Customer Reviews

Drive Time: Italian (Cassette): Learn Italian While You Drive (All-Audio Courses)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This my first review on Amazon but I was compelled to write based on my experience with this course. The first CD is fantastic. It starts off slow and gives you a solid foundation to build upon as you move from lesson to lesson. Within a few weeks of driving back and forth to work I had mastered all the lessons on the CD and could easily translate the English phrases in the final review lesson into Italian. I was confident and had a good grasp on building sentences and nuances such as how words changed when the subject was masculine or feminine. My opinion is that most people write their review based on the first CD.

And then I put in the second CD. I thought there was some mistake, as if I had switched to a completely different Italian course. The slow, clear speaking narrators were gone and replaced with fast talking Italians who didn't repeat anything, and certainly didn't give you time to repeat in the pause. The assumption appeared to be that I already understood the language and this was merely a refresher course. Within ten minutes I knew this was no longer the course for me. I listened to the entire second CD just in case this was all a joke and at some point they would slow down and actually help me learn Italian. No such luck! I have gone back to using the first CD for practice while I wait for the Pimsleur Italian course to arrive.

This CD set is excellent! I recently took a semester of beginning Italian and this tape serves to reinforce what I've learned as well as prepare me for the next level course. What's great about it is I get more practice speaking Italian and hearing Italian as well as training my ear to hear native Italian speakers which is immensely different from what you hear in a classroom setting. I recommend this set to anyone wanting to improve on their speaking the Italian language and sustaining their knowledge of the language between subsequent course taking.

The entire playing time of this set is 4 hours, so the time is fairly limited. There are a pretty good amount of words introduced and the speakers are very good - they enunciate well.

I think there could have been more exercises, that would be my only gripe, plus it's a little bit overpriced in my opinion (around $15). The booklet that comes with it is good and covers all the words learned on the disks.

I've had this CD for about 2 weeks now. My husband and I got this to prepare for our trip to Italy in a couple months. He is a native Spanish speaker and I was a minored in Spanish in college. Knowing Spanish has really come to our advantage in learning Italian. We have been listening to this everyday in the car without any radio or music. It's so fun to learn that sometimes we find ourselves taking the longer route home so we can listen to more of the lessons.

CD1 was basic, but still very challenging. We listened to the CD1 for about a week. The key is to listen to the lessons over and over again. We must have listened to each lesson at least 10 times to make it really sink in. You learns pronunciations, colors, basic vocabulary and a lot of feminine/masculine grammar rules.

CD2 was quite a shock since the Italian is spoken at a much faster pace. It covers more everday conversational Italian that you would find in a restaurant or the airport as well as the alphabet and numbers. Again, the key is to repeat the lessons over and over again.

Just after 2 weeks, I feel that my husband and I have had good progress in learning Italian. With less than 8 weeks until our trip I am confident that we can get by on the basic Italian that we have learned.

My husband is Italian and lived in Italy for 2 years. We now have a 4 month old son who we want to teach English and Italian. I've found this CD very helpful and the repetition of each word/sentence helps me remember sentence structure, vocabulary and masculine/feminine signals.

What I've done is gone through one set of words & the exercises that go with them and then repeated the section again - just to get more practice and become more comfortable with the flow of Italian.

I really like this product and hope you find it as helpful as I do.

These tapes are great I am working in ITaly been here a year and I am desperate to be able to communicate. I have been taking Italian through a local teacher and these tapes got me further than I had been for a long time. They are excellent even if you are coming for a vacation. Very few people in the south of Italy speak English a few more north but if your coming over you will need these to commuicate. Ciao

I was a novice Italian speaker with a good grasp on Italian pronunciation. I ordered this 5 disc set and was very pleased at the lessons geared toward understanding how to speak, not just saying vocabulary words ad nauseam. The lessons brought up many useful speaking situations and explained the right and wrong way to speak italian. These lessons will have you saying "Questo lezione e molto buono. Parlo italiano adesso!"

The first CD was clearly geared to those of us with no former Italian language skills . . . okay, perhaps "ciao." Played first CD numerous times and felt confidence growing and picked up words and small phrases. Nice!

CD two: Whoa! What happened to that slow beginners pace? Suddenly the repetition has vanished and the sentences are flying by! Whiplash!

CD Three: Forgetaboutit. The pace of this CD is sucking my head back against the headrest and my cheeks are pressed into my ears! Entire conversations are rushing by and I don't know which tenses go with which adjectives. Are we still learning Italian for beginners?

CD Four: Don't wanna know. Am still trying to adjust my cervical collar. Big waste of money for us.

This series covers all of the basics needed to converse as a tourist in Italy. It's organized very well. Unfortunately, the native speakers forgot who there target audience is: people not native to Italy ! I find myself tapping the rewind button on the CD player to pick up the speed-talking Italians' dialogue. If they would've spoken a bit slower, especially the female speaker, I could've learned so much more by now. I will be seeking another series to enrich what I already know.

I used these for 1.5 months before I left for Italy and I learned a lot. I did get lost on a few things (sometimes they will jump ahead and for the true beginner you're LOST!) and there were parts I skipped over (I didn't need to know how to ask someone if it was their grandfather's birthday, per se). But I did ask directions with confidence and understood the responses. I also learned what things are good to say when you enter a store, how to order food & drink, etc. Quite helpful.