Customer Reviews

Beginner's Italian: An Easy Introduction (Teach Yourself (NTC))

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I would've given this five stars had some of the exercises been a bit more thorough and dealt with the more necessary elements needed for to develop a beginner's level of skill. In fact, none of the books I've tried have properly accomplished that, but this one does a better job than most and is especially good for someone learning on his/her own.

I could not believe the first review listed, rating this book as a 1 star, viewed as helpful by 13 of 19 people. Having only studied this book, I went to Italy and with no tour guide or any other help made arrangements to go all over Italy, bought tickets, meals, conversed did it all with no help. This is a great book. I have used "Teach Yourself" Italian, French, and Croatian and gone to those countries and had a blast. They are great guides. The objection that the words weren't "phoneticised" is lunacy for anyone who knows that Italian pronunciation is very standard and a brief guide is all that is needed. Here is a hint if you are having trouble: write the pronunciations on a 3 x 5 card and use it as a bookmark, DUH! If you study this book and you have the initiative to copy the pronunciation onto a 3x5 card, Lei puo andare in Italia domani. Capisce?

This book is a very good beginner's guidebook to the Italian language. The format is organized in logical sequence, building upon knowledge gained from previous chapters. The explainations are clear and concise. I found it to be very helpful in my quest to learn Italian.

Teach Yourself Beginner's Italian
The book arrived very promptly but although advertised as being in good condition, it had been written in with biro. If pencil, I could have erased it. That was a disappointment.

THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A FRIENDLY INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN, BUT I FOUND IT ANYTHING BUT THAT. MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT IS THE SMALL PRONUNCIATION GUIDE; IT APPEARS ONLY IN THE FRONT OF THE BOOK. IN MY OPINION, IT IS MUCH MORE HELPFUL TO HAVE A PHONETIC PRONUNCIATION BESIDE EACH WORD/PHRASE INSTEAD OF HAVING TO KEEP RETURNING TO THE FRONT OF THE BOOK. I CAN HIGHLY RECOMMEND BARRON'S ITALIAN AT A GLANCE; IT HAS AN EASY-TO-FOLLOW PRONUNCIATION GUIDE AS WELL AS PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTIONS FOR ALL WORDS AND PHRASES USED IN THE BOOK. TO SUMMARIZE, IF YOU HAVE NO OR VERY LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF ITALIAN PRONUNCIATIONS, THIS GUIDE IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.