Customer Reviews

Italian in 10 Minutes a Day, 5th Edition

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recommend this entire series (..."10 minutes a day") as the bestvalue you will find in learning a language at the basic level/. They are well done, technically excellent and the layout of the graphics and type add to the remarkable clarity this book brings to learning a new language.

The content is a perfect mix of not only words and phrases but how to combine these so as to actually be useful while traveling as opposed to the boring and limited memorization techniques so frequently found in language texts. This will not make you "fluent" but will enable you to travel with confidence and communicate your neeeds without worry.

This book is easy enough for children s well. My nine year old son easily completed the exercises and the material was not too difficult for him.

I would make one recommendation as an adjunct to this book. Without exposure to native speakers it is somewhat difficult in regards to correct accent and pronounciation. I have bought and used many language tapes and found the "Pimsleur: tapes the best around. Even if you cannot afford the entire beginners set of 30 lessons on 15 tapes they now market an introductory set which is the first few tapes of the larger set and is priced at around twenty dollars here at Amazon. Even these few lessons will do wonders for giving you the exposure you need to speak more like a native. If you can afford the larger set go for it... this book is the perfect companion!

Last April I spent 10 days in Italy with my family. I am a language fanatic so I used the trip as an opportunity to try out a new language similar to two that I had already studied (French and Spanish). This book really helped me learn the basics of conversational Italian, without being bogged down by intense grammar sessions and cumbersome textbooks. It is arranged like a children's language book with pictures and workbook pages that really help you become interactive with your learning.

Despite some reviewers, I enjoyed the fact that there were no tapes or CDs attached to this book. Listening to tapes for long stretches of time is, frankly, boring, and I know that I can just as easily fall asleep listening to tapes than actually learn the language. This book is fabulous for learning some Italian for a trip, but probably not for a long term study of the language. It is only an introduction and I know that I said I like the minimum amount of grammar in the book but a serious student would be stunted by those missing lessons.

One more comment that I would like to add is that I did not have the recommended amount of time to study with this book before my trip. Nonetheless, I learned Italian that helped me be polite, but maybe not a stellar conversationalist. The people there (and I would guess just about anywhere) appreciate visitors attempts at the native language. It shows common courtesy and acknowledges that you are visiting them, and not vice versa. There is too much Anglophone superiority in our country and, no matter which book you choose, learning some Italian is really appreciated.

I really enjoyed Italian in 10 minutes a day. It is well laid out, and fun to study. A perfect introduction to learning Italian. After this book I can recommend Italian Made Simple, which will then take you through most of the Italian grammar.

This is an excellent intro to Italian for the person who wants the basics for a vacation to Italy, or perhaps as a starting point for someone who wants to go on to study Italian more seriously. The idea that you are only to spend 10 minutes a day is reassuring for those of us with busy schedules...as someone else said, you actually end up spending more time with the book every day because it is fun...but knowing that my "commitment" is for ten minutes makes it easier for me to pick the book up at the end of a long day at work. The brevity of the exercises makes it perfect for those times when you have a few minutes to spare (e.g., waiting for a friend to show up). I also liked the sticky labels and the pocket guides.

In general, this book is very strong in teaching a lot of good vocabulary, but I found it a bit weak in teaching structure. (Keep in mind that I am only about half way through it, though!) I am discovering that I have learned a lot of great vocabulary, but except for some basic phrases (Where is the...? Here is the...), I am not able to produce a lot of complete sentences. Again, the phrases the book DOES teach are useful for travelers, but not necessarily helpful for someone wanting to make casual conversation with an Italian speaker. Also, though they do a great job teaching how to pronounce the different consonants and vowels, they don't talk much about where to place the stress in multisyllabic words. My Italian friends frequently corrected me because I've placed the stress on the wrong syllable (interference from Spanish, probably).

The "10 minutes a day" books are a simple introduction in learning the basics of a foreign language. The layouts are in a workbook format that include puzzles, cut-out flash cards and sticky labels that you can place around your house to help you build your vocabulary. Easy to read, easy to follow and enjoyable. You'll build a vocabulary foundation that includes numbers, colors, how to tell time, the question words (who, what, when, where, how)and more. The simplicity of the books makes learning fun and you'll find your are spending more than 10 minutes. As a beginner in learning Italian myself, I paired this book with the Pimsleur Italian CD's. Reading vocabulary is one thing, but Pimsleur is really idea for comprehending how the language is spoken by native speakers.

