Learn Italian with Voices of Famous Hollywood Actors Through LibriVivi

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The study of Italian language and culture has increased in popularity in the United States by 60% since 2002. This surging interest in Italy underscores the necessity for supplemental educational materials to benefit students studying on American high school and university campuses. Nothing appears to increase the enjoyment and rapid learning of a language than to hear it spoken; a rare but vital component to the study of any foreign language. For those students seeking an entertaining and enriching supplement to their study of the Italian language at home, the LibriVivi series now available at Select Italy (http://selectitaly.com) promises to deliver.

“Our mission at Select Italy is to bring the very best of Italy to the U.S. The LibriVivi series is just one way to cultivate the growing interest in Italian culture here in America,” says Andrea Guglielmino, director of Digital Marketing at Select Italy. Developed by film director Dario Picciau, LibriVivi audiobooks evocatively enhance the listener’s experience of literary masterpieces, such as, The Portrait of Dorian Gray and Frankenstein through cinematic retellings by renowned Italian actors. Each narrator professionally dubs the voices of a variety of celebrities like Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Natalie Portman, to name a few. Their diction leaves no room for guesswork and the cadence with which they speak makes the listener’s comprehension of the story seem effortless. LibriVivi offers not just the theatrical narration of the Western classics; lovers of poetry and drama will delight in Librivivi’s “Palco” and “Recital” series, respectively. The younger generation of Italian language learners and speakers will no doubt adore the “Fables” series of children’s literature with such classics as, The Frog Prince and Puss in Boots.  The dynamic, life-like sound effects and dramatic interpretations of the characters create a vivid aural experience; thus enveloping the listener in what feels like a movie without a screen. Formatted in MP3, the LibriVivi downloads to Mac or PC for convenient upload to iPods, Smartphones and other listening devices; making them easily transportable for road-trips, long commutes or lazy afternoons. With the availability of LibriVivi, Select Italy continues to fuel the resurgent American interest in the Italian language and culture while satisfying such demand. An adventure not solely for fluent Italian speakers but also for students seeking a fun way to improve their aural comprehension, the LibriVivi qualifies as its own genre of experience somewhere between literature and cinema, cinema and theater, theater and imagination.