Basic Italian : Cassette/Book Package

Rating:
Summary: CD and Book don't match!
Review: Although this course certainly gets you started in learning Italian, it, by no means, should be used alone. Other books, studied in tandem, are absolutely necessary. This course barely covers grammar basics, except for an extremely brief overview at the end. Most annoyingly, however, is that there are several instances when the CD and the book don't match. Sometimes words and even sentences are omitted from either the CD or the book. One example even had the wrong verb conjugation! In one instance -- lesson 39 -- the entire lesson is completely different on the CD. In other lessons, the same words and phrases are repeated ad nauseum. So, even though I can put together a simple conversation, this CD set is not enough to really learn the language. Perhaps, it's intended that way...so you buy the intermediate set next.

Rating:
Summary: Too Involved
Review: I found the course to be very comprehensive, but a little too involved for someone who wants to get quickly familiar with language and does not want to look at the written text while hearing the CDs or tapes. For example, I would not recommend it for learning the basics of language while driving, which I have been able to do with Berlitz. The recording is strictly in Italiano, no English except for chapter headings. Bummer!

Rating:
Summary: Too Involved
Review: I found the course to be very comprehensive, but a little too involved for someone who wants to get quickly familiar with language and does not want to look at the written text while hearing the CDs or tapes. For example, I would not recommend it for learning the basics of language while driving, which I have been able to do with Berlitz. The recording is strictly in Italiano, no English except for chapter headings. Bummer!

Rating:
Summary: Essential Italian for Travelers
Review: I used this book/CD to study Italian before a trip to Italy. I only completed the first 14 lessons (one of the 3 CD's.) I was able to make myself understood and knew all of the basics. I didn't study enough to be able to understand the replies! I wish I had done more, but recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Effective learning tool to study Italian
Review: I used this book/CD to study Italian before a trip to Italy. I only completed the first 14 lessons (one of the 3 CD's.) I was able to make myself understood and knew all of the basics. I didn't study enough to be able to understand the replies! I wish I had done more, but recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Very good but can't be used in your car.
Review: I would buy this course again, but I had hoped to be able to use it in my car. The course pretty much requires that you listen to the CD with the textbook in hand.

Rating:
Summary: In its category, this is the best course I know.
Review: This course is not meant to take the student to a very high level, but it is excellent to provide basic phrases for true beginners. An outstanding feature is that the tapes (or CD's) have only Italian sounds! This is definitely an advantage for the beginning student who works for a while with the book, and then continues to use the tape once a certain familiarity has been achieved.

Rating:
Summary: All in all, this course is worth the money.
Review: This course proves outstanding, both in its presentation and its content. Coupled with the audio, I have never seen a more thorough review of the language from any other source. It is inclusive of the text and two sets of tapes (one to go along with the manual and the other as a self-study unit after the learner becomes more familiar with the language). The dialogues, exercises, and grammar all clearly follow the course objectives, and the course includes cultural notes and useful information. After years of studying languages and linguistics, I have found that the most excellent path toward language acquisition must encompass reading, writing, speaking, and understanding. This course helps with all of these. The dialogues, exercises, and supplemental readings allow the student of the language to gain competence in reading Italian, the exercises do an extraordinary service by enforcing the written language, and the tapes (or CD's) allow the learner to advance in speech, pronunciation, and verbal comprehension. The extensive Italian to English and English to Italian, as well as the appendices, help the learner to gain an ever-stronger competence in the language. This course should, and shall, give sufficient confidence in Italian to anyone who finds an interest in the language, for whatever the reason. Learners of other languages would be privileged to obtain material of this quality. If you have a desire to learn Italian, this is the place to start, and enjoy. You will find the easy-to-read grammar, the interesting text and cultural notes, and the easier, "at your own pace" style very simple and fun to work with, as well as educational and informative. Grazie, e che vi piaccia (Thanks, and enjoy).

Rating:
Summary: Essential Italian for Travelers
Review: While I am still unable to carry on lengthy conversations in Italian, this course did help me to ask questions and, more importantly, understand the replies while on a recent trip to Italy. A word of caution -- this course won't help you read an Italian menu, so if you don't like tripe, learn the word for that before you go. My only complaint is that, in a few places, the CD and the text did not match. This is a minor complaint considering the cost of the series and its overall effectiveness. Definitely worth the expense if you need to take a crash course before you fly...

Rating:
Summary: CD and Book don't match!
Review: While the content and format of the course is well done, the main complaint that I have about this course is that there is no English translation on the audio cassettes. You can NOT utilize the tapes without the accompaniment of the book. You must read along in the book to understand the audio lesson, therefore, this course is not ideal for someone who is planning on learning Italian in the car.