Italian II - 2nd Ed.: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programs [Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0743528786 | ISBN-13: 978-0743528788 | Edition: 2

Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino, and an official language of Switzerland, Croatia, and Slovenia. It is spoken by about 58 million in Italy, 24,000 in San Marino, 840,000 in Switzerland, another million in other European countries, and 5 million in North and South America.

Comprehensive Italian II includes 30 additional lessons (16 hrs.), plus Readings, which build upon the language skills acquired in Level I. Increased spoken and reading language ability. Level II will double your vocabulary and grammatical structures while increasing your spoken proficiency exponentially. Upon completion of a Level II, you will be able to:

• engage in fuller conversations involving yourself, your family, daily activities, interests and personal preferences,
• combine known elements into increasingly longer sentences and strings of sentences,
• create with language and function in informal situations,
• deal with concrete topics in the past, present, and future,
•  meet social demands and limited job requirements,
• begin reading for meaning.

Note: In order for the Pimsleur Method to work correctly, you must first complete the Level I language program before proceeding to the Level II language program.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Pimsleur; 2 edition (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743528786
• ISBN-13: 978-0743528788
• Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 9.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,906,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're serious about learning Italian - this is your best bet!, January 15, 2006

By 

Nada Vergili, Italy Guide & Language Teacher ... (Charlotte, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Italian II, Second Edition: Compehensive Compact Discs (Audio CD)

From an Italian teacher's perspective, I highly recommend the Pimsleur series. If you're serious about learning Italian, I do think they're the best. And the reason is because they get you to repeat the phrases over and over and over again. Learning a language takes time, but if you need some essential expressions before your trip, they also offer an Instant Conversation series, which is a lot shorter than this one.

The important thing in learning a language is repetition, and you'll get plenty of it with these CDs, as well as learning correct pronunciation.

Remember the first time you hear a song? It takes time to learn it, doesn't it? Well, imagine learning a song in Italian.. it takes even longer, but with some patience, you too will be singing the language of love!

As far as books go, you may end up using a combination, but I do like the Living Language Beginner's book a lot.

Definitely join a course in your area - there's no better practice than to practice in a group! Perhaps you can ask if a community college has it as a continuing education program - although you won't have big problems with the language in the bigger cities, Italians do appreciate if you know at least a little bit.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Italian I, October 31, 2006

By 

Matthew Bryde (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Italian II, Second Edition: Compehensive Compact Discs (Audio CD)

Having completed Italian I, my expectation was that Italian II would be a natural progression. I was not disappointed. e.g. Italian II Lesson 1 could be included in Italian I as Lesson 31 and so on (for my thoughts on Italian I, see my review).

Italian II introduces the informal method of speaking Italian which is much more common (and hence useful) in today's Italy.

While Italian I used the last 5 minutes of each lesson for reading/pronunciation exercises, Italian II (and Italian III) have dispensed with this and now use the whole 30 minutes for verbal learning.

If you haven't been through Italian I, that's where you should start. If you enjoyed Italian I, then I thoroughly recommend Italian II !!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real deal, November 27, 2006

By 

Roxy Zimmer "Gypsy Obsession" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Italian II, Second Edition: Compehensive Compact Discs (Audio CD)

I have tried all spoken Italian products on the market for Italian and this set tops all. It will provide a strong reference for intonation. You will be speaking a fair amount of Italian if you listen to these CDs many times.