Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding Italian language course
Review: As a language major I have taken many university classes and used numerous audio-visual home-study courses over the past 36 years, and I feel that this is quite simply the very best language set available. After going through the book and home-use set of 4 tapes once, I listened several more times to the set of review tapes for use "on-the-go". I had no problems traveling alone throughout Italy, and even received compliments on my Italian. The lessons cover nearly all the verb tenses, grammar, and syntax of the Italian language and provide a good vocabulary to start speaking, reading, and traveling. If you're serious about learning Italian, you'll find this set to be a real bargain.
Rating: 
Summary: Good course (and 'weekend' IS used in contemporary Italian!)
Review: Even with its problems (not enough time for learners to voice answers during speaking exercises, etc.), this course is one of the better ones on the market and I highly recommend it. By the way, 'il weekend' is indeed part of contemporary Italian and, as I noticed during a recent stay in Italy, is used by many people, including those who have little or no knowledge of English. It has become so common that in teaching publications such as 'Acquerello Italiano' it is rarely glossed, and it appears even in the smaller editions of the Harper Collins dictionaries. (In the HC 1995 New Standard Edition, interestingly enough, the Italian equivalents for the English entry 'weekend' are listed as 'weekend' and 'fine settimana', in that order.)
Rating: 
Summary: Limited Usefulness
Review: I have now completed the first eleven lessons in Ultimate Italian. I enjoy the program of text and CDs, and certainly am learning some Italian -- the pronunciation is excellent, the text is clear and logical [but with errors! attenti!], but I find the Learn on the Go CDs almost useless. The speakers speak too rapidly; the phrases and sentences are too complex; not enough instruction is given in order for the student to reply; and there is little repetition.
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Summary: This is how I learned Italian
Review: I have spent an enormous amount of money on materials and lessons in order to learn to speak Italian. Most of the money I spent, unfortunately, was wasted. If I had it to do over, I would simply invest in Ultimate Italian for understanding the mechanics of the language and the Pimsleur program for gaining the verbal skills. Ultimate Italian is systematic in it's approach, which helped me to move steadily through the chapters. I've been through this book three times now. A tremendous value.
Rating:
Summary: This is how I learned Italian
Review: I have spent an enormous amount of money on materials and lessons in order to learn to speak Italian. Most of the money I spent, unfortunately, was wasted. If I had it to do over, I would simply invest in Ultimate Italian for understanding the mechanics of the language and the Pimsleur program for gaining the verbal skills. Ultimate Italian is systematic in it's approach, which helped me to move steadily through the chapters. I've been through this book three times now. A tremendous value.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent program for studying the Italian language.
Review: I've been looking around for a good study program for Italian for quite some time. This is it! Very complete and well-written. Even though I've just halfway completed all the lessons, my Italian friends are quite surprised by my progress. And I owe it to this book. I'm looking forward to the Advanced version.
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Summary: One of the best yet!
Review: I've self-learned languages using audiotapes and CD's before. This particular series "Ultimate Italian" has got be one the top three. What's useful is that there are two versions - one for "in the car" and the other for "at home". This program was designed for both separately. It is up-to-date and addresses all daily usage vocbularies. Good one!
Rating:
Summary: Good for Beginners
Review: Overall this is not a bad book for learning Italian. However, after learning a bit of Italian and looking back at it there are quite a few mistakes. Misspellings, grammar errors and maybe even more annoying; the "cultural notes" are antiquated and more often than not will give you a wrong image of Italy and Italians. By the way I have the second edition so you would think that it should be rid of most mistakes.
Rating:
Summary: Limited Usefulness
Review: This book seems to have helped me more than any others I've tried over the years. The only drawback is there are quite a few typographical errors in the book, if you aren't careful you might learn a wrong thing! I still highly recommend it though, it just makes you study harder to make sure the stuff written is for sure correct!If it weren't for that, I'd have given it 5 stars for sure!
Rating:
Summary: A good way to learn Italian
Review: This is an excellent program for learning Italian. My only complaint is that it doesn't pause enough to allow you to think of a response when they ask you a question. I tried a few other programs and I liked this one the best.
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