Helpful but more grammar than I had realised.
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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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Helpful
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this book is increadably helpful to all those learning itealean from scratch. however i do suggest that you also buy the accompaning CD as it is essential to the book.
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A sound introduction to Italian
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This is a really good book, well worth having if you want to get a good grasp of the basics of the Italian language before a trip there, or want something extra to study to accompany your evening class or GCSE course, (from my look at the GCSE syllabus, I think this book covers about the same material).
The course is very practical and starts off with 4 chapters covering the bare essentials of Italian survival language, such as what languages people speak, (vital if you need to find someone to help you communicate), getting a snack and a drink, simple enquiries and directions, introductions and basic shopping language. After that, it goes into more depth in areas such as personal details, travelling around, hotels, restaurants, making phone calls, then onto talking about work, daily life and so on. So, the most important stuff comes first, then you move onto being able to communicate on a more personal basis.
Grammar is explained simply and introduced at a reasonable rate. Irregular verbs are introduced as they occur in the texts at a steady pace and further tenses appear from the middle of the book, (simple and complex past - 'I did' & 'I have done', future 'I will do' and conditional 'I would do'). I understand that the subjunctive is common in Italian, but it is not covered in this book. Perhaps one would meet it in the follow up 'Improve Your Italian'. Having said that, you will learn all you need to know for basic communication from this course.
There is no dedicated pronunciation chapter, but there are features on pronunciation issues in each of the first 10 chapters.
Do make sure you get the audio component as, although Italian pronunciation is by no means the hardest, it is vital to hear the real language being spoken and there are also some audio elements that you would miss out on if you used the text alone. This edition now has an enlarged audio element which is good as many of the previous TY books didn't really have enough audio.
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A good beginning
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As a person who failed French GCSE, I am not the best learner of foreign languages. So far, I am working through this book and it seems a very good way of learning the basics. The accompanying CD offers correct pronunciation tips and practice opportunities. Structured into 20 different sections covering areas such as introducing yourself, asking directions, ordering food, shopping etc. The advice in the book is to try and dedicate a little time, often, to learning. So far so good. [...]
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