The book makes every attempt to be fun and easy, but once you get past its kindergarten feel with multitudes of colorful pictures, large type, double spacing and clutter, you'll begin to notice its shortcomings.

Most of the book consists of predominantly English text with Italian words substituted for some of the English words. Aside from giving the false impression that speaking Italian is just a matter of plugging Italian words into an English sentence, this practice gets very old very fast. You are introduced to the word "Lei" (singular polite version of "you") early in the book, and from that point on every single instance of "you" (and there are lots of them) is replaced with "Lei". The fact that pronouns are typically omitted in Italian emphasizes the inappropriateness of this approach.

The book includes a pronunciation guide for Italian words. However, the pronunciation guide doesn't indicate the stressed syllable. Given that Italian is highly phonetic, and that stress is one of main unknowns in Italian pronunciation, this omission renders the pronunciation guide practically worthless.

Don't bother trying to find the book's index in Amazon's "Look Inside". The book doesn't have an index. It does however have a page at the end plugging the author's other publications. I suppose it's a matter of priorities.

For some reason the verb tables are missing the "tu" (singular informal "you") and "voi" (plural "you") conjugations. I am guessing an attempt at simplification is the reason, but as long as you are looking at a verb's root and five conjugations, would it kill you to look at a couple more?

The book attempts to compensate for its lack of substance with a couple of gimmicks. On the bottom of most pages you'll find the so called free words. These are Italian words that are similar to their English counterparts. Well, you still have to remember the fact that a particular word is similar to an English word and the details of how it differs from the English word, so while you may argue that these words are in the low cost category, they are definitely not free. Further, some of the supposedly free words bear little resemblance to English. Would you have guessed that "scala" means "staircase"? You definitely need to cough up a few bucks for that one.

Another gimmick consists of a few sets of stickers with Italian words on them with which you are meant to label common items. The idea is that as you encounter theses stickers every day, the words will be permanently imprinted in your memory. I wasn't sure where to put the "i jeans" sticker. The book suggests using your imagination. After using my imagination for a while, I imagined several better ways to build my vocabulary.

I have a few introductory Italian books, and most of them are pretty good. This one doesn't deserve to share shelf space with any of the others. You can find much better alternatives for the same investment of time and money. I don't know where the glowing Amazon reviews came from. Friends and family come to mind.

It's always difficult to find the perfect "learn a little of the language before you go" book. This one's not bad; and I did learn what I needed to: "how do you get to ...", "where's the toilet?", "how much is it?" and other assorted phrases, as well as enough to understand at least part of the answers.

I did like the way the book presented pronunciations, and I'm pretty picky in that regard.

If you will be using the book ONLY before you go, and NOT as a resource while you're there, then this is a good buy for you. It's not a good carry-with resource, though, due to layoug and lack of index.

The stickers were a fun idea; if you are taking children with you, the stickers will really help your kids learn a few words as well.

I know few languages but have never really spoken Italian, only watched a few movies. I am hoping to chat it up in Italy. I may not chat it up but with this book I will be able to defend myself. The whole concept of a little study everyday works and the variety of practice styles aid different learning styles. I have used this series to teach English as a second language and I have seen it start a non speaker.

I've bought and used Italian tapes and they were OK. I still use them in the car. Something was missing, though. I really needed to see the words because some of the pronunciations on tapes made it tough for me to really understand the word.

I found this workbook and snapped it up. Why? It reminded me of the learning activities that I see every day in the primary grades in which I supervise student teachers. I asked a language teacher friend to tell me if these exercises would be effective and she said "YES!"

I like the pace of the book, with quick exercises that are each logically related to the exercises before and after it. You get to SAY a word or phrase, REPEAT it, WRITE the word several times. The repetition has helped me quite a bit.

This book has a feature that I find particularly enjoyable - paragraphs of instructions are sprinkled with Italian words and I find myself reading the Italian word and understanding it immediately. Wow! Reading in Italian. Not a lot, but Italian nevertheless. It's progress.

The coolest part of this workbook are the stickers - well, maybe not the coolest part, but very cool. Also, you get these little word labels that you stick on things around the house and you get little flash cards.

For me, this seems to be working. I think that if fits my learning style. It might just be what you need as well. Italy should be a little easier for me this summer.

I used this book in preparation for a trip to Italy last Spring and I found it very helpful. At first I wasn't expecting much from a work book, but they do a very good job at helping you understand the relationships between words, places, and things. I found it a good compliment to also listening to audio learning guides such as Pimsleur or Michel Thomas (you can borrow these from your local library!). I definitely used this book for more than 10 minutes at a time!