Teach Yourself Italian Extra!

BY TEACH YOURSELF, OF COURSE, IT'S ALITTLE MORE UPDATED...

I lived in Italy for two years as a college student and once spoke the language fairly well. When I needed a refresher years later I found that few of the available books or tapes were suited for my experience level -- and they were all pretty dull. This set was exactly what I needed. The lengthy dialogues involve real people and reflect how Italian is actually spoken in that country. The discussions of grammar are very useful, both reinforcing the essentials and encouraging one to develop genuine conversational skills (useful if you actually hope to socialize overseas). I find myself listening to the tapes often -- highly recommended!

I have been studying Italian for roughly about a year at college. With the possibility I might study abroad in Italy next year, I decided I might as well try to pre-emptively study the language before I resume classes in September. Reading through this book provided so many "that makes so much sense!" moments, one automatically feels that they have much more solid grasp of the language after only a few chapters. With real interviews of ordinary people, the book is a taste of what Italian is like, and not a series of scripted dialogues.

As a heavy consumer of intermediate-advanced italian grammar books, I found this to be more useful than most. The readings are interesting and come from real italian sources. This book emphasizes idiomatic speech and ways to learn on your own. One of the most useful out there.

I bought this book to supplement the Italian course I'm doing at Uni.(college) and I've found it a very useful and cost-effective study tool. It is more logically set out than most texts and is relevant and up-to-date. It's major drawback is that it's designed to be used with a cassette (which I don't have) and although it is very good as a stand alone text, I have the feeling that it would be even better with the tape.