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Rating: 
Summary: This Book REALLY Works!
Review: By buying this book it really helped me understand the basic-intermediate status of Italian. It does everything in the best way I thought possible, and helped me learn my new language quickly and easily. It takes you step by step so that you don't get confused. Every six chapters there is a brief Quiz to see what you have learned and what you still need to spend some more time on. In the end, you won't be speaking fluently, but very very close to it. I reccommend buying "Living Language: Italian" that will give you an advanced-intermediate status. and finally, buy an advanced book or get a tudor...(TUDORS WORK REALLY WELL!) HAVE FUN!!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Como se dice..."I love this book!" I would know how to say it but I let a cousin borrow my book and it's never been back in my hands and now she's in love with the Italian language. :) That's a good thing! Well, I found the same edition of this book at the library and 3 months later, I was practically fluent in Italian. It's been a few years since then and my ability to speak Italian is almost non-existent. This book is good for a quick review or if you want to learn to speak a language within no time (but with dedication!). You'll find common phrases, words, but you will also find important grammar lessons in this book--the key element in learning a language.
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Summary: The best way to learn Italian.
Review: I found "Italian Made Simple" to be the best Italian workbook for the student studying at home. All study books explain the grammar, but this one also drills you extensively in it. I learned more from this book than any other. After completing this book, I can recommend moving on to Living Language's Ultimate Italian tape courses and also Schaum's Italian Vocabulary book. Also, a good way to get your feet wet learning Italian, is with the book entitled, Italian in 10 minutes a Day. Buona fortuna!
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Comprehensive Italian Course!
Review: Many English-speakers are distraught when they realise that the beautiful language of Italy will forever remain a secret to the rest of the world. The native Italians refuse to speak an ounce of their language to foreigners for fear that we should butcher their romantic language. It is quite a loss for those of us who are actually willing to give much time and training to learning Italian. This course "Italian, Made Simple" is probably the most comphrehensive courses ever written, and I have much of my Italian vocabulary obtained from this book! The book itself has been around for quite some time. It was written in 1960 for the "Made Simple" series. It has been a popular staple of Italian courses in high schools and colleges ever since, and is now one of the better self-teaching courses. The book consists of fourty-one comprehensive chapters, each building on vocabulary, verbs, common expressions, and pronunciation and grammer. About every six chapters, there is a "revisione" - review chapter. These are like unit tests that one should do in full, at one sitting. At the end of the book, there is an Italian-English/English-Italian dictionary section, and contains all words learned throughout the course. (However, you might want to buy a complete Italian-English dictionary after completing the course, so you have a reference for words you did not learn. I suggest the wonderful "New World" dictionary, also available on Amazon.com.) With each chapter drilling you to the maximum, and such a comprehensive voabulary agenda, "Italian, Made Simple" is not exactly the most simple of methods. It takes quite a lot of time. Each chapter may take from thirty minutes to an hour-and-a-half, and you may only have time to do three or less chapters in a single week. I suggest trying to do one lesson a day, but even I could not do this. The entire course took me three-and-a-half months to complete. However, by the end of this period, you will have learned enough Italian to get you through Carlo Collodi's complete "Pinnochio", and speaking with many Italians. Being an opera fan, I was able to comprehend large amounts of the texts of Italian operas without having to look at the supertitles! (Although, as Italian has changed quite a bit since the time of Puccini and Verdi, it is not always so easy.) I learned more from this course than anything else. A problem with using this course is with the text, as it was written in 1960, and Doubleday has neglected to update the work, some of the text is considerably out-of-date. This is the Italian of the 1960's Italy - not current Italy. For example, the currently Italian pronouns used for "he" is not "egli" - but "lui" (pronounced "looey"). The current Italian pronoun used for "she" is not "essa" - but "lei". (This is also the same as the Italian word for "you", but one word capitalize it when using it in that sense.) Also, the phrase "per piacere" ("please" in English) is less common these days in Italy. Today, one would more likely hear "per favore". These can be cleared up, however, by watching Italian telision shows or listening to Italian music. (In Washington, D.C. we even get Italian music videos!) These will help to bring you a bit more up-to-date on Italian today. I would suggest using this course along with the Pimsleur Italian audio courses. Although they are expensive, they help GREATLY with pronunciation, and are extremely easy. They are not as comprehensive as this course, but when used together, you will become quite fluent! (Also, the Pimsleur courses are actually up-to-date, so if you cannot get an Italian telivision show or radio program, they are quite a help! One little error on the course, however. Italy no longer uses the lyra as their monetary systems. It is now the Euro - easier to use and pronounce!) This is the most comprehensive course I know of. It you learn to deal with the innacuracies due to dating (and I have pointed out the most prominent, already!) and have perseverence, you will be able to converse in fluent Italian, and read and write in the language (I even begin to THINK in Italian sometimes!), it is nessesary. A friend in Italy went through this course, and said to me: "If anyone can get through this course, they truly deserve to be treated as an Italian in Italy!" You should not fear about butchering the language after having done this course! It is a great secret to many who are looking for a great course!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent drilling, but a little dated.
Review: This book is an excellent introduction to the Italian language. Its pronunciation guide is the most thorough I have seen, and pronunciations next to words indicate which syllable to stress, which is not done in the other popular italian books I have used. This is crucial to pronouncing the language correctly. The book is well layed out, pedagogically, if a tad ambitious. It keeps a fairly rapid pace in introducing new grammar rules, and can be overwhelming as a first text. Heavy use of drills really does get the language to "sink" in, however. The reason this book gets four stars, is that the italian it teaches is a bit outdated. Some of the vocabulary it teaches is straight out of 1960, and the pronouns it teaches for "he" and "she", among other words, are not in common current usage in Italy. My friend from Italy explained to me that those works anly used by her grandparents' generation.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent drilling, but a little dated.
Review: This book is an excellent introduction to the Italian language. Its pronunciation guide is the most thorough I have seen, and pronunciations next to words indicate which syllable to stress, which is not done in the other popular italian books I have used. This is crucial to pronouncing the language correctly. The book is well layed out, pedagogically, if a tad ambitious. It keeps a fairly rapid pace in introducing new grammar rules, and can be overwhelming as a first text. Heavy use of drills really does get the language to "sink" in, however. The reason this book gets four stars, is that the italian it teaches is a bit outdated. Some of the vocabulary it teaches is straight out of 1960, and the pronouns it teaches for "he" and "she", among other words, are not in common current usage in Italy. My friend from Italy explained to me that those works anly used by her grandparents' generation.
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