Product Description
As society becomes more international in nature, knowing a few words in other languages has become more useful. Perhaps you travel frequently abroad, or your business requires you to travel overseas. Perhaps you have friends and neighbors who speak other languages, or you want to find out more about your heritage by learning a little bit of the language your ancestors spoke.

Whatever your reason for wanting to learn some Italian, Italian For Dummies is the right book for you. Written in partnership with Berlitz – experts in helping people learn foreign languages – this book gives you the skills you need for basic communication in Italian, and it will get you well on your way to becoming fluent. Just think what you're family and friends will think when you order off the menu at your favorite Italian restaurant!

Italian For Dummies covers not only ordering at an Italian restaurant, but also these topics:

• Basic spelling, grammar, and numbers
• Meeting and greeting, and making small talk
• Shopping, shopping, and even more shopping
• Going out on the town
• Business situations
• Traveling, checking into a hotel, and planning a trip
• Handling emergencies
• Top Ten lists with advice on how to pick up Italian quickly, things you should never say in Italian, and favorite Italian expressions

The best thing about this book is that you can learn at your own pace; for example, if you're planning a trip to Italy next year, sit down once or twice a week with this book and go through the chapters that you'll think you need for your trip. That's a lot easier than dragging yourself to a class twice a week – not to mention a lot more fun, too! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

Italian For Dummies!!
I would definitley reconmend this book! Very easy and fun! Fast Shipping and great quality, like brand new!

You'll learn some Italian,but, you won't be fluent
You will learn specific words and phrases that you can use,but as far as holding a complete conversation in Italian that might be a little hard.
The CD is clear and easy to understand. All in all I would say to give this a try. At least you wiil be able to get by with putting your basic thoughts accross !!

Italy here I come
This is a great book and the CD helps with key chapters for pronouncation and inflection.

Italian not learned
We were going to Italy in several months and wanted to pick up on some helpful words before going.This product did not help at all.First of all it was boring to listen to and secondly I got nothing out of it.I would not recommend this product.

Italian for Dummies
I expected a brief overview, but there are a lot of holes: the pronunciation is reviewed, and then later on you find extreme differences to these rules with no explanation. The same with personal pronouns, etc.

It's better than nothing, but I may end up buying another book in the end. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection includes stories by established Italian literary figures such as Italo Calvino and Primo Levi as well as a new generation of writers. Aspects of Sicilian and Italian life are explored by Leonardo Sciascia and Goffredo Parise, while Antonio Tabucchi looks at the natures of reality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Italian =- Parallel Text (short stories)
As a beginner learning Italian, I found this book to be a good tool. The stories are varied and their length is good. Having the English translation nearby helps with the determination of unfamiliar verb forms.

Cheap Book Quality.
I was hoping for a quality of book that I can read and reread for practice for a long time. The paper was dry and dark, like a recycle quality. The print was light and small. It was not easy on the eyes. ... Read more

Product Description
Very useful manual presents all the Italian really needed in everyday life and contemporary situations, without trivia or archaic material. Clearly presented with many shortcuts and timesavers, it is an ideal supplement to a phrase or record course, and the most efficient system for adults with limited learning time.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Just What I Needed
This compact book holds a complete outline of Italian grammar. It was the ideal thing to tuck into my suitcase last month when I led a tour of Florence and Tuscany. It's perfect for those who have studied Italian and don't need vocabulary, but who sometimes forget things like how to use the conditional tense or the proper way to form a comparison. I'll never go to Italy without it!

Out of date
The book covers Italian grammar adequately, but it is several decades old and is out of date for the way Italian is spoken today.Even the print is old-fashioned and a little hard to read, particularly for older people whose eyes need a cleaner type-face.

Excellent Basic Italian Grammar Book
Small, slim book, easy to carry around, but clear, concise and complete.Material beautifully organized with an index that enables one to locate specific grammar points with ease.

Great Supplement to an audio course!
Essential Grammar is tremendously helpful, but don't expect to sit down and simply read it.It's a great supplement for those attempting to learn Italian who are taking courses or using audio trainers.Especially if you are using audio trainers, this helps fill the holes as to certain conjugations or particular usages of pronouns, articles etc.I crack it open every day and read different sections or review certain rules of speech I don't yet have clear in my mind.

I think if you get a good phrase book/dictionary, an audio course and "Essential Italian Grammar," you can prepare yourself to learn conversational italian without ever setting foot in a classroom.

Easy reading grammar book
Small paperback easy to carry. Good Italian Grammar book but what happened to the old fashioned grammar books where they just list the conjugations and you were expected to learn them. Now the emphasis is on conversation and if you want to know how to conjugate something you must search the book over or have a fantastic memory. Great review book but not basic. ... Read more

Product Description
Readers who want to teach themselves Italian at their own pace and outside a formal classroom setting will find this book an excellent source for getting started. Meanwhile, its many exercises and quick-check quizzes make it a fine textbook supplement for classroom use. The book opens with a discussion of Italian sounds, pronunciation, and spelling, with advice on stress and intonation in spoken Italian. Chapters that follow coach readers in greeting people, asking and answering basic question, polite expression, counting, making comparisons, expressing preferences, and carrying on everyday verbal transactions, for instance, at stores, banks, and restaurants. The updated text reflects current trends including use of communications devices and the euro. New in this edition are cultural capsules that discuss Italy and the Italian way of life. The authorÂ's pleasant, user-friendly approach to the language helps make learning Italian truly easy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Great for getting started
I have the 2nd edition of this book.

