Customer Reviews

Express Italian: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Express)

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

 

 

In reading some of the other reviews I am amazed at what people think a single CD course will accomplish. The Pimsleur Express courses (I've used Spanish, French, Italian, German and Russian) are not gimmicks, but merely an effort to provide a bit of comfort with spoken basics and travel expressions. If I want to learn a language well enough to survive several weeks in a foreign country I know I'll need a more indepth course than this. These do, however, give me enough to do one of those tours where I'm spending 2, 3 or 4 days in a country (or several countries), before moving on to another.

The only reason I give them a 5-star rating is that they do exactly what they say they will. Even though the second part is an oral listing of basic travel expressions, rather than fully developed Pimsleur lessons. I found that, when coupled with a great phrasebook (such as those published by Lonely Planet), Pimsleur gave me enough exposure to the phrases to be able to either read or say them correctly. Yes, I did have to review the travel phrases several times to learn them, but I think if Pimsleur took the time to develop separate travel lessons in the Pimsleur format I'd have had to pay a lot more for them, and I'd have had to spend a lot more time studying them.

If Pimsleur is guilty of any gimmick, it's the same gimmick others use by trying to tell us we can learn a language in several hours (or 10 minutes a day) -- and the Pimsleur Express doesn't make that claim -- just that it's a quick introduction to important phrases needed for travel. They haven't prepared me for deep philosophical discussions, but they have successfully gotten me through airports, train stations, in and out of taxis, stores, hotels and restaurants. I think that's exactly what they were created for.

This Pimsleur Express CD contains a 25 minute conversation lesson followed by about 40 minutes of "scenes", or typical travel situations.

The conversation lesson is obviously the highlight of this product. Organized in the patented Pimsleur style, it stuck immediately.

The "scenes" contain many useful phrases, but I retained very, very little on the first listen. Several listens later, I have still not retained much. However, I do value the facts that (1) the vocab is topical, and (2) native speakers do the talking. Maybe by the 30th listen I will have this all down. This makes the "scenes" portion of the CD about on-par with Pimsleur's competitors (too much work!). The "scenes" are all about repition.

This product is a gimmick. I assume that Pimsleur wanted to create a low-priced product that would look attractive on the bookstore shelf next to the $20+ Michel Thomas, Berlitz, Living Language, etc. etc. products. People will buy this for the topical vocab and the low price. But they will keep buying Pimsleur because their conversation lessons work.

If I ever buy a Pimsleur Express CD again, it will be in a language I already speak pretty well, not in a language I am just starting to learn. A decent Italian speaker could get a lot more out of this product. In the meantime, I will try the Pimsleur Instant Conversation method that worked so well for me in other languages.

I would not order the Express series again. The Quick and simple is much more geared toward learning. The Express CD mostly just gives you words to repeat and I ended up buying something else. I do recommend Pimsleur for language learning though.

This is really just an introduction to the Pimsleur system. It includes Lesson One from their regular audio course, and a series of travel-related dialogues for listening and repeating, with a printed booklet for following the "story".
It could be helpful for practice in listening to spoken Italian, but it doesn't really offer a lot. I would recommend just going straight to the full Pimsleur course instead.

I would only recommend this item if you've previously studied Italian but not had much, if any, practical use. Lesson 1 on this disk is Lesson 1 from Pimsleur's Italian 1 program. That's fine; however, after that it's a whirlwind going through various little scenarios that you may encounter while traveling through Italy. I would probably have to listen to this 100 times before I mastered the conversations, because it moves so fast. You really can't listen to this while driving (at least initially) because you need the (tiny) little book that comes with it to understand the pronunciations which are difficult to pick up when listening to the CD sometimes because they talk too fast. One thing I will say is it gives you an idea of how fast the Italians will be talking when you get there. Beyond that, I'd say again, only buy this program for a little refresher before your trip (assuming you've already studied the language).

Here is a breakdown of the scenes/quick conversations that are included on the disk after lesson 1:

-Landing at the airport
-At customs
-At breakfast (a one-sided telephone conversation of someone ordering room service)
-At the tobacco store
-Shopping
-Finding the way
-In front of the Colosseum
-At a reception
-At a restaurant
-At the emergency room
-At the hotel
-A stroll through Venice

Keep in mind these conversations all last about a minute or two at most. There is a little recap and repeat, phrase by phrase, at the end of each short converation that moves way to fast for my liking.

I've ordered other programs and will listen to this one again after I go through some REAL lessons. One note in Pimsleur's defense: I went through the Pimsleur Italian 1 Lessons 1-5, and they were great, slower moving and easier to understand.

Very good CD's I put them on my I POD and was able to listen while out walking. etc. It could have been much better if it had a Book to follow looking at words sometime makes it a lot quicker to learn.