Product Description

This course in Italian is designed for anyone who wants to progress quickly from the basics to understanding, speaking and writing Italian with confidence. Aimed at those with no previous knowledge, it can also be used by anyone wanting to brush up existing knowledge or refresh rusty language skills for a holiday or business trip. Key structures and vocabulary are introduced in 25 thematic units, progressing from introducing yourself and dealing with everyday situations to using the phone and talking about work. The course covers all structures required for GCSE and beyond. The emphasis is on communication throughout with important language structures introduced through dialogues on the accompanying recording. There are plenty of exercises to practise the language as it is introduced and tips throughout to help with pronunciation and grammar. Cultural information boxes give advice and information for anyone planning a trip to Italy. This new edition has been updated to reflect changes such as the introduction of the euro. There is also an English-Italian vocabulary to go alongside the existing Italian-English vocabulary and four tests for learners to check their progress. The page design has been improved and section headings given in English to make the course easier to use for the self-access learner. The two accompanying CDs contain 150 minutes of listening material.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #188401 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-01
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

About the Author
Lydia Vellacio and Maurice Elston have between them considerable experience of teaching Italian in secondary, further, adult and higher education. They are also co-authors of Buongiorno Italia and Let's talk Italian.

Customer Reviews

A sound introduction to Italian
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.

A good beginning
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. [...]

Helpful but more grammar than I had realised.
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!