I'm surprised to see some reviews stating that they wouldn't recommend the book to an absolute beginner, rather only as a supplement to coursework, and that it shouldn't be taken as a "textbook".

In my opinion having this book to start with is a lot better than many textbooks, including the textbook I used in my Intro Italian class at university. I started learning Italian with the book and didn't enroll in an Italian course until I finished about half of it. I thought everything was so clearly explained and there were so many excellent examples that it was all you needed to get through the exercises and build on your Italian - from scratch. In no way was it overwhelming for me.

This book has all the things I look for when I search for language workbooks - plenty of exercises with an answer key in the back, a good English-Italian and Italian-English glossary, a wide variety of subjects, grammatical points, and vocabulary are covered, there are dots under letters to show where a stress is in pronouncing a word if the word is irregular as far as pronunciation, there are a variety of types of exercises [fill-in-the-blank, word search, crossword puzzles, being creative and making your own little stories which are the only exercises that there are no answers for). There are end-of-chapter reviews, and 3 "vocabulary checkpoints" with a list of vocabulary you should memorize before moving on, most of which you'll already have memorized just by being exposed to it already. I made flashcards for them.

The "cons" (of which there aren't many): answer key has 1 answer only for each exercise when some things can be written/said in more than 1 way. The other minor thing is that a few times I've come across errors in the answer key or the answers in the answer key don't match up. I'm still giving the book 5 stars though.

I recommend "Italian the Easy Way" to absolute beginners and of course to those who are taking a beginner's course in school, to supplement what you learn. To me it's worth about a year of university Italian and costs hundreds of dollars less. I was lucky and found mine for a penny (ok, plus $6.49 shipping and handling).

The best workbook I have owned.
This has to be the best workbook to easily learn Italian.

Very Good Workbook for Review and Additional Practice
Despite what any foreign language learning book says, there is no quick way to learn a language.At the same time, this book is a very good review or supplemental workbook and the title should be renamed "Italian: The Fun Way." In addition to short readings, dialogues and comprehension activities, there are some crossword and word-search puzzles.The first chapter, with the Italian sounds and pronunciations, is a feature which textbooks ought to follow because correct speaking is necessary for doing well in comprehension.The organizational charts are also superior to most textbooks, so that students will quickly understand the material.Also, all of the answers to the activities are furnished at the back of the book.Furthermore, the vocabulary checklist is a good way for students to record their progress.Although the material is not particularly unique as this information can be obtained through any first year textbook, the organization makes recalling knowledge much easier, and perhaps, helpful to students who need additional practice. Finally, the reasoning behind the lower ranking score is because the book does not have audio, and it seems necessary in order to study a language that there are audio lessons included with any type of language workbook.The title should also not give a false impression of the amount of hard work behind learning a language.

A great book to continue Italian studies
This book is great for anyone who already has some working knowledge of Italian and wants to expand their skills. However, I would never recommend this book as a starting place to learn Italian from the ground up. It moves quickly and assumes some knowledge beforehand.

Brush up your Italian
I achieved a reasonable degree of proficiency in Italian several years ago, but through lack of use, have forgotten a lot. I bought this book with the intention of doing some self-guided study to "brush up". It is absolutely perfect for that use.

Each short lesson is followed by numerous written exercises. All the answers are in the back (no peeking!)

The book would be a useful supplement for anyone learning Italian through other means - in a class, via audio or computer-based courses. It would give the curious a basic understanding of grammar, but would not be a useful single tool for achieving spoken fluency or comprehension as it does not involve listening or speaking.

But for those in my situation, it is perfect, and much cheaper than buying a full grammar text and/or audio course, much of which you might not need. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn the language of la dolce vita!

For anyone who wants to learn and enjoy the most expressive and romantic of languages, the third edition of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning Italian is the first choice for a whole new generation of enthusiastic students of Italian. This updated edition includes two new quick references on verbs, grammar, and sentence structure; two new appendixes on Italian synonyms and popular idiomatic phrases; and updated business and money sections.

• First two editions have sold extraordinarily well
• Italian is the fourth most popular language in the United States ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Good Grammer Refresher
The main reason I purchased this book was to refresh myself on English grammer.I figured that by re-learning English grammer I was be able to understand and learn the Italian language better.It's working!

The book is simple enough to understand and it is structured in such a way that it slowly moves you up the ladder, more so sentence structure, in order to be more confident in speaking.

I have found a few 'typos' that I needed to check with my English/Italian dictionary and I do have one issue with the book using words that I've yet to learn, as examples in their beginning instruction.But all-in-all the book is good and I am sure that once I finish it, I will be better versed in speaking Italian.

