Customer Reviews

Berlitz Basic Italian Workbook

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

 

 

I had to rate this one star because zero stars is not a choice. This workbook is exactly what it purports to be: a workbook for students who have learned enough Italian for simple communciatin and now want to improve BUT, and this is a big but, the work book has a number of mistakes that will leave any novice confused. For example: Unit 2, Exercise 6 says "Complete the sentence with the words given below" and indeed the answers in the back of the book show the correct answer to be 'grandparents' for #6. Unfortunately 'grandparents' is not/not one of the words in the list to chose from. Similarly in the very next exercise the article for the plural of 'fratelli' is not 'le' as shown in the answers but 'i fratelli'. In the next item the article for 'sorelle' is listed as 'i' when the correct answer has to be 'le sorelle'. The two articles were obviously switched accidently. Berlitz' proofreader was asleep or doesn't speak or read Italian. Berlitz needs to redo check this entire workbook before I could imagine recommending it to anyone.

I use the Berlitz Basic Italian Workbook in my advanced Italian class. It contains varied and entertaining exercises that provide practice in grammar while preparing the students for different everyday situations. There are a few mistakes in the book but they are insignificant. The book has another advantage: it is affordable. There is no point choosing a textbook that the students can't afford to buy!