Italian Language Learning Reviews

Score: 7/10

Pros:
ten themed lessons introduce a good – but not overwhelming – selection of everyday, casual Italian slang; not too bawdy or over-the-top, keeping it useful & realistic; dialogues showcase both the idiomatic & literal translations of Italian slang; routine exercises allow you to practice words you learn; glossary lists vocab words with example sentences & Italian synonyms

Cons:
not for beginners – you’ll learn vocabulary, but dialogues & exercises expect you to have a working knowledge of the language; since Italian slang is very region specific, it’s hard to study the Italian slang; no index; extended lessons in vocabulary only; no hand holding for those who need explanations or insights; you have to send away separately for the cassettes

There’s a seedier, mischievous side to Italian language learning books – the kind of book that teaches you slang, street lingo and naughty words. Street Italian 1 falls in that camp, teaching you Italian slang vocabulary in a way that’s more readable than vocabulary lists, and still “cleaner”, less outrageous and more useful than other slang guides and phrasebooks available.

In ten lezioni (lessons), you’ll encounter a range of everyday dialogues, vocabulary explanations and practice exercises. I can’t emphasize enough that vocabulary is the whole focus here. You won’t read explanations of grammar or structure, only learn slang ways of saying things in Italian. Because of this focus, the book cannot be used as a beginner’s course in Italian.

Lessons start with a comical drawing, theme in slang (like Francesca ha una cotta per Giovanni) and a dialogue. Dialogues are repeated three times on three pages. The first page gives the dialogue in Italian, with slang words & phrases conveniently bold (like ha una cotta). The second page sets out a translation of the dialogue, with the bold words in colloquial English (so “ha una cotta” is rendered has a crush). The third translates the bold terms literally (in the above case, the Italian literally means has a baking).

The next section, at the heart of the lesson, lists the slang vocabulary terms & expressions in dictionary-style entries. These include part of speech info, example sentences with translations, Italian synonyms, and other ways to use the word in question.

Finally, lessons end with practice exercises. These have you fill in blanks, match, and choose the right word, and even complete crosswords and word searches. It’s nothing new, but the activities help reinforce the vocab from each lesson as you learn. There are also two review exams (for lessons 1-5 and 6-10).

The end of the book has answers to the activities and an Italian slang glossary. The glossary is formatted like the vocabulary sections in each lesson, including sample sentences, synonyms and notes. Unfortunately, page or, at the very least, lesson numbers aren’t referenced, which could have made for a good index.

If you already have some experience in formal Italian, Street Italian 1 will supplement your core vocabulary with some colorful, useful slang. On top of that, its way of presenting vocabulary in dialogues and examples places it among the better vocabulary-building recommendations I’ve come across.

Score: 8/10

Pros:
covers all major topics in beginning & intermediate Italian grammar; lots of exercises relate directly to specific grammar topics; the structure of the book, the examples & charts all present information in an organized fashion; regular & irregular verb tables in appendix; organized by part of speech, making it easy for students to reference and work on specific problem areas; rigid outline format makes overall layout straightforward, and the table of contents easy to use; audio CD reads exercises out loud for pronunciation help

Cons:
chapter & section length vary greatly, offer little guidance for pacing yourself through the book; rigid outline will distract certain learners & won’t compensate for varied length & use of explanations; sometimes uneven distribution of exercises; no index of any kind

Interactive Italian Grammar Made Easy provides students who find themselves struggling with Italian grammar just under 200 pages of explanations and exercises. The book covers the whole range of beginner and intermediate Italian, and is organized into chapters by part of speech. If you’re looking for a resource to help you hone your grammatical skills, read on. If you’re brand new to the language, this course isn’t necessarily aimed at you, but it’s clear and approachable enough to warrant consideration.

After a page generally introducing parts of speech, you’ll find seven chapters, each one dedicated to one part of speech. The first (and by far longest) such chapter deals with verbs. The book takes a rigid outline approach to formatting, so you’ll see sections like 3.2 (direct object pronouns), 3.3.2 (the pronoun ne), capital letters A, B, C, etc. to break down larger subsections, and Roman numerals indicating exercises. The length of such sections varies greatly, and the organization, uneven distribution and inconsistent length of explanations, examples, charts and exercises relaxes that sense of rigidity. At the same time, this inconsistency makes it harder to read the book straight through, as if it were a series of well-planned lessons.