Favoloso!
This book is so well organized and written to help the newcomer to Italian learn the basics quickly.The author's writing style is entertaining and delightful.Although easy to follow, there is real "meat" in the subject matter.I love this book.

Don't buy for downloan on a Kindle
This looks like a good preliminary overview of Italian if the book was purchased in print.However, most of the translations are in a table format which is in an unreadable font on the Kindle. Even when the the Kindle's font is maximized, the tables cannot be read. Additionally, answer sheets are at the back of this book, and the electronic format makes it difficult to flip from the excercises to the answer sheet.

NOT ON A KINDLE!
I purchased this as a kindle book.I think the book is a great resource, but not very workable on the Kindle.It has many tables and they are very difficult to read on the Kindle.Although you can adjust the text size on a kindle, it does not work with the tables in this book.Also, the exercises require you to go to the appendix to check answers.It is very tedious to "flip" between the chapter of the book and appendix.I have seen other workbooks which seem to be more interactive and better for the Kindle.Suggest buying this book in hardcopy only.

a must have if traveling to Italy
Much to be learned and this book really helps you do learn that beautiful language. ... Read more

Product Description
Here is a fine new, user-friendly supplementary language worktext for students enrolled in high school and college-level Italian courses, as well as for those who know some Italian but want to work independently to improve their knowledge of Italian verbs. The book is divided into five main sections: verbs’ present indicative tenses; their past indicative tenses; future and conditional tenses; subjunctive tenses, and the imperative and other tenses. Verbs are presented with fundamental conjugation information, illustrative dialogues, and additional learning features that include crossword puzzles, tips and notes on verb usage, and a review chapter that concludes each of the book’s five sections. The book is filled with exercises designed to improve students’ fluency in speaking, writing, and comprehending Italian. The type is set in two colors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

One of the best..
This is one of the best of its kind. You get great drills and can check the answers at the back. Well laid out with clear explanations and rigorous exercises. Hard to do better than this one.

Great book!
This is a great book!I already own it but this time I purchased it as a gift.Grazie tanto!

Practice makes perfect
The work book requires a minium skill level of beginner. If you have some basic knowlege of the language, and some vocabulary you will find this book a great tool. I have sharpened my speed and usesage of verbs essential in conversational Italian. I would recommend it.

Excellent Workbook
I use this excellent workbook to enhance my classroom work; in some cases I was able to better learn a concept due to this workbook.It is very well organized, the information is reliable and there are plenty of exercises for the dedicated student; there is a complete answer key in the back of the book.

Italian verbs
I am finding this work book to go along very well with my Pimsleur language CDs. There are good exercises to reinforce useage. I am a beginner learner and am finding it well written, easy to follow and extremely helpful. I am using it in conjunction with Paola Nanni-Tate's Italian Verb Drills and am finding that they explain things a little differently from each other, so what I don't get from one I get from the other.

... Read more

Product Description
A rapid and practical way for tourists, students, and businesspeople to master the basics ofItalian and begin speaking the language.Unlike traditionally dry language texts based on rote memorization and repetition, Italian in 32 Lessons encourages creativity, allowing the learner to discover his or her own style. It gives the reader the essential, simplified grammar without force feeding, operating from the premise that grammar comes easily once vocabulary is properly learned. To that end, Italian in 32 Lessons gives an indispensable vocabulary list that includes the three thousand most-used words. Complete with tests, a sample lesson plan, and a full answer key, Italian in 32 Lessons is perfect for the self-learning beginner or for those just brushing up on their skills.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

useful
A very useful book for studying Italian on your own or supplementing a class.The explanations are clear, there are lots of good exercises, and it doesn't overwhelm you with the complexities of the Italian language but introduces them a few at a time.

practical, severe, lively, packed with exercises
Author Adrienne tells you in her introduction that "beginners are not imbeciles."That's both a compliment and a warning.The outstanding virtue of this book is that it is packed with exercises, some of them translation and some of them Italian-to-Italian.The presentation is concise, but if you've studied a European foreign language before Italian, nothing should be too strange here.I've found other Italian self-teaching books to be too long on cultural information.If you enjoy grammar and are serious about learning Italian, this book has all the drills you need!

Great, not perfect
I've found this book very helpful. It's very concise, straight-forward, and covers a substantial amount of material.

The one downside is that it might be TOO concise for some people. It moves at a quick pace, and forsomeone trying to gain a fluent knowledge of Italian, this book alone isnot enough. ... Read more

Product Description
SPEAK ITALIAN WITH CONFIDENCE IN JUST 6 WEEKS!

The Living Language® Italian Complete Course teaches the basics of Italian language and usage. It uses a highly effective speed-learning method developed by U.S. government experts to teach languages to overseas-bound service personnel and diplomats.

THREE 60-MINUTE COMPACT DISCS WITH 40 LESSONS
•Begin with simple words and progress to complex phrases and sentences.
•Just listen and repeat after the native speakers on the recordings to learn naturally, the way you learned English.

ITALIAN COURSEBOOK
•40 lessons from the recordings with translations, additional vocabulary, detailed explanations, quizzes, and reviews.
•Verb charts, a comprehensive grammar summary, and a section on letter writing are also included.

