Prego! An Invitation to Italian (Student Edition + Listening Comprehension Audio CD)

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Summary: The newest edition of Prego! released 8/2000
Review: As a former student, and now teacher of first year Italian at the university level, I found the previous editions of Prego! to be far superior than any other college Italian text available. I was, however, very disappointed by this edition and the number of mistakes and poor editing I found. Gone are the tables and charts which were so helpful. The literature sections are far too complicated for the beginner student. Had I been able to see this edition ahead of the deadline for ordering texts by begining of the semester, I would have seriously considered other options.

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Summary: too detailed grammar, bad vocabulary
Review: I am teaching a beginner 1-year long course to college students from this book. I find that this book over-emphasizes a lot of grammar points (which would not be used by the language learner for a long time to come), and at the same time the vocabulary items are almost useless (I ended up skipping them altogether for the last 3 chapters). There would rather be a need for words from everyday life than the topics given importance in this book. Plus, the examples it gives to explain grammatical points should be a lot simpler.

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Summary: Invaluable resource
Review: I read this entire book across two college semesters before moving to Italy. After having spent $500 or so on Italian language books, this is one of the few that was worth the money. Even though I speak fluently, I still refer to this book frequently to resolve difficult tense questions or clarify grammar details. I highly recommend this book to any serious student.

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Summary: Invaluable resource
Review: I read this entire book across two college semesters before moving to Italy. After having spent $500 or so on Italian language books, this is one of the few that was worth the money. Even though I speak fluently, I still refer to this book frequently to resolve difficult tense questions or clarify grammar details. I highly recommend this book to any serious student.

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Summary: Wait for the next edition, or stick to the 4th!!
Review: I took 3 semesters of Italian, with each semester covering 1/3 of the book, so I completed the entire book. This book is good if you follow it in a traditional classroom setting, especially since the proffessor pointed out all the mistakes in this book, which unfortunately, are quite numerous for a textbook. I have also checked out the 4th edition, which is much better than this one as it is better structured and contains useful charts,(which are now omitted) and is thoroughly proofread. The 6th edition just came out, so hopefully it is an improvement from the 5th.

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Summary: Good book for reference.
Review: I took the full course of italian a year ago and I find myself constantly referring to this book to double check my grammar. I think it's a great book. I could never sell it.

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Summary: It will have you chatting Italian over your favorite espress
Review: Learning a new language is always a difficult task. The materials that you use to try and learn a new language must be of the highest caliber. Prego!: An Invitation to Italian is a book that would definitely fit into this category. The book is laid out in to easy to read sections, helping you to slowly and confidently build your Italian language skills. A typical chapter is laid out in the following manner: Opening Page, Introduction to Vocabulary, Grammar Points, Dialogue, Review Exercises, Cultural Readings, Summary List. The depth of information in each chapter allows you to begin seeing the fruits of your studies immediately. The authors definitely understood the complexities in creating a book of this type. They stood up to the challenges and created a book that will have you chatting Italian over your favorite espresso in no time!

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Summary: Interesting book!
Review: Only one, big problem: its price

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Summary: You Need This Book!
Review: This book has proven the most helpful language book that I have ever used. The grammar is clearly presented and the text is interesting. Most importantly, it teaches italian as it is spoken in italy. Finally, there are numerous realistic and clearly helpful excercises at the end of each chapter. Yes, the price is high but I believe that one would need to use several other books in combination to achieve the level of this book. It will continue to help even advanced students of italian.

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Summary: Not awful, but not perfect either
Review: This is an alright text book. It does what it's meant to do. A person can learn Italian from this book as long as they are also in a class as well, but it definately has some flaws. One -it needs more examples of some of the more difficult grammar points. Two - the order is strange. Why did you start with avere? Somehow essere seems like a better place to start. And the chapter themes! They pretend that they have chapters arranged by topic, but it seems very haphazard to me. Also, several major grammatical topics are missing from this book, and as a result, many of my teachers have had to give us multiple hand outs to compensate. It's ok - but it could be a lot better.