Within each sections, explanations are kept brief, comprehensible and relevant. They’re rarely lively, but rarely off-topic. Example words and sentences highlight many explanations of grammar points. A consistent, if typical, use of charts helps flesh out key information visually, and exercises occur within many of the subsections.

Topics and their explanations sometimes cover grammar from a different perspective than is conventional. For instance, the section on present indicative verbs begins with a subsection on io (first person singular) forms – and only io forms – of verbs in the present tense (regular, irregular, reflexives and more), then moves onto tu forms, then onto lui/lei, etc. It’s your call if these differences mark a positive shift in perspective or just stand out as a nuisance.

Plenty of practice exercises give you the chance to apply language functions as you learn. Often, these activities involve translating, filling in blanks or matching. The audio CD included with the book has sound files that read exercises aloud, which goes a little ways to further your ability speak and comprehend Italian. Answers to all exercises are found in the back.

The book ends with an appendix holding charts of regular and irregular verbs and, as mentioned above, answers to the practice activities. Although the table of contents lists all chapters, sections and subsections, there’s no index at the back of the book.

Interactive Italian Grammar Made Easy makes a strong effort to offer students grammar lessons, a workbook and an audio CD all in one course. Students struggling with certain grammar concepts can find solid assistance in this book. Certainly, the drawbacks mentioned above are largely limited to the format and organization, not so much the content. Consider this book recommended for review and further exercises, but not as a primary, routine way to learn all of Italian grammar. Used correctly, this text will be a good resource for beginners and intermediate students.

Score: 7/10

Pros:
the positive points about Pimsleur are relevant to this course; you get a sample of the Pimsleur method in eight lessons; you’ll learn some basic words and phrases for everyday use; the package comes MP3 files to play as you go as well as the standard audio CDs; a booklet helps you keep track of vocabulary and phrases as you learn

Cons:
any cons about Pimsluer apply here; these eight audio lessons are fairly basic; if you really want to learn to speak Italian through audio CDs, move up to the more complete Pimsleur courses

Pimsleur’s goItalian borrows the first 8 lessons from its comprehensive set, allowing beginning learners to get a taste of this audio-only program. Pimsleur has a history of paring down its full course into less expensive packages. The full course, Comprehensive Italian I, contains 32 lessons, and some of its lessons have been repackaged as the 16-lesson Conversational Italian and the 10-lesson Basic Italian. All of these courses start with the same lessons, the difference is how many lessons you get with your purchase.

Clearly, this eight-lesson program is the skimpiest offering yet – but a simple taste of Italian could be exactly what you’re after. If you’re new to the much-touted Pimsleur method, you’ll have a chance to see what it’s like. If you’re traveling and looking to learn just a bit of Italian, you can do that here. The MP3 files make on-the-go study a bit easier. Keep in mind that you’ll be pushed to speak and listen to Italian rather than read or write the language – it’s worth visiting my review of Pimsleur Comprehensive Italian I to learn more.

Score: 8/10

Pros:
good pacing& use of old material to build understanding of new; lots of exposure to Italian through dialogues, readings & examples; solid coverage of most all beginner/intermediate Italian grammar; culture notes are relevant, focusing on language in context; well organized, methodical workbook & cassette tapes match the course text; extras include great introduction to Italian pronunciation, easy-to read regular & irregular verb tables; among the clearest and most approachable Italian language lesson books available to new students; very helpful, searchable table of contents & index

Cons:
intended for classroom use, so many readings don’t offer translation help; later instructions only in Italian; no answers to exercises (at least in this student edition); chapter/unit themes are mostly generic, sometimes failing to tie chapters together; modular presentation tough on students who get bogged down in parts; price

Basic Italian is one of those hardcover textbooks you might expect to see students use in an Italian language class. Since this site leans towards self-taught learners, keep in mind that you’re not this book’s intended audience. That said, as far as introductory Italian courses go, this one’s worth your consideration.

Over 400 pages hold thirty lessons covering a range of conversational topics. Each unit, and every section within units, has large-print titles and headers in blue, clear formatting throughout the body of the text, and pictures scattered across the pages to add visual appeal to the topics.

Units begin with dialogues or readings. These fit well with the generic nature of chapter themes. After reading, you’ll find a vocabulary list to study, compiled from words in the dialogues. “Note linguistiche e culturali” shed some light on Italian culture in a way that’s relevant to your language learning.

In each unit, a few pages treating grammar follow the reading/dialogue. Grammar topics are arranged into short, bullet-point-like paragraphs. A couple of sentences explain each point in English; below that are few Italian examples of the feature in use. The outline format reads clearly, but might prove too rigid for certain learners. Still, it’s fundamentally tied to the vocabulary and theme of each unit, giving some sense of a uniting thread.