ITALIAN–ENGLISH / ENGLISH–ITALIAN DICTIONARY
•More than 20,000 words, idioms, and expressions.
•Examples show how words are used in everyday conversation.
•1,000 frequently used words are highlighted for easy reference. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Hear, read,and LearnItalian
I got this set for my daughter because it had CDs instead of the cassette tapes,
so she could listen to them in the car. However, the Italian must be followed along in the
lesson book, as you listen, in order to find the meaning of what you are hearing, and she
couldn't do that while she was driving.

The Italian narrators are fine as they speak very clearly, and the lessons cover most
of the basics. The dictionary is concise (purse-sized), but it has only translations of
the words (Italian to English/English to Italian) not any phonetic pronunciations.
Overall, a nice little set if you are seriously interested in sitting down and reading
the lessons as you listen.

Good deal
I just completed the Living Language Italian and it's one of the best courses I have ever used.The fact that there was no English on the CDs forced me to examine all of the words and understand the grammar.This process made subsequent lessons easier.I also liked the pace at which it moved.I agree that the quizzes were a bit thin, so I made up my own.Next it's the Ultimate Italian.Rome here I come!

One big thing overlooked here
and that is the whole point of learning another language is memorization.Since we're so accustomed to speaking English and we learned the finer points of it so long ago in elementary school, we forgot that we had to memorize the parts of speech and learn different expressions.The same is true for learning another language.

I can dig what the majority of folks here complain about the series not putting any of your new knowledge to practice - the second most important part of learning a language (if not tied for most important).

The Living Language series is a starter course, designed to give beginners the basics of the language - the alphabet, foreign letters in that language's alphabet (the letters j, k, x, w, and y are not part of the Italian alphabet), cognates (similar words in Italian and English), everyday expressions, and so on.

I wouldn't recommend the Living Language series as the be all and end all of language instruction.It is one of the cheapest programs on the bookshelf and the final product is a reflection of that.

The best bet to learning a language is going to the local community college (if you have the money and the time) and taking a course there, although those are more inclined to be immersion courses (where the instructor's idea of learning a language is for you to hear it spoken and learn it as you go along) or you could go to your local Italian cultural society and see what they have to offer (Philadelphia, for instance, has the America-Italy Society which offers Italian language classes.The Sons of Italy, at least in these parts, do not offer such).

Learning another language is not the same for everyone.What works for some may not work for others.

I've used this course and learned a lot
I wanted to impress my boyfriend who speaks Italian (as does his family) so I purchased this course and started studying.After a couple of weeks, I surprised him by suddenly speaking Italian.He was very impressed with how much I had learned.His family has also been impressed with my Italian. I have never studied Italian with any other course (except a little bit of an online one) so I really can't compare it, but I think this course is easy to learn from and I feel that I learned a lot from it. I don't speak a lot of Italian but I can say quite a bit and can often communicate in Italian with my boyfriend about every day things like the time or things like that.I would recommend it to those learning Italian.

Some others who have reviewed mentioned that there is no English translation on the cds for the Italian words and that is true.I actually found that helpful because I could quiz myself using the cds by trying to think of the word in English when they said it in Italian.

Unstructured course with long vocabulary lists
This course boasts of teaching 20,000 words, phrases and expressions. Maybe, I did not count. I did notice, however, that the course has neither structure, nor logic, nor exercises.

It consists of 3 CDs, one dictionary and a coursebook. Each word in the coursebook is spoken on the CD. All speakers seem to be native Italians. Sounds perfect, doesn't it? The problem is, that for beginning learners this 40-lesson course is pretty useless.

The first 2 lessons consist of long lists of names of people, cities, countries, Italian words that are similar to English words, the letters of the alphabet etc, all without sentences or context. Just long lists. Lessons 3 and 4 bring words for each of the vowels and consonants. Lesson five counts from 1 to 10, and has another set of lists for days, months, seasons etc. None of these words are used in sentences. Lesson six starts with sentences and explains some grammar, but again you just memorize long lists such as8 different ways of saying good-bye, or 8 ways of saying nice-to-meet-you. Although those words will be very useful, should you ever get to memorize them out of context, the order in which they appear does not make sense at all. For example, in lesson 10 you learn in this order: the book is red, she is young, ice is cold, he is intelligent, it's me, I am Italian, what is it made of, it is silver, whose is this, the book belongs to Mr. Rossi, it is one o'clock. Etc, etc. Although at the beginning of this lesson you learned all forms of "to be" (I am, you are, etc.), the sentences deal with "is" only.

The course is not organized into topics and has no exercises, only a pretty useless quiz at the end of each chapter. The quiz consists of a few questions and the correct answers. All you need to do is match them correctly. All in all, the book will suit only people who love to memorize long lists of words and sentences. Too bad. ... Read more

Product Description
Now in a playful board book format, Milet's popular picture dictionary, in English and 12 bilingual editions.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great mini book for Italian/English babies!
Really cute book that itemizes objects in different rooms (bedroom, kitchen, etc). Its like a dictonary with cartoon drawings of objects, but clearly stated lables in both english and italian. A very colorful board book for babies, which is easy to grasp. Not quite a mini-book but sort of big for my 6 month old to handle by herself but she seems to like the colors. Would certainly recommend to start building a bilingual future!

