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.Quickstart Italian

from: BBC Active

January 01, 1900
With a holiday to Italy coming up, preceded by several long car journeys, I bought three language CDs to listen to in the car: Earworms, Learn in Your Car Complete Language Course and BBC Quickstart and I'd rate them them in that order. They're all easy to listen to in the car, although I think they are actually better suited to short journeys than long ones.

Quickstart was my least favourite. It became increasingly irritating to listen to, and by the end I was hoping that Marco's mal de stomacho would prove fatal, or at least that he would vomit over the prissy Francesca. It is more comprehensive than the Earworms CD (5 stars) but less than the Learn in Your Car (3 stars) and to be honest, I found it simply too aggravating ... Read More:
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.RAPID FRENCH: 200+ essential words and phrases anchored into your long-term memory with great music. Vol. 1 (Earworms Musical Brain Trainer)

by: Earworms Learning

July 15, 2005
I have listened to Volume 2 (on my iPod whilst cycling into work) 3 times now and am already finding myself coming out with the phrases either in my head or when talking to the rest of my family.

The couple are very flirtatious, which also works as it helps to take your mind off trying too hard and the lady's accent and voice is beautiful, add into that the soft rymthical tunes behind the voices and you have an excellent product I would highly recommend.

Moving to France to live is a challenge to say the least. As a family we have bought almost every type of course available however this one is by far our favourite.
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.Teach Yourself Italian Book/CD Pack (Teach Yourself Languages)

by: Lydia Vellaccio, Maurice Elston

March 01, 2003
This is an excellent little book, as long as you use the CD with it. I didn't give it five stars because I feel that in some areas the authors were trying to get too much grammar in than can be absorbed all at once , and I think a few solid written texts ( short adapted and graded extracts from newspapers or letter, articles etc) would've helped rather than just short dialogues. Nevertheless, I've learnt quite a bit and think that by the time I visit Italy I'll be able to get by without getting lost or arrested!
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.Italian Verb Drills (BGR12)

by: Paola Nanni Tate

October 01, 2003
I am currently doing a intermediate level of italian but find it always useful to remember the key verbs. I have used a lot of italian books in order to understand italian and this one explains and does what it says ''drills'' those verbs into your mind with a good set of exercises. A well organized easy to understand book perfect for beginners of Italian! I would seriously recommend it.
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.Rapid Spanish: 200+ Essential Words and Phrases Anchored into Your Long Term Memory with Great Music: v. 1 (Musical Brain Trainer)

by: Earworms Learning

July 15, 2005
I bought this last week and it's brilliant - I've just ordered the second volume. It totally suits my way of learning and is very easy to use. it does work rapidly and is much more pleasnt to listen to than those dreadful CD's with mock conversations in them. i'm really enjoying using it. HIghly effective - would recommend! :)
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.RAPID GERMAN: 200+ essential words and phrases anchored into your long-term memory with great music. Vol. 1. EARWORMS mbt ( Musical Brain Trainer)

by: Earworms Learning

July 15, 2005
Perhaps I just don't learn this way. The music did nothing for me, and I can't think of any phrases "anchored into my long term memory". Perhaps I don't play it enough.

The CD is fine if you want to learn stock phrases like "I would like to order...", "Have you got..." "Is there...." but what do you do when someone responds in German.

I want to learn German so I can ask, understand the answer and respond. It will help you "get by" but not to have a conversation - go for broke and get Michel Thomas instead.
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.Italian: Essential Language for Short Trips (Lonely Planet Fast Talk)

by: Lonely Planet

May 01, 2004
Perhaps I just don't learn this way. The music did nothing for me, and I can't think of any phrases "anchored into my long term memory". Perhaps I don't play it enough.

The CD is fine if you want to learn stock phrases like "I would like to order...", "Have you got..." "Is there...." but what do you do when someone responds in German.

I want to learn German so I can ask, understand the answer and respond. It will help you "get by" but not to have a conversation - go for broke and get Michel Thomas instead.
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.Easy Italian Reader: A Three-part Text for Beginners (Easy Reader Series)

by: Riccarda Saggese

December 01, 2005
I am enjoying this book and finding it very helpful, but think it would be pretty scary for a complete beginner to start with. Often the reader is required to give opposites of words which are not in the text being studied, and often there are words which need to be understood in order to answer the questions, but there is no translation given. I think this is frustrating for the reader. Surely the point of a graded reader is that the student doesn't have to keep reaching for a dictionary, thus breaking the flow of the reading and learning? I am managing by ignoring the words I don't know in order to keep the flow going, as I imagine I'll pick them up at some other stage along the way. Good for very confident post-beginners or pre-intermediates onwards.
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.Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Pronouns and Prepositions: Practice Makes Perfect

by: Daniela Gobetti

May 01, 2006
Written in a sloppy and thoughtless style. E.g. On page 5 the learner is introduced to two sentences: 'Seals love to play' and 'Bats are mammals.'
This is redolent of the infamous nineteenth-century travellers' guide which offered 'My postillion has been struck by lightning' as a useful phrase to memorise.
It is also full of careless mistakes e.g. on page 8 we are taught that 'a sinistra' means 'on the right.'
Pulp it!
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.Michel Thomas Foundation Course: Italian (Michel Thomas Series)

by: Michel Thomas

September 29, 2006
The first thing to say is that the Michel Thomas way is perfect for me. I did his Spanish course and it gave me the motivation to take conversation lessons. The big problem is not the saying or reading of a language, it is the listening to others and understanding what they are saying that is difficult. So, having completed the Italian course I feel very confident with the structure and cognate vocabulary, and I just need to practice. Having followed Michel Thomas's Spanish course in the past I have to say that I found the Italian version less comprehensive than the Spanish. There seems to be a lot of time spent on the will and would, and the stressed 'r' on the word endings. As with the Spanish course you have to get past the students mistakes, but I think ... Read More:
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Used Price: £29.99