Customer Reviews

Italian, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programs

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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

We used these CD's intensely for 3 weeks before a trip to Italy. I used them only in driving back and forth to work. I covered each lesson twice (sometimes 3 times) before going to the next. When we (wife and I) arrived in Italy, we had a lot of fun with this and the naturally warm people of Italy seemed to have fun with us. We weren't exactly ready to read Dante in the original language, but for the scope of what this program intends to do we had a great experience.

If I had more use for the language than that of a tourist, I would like to go through then Pimsleur long course(s). This is a great way to learn a language. This is the best simulation of learning a language "naturally" that I have seen. The results were great and the pain was very low. Every word they teach is present in the context of use. There really is no rote memorization.

Highly recommended.

I've taken the usual spanish in highschool and I have also taken two semesters of german in college, and I must say that Pimsleur is a very efficient program that will definately give you amazing results. I didn't really want to learn spanish in high school, so I wasn't as focused as was required to do well. I loved taking german, and would really like to get back into it. I have used Pimsleur for basic italian (the first 10 lessons of the 30 lesson package) and can now speak a decent amount of the language. Pimsleur uses repetition to really drive home both word memorization and knowledge of the language. Many people dislike this style of learning, but unfortunately for them it's the only way anyone can ever gain a full knowledge and ability to speak the language among native speakers. I plan on getting either the basic or the intermediate german once I am finished with the italian. I highly recommend Pimsleur if you want to learn a new language!

I like the recording very much. But without any written material, it's very difficult to figure out the pronunciation and spelling of words. It's not a complete course without written material but can be used to supplement other learning methods.

I thought this was a great program. It focused on practical things first like saying "I don't understand" and "I speak English" and finished up with "I'll have dinner/drinks with you at nine o'clock". I liked the format, often the narrator asked you in English to say things and then you had a chance to do it in Italian before the speaker gave you the response so you weren't just using repetition.

As other reviewers have noted, it would be nice to have a booklet with the words for review... I spent two lessons not sure I was hearing a certain verb correctly. I have had a lot of Spanish lessons so found a lot of similarities between Italian and Spanish and the format of their sentences and conjugation of verbs so perhaps the CDs were good for me because I wasn't exactly starting from scratch.

I have since purchased the Italian I course to further work on my Italian. It should be noted that the 5 CDs (i.e. first 10 lessons) in the Basic Italian are also the first 5 CDs out of the 16 CDs in the Italian I. So if you think you'd like to learn past the "I'll go out to dinner with you", you might want to just buy Italian I and skip the Basic Italian.

For the traveler who wants to learn a few helpful words and phrases, this is a great help. Care has been given to helping the beginner learn to correctly pronounce the Italian words. For those wanting more, there are more advanced courses by Pimsler.

This audio CD set, plus "Italian Verb Drills", plus "Essential Italian Grammar", and you're on your way to speak the most romantic and musical language on the planet!!! That's all you need!! I can actually tell when one of my students has been practicing with the audio cd's. Well, now it's up to you to TAKE THE FIRST STEP and be patient! Results will come before you know it, just put the effort in and it will come back 10-fold!
Don't forget the ingredients to learning a language: PRACTICE, REPETITION, and PATIENCE!

This CD set is a great way to receive a simple exposure to the musicality (?) of the Italian language. The Italian language has a flow to it, like music. It is to Spanish what an Irish brogue is to English, if that helps. This CD set will not make you an expert by any stretch of the imagination. But it will get your ears and tongue accustomed to Italian, which is a good thing. I bought it and used it to get my feet wet in Italian and have since gone on to speak the language with mild fluency. It's great for the morning commute, in the car, listening to Italian. It goes at a good pace and tests your short-term memory along the way. There is no background music or sound effects, either.