Nice little dictionary
Pictures are well done and grab the baby's attention. It's small and easy to hold in your hand - I love the hard pages rather then paper pages. Translations are great.

Great learning tool
We speak Italian at home but to actually see the objects and see the words together made it all easier for my daughter to recognize and it really is a wonderful little book easy to carry pop it in a bag and it keeps her busy as she learns another language

Beautiful beginning Italian-English dictionary
It is as described - beautiful colors, pictures, easy to understand even for the littlest. My 18 month old loves looking at it.

Covers all the basics
It is what it says. Lots of words, more than I expected. Good buy for the money. Book is very sturdy. ... Read more

Product Description
BarronÂ's is today and always has been the Number-One reference source for verb usage in virtually every major language. Leading all competition, the best selling 501 Italian Verbs beats all less well-established rivals with its brand-new 3rd edition. ItÂ's printed in two colors, it features tinted page edges for ease of reference, and it comes with extra help for Italian language students in the form of a CD-ROM. The book presents the most important and most commonly used Italian verbs arranged alphabetically withEnglish translations in chart form, one verb per page, and conjugated in all persons and tenses, both active and passive. The accompanying CD-ROM gives students practice exercises in verb conjugation plus a concise grammar review. This combined book and software package is a comprehensive guide to Italian verb usage with a wealth of reference material and language tips, including a bilingual list of more than 1,250 additional Italian verbs, helpful expressions and idioms for travelers, and verb drills and short tests with all questions answered and explained. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (52)

useless on a kindle
On a kindle, this dictionary is completely useless because you can't read the conjugated forms of the verbs on their simply photocopied book pages. Can't make it bigger either. I am amazed that Amazon marks this as a kindle edition, any customer will feel cheated, and i believe that Amazon should refund anybody asking for it.

Useless and overpriced!
Almost all pages are scanned as images, making it impossible to search for specific verbs.

Waste of money on kindle 3
I should have read more reviews!You will need better eyes than I have to see most of this book.A total waste of money.

Excellant Book!
This is a great book! I would definitely recommend it to anyone studying Italian. It is a great resource, one of my favorites! At the very least, I have learned a lot of vocabulary from just this book alone. In addition they have written out the entire different verb forms for you making it easier for the student to memorize and practice.


501 Italian Verbs: with CD-ROM (Barrons Foreign Language Guides) (Italian and English Edition)

Best verb book
This book is great because it shows all the verb tenses for a lot of common verbs. I use it all the time. ... Read more

Product Description
Our best-selling language series just went Beyond the Basics!

Now there’s a fantastic new way for language learners to take their studies to the next level and go Beyond the Basics! Ideal for people who already have some introductory knowledge, the brand-new Beyond the Basics courses take students further in key areas, including vocabulary, grammar, culture, and natural-sounding conversational skills. Each course includes twenty lessons that feature more challenging dialogues as well as numerous examples, explanations, and practice exercises.

Best of all, the packages are as compact and portable as ever! Each program comes complete with a coursebook, handy learner’s bilingual dictionary, and four hours of recordings on four CDs.

Available in Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Inglés/English for native Spanish speakers!
... Read more

Product Description
Developed by the experts at Living Language, this course has everything you need to learn Italian from scratch or to revive the Italian that you learned years ago. Ultimate Italian combines conversation and culture in an easy-to-follow, enjoyable, and effective format. It’s the perfect way to learn Italian for school, travel, work, or personal enrichment. In this book you’ll find:

• 40 lessons with lively dialogues including the most common and useful idiomatic expressions.
• English translations and explanations of Italian grammar and usage, pronunciation, vocabulary, and cultural notes.
• Quizzes and review sections to check your progress.
• A complete summary of Italian grammar, and verb charts covering all major tenses.
• An extensive two-way glossary. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Good language review book
Good buy as used in very good condition. Needed it as a textbook for Italian class. A very good book.

Not Beginner Level
This book is helpful for those who have a basic knowledge of Italian and would like to expand on that, but is not really a true "beginner's" text. There is little offered in the way of explanation of how to interpret and apply the material presented.

Great for Independent Learners
This is a great course if you are seriously studying Italian on your own.It is very thorough and has all the grammar of a first year college level progam. The CD's and conversational Italian are intelligent and useful for travel, shopping and everyday situations.There are only 5 questions for each grammar principle.If you are a serious learner, you may need a grammar and verb workbook to complement this book for serious study.If you are just traveling to Italy or pick up principles fast you don't need anything else.

Fairly good, but with some problems
To my surprise, all other reviews are either five starts or just one star. In my opinion, the book falls somewhere in between, here are the pros and cons I find in it:

Positive
+ Compared to many other Italian courses, the grammar explanations are very extensive. "Italian in three months" leaves out many crucial parts of Italian grammar and both "Colloquial Italian" and "Teach Yourself Italian" present shorter and less structured grammar explanations. For grammar, this course is the best Italian course I've seen.