Then, practice exercises (“esercizi”) put your skills to the test. Questions ask you to fill in blanks, translate, or arrange sentences to make sense. A second practice section, called “Come si dice?”, helps you express ideas in Italian, then apply those expressions to a variety of situations. Every few chapters, you’ll run into a review test, which works a lot like the exercises, as well as a longer prose reading with questions.

One appendix fully conjugates regular verbs, the auxiliary (“helping”) verbs avere & essere, and 50 irregular verbs in nine-column charts. A two way glossary of vocabulary words from the course and a clear index of grammar and conversation topics ends the book. A detailed table of contents, coupled with the index, makes the book a useful at-hand resource even after completion.

The thirteen page pronunciation guide in the introductory lesson is among the most descriptive and thorough I’ve found in any beginner’s Italian course book. Further, every irregularly stressed word in Italian has a small dot under the stressed vowel – and that’s true of all words in the book, from cover to cover.

I can find reasons for self-taught Italian students to choose another course: no answers to exercises, much use of Italian with few full translations, cost compared to cheaper Italian books. Still, if you’re looking to learn Italian with a book-and-audio method that deals with grammar and conversation, consider this highly recommended. If you can keep up with this book, and finish, you will “not only be able to survive in an Italian-speaking environment, but will also be able to understand and appreciate Italian culture and traditions” (from the preface).

Score: 9/10

Pros:
solid way to get immersion-style exposure to the Italian language from native Italian speakers; the conversations are presented in short chunks for you to digest and make associations between words; lots of cues allow you to respond to questions directed at you; plenty of audio practice activities interspersed throughout each lesson; entirely devoted to teaching you how to speak and understand spoken Italian; lessons are really more like long audio exercises, consistently prompting you to think and participate in the language

Cons:
leaves a set amount of time for you to answer questions, which is crucial for the exercises, but those pauses won’t be long enough for some students; you won’t learn to read or write the language; if you’ve already had exposure to beginner Italian, best move up to Italian level II

Over the course of 30 lessons, Pimsleur’s Comprehensive Italian covers a lot of ground – from the meaning of words to the structure and grammar of the language – all in context of everyday Italian conversations. If you’re new to Pimsleur, you’ll notice that the method is entirely audio. I’ll explain what that means for you as a language learner.

Pimsleur provides a highly regarded method that’s somewhat different from the other language guides sitting on bookstore shelves. The biggest difference is the audio-only format of these Italian. The course includes a number of CDs, but no course book to complement them.

Books and writings aren’t something the Pimsleur method lacks, since its main goal is to teach you to speak and understand spoken Italian. Writing, both historically and linguistically, is secondary to spoken language. On those grounds, Pimsleur argues that their auditory course isn’t missing written text – if anything, it’s a more natural way to learn Italian.

The lessons engage Italian students directly. In many ways, they’re like one long audio exercise, and the narrator advises you to finish one each day. Every new lesson presents you with new words and phrases, while building on older ones. The lessons don’t go quickly, but spend time dealing with elements of the language. You’ll be consistently prompted with “How do you say …?” or “How do you ask…?”, instead of simply reading through dialogues and expecting you to follow along.

The speakers on the audio CD take the time to repeat new words and phrases. The speakers even break down tougher words and pronunciation points until you can pronounce words together to form longer sentences. You’ll find many pauses that give you time to repeat along and answer questions. Still, if you need time to think, you’ll have to backtrack by rewinding the CDs or tapes. That need is especially acute if you’re a slower auditory learner, or plan to multitask by listening to the course while driving or exercising.

By the end of Pimsleur Comprehensive Italian I, you’ll listen to longer conversations and participate in more complicated exercise drills. If you would like even more practice, Pimsleur offers you the opportunity to move up to Italian level 2 and level 3 courses.

Pimsleur also cuts these thirty lessons down to the first ten in Basic Italian and the first sixteen in Conversational Italian. Comprehensive Italian (don’t get confused – it’s the one reviewed on this page) allows you to progress more smoothly throughout all thirty lessons, and to build progressively and evenly on earlier material. You’ll tackle a wide range of conversations on dozens of everyday topics. More importantly, you’ll have many hours of exposure to spoken Italian under your belt – a huge head start wherever you plan to go from here.

