Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Great October 12, 2008
This used book was in great condition. There were no marks or writing on the pages. One thing to keep in mind is the shipping time. It took longer than I thought it would; about 1.5 weeks. But, the seller was good about keeping in contact and making sure that I received the book. It was a great purchase overall.
 Disjointed, but accurate, which is most important November 10, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This Italian book is accurate and engaging. I highly recommend it. The only reason this is not a five-star recommendation is because of two reasons. First the price, it's over $80 for the book, which is very expensive, and second to get the most out of the book, you would need to bounce around the chapters, read them out-of-order. For example, some examples in the early chapters introduce grammar that is not taught until later chapters. Some people can proactively figure things out, but not everyone can. But in comparison to other italian language books, this is the best.
Worthy of better than the negative reviews. April 25, 2006
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
I'm sorry, but I just don't get the detractors to this text. With apologies to Pimsleur, learning a language is hard work. OK, if you want to learn how to say, "Hello," or, "Where is the bathroom," try one of the quickie methods, but if you want to be fluent in a conversation, live in Italy, or study there, there is no substitute for struggling with the pedagogy. Maybe there are some of us that can pick up a language effortlessly, but I'm not one of them. I was raised in an Italian family and heard it every day when I was a child, but when it came to really learning Italian, I had to sit down and work on it ... hard. This is a fine basic text, covering all the tenses, grammatical forms and basic vocabulary. It also nicely covers pronunciation and culture, which are often neglected in basic language texts. The material is presented in a traditional, logical manner. Yes, every now and then there is a word that is not in the glossary, but that is part of language ... sometimes someone says a word you just don't know. I guess that is what a dictionary is for. To use this text effectively, I would recommend buying a dictionary and a guide to common verbs, whoich are, frankly, necessary no matter what method you use. The workbook is recommended but not necessary. If you have someone around who is fluent, so much the better, but you can do almost as well by listening to the news at night from Italy on the Internet, buying an Italian movie or two, and struggling through an Italian novel a few sentances at a time. Work your way through this book and you will have passable conversational Italian, and be able to work your way through a newspaper as well. If you don't want to put in the sweat equity to learn Italian, sign up for a brain transplant, but otherwise, go out and buy a book like this one and plan on some hard work. Your effort will not dissapoint you if you do.
 A rip-off March 3, 2006
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
A good book but enormously overpriced. every year or so a new edition is put out with a few changes which are not necessary. to keep everything uniform in a course, a new edition must therefore be purchased at an inflated price. Much of the photos and material is not new but recycled from the computer program, "Transparent Language".
A Good Textbook August 22, 2005
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
This textbook has a few features that are good for the first year student. First, the beginning chapters are mostly in English, introducing only a few Italian words at a time until the student builds up a vocabulary, and then, the lessons are gradually presented entirely in Italian. The supplement and appendix provides a quick reference to noun and adjective suffixes, indefinite adjectives and pronouns, possessive pronouns, and verb conjugations. The vignettes tell little cultural stories that make learning and remembering the material more meaningful. There are also Italian proverbs throughout the chapters that are fun to practice. This textbook is very good to use for refreshing on material. However, like many foreign language textbooks, all instructions eventually are presented entirely in Italian. Without a translated explanation of the assignment, students may not fully understand the exercise. Another problem is that there are many group exercises, so teachers have to watch students to make certain that the students are correctly doing the practice. There is no answer key for students on the exercises. There is also a lot of material covered in the book and it is nearly impossible to complete the entire book within the first year, so teachers need to plan well what types of exercises to do within the classroom and to carefully decide which exercises can later be assigned for outside homework.
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