+ The course provides you with a rather large vocabulary, almost three times as many words as in "Italian in three months", slightly more than "Teach Yourself Italian" and about even with "Colloquial Italian".

+ Although a bit too short, the cultural points in each lesson are a nice add-on.

Negative
- The main drawback is the lack of accentuation for word stress. Unlike Spanish and French, Italian stress is not fixed and needs to be learned. Every Italian course I've ever seen marks the stress in the vocabulary lists, but this course ignores it.

- Too many mistakes. As this isn't the first edition, I was surprised to find so many mistakes, both in grammar explanations and in translations. I have no problems spotting them, but a beginner would just be confused.

- Bad layout. Compared to the excellent and well-thought layout in "Italian in three months", this course feels far from user-friendly. It's a minor point compared to the others, but still something that could be improved.

All in all, a rather helpful book but with some problems that need to be addressed before I could give it four or five stars.

Best on the market
This set will take you from a complete beginner to someone who can read, write and speak basic Italian. Well done and easy to follow. The cd set version has a lesson program that goes with the book and is very good, but short. I would recommend Living Language All Audio Italian. It follows the book also, but the lessons are complete and in depth. I have found that to be the best way to get the most from this book. I would highly recommend the Ultimate series to anyone wanting to learn a language. I have used many others and LL Ultimate is the best. If you want to learn Italian this is a great book to get you going. As always use the CD's to hear the language.
... Read more

Product Description

Practice Makes Perfect helps you put your Italian vocabulary andgrammar skills together!

You may have all the vocabulary down pat and every grammar point nailed--but without the skill of knowing how to put these elements together, communicating in your second languagewould be nearly impossible. Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Sentence Builders picks up from where othergrammar books leave off, showing you the variety of structures and how to combine them tomake solid sentences. And like every Practice Makes Perfect title, these books feature crystal-clearexplanations, numerous realistic examples, and dozens of opportunities to practice, practice, practice!

Customer Reviews (2)

bought the entire series of this book
bought the entire series of this book, it says it all.

Buy the rest of the books

Good workbook
This book is well organized and has good exercises in it. The chapters focus on different grammatical subjects (such as imperatives, adjectives, conjunctions, etc.) with clear explanations and examples. One drawback is that some of the exercises can have several right answers, because there are many ways to say the same thing, and the answer key only gives one possibility. So, unless you use this book with a tutor, you will not know if your answer is correct. Overall, I did find it a helpful tool in my self-study of Italian. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Where's "Nessun Dorma"?
Copyrighted in 1996, you'd think that Bleiler ran into copyright problems with the world's most popular aria of the 90's. Turandot isn't mentioned at all.There are, however, Italian arias and English translations from 49other opera.

My Italian's not that good, but it appears to me that thetranslations are faithful to the Italian text, rather than having a focuson poetic interpretations.This is what you need if you simply want toknow what those beautiful Italian words mean.There are no plot synopses(nor did they promise any).It's short and sweet and well worth the price. ... Read more

Product Description
Created by leading educators, these colorful, large-size dictionaries introduce beginning language learners to more than 1,550 commonly taught basic words. Each Let's Learn Language Picture Dictionary in the series boasts 30 delightful two-page spreads that vividly illustrate the meanings of words. Fun-filled panoramas focus on scenes familiar to children aged three through eight, such as home life, the classroom, city life, sports, the zoo, and even outer space! Learners will love to revisit these detailed depictions of people, places, actions, and objects, each time improving their recall. Featured words are set off with individual illustrations and definitions to help learners at various levels build vocabulary. Includes an index and glossary of all the individually illustrated words. An ideal selection of first word books for parents and teachers who want to encourage second language acquisition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Wow - Great Resource for Learning Italian
This book is a great resource at any level. It has pictures/words categorized and includes the latest computer/electronic terms.For the price - it's a steal.Covers beginning to advanced.Both my 31-month old granddaughter can use this (point to the picture, say the italian word), as well as my Italian wife (looking up new terms that didn't exist when she was a kid). A "must have" for any age if learning Italian.

Great book!!!!
Books in perfect condition, it is fun and easy to read,I bought this book for my seven year old son and five year old nephew, we are all heading to Rome for the Thanksgiving holiday, The words and pictures are great for a family to learn Italian. All ages from Grandparents teens and even toddlers would love this book!

Great for everyage!
This book outlines logical groups of items we want to learn.If you'd like to find out what a pot is called, look in the Kitchen.A towel, look in the bathroom.It's great to have a little section of the world to learn each time we open the book, and we don't have to look alphabetically for words.Great for every age.My husband and I are committed to learning Italian because of our heritage, and we'd love to have our kids (5 & 2) grow up bi-lingual!Illustrations are great too!

Love this book!
I am taking Italian for the first time and have used this book alot to supplement our classwork - we have to write sentences on a topic and this book is broken out into topics - clothing, on a farm, in a hospital.... Great dictionary in the back and fun for my kids to look at, too!

