Italian Language Learning Reviews

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:
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.