It’s not easy to find such an immersive Italian course, especially if you’re an auditory learner, and you want to learn to speak Italian. At first, the price might seem too high. But know that this program is among the most effective approaches to speaking Italian available. If you’re looking to read and write the language, you can supplement this course with books about grammar, writing and pronunciation.

Score: 9/10

pros:
makes each translation of a word clear by listing it in context and on a new line; terms and definitions are obvious and easy to spot; pages well formatted and organized for search; important, basic words have fuller sections devoted to their use; covers a good number of terms, even if fewer than other dictionaries of the same size or smaller; offers a variety of extras

cons:
biggest trade off is that you’ll have access to fewer words than most Italian dictionaries; not every learner will appreciate or even use many of the extras; only for beginners (who will outgrow this resource)

The Oxford Beginner’s Italian Dictionary covers fewer words, and fewer translations of each word, than even smaller Italian-English-Italian dictionaries. It does this in an attempt to make the dictionary appeal to newer students. And, for the most part, it does this in a way that works.

The dictionary is divided into two halves: Italian to English translations, and English to Italian translations. In both sections, alphabetical terms are given in large, blue font. In Italian, the stressed syllable of a blue entry term is underlined, and parts of speech are listed to the right (but not abbreviated, as is standard). Definitions have an equals sign before them, and sometimes specify the main entry term. Here’s a sample entry:

schifo * noun, masculine
che schifo! = yuck!
fare schifo = to be disgusting
= to be awful

Translations are kept minimal and simple, with fewer options to choose from and only the most basic. Beginners might find this less clumsy and easier to work with than a denser dictionary bombarding you with more options. On the other hand, you risk missing words and translations that come standard in other Italian dictionaries.

Fundamental words (like “you” in English or “essere” in Italian) have entire sections devoted to them. In those sections, short explanations and example phrases distinguish their uses and meanings in context.

The top of each page lists the first and last term found on that page, and a blue tab on the right hand side of the right page indicates the letter of the alphabet in which you’re searching.

This dictionary comes with a few extras. In the center, easy games and activities help you understand the rudiments of Italian words, grammar and translation. Simplified verb charts, numbers and a list of must-know Italian words, basic phrases and a reference guide explaining Italian cultural and social topics all end the dictionary.

As far as learner dictionaries go, the Oxford Beginner’s Italian Dictionary is nicely formatted and organized. The smaller number of words covered, coupled with more spartan translations, makes it a hit-or-miss affair when you need to look up tougher words. Still, the foundational material is here, and beginner students should get plenty of miles out of this Italian dictionary from the get-go.

Score: 7/10

pros:
rather natural presentation of vocabulary, conversation and grammar; warm, inviting style & tone; covers a lot of beginning grammar; can hear dialogues read out loud on the compact disc; exercises complement the dialogues & explanations; space to write answers to exercises in the book, allowing it to double as a workbook; good pacing & sense of progression; price

cons:
some students will find the constant presence of author’s explanations too long and distracting; dialogs & sentences aren’t always translated, making it hard to follow at times; grammar buffs will complain that this course doesn’t touch on some intermediate grammar points (like subjunctive verbs); audio just good for dialogues

Living Language’s 30 Days to Great Italian is one of many crash courses in beginner’s Italian conversation, vocabulary and grammar sitting on the reference shelf of your local bookstore. It takes a warm, quirky tone as it talks you through beginning and early intermediate points of the language. So, if you have thirty days or more to learn Italian, what will this course do for you?

The introduction clearly explains how to use the course, and what to expect from each lesson. It helps you pace yourself, and then moves on to pronunciation.

The pronunciation guide presents Italian vowels and consonants in the context of Italian words. You’re given English “sound-alikes” for each word (so you’re asked to pronounce calzolaio as “kahl-tsoh-LAH-yoh”), but, fortunately, this typical – yet cumbersome – transcription system doesn’t leak into the main lessons.

Lessons have bullet points that list what you’ll learn in the chapter, warm-up activities, “HEAR…SAY” dialogues, and a back-and-forth interplay between 1) explanations of grammar and language functions (including many examples) and 2) practice activities. The practice exercises match the material you find in the dialogues and explanations, and are typically of the ‘question & answer’ or ‘fill in the blank’ variety.

Explanations may be too long-winded or intentionally cheeky for some learners. The attempted (or, at times, genuine) wittiness is reminiscent of the Idiot’s Guides or For Dummies series in its lighthearted informality. Explanations are plentiful – in stark contrast to a course I just reviewed & recommended the other day. Notes about Italy, Italians or Italian culture, about grammar, dialect differences, or everyday lingo take up as much space as Italian language material – verb charts, words and sample sentences.