Borrowed from library, HAD to buy
I'm learning Italian, and checked this book out for myself, more than my children.I love the layout, I love the pictures, I love everything about this book.It's easy to absorb, easy to find things, It's great.Very thorough, and easy to find words you are looking for.I was loathe to return it to the library, but so excited to see it on Amazon.Now it can be mine.Hurray! ... Read more

Product Description

GET D!RTY

Next time you're traveling or just chattin' in Italian with your friends, drop the textbook formality and bust out with expressions they never teach you in school, including:

• Cool slang
• Funny insults
• Explicit sex terms
• Raw swear words

Dirty Italian teaches the casual expressions heard every day on the streets of Italy:

♦ What's up?Come va?

♦He's a real hottie.Lui è proprio un figo.

♦This pizza's awesome!Questa pizza è buonissima!

♦I'm totally wasted.Soo sbronzo.

♦I gotta piss.Devo pisciare.

♦Hey ref, you're an asshole!Arbitro cornuto!

♦Wanna do it doggy-style?Lo facciamo alla pecorina?

About the Author

Gabrielle Euvino is a Master teacher with the Language Immersion Institute (LII) through the State University of New York (SUNY), and adjuncts for Empire State College and other institutions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

fun,Interesting book.
for you wanna be Italians or true Italians. this book is fun to read. growing up in brookly,brings back many memories of how life was in city streets. forgetabout-it.

Friggin' Awesome
I've always been a big fan of the "Dirty" series in general, and this is actually the fourth I have purchased and have yet to be disappointed. The series is great for the bored folk who just want to jazz up their obscenities as well as those of us who plan to make more native and legitimate use of the new phrases. I highly reccomend this series for which ever language you need it in!

Really dirty...
It is a very usefull book and it is so dirty that I have to wash my hands each time after reading a chapter from the book.
I only hope that my practical usage of the material learned in this book will not earn me a black eye or two there in Italy!

LOL
You will probably not need this book, but you will learn some Italian Slang and Vulgarities that will make people thing you are Italian.

Will really keep you interested!
It's an excellent book to learn all the slangs and bad words in Italian.It's easy reading and enjoyable.Not too difficult to remember the words. The author has done a great job trying to capture the student's interest and enthusiasm.Even the native Italians can benefit from it, because some of the words and expressions are quite new to them, particularly to the old generation.For some reason we tend to remember the slangs and cuss words better than ordinary and literally work.I cannot wait to jump to the next chapter and pick my curiosiy at the next topic.I highly recommend it... ... Read more

Product Description
Includes bonus interactive CD-ROM!

Mastering verbs is crucial to achieving fluency in a foreign language. 2,000+ Essential Italian Verbs uses an innovative and effective method for teaching the complexities of Italian verbs. With this interactive program, students can practice vocabulary, hear audio clips, create customized flashcards, and more! This guide is perfect for any level, from beginner to advanced. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

2000+essential Italian verbs
My use of Italian verbs have really taken off since purchasing this book.
Brilliant
Terry Hext

Not the best book of its kind
First of all, I would have never rated this book with 5 stars simply because of its misleading name.It's called 2000+ Italian verbs, but there are ONLY 250 fully conjugated verbs.Having said that, the 250 verbs have multiple conjugations, including all the indicative, the subjunctive, conditional, and imperative forms.One of the best qualities of this book is the clear organization and layout; it only takes a couple of seconds to find the verb and conjugation that you are looking for.

A significant part of the book is dedicated to "Verbs in Action".Here you can find all kinds of examples about verb rules and usage, as well as mini quizzes.I have to say that I found this part of the book the least useful and barely used it.The highlight of this book was the interactive cd-rom which was extremely useful in expanding one's vocabulary (verbs included).The cd is very flexible and you can even add new vocabulary terms to the existing ones.This is a big time saver when you consider how much time is wasted on the preparation of flash cards alone, now you can have to program make the flash cards for you!

I still would have to recommend "The Big Green Book of Italian Verbs" because of the quantity of information alone.It includes 555 verbs (instead of just 250) and all the conjugations that are found in the 2000+ book.Unfortunately, the layout of the Big Green Book is not as clear as that of the 2000+, so it takes a few seconds longer to find what you are looking for. ... Read more

Product Description
The idea for In viaggio, meaning Traveling, was born from drawing upon extensive work with oral proficiency and training. As the name suggests, with In viaggio students continue moving forward in their study of Italian, traveling throughout the regions of Italy and exploring Italian culture throughout the world via the abundant cultural material in the text. In viaggio focuses on and recycles seven major communicative functions, the punti chiave, throughout this Intermediate-level Italian textbook: describing, comparing, reacting and recommending, narrating in the past, expressing likes and dislikes, hypothesizing, and talking about the future. What is unique about this approach and these materials is the idea of narrowing the focus of instruction to seven communicative functions, all of which appear in every chapter from the very first day of the course. The functions are moved to the forefront of the course so students are consciously forced to look at grammar in a different way. In viaggio helps students focus primarily on communicative functions because these functions are continuously repeated throughout the text, even when the content and themes change with each new chapter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

This book should only be used for ADVANCED learners of Italian
As a student of Italian and user of this textbook, I feel the vocabulary used in stories, newspaper articles, and editorials featured in In Viaggio are too high-level for third and fourth semester Italian students. The glossary in the back of the book is very unhelpful because it is only in Italian and only for the vocabulary already defined for each chapter, not for the random and unfamiliar words used in the extra articles and stories which students are also responsible for. The textbook used for Italian 1 and 2 was better suited to LEARNING, not reading in Italian for pleasure, or whatever this book is intended for.

