcast in mixed English and simple Italian helps beginners and intermediate Italian language learners enjoy engaging content about Italy, its language, and its culture from day 0 of their language learning journey.

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Happy New Year to our dear listeners.

As many of you might know, every January, people all over the world participate in the Veganuary challenge to promote and educate everyone on the vegan lifestyle.

Because of this, we thought of sharing with you today our conversation with Alice Cosso and Giulia Cimarosti, world travelers and founders of the online vegan community in Genoa, called Vegenova.

If they’re not busy traveling across the globe, you’ll see them scouting for places that offer vegan treats here in Genoa, and the rest of the Ligurian coast.

Is it impossible to stay vegan when traveling to Italy? Can someone manage to eat a yummy pizza while skipping the mozzarella?

Can we still eat authentic Italian food if we stay away from animal products?

How will you find Italian restaurants that accommodate this diet?

Surprisingly, Italians are not as close-minded as you think when it comes to adopting a vegan diet. Last year, Alice and Giulia launched the first vegan festival also known as VEGenova Vegan Festival, and it turned out to be a success.

In this episode, we discuss the many misconceptions people have about maintaining a vegan diet here in Italy, as well as their journey to being one of the most popular online vegan communities in Italy.

While it is true that Italians adore their prosciutto crudo, and Parmigiano, they also offer traditional animal-free meals like ribollita, farinata, and zimin, to name a few.

Well, how do you think the famous "Mediterranean diet" came to be?

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So, if you’re thinking of organizing a trip to Italy and going plant-based or vegan, you should not miss this episode.

And, if you want to learn more about Vegenova’s recommendations, and science-backed information on going vegan, you should surely head to our shownotes.

In the meantime, you can support us by leaving us a review in Apple Podcast and on Spotify and joining our Patreon community.

Listen NOW to our conversation and learn about veganism in Italy while enriching your Italian language learning experience.

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Where to find Vegenova:

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at [email protected]. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com

Would you like to find joy when learning languages?

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Ciao! Siamo Gabriele e Angelique. Benvenuti nel nostro podcast!

We are passionate language learners, and we record for you the language learning podcast we’d like to play when we learn new languages

Our podcast in mixed English and simple Italian helps beginners and intermediate Italian language learners enjoy engaging content about Italy, its language, and its culture from day 0 of their language learning journey.

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Today you’re in for a treat. With Christmas fast approaching, we thought of sharing with you an episode that will give you hope and joy.

We’d like to share with you our conversation with Heidi Lovejoy, the creator of a language-learning podcast called, Love, Joy, and Languages. Born and raised in Kentucky (U.S.A.), she started her language-learning journey in 2017 when she first moved to Italy together with her husband and her two children.

Learning Italian, while being a parent to two young kids in a foreign country – how hard can it be?

Heidi shared with us her journey, both as a language learner and as a parent. As you might have guessed, the path she chose was not easy. Rather than chasing after perfection, and getting stuck in her negative self-talk, she learned to let go and trust the process. And this was what she did when her family moved to Germany and had to start their life again from scratch.

If you’re seeking some joy in your language learning process, and feel hopeful this Christmas holiday, then this is the episode you should listen to.

This will be our last episode for 2022, as we’ll be taking a break and will be spending time with our loved ones in the weeks to come.

Tune in next month as we’ll release more episodes about Italy, and more!

In the meantime, you can support us by leaving us a review in Apple Podcast and on Spotify and joining our Patreon community.

Listen NOW to our conversation and learn about the joy of learning languages.

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You can find Heidi Lovejoy:

Check out the show notes here.

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at [email protected]. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com

Have you ever watched an Italian “West Side Story”?

Ciao! Siamo Gabriele e Angelique. Benvenuti nel nostro podcast!

We are passionate language learners, and we record for you the language learning podcast we’d like to play when we learn new languages

Our podcast in mixed English and simple Italian helps beginners and intermediate Italian language learners enjoy engaging content about Italy, its language, and its culture from day 0 of their language learning journey.

Today, we’d like to share with you our conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Turner, a third-generation Italian American who decided to pursue a professional musical career. She is now the Director of Vocal Arts at St. Thomas University.

Music has been a lifeline for Elizabeth. Nowadays, you will often find her busy teaching kids and young adults to learn how to sing.

We chatted with her about her Italian roots, Italian American culture, her love for music, and her Broadway musical called, “Ciao Bambino”.  It’s a story about a young Italian woman named Elizabetta who embarked on a journey of self-discovery as she chases the American dream right after WWII.

Will she make it?

You’ll have to find out by watching her musical next year.

In this episode, we also included clips of some songs featured in the “Ciao Bambino” musical. If you’re curious to learn about Elizabetta’s story, you can read her story via Kindle.

In the meantime, you can support us by leaving us a review in Apple Podcast and on Spotify and joining our Patreon community.

Listen NOW and learn about what it means to be Italian American and how music can shape the way we perceive our cultural history.

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Where to find Elizabeth Turner and her work:

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at [email protected]. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com

Have you ever been to a mushroom festival in Italy?

Ciao! Siamo Gabriele e Angelique. Benvenuti nel nostro podcast!

We are passionate language learners, and we record for you the language learning podcast we’d like to play when we learn new languages

Our podcast in mixed English and simple Italian helps beginners and intermediate Italian language learners enjoy engaging content about Italy, its language, and its culture from day 0 of their language learning journey.

Today we’d like to share with you a short discussion on the country fairs in Italy and our first-hand experience of a local mushroom festival.

Also called “le sagre”, the purpose of these festivals is to bring in people and celebrate the numerous local products they have before winter starts.

This September we headed to a little town in Liguria called Bardineto, where we tried out their mushroom-based dishes.

In this episode, we will talk about 

This episode will leave you hungry and motivated to visit Italy during the “sagra” period.

In the meantime, you can support us by leaving us a review in Apple Podcast and on Spotify, and joining our Patreon community.

And now, we present to you our conversation about le sagre. 

Show Notes:

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Did you like our episode? Rate us!

If you have any thoughts or comments on our podcast, e-mail us at [email protected]. Also,

Music credits: storyblocks.com