Berlitz Italian Today

Rating:
Summary: FUN! FUN! FUN!
Review: A self-instructional program that has exceeded my expections. The course book and the learner's guide are extremely well-conceived and produced. The colour (so ALIVE) makes this an enjoyable program for beginners--an introduction to how to do things with Italian rather than explicitly describing how the Italian language does things (thus the grammar is not complete). The exercises are aurally based, making the role of the tapes intrinsically greater. One shortfall: the supplementary materials (the verb handbook in particular, published in number of years ago, and very detailed) do not truly complement the entire program. Overall, one of the better teach yourself texts--appealing to the visual and audio learner.