Un libro abbastanza buono!
I used this book for two semesters of advanced Italian grammar and I must say that the book is only as good as the instructor. That said it is not a book for a self learner-beginner to Italian. I am also an Italian tutor and from a teachers prosepective it is a very hands on book, at times the exercises are little tedious (such as the questions after each section of the readings which are the exact same questions for each section and each reading). However, this book was not made to learn the Italian language but to perfect it! ... Read more

Product Description
Un vecchio scomparso nel nulla, una macchina abbandonata in fiamme nel bosco, un ciclista che incrocia un Suv...
Un candidato politico rischia di perdere la vittoria al ballottaggio per una donna che non è sua moglie; per fortuna interviene il Risolutore.
Un imprenditore con il brutto vizio di rubacchiare, e una giovane donna che vive in un prefabbricato, da sola.
Tre racconti di un'Italia di provincia, tre istantanee su una realtà stanca, violenta, incapace di serenità e futuro.

Marco Freccero dopo alcuni libri elettronici dedicati alla piattaforma Mac, si cimenta con la narrativa, confezionando tre racconti: "Insieme nel buio"; "Il Risolutore" e "La lezione". ... Read more

Product Description
Learn Italian with the most comprehensive, up-to-date text available!

Developed by the experts at Living Language, this book offers a highly effective combination of conversational Italian with grammar and culture. It covers the equivalent of two years of college-level study.

Contents Include:
40 lessons with lively, authentic dialogues including the most common and useful expressions for everyday conversation.
English translations and explanations of Italian grammar and usage, pronunciation, vocabulary, and cultural notes.
Quizzes and review sections to check your progress.
A complete summary of Italian grammar, and verb charts covering all major tenses.
A section on letter writing for business or social occasions.
An extensive two-way glossary.
Revised and updated with additional exercises, the latest in computers, the Internet, euros, and more!

While this book stands on its own as a complete course and an invaluable reference, you'll find that it's even more effective when used with the recorded lessons. Living Language Ultimate Italian cassette and compact-disc packages include this manual, along with the recordings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Excellent Service and truthful description of condition.
I was very pleased with the Excellent Service and truthful description of the condition of the book.I would definitely buy from this vendor again.

GREAT method/materials for learning to converse, read & write in Italian
There are a lot of methods/materials out there that cost a LOT more than this Ultimate Italian collection, but if you apply yourself (and make sure you have a good dictionary and look up all words you may not understand), this is all you will have to buy get a very good, working knowledge for use of the language.

The layout of the materials is very logical and the explanations of the grammar are very clear, with appropriate accompanying exercises.The dialogues at the beginning of each chapter also cover appropriate topics that acquaint one with the necessary vocabulary and expressions that one would need for basic Italian conversations.

Over the course of the last 20 years I have taught myself to speak German, Spanish & now Italian.In doing so I have used many different methodologies and I can unquivocally state the the "Ultimate" series of language studies is one of the very best that one can find.I'm just really glad that it's also so economical!!

Not worth the money
I read the book inserts, and the reviews and bought this book expecting more than it delivered. The only time they speak English is to repeat what they just said (too quickly)in Italian.If you want to memorize phrases, without really learning the language then this is the program for you.If you really want to learn Italian try another program.

An excellent at-home course
After checking various Italian tapes and resources out of the library, I decided to buy the Ultimate Italian set.It is the most comprehensive, academic learn-at-home Italian set I ran across.In my opinion, tapes that rely on memorization of dialogue with no underlying instruction on grammar, verb construction, etc. have *very* limited usefulness if you want to actually learn a language, rather than repeat a few rote phrases on your vacation (and not understand the answers back!).This set requires discipline, it is like a real class with vocabulary and grammar and a quiz at the end of each lesson, but if you commit to it you will be rewarded for that commitment.I crammed as much as I could in seven weeks (a lesson every morning) and felt very confident when I went to Italy by myself--I had no trouble communicating and was able to say everything I wanted.If you're looking for something easy you can just listen to in the car so that you can politely say a few things to show respect to locals, you will not enjoy this set.If you are a serious student of foreign language who wants more than to "get by," put this in your cart.(I just bought the French version, that's how much I liked the Italian.)

Great starter!
This series is excellent for beginner. The emphasis on grammar is heavy. It suits intermediate more than beginner. The "at home" CDs is not similar as the "on the go" version. I wish they were both exactly the same. Much less conversation is presented at the "on the go" version. Only an abbreviated version of conversation. The exercises are simple and short. Overall, it's a very good program and helpful. ... Read more