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Books : Rapid Italian: 200+ Essential Words and Phrases Anchored into Your Long Term Memory with Great Music (Musical Brain Trainer)
Rating: 
- It works!
Although this may seem like a gimmick it really does work and makes learning much easier. A basic course but what you learn sticks. I would recommend this series as an effective way of learning enough of a language to survive!
Rating:
- Molto Bene!
Having bought cassettes and books on Italian over the years, I have never really managed - or been motivated - to learn much Italian except the odd arrivederci. With this brain trainer, it is a fantastically fun way of learning a language to 'get you by'. I feel the phrases and pronunciation are imprinting in my cerebrum! I wake with Italian words present in my head. It won't make you fluent but it goes a long way to keeping up the interest and certainly having a go when speaking. Highly recommended for all the family.
Rating: - Restored My confidence in going abroad.
Having done so poorly at French at school, I though I would never go abroad with out feeling rude not speaking the lingo. How wrong was I? This was so easy, all I needed to do was sit down press play and repeat, and enjoy listening. It takes regular listening and a reasonable amount of time, but bingo, I can speak enough Italian to get by. In Rome I never found I didn't know the correct way to ask for, or ask about some thing. I did need a dictionary type phrase book to look up individual words, thing like jewelery or Mango. lol. But The way in which to say most things is on the CD. The main draw back is that Italians will think you speak really good Italian and rabbit away to you, but the CD tells you how to appoligize, and say you can't speak italian that well. If you have never learnt a language before go for it, it's easyer than you think. I can't wait to get volume 2.
Rating: - great for an introduction
Being completely new to Italian this CD was great for me, in that it does quickly make you familiar with pronuncation of common words and phrases. However as we are heading to Rome on holiday this summer the vocabulary gained from this CD wouldn't be enough as there are only limited phrases. I would recommend that anyone purchasing this CD go ahead, it is great for an introduction, but buy an additional phrase book so that extra vocabulary can be incorporated into the phrases learned from Earworms.
Rating: - Good for confidence and enthusiasm
As a victim of secondary school french lessons I was left with no confidence that I could speak a foreign language. I drive around for several hours a day and soon get bored with new music CD's so I thought I would have a go at using the time to learn a foreign language. I think this CD is great for a first attempt at learning Italian. The rhythm of the background music helps with pronounciation and does seem to help the words seep into the memory. It is better for some peoples brains more than others. My wife is doing the equivalent CD in Spanish and has picked it up much quicker as she has always had the previously useless skill of knowing all the lyrics to most songs she has heard before. I would agree that it isn't a very advanced comprehensive course and it doesn't teach anything about rules or grammar but to be honest those sort of things tend to put people off learning a language. At the beginning you just want something that's a bit of fun and makes you feel good that you now know the words for a pair of trousers in Italian. It is also good for the confidence that it is fairly easy to pronounce with no strange lisping noises. I am planning to learn more Italian and I'm sure at some point this CD will no longer be necessary which will mean it will have served it's purpose perfectly.
- It works!Although this may seem like a gimmick it really does work and makes learning much easier. A basic course but what you learn sticks. I would recommend this series as an effective way of learning enough of a language to survive!
Rating:
- Molto Bene!Having bought cassettes and books on Italian over the years, I have never really managed - or been motivated - to learn much Italian except the odd arrivederci. With this brain trainer, it is a fantastically fun way of learning a language to 'get you by'. I feel the phrases and pronunciation are imprinting in my cerebrum! I wake with Italian words present in my head. It won't make you fluent but it goes a long way to keeping up the interest and certainly having a go when speaking. Highly recommended for all the family.
Rating:
- Restored My confidence in going abroad.Having done so poorly at French at school, I though I would never go abroad with out feeling rude not speaking the lingo. How wrong was I? This was so easy, all I needed to do was sit down press play and repeat, and enjoy listening. It takes regular listening and a reasonable amount of time, but bingo, I can speak enough Italian to get by. In Rome I never found I didn't know the correct way to ask for, or ask about some thing. I did need a dictionary type phrase book to look up individual words, thing like jewelery or Mango. lol. But The way in which to say most things is on the CD. The main draw back is that Italians will think you speak really good Italian and rabbit away to you, but the CD tells you how to appoligize, and say you can't speak italian that well. If you have never learnt a language before go for it, it's easyer than you think. I can't wait to get volume 2.
Rating:
- great for an introductionBeing completely new to Italian this CD was great for me, in that it does quickly make you familiar with pronuncation of common words and phrases. However as we are heading to Rome on holiday this summer the vocabulary gained from this CD wouldn't be enough as there are only limited phrases. I would recommend that anyone purchasing this CD go ahead, it is great for an introduction, but buy an additional phrase book so that extra vocabulary can be incorporated into the phrases learned from Earworms.
Rating:
- Good for confidence and enthusiasmAs a victim of secondary school french lessons I was left with no confidence that I could speak a foreign language. I drive around for several hours a day and soon get bored with new music CD's so I thought I would have a go at using the time to learn a foreign language. I think this CD is great for a first attempt at learning Italian. The rhythm of the background music helps with pronounciation and does seem to help the words seep into the memory. It is better for some peoples brains more than others. My wife is doing the equivalent CD in Spanish and has picked it up much quicker as she has always had the previously useless skill of knowing all the lyrics to most songs she has heard before. I would agree that it isn't a very advanced comprehensive course and it doesn't teach anything about rules or grammar but to be honest those sort of things tend to put people off learning a language. At the beginning you just want something that's a bit of fun and makes you feel good that you now know the words for a pair of trousers in Italian. It is also good for the confidence that it is fairly easy to pronounce with no strange lisping noises. I am planning to learn more Italian and I'm sure at some point this CD will no longer be necessary which will mean it will have served it's purpose perfectly.