Italian, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programs [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0743550684 | ISBN-13: 978-0743550680 | Publication Date: September 6, 2005 | Edition: Revised, 10 Lessons

The 10-lesson (5 CDs) Basic Course gives customers the chance to test drive the incredibly effective and efficient, world-famous Pimsleur Comprehensive Program. A real try it before you buy it deal. Customers will love the experience of acquiring the essential grammar and vocabulary of Italian, during the spoken practice sessions. It is this ease of language acquisition that makes the full Comprehensive Pimsleur Program so popular and successful for adult language learners.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Pimsleur programs provide plenty of positive reinforcement that will keep learners on track, and we found that Pimsleur gave us more proficiency and confidence in speaking the new language than any of the other language programs we reviewed." -- AudioFile Magazine

"EXTREMELY ACCESSIBLE...each section within the lessons is short enough to hold our attention, and there is enough repetition to teach even those who consider themselves slow learners...Pimsleur [programs] are extremely thorough and easy to use -- quite lively!" -- Boston Herald

"Learn French while commuting, German while jogging, Spanish (or Russian, Italian, and Japanese) while cooking all with NO WRITTEN MATERIALS!" -- New York Daily News

"Designed for the ear and not the eye...the lessons provide PERFECT 30-minute bites of work." -- St Louis Post-Dispatch

"Learn to habla español or parlez français before your next trip aboard. The interactive LESSONS CHALLENGE STUDENTS to use new words in conversation instead of memorize them." -- American Way (American Airlines inflight magazine)

"I tried other language programs with little success...This is the best by far!" -- Pamela A. Mitchell, Pilot, International Society of Women Airline Pilots

About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed The Pimsleur Method based on two key principles:  the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called “Graduated Interval Recall.”  This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the Pimsleur Programs.

Product Details

• Audio CD: 5 pages
• Publisher: Pimsleur; Revised, 10 Lessons edition (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743550684
• ISBN-13: 978-0743550680
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.5 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Books on CD > Languages > Language Instruction > Italian
  • #9 in Books > Books on CD > Reference
  • #23 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Italian

More About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur (b. 1926, d. 1976) devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world's leading experts in applied linguistics. He was fluent in French, good in German, and had a working knowledge of Italian, Russian, Modern Greek, and Mandarin Chinese. After obtaining his Ph.D. in French and a Masters in Psychology from Columbia University, he taught French Phonetics and Linguistics at UCLA. He later became Professor of Romance Languages and Language Education, and Director of The Listening Center (a state-wide language lab) at Ohio State University; Professor of Education and Romance Languages at the State University of New York at Albany; and a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. He did research on the psychology of language learning and in 1969 was Section Head of Psychology of Second Language Learning at the International Congress of Applied Linguistics.

Dr. Pimsleur was a member of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and a founding member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

His many books and articles revolutionized theories of language learning and teaching. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed a new method (The Pimsleur Method) that is based on two key principles: the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called "Graduated Interval Recall." This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the "Pimsleur Programs."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

148 of 149 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just the basics...., January 31, 2008

By 

Colleen M. Schneider (San Lorenzo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Italian, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Audio CD)

My husband and I have, in the last few years taken two trips to Europe and though we were only staying for a couple weeks wanted to learn a bit of the language in order to make an effort to at least be able to say the polite phrases and to understand the basics. I was not looking for a comprehensive program, nor was I looking to continue on to a more challenging program.

This set was recommended by my sister who has a degree in Language and has learned and speaks several languages fluently. She advised me that Pimsleur was one of the best programs on the market for what I was looking for, and she was right.

I have found that any effort that I have made to speak the language (no matter how horribly mangled-it appears that it is all about the sincere effort) has been met with appreciation and has often resulted in a more friendly and pleasurably stay. I'm NOT fluent, nor am I a quick study. I used polite/useful phrases from the series frequently in my travels such as: Hello, How are you, excuse me, do you speak English? I do not speak Italian, Where is the bathroom, the list goes on. Any attempts seem to be appreciated, and for me it is worth the time for me to learn a little to be able to get around a little easier. Also, it is fun. I can take the cd's in my car and work on them on my commute. Perfect!

This will not teach you all the Italian you want to know if you are looking to speak fluently, but for a traveler, I thought it was perfect and it was both useful and fun.

I would highly recommend this product for those traveling to Italy that would just like to know a bit of Italian. You can always build onto it later if you wish to, but for the traveler it is a very nice program.

My one wish for these sets would be a booklet that gave a basic run-down on the chapters. With an audio only format sometimes I did not catch the word immediately and found myself looking up a few words on-line in order to understand how they were spelled so I knew if I was pronouncing them correctly. I'm a visual person, what can I say? Other than that I felt this was a highly effective program and would definitely look at other items in this series for our next adventure.

72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You can learn what Pimsleur Method is., May 23, 2006

By 

T. Inui "TuscanyWine" (NISHINOMIYA, HYOGO Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Italian, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Audio CD)

My purpose of learning Italian conversation is to visit Tuscany villages alone for enjoying slow life there and to acquire the ability to communicate hopefully fluently with the people there.
I actually tried to find out appropriate ways to learn Italian on the Net and finally reached the language courses carried by Amazon.com, namely 'Rosetta Stone' and 'Pimsleur'. After reading the reviews for the Pimsleur courses, I decided to go for it.
But the problem was that the Pimsleur's packages seemed at first expensive to me because I only knew the system's features but I've never listened to it.
Thus I decided to purchase this `Basic Italian' because 1. I just wanted to feel the water to find out if this is for me, 2. this program contains first ten lessons that are derived form the `Italian I'.
I got confident and determined to continue to use the `Italian I' even before I finished this Basic Italian and I'm quite satisfied with the Pimsleur's method. I have been on the `Italian I' currently.
I believe the program is worth spending your money and time.

81 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings, January 9, 2007

By 

Larry Nebel (Pleasanton, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Italian, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Audio CD)

The produce is fine and the learning method seems good -- the bad part is it is a bit of a bait and switch product -- you get 10 lessons on 5 disks for a very cheap price (less than $20.00) BUT to go on and learn more you have to buy a very EXPENSIVE follow on course (Like $250 or more). So basically this is a demo that you pay for -- I thought I was buying a course