Italian: A Self-Teaching Guide, 2nd Edition

Rating:
Summary: Straight No-Nonsense Approach That Works
Review: I am currently using this book as a student in an adult beginner Italian course with great results. The book immediately plunges into some of the more difficult concepts which normally would perplex the English speaking student with great ease. Each page consists of sidebar type boxes where verbs are conjugated, vocabulary lists abound, and grammar rules are succinctly laid out. Each chapter begins with new vocabulary revolving around a specific event like "Buying a Ticket in a Train Station" or "A Family Birthday". Dialogues using the vocabulary words in typical uncomplicated sentences accompany each topic and a variety of exercises follow along with detailed grammer explanations. All exercise answers are provided in the back of the book.

Unlike some of the more colorful workbook type language guides, this book omits the cutsy pictures and cartoons and concentrates on what's really important: getting the rules of the language down by engaging in the variety of exercises included. If there is one thing that would add to the value of this text, it would be the inclusion of an audio CD with recitations of the dialogue and some practice exericises to train the ear and the tongue to the cadences of the Italian language.

Bear in mind, that I am using this book in conjunction with having an instructor who, of course, corrects pronunciation and comes up with imaginative composition assignments to augment a course outline that closely follows the format of the book. As with any new language, an instructor to correct misconceptions and misunderstanding, I feel, is paramount to ultimate understanding and prevents the student from creating a language that only he or she understands.

Rating:
Summary: Straight No-Nonsense Approach That Works
Review: I am currently using this book as a student in an adult beginner Italian course with great results. The book immediately plunges into some of the more difficult concepts which normally would perplex the English speaking student with great ease. Each page consists of sidebar type boxes where verbs are conjugated, vocabulary lists abound, and grammar rules are succinctly laid out. Each chapter begins with new vocabulary revolving around a specific event like "Buying a Ticket in a Train Station" or "A Family Birthday". Dialogues using the vocabulary words in typical uncomplicated sentences accompany each topic and a variety of exercises follow along with detailed grammer explanations. All exercise answers are provided in the back of the book.

Unlike some of the more colorful workbook type language guides, this book omits the cutsy pictures and cartoons and concentrates on what's really important: getting the rules of the language down by engaging in the variety of exercises included. If there is one thing that would add to the value of this text, it would be the inclusion of an audio CD with recitations of the dialogue and some practice exericises to train the ear and the tongue to the cadences of the Italian language.

Bear in mind, that I am using this book in conjunction with having an instructor who, of course, corrects pronunciation and comes up with imaginative composition assignments to augment a course outline that closely follows the format of the book. As with any new language, an instructor to correct misconceptions and misunderstanding, I feel, is paramount to ultimate understanding and prevents the student from creating a language that only he or she understands.

Rating:
Summary: A Good, No-Nonsense Approach
Review: The book introduces basics of the Italian language in a logical and rational way, giving the student a good grounding in the grammar and a reasonable vocabulary basis. After going through the book, one should be able to read an Italian newspaper with the aid of a dictionary. (Or without one if you already know another Latin language)

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ITALIAN
Review: This book is fantastic. I am currently learning Spanish in school and thought of the idea of learning Italian also. When I went to the bookstore and picked up this book by Edoardo A. Lebano I struck gold. It was extremley informative with great examples and excercises and it covers all the basic to advanced grammar and vocabulary. If you are considering learning Italian this is the book. It is not extremley quick to get done, ( about a month of constant work or two) but when you finish the book you actually know the basis to intermediate of the Italian language. It helps to have some idea of spanish or french or latin just for it to be easier to understand the grammer, which helped me because they are so close. Even if you don't have that, this book is so clear that it is not that big of an advantage to know another romance language. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ITALIAN LOOK NO FARTHER THIS IS THE BOOK.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ITALIAN
Review: This book is fantastic. I am currently learning Spanish in school and thought of the idea of learning Italian also. When I went to the bookstore and picked up this book by Edoardo A. Lebano I struck gold. It was extremley informative with great examples and excercises and it covers all the basic to advanced grammar and vocabulary. If you are considering learning Italian this is the book. It is not extremley quick to get done, ( about a month of constant work or two) but when you finish the book you actually know the basis to intermediate of the Italian language. It helps to have some idea of spanish or french or latin just for it to be easier to understand the grammer, which helped me because they are so close. Even if you don't have that, this book is so clear that it is not that big of an advantage to know another romance language. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ITALIAN LOOK NO FARTHER THIS IS THE BOOK.

Rating:
Summary: A Good, No-Nonsense Approach
Review: This book is packed with value for the money. There are many books out there that are much more expensive, but are not as coherently put together. I am an older student who last studied Italian in the 1950's. I decided to sign up for an adult education course in Italian this fall as an Advanced Beginner. I bought this book to get me up to speed. I have not been disappointed. I find the explanations of irregular verbs and nouns to be easy to follow, and the exercises are actually fun to do, with all the answers in the back. You have to work, but it is worth it. I find I love Italian as much as I did when I was young.