Italian Complete Course (Living Language Complete Courses. Compact Disc Edition)

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: No English translation on tapes
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.