The formatting is clear and comes off as polished and organized. Chapter and section titles stand out bold and clear. Tables with grammatical info read easily. Italian examples are given in bold italic text with English translations below or beside them (but not all words & phrases are translated!). The order of presentation of themes and topics could be called into question, but they at least struck me as relevant to Italy.

The end of each lesson lists answers to exercises in “crib notes”. The lively chapter and section titles don’t always clarify what you’ll find in a given lesson, but a nice index of grammar and conversation topics at the back of the book makes up for it.

The book ends with an appendix of Italian grammar and verb charts, which are quick and handy refreshers or shortcuts when you need them. You’ll also see a few pages with useful phrases and genuine “sound like an Italian” filler words.

30 Days to Great Italian fails to offer much that’s not found in other conversational language course books. Still, its thorough coverage, good organization, light tone and overall balance should appeal to self-taught learners looking for a good Italian lesson book at a low price. However, I do NOT recommend this book and CD package if you can’t handle lengthy, casual explanations that talk you through the language (as if your own informal tutor or teacher wrote the book).

Score: 8/10

pros:
thematic, organized approach to conversation topics; the topics cover everyday life and travel; grammar presented in conversational context; plenty of exercises; formatting & style makes relevant text stand out; audio CDs (assuming you can find them!) offer chance to hear native speakers; explanations kept short, with focus on Italian words, dialogues & activities

cons:
spotty coverage of grammar, which only covers basics (especially of verbs); conversational approach requires you to listen & repeat what’s on the audio CDs – only written activities are at all interactive

Barron’s Learn Italian the Fast and Fun Way is a lesson course and workbook with eight themed units. All along the way, this book tries to engage you with writing activities, colorful drawings, learner-friendly highlighting and pronunciation help. You’ll tackle conversations, readings, explanations of grammar and exercises, you’ll listen to native Italian speakers on the audio CDs (or cassettes) that accompany the course, and you’ll even get a few extras.

This course describes itself as an activity kit, and each of the 29 lessons, spread across eight units, lives up to that description. Explanations are kept to a minimum. Italian words are clearly written in bold text, with boxes, lines and yellow highlights drawing your attention to key words and phrases.

Most of your new learning is done in dialogues (with new words highlighted yellow) or vocabulary lists (where words are accompanied by color cartoon illustrations). You’ll also find blue-tinted tables with grammar summaries, but these don’t get bogged down or lengthy. Every new Italian word has English-friendly pronunciation key written near it, like dieci DYEH-chee “ten”.

Apart from the vocabulary, dialogs and grammar, you’ll be completing activities. These will have you filling in blanks, matching words and even completing a few crossword puzzles. The nearly constant flow of exercises keeps the course fresh and engaging, even if it’s never innovative or immersive.

Now, how much Italian can you expect to learn? You’ll definitely cover a fair share of vocabulary – numbers, greetings, weather, time, as well as loads of phrases related to people, places and events. You’ll learn to talk about everyday activities like going to the store, the bank, ordering food, finding your way around town, and hotels and lodging. The situations are generic, and not overtly specific to Italy (apart from the inclusion of some city maps).

You’ll also learn a good deal of beginner grammar – nouns, articles, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, and sentence structure. You’ll learn the present tense (‘does’) of regular and irregular Italian verbs, and the future (‘will do’) and conditional (‘would do’) of a few verbs. It’s a good foundation for further studies, but, since all of these are brought up at random moments in a conversational context, you won’t find the treatment of grammar routine or too methodical.

A final multiple choice review exam tests your knowledge of the language before you leave, and a set of yellow index cards with Italian vocab words on one side and translations on the other serve as a decent memory aide.

To top it off, you’ll get a short “dictionary” with the book, which is really just an Italian-English and English-Italian vocabulary glossary. You’ll also find the perforated yellow index cards I mentioned above as extras in the back of the book. It’s a shame there’s no vocabulary, phrase, or grammar index by topic, which would make it easier to come back to these lessons later. Still, the table of contents and your memory should help you reference what you need to here.

Make sure to look for a copy with the CD, and not the book alone, especially if you’re learning on your own. It helps you practice as you pronounce Italian out loud along with native speakers.

Learn Italian the Fast and Fun Way provides an active romp through beginning Italian. If you enjoy a conversational approach with a cartoony style and plenty of simple written activities along the way, this may be the Italian course for you.