Product Description

Michel Thomas took the language-learning world by storm.
With no books, no memorising and no homework, Michel teaches the basic grammar of the language painlessly. Using the method he perfected over 50 years, he shares his secret with the world - and 'makes it simple' (Sunday Times).
In only a matter of hours, he gives you a comprehensive grasp of the structure of the language, enabling you to communicate with confidence. The present, future, conditional and past tenses are covered, and you are taught to think about the ideas that you are trying to communicate, rather than to translate words slavishly.
He points out the similarities of the vocabulary in English and Italian and gives you the tools to guess the words you do not know, or think you do not know.
Join two students as they learn in real time. Become the third member of the class and experience the excitement of learning a language as if by magic!

This new edition has one, very significant, new feature an additional Review CD. All the main teaching points have been lifted from the Foundation (8-hour) course and are contained on just 2 CDs. The student hears Michel teaching a specific point, there is a pause which allows time for the student to give his/her response to Michels prompt, followed by Michel giving the correct response. If the student has struggled or given an incorrect answer, s/he can use the index in the accompanying booklet to locate the area of the main course where the specific language point was being taught in depth and can return to the main course to work through the relevant section again, quickly and efficiently. It can also be used very successfully by those coming back to the course after a lapse of time, either to check how much they have retained or as a quick revision tool. Only Michels words and phrases are on the new CD, so the course is summarised succinctly and with a new, snappy pace.
Finally, the new edition is repackaged, with an up-to-the minute cover treatment and robust DVD-type cases inside a rigid card slip case, to ensure that the CDs remain damage-free and are easy to access and use.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7968 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-29
• Format: Audiobook
• Binding: Audio CD

The Daily Telegraph
"Progress is speedy and very painless"

Review
"Ideal for any business traveller who needs to be able to get around confidently." (Sunday Business )

"A great way to learn; it's fast and it lasts". (The Daily Telegraph )

"Five minutes into the first CD, you already feel like you're winning." (Time Out )

"Michel Thomas is a precious find indeed." (The Guardian )

"Thomas makes it simple" (Sunday Times )

"Michel's methods will teach you effectively and easily" (Daily Star )

"Hugely inspiring" (Red )

"A compelling teacher ... you really do remember what you're learning"

Synopsis
Michel Thomas took the language-learning world by storm.With no books, no memorising and no homework, Michel teaches the basic grammar of the language painlessly. Using the method he perfected over 50 years, he shares his secret with the world - and 'makes it simple' (Sunday Times).In only a matter of hours, he gives you a comprehensive grasp of the structure of the language, enabling you to communicate with confidence. The present, future, conditional and past tenses are covered, and you are taught to think about the ideas that you are trying to communicate, rather than to translate words slavishly. He points out the similarities of the vocabulary in English and Italian and gives you the tools to guess the words you do not know, or think you do not know. Join two students as they learn in real time. Become the third member of the class and experience the excitement of learning a language as if by magic!This new edition has one, very significant, new feature an additional Review CD. All the main teaching points have been lifted from the Foundation (8-hour) course and are contained on just 2 CDs.The student hears Michel teaching a specific point, there is a pause which allows time for the student to give his/her response to Michels prompt, followed by Michel giving the correct response.

If the student has struggled or given an incorrect answer, s/he can use the index in the accompanying booklet to locate the area of the main course where the specific language point was being taught in depth and can return to the main course to work through the relevant section again, quickly and efficiently. It can also be used very successfully by those coming back to the course after a lapse of time, either to check how much they have retained or as a quick revision tool. Only Michels words and phrases are on the new CD, so the course is summarised succinctly and with a new, snappy pace. Finally, the new edition is repackaged, with an up-to-the minute cover treatment and robust DVD-type cases inside a rigid card slip case, to ensure that the CDs remain damage-free and are easy to access and use.

Customer Reviews

Good but not as good as the Spanish course.
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 that it is because the students make so many mistakes in the will and would tenses that they seem to take up so much time. The situation is remedied somewhat in the advanced course, but I still don't think you get as much as with the Spanish course. Again the Michel Thomas way is perfect for me and aside from the comparative lack of depth to the Spanish course it is well worth your time and money. I am so happy with the courses that I can't wait for the French course to arrive, and find an italian to speak to.

Establishing basic groundwork painlessly
I have the set of 8 CDs & listened to them in my car. This has proved the easiest method I have tried & certainly provides an excellent starting point. I agree, vocabulary is not extensive but I now feel confident enough to develop this with further textbooks and reading.
Thanks to Mr. Thomas - a great help.

Could do with some judicious editing!
Others had recommended this course to me so perhaps my expectations were a little higher. On the negative side, it was a bit of a culture shock when compared to other audio language courses. First the sound quality is a bit odd and gets a bit of time to get used to - it certainly isn't as clear or as produced as other language recordings. Michel is clearly quite elderly so his voice is not always that clear. The format of the course is essentially listening in on a lesson where Michel is teaching a male and female student. Like other reviewers I did find the students extremely irritating, mainly when they kept getting things wrong. This slowed things up considerably as all the awkward silences where Michel is waiting for them to get it right are included!. Also, to go back to the elderly Michel again, the word combinations he introduces came across as a bit random and made me wonder how thought out the course structure was.

On the plus side I was surprised how much I could remember afterwards and many words did sink themselves into my head - possibly because the recording is extremely repetitious. Again, like other reviewers I would consider the course unsuitable if you are planning to go on holiday as typical language learned is along the lines of "I cannot do it just now, I am busy..." It is designed for someone, like me, who is studying the language at night school and wants a better understanding of sentence structure - which it has done.

I'll persevere with it but I can really only listen to around half an hour at the time - as it is very repetitious and a bit one note in its approach.