Alessandria for your year abroad
A lecture in a language you are still learning is the hardest listening there is: full speed, no repetition, and a technical vocabulary no language course covers. Alessandria writes the lecture up in full in the language it was delivered in, with a glossary of the terms that were actually used — so the part you lost is text you can read slowly, instead of a gap you find out about at the exam.
Updated on
The year abroad, and what funds it now
If you are on a languages degree, the year abroad isn’t an opportunity — it is a compulsory part of the course, usually the third year. For everyone else it is a study abroad placement arranged through your department. Either way, the arrangement behind it has changed twice in five years, so it is worth being precise about where it stands.
At the time of writing (August 2026), UK students going abroad are funded by the Turing Scheme rather than Erasmus+, which the UK left after Brexit. 2026–27 is the final year of Turing: the UK is due to rejoin Erasmus+ from 2027–28. One asymmetry worth knowing if you are hosting or being hosted: Turing funds UK students going out, and does not fund students coming in.
Check the current position with your own department before relying on any of this — it is the part of this page most likely to have moved.
You can understand the language and still lose the lecture
There is a gap between the language you can read and the language you can follow live. Linguists call the first a passive command: you understand it when it arrives at your own pace, and you can’t produce it at speed. A lecture is the exact opposite condition — someone else’s pace, no rewind, and no second attempt.
What breaks first is not the grammar. It is that following costs you a beat of translation per sentence, and by the time you have spent it, two more sentences have gone past. You leave with the shape of the argument and none of its content.
The language courses your host university offers are generally excellent, and they teach the general language. What breaks a lecture is the technical vocabulary of one subject.
Why the material shouldn’t be translated
The instinct is to get everything into English. It is the wrong instinct, for a practical reason: you will be examined in the language the course was taught in, and the terms you need to produce are the terms that were said in the room.
A translated set of notes teaches you the concept in the wrong words. You arrive at the exam understanding the material and unable to name any of it — which is a worse position than the one you started in.
So the lecture is written up in the language it was delivered in. The language is detected on its own; nothing is converted behind your back. The glossary defines each term from the way the lecturer used it — in that language, which is where it has to live.
What Alessandria changes
The lecture in writing, at your pace
Reading a foreign language is the thing you can already do. Once the lecture is text, the sentence you missed stops being lost and becomes a sentence you can read twice.
The vocabulary of that subject, in that language
The glossary collects the terms that were said, defined from how they were used. That is the list nobody hands you and no language course contains.
And it works both directions
It is the same tool whether you are a UK student in Bologna or a Spanish student in Leeds — a lecture in a second language behaves the same way in either.
What it doesn’t do
It is not a translator and not a language course. It won’t turn the lecture into English, and that is deliberate. It also won’t tell you what your host university expects at the exam — credit transfer, learning agreements and marking are questions for your department and theirs.
Nothing is shared: no function to send documents to anyone, no shared folder, no download. The only way out is publishing your notes to your own Notion.
No slides, no PDFs, no images, no video: a lecture here is an audio recording or a text file. Your host lecturer’s PDF handout doesn’t go in.
Two minutes of a lecture in Italian, and what’s left of it
…allora, il costo opportunità . Attenzione che la definizione del manuale nasconde la parte utile: non è quanto costa una cosa, è il valore della migliore alternativa a cui rinunciate per ottenerla. Per questo la stessa decisione ha un costo diverso per due persone diverse, e per questo «era gratis» non è quasi mai un argomento. I costi espliciti sono quelli che escono dal conto corrente, gli impliciti sono quelli che non ne escono, e contano allo stesso modo…
Costo opportunitĂ
Non il prezzo di una cosa: il valore della migliore alternativa a cui si rinuncia per ottenerla.
Conseguenza sottolineata a lezione: la stessa decisione ha un costo diverso per persone diverse.
«Era gratis» non è un argomento: prezzo zero non significa costo zero.
Glossario della lezione
Costi espliciti — quelli che escono dal conto corrente.
Costi impliciti — quelli che non ne escono, e contano allo stesso modo.
The terms stay in Italian, because that is the language the exam will be in.
A worked demonstration written by us from textbook material. No lecture recording and no words from a real lecturer appear on this page.
Common questions
Will it translate the lecture into English for me?
No, and that’s deliberate. The material comes out in the language it was delivered in, because that is the language you will be examined in. Translated notes leave you understanding the concept and unable to name it.
Do I have to tell it which language the lecture is in?
No, the language is recognised on its own and the material comes out in the language that was spoken.
I’m coming to the UK rather than going away. Is this for me too?
Yes — a lecture in a second language behaves the same way in either direction. The page is written for both.
Is my year abroad still funded by Erasmus+?
For UK students the funding at the time of writing (August 2026) is the Turing Scheme, with the UK due to rejoin Erasmus+ from 2027–28. Your department is the authority on your own placement — this is not the sort of thing to take from a software company’s website.
Can it read the notes aloud?
Yes, the notes can be read aloud in the app — which is also useful listening practice in the language you are learning.
What can I upload?
An audio recording (mp3, m4a, wav, ogg, opus, flac, aac, iPhone voice memos included) or a text file. Slides, PDFs, images and video do not go in.
Try it on a lecture in the other language
Upload the recording and read the whole thing written out, with the terms defined as they were used.
The first two lectures are free. No card details.