Italian with Michel Thomas (Deluxe Language Courses with Michel Thomas) [AUDIOBOOK] (Audio CD)

by Michel Thomas (Author) "Over a period of twenty-five years, Michel Thomas has developed and perfected a unique method of teaching languages..." (more)
Key Phrases: Michel Thomas, New York

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Ideal for any business traveller who needs to be able to get around confidently." -- Sunday Business "A great way to learn; it's fast and it lasts". -- The Daily Telegraph "Michel Thomas is a precious find indeed." -- The Guardian "Thomas makes it simple" -- Sunday Times "Michel's methods will teach you effectively and easily" -- Daily Star "Hugely inspiring" -- Red --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Description
Anyone can learn a language with Michel Thomas--The World's Greatest Language Teacher.

No books. No writing. No drills. And nothing to memorize--ever! With his unique program, Michel Thomas has taught celebrities, corporate leaders, and schoolchildren--with immediate and amazing results. Now the Language Teacher to the Stars invites everyone to join his class!

Using Italian with Michel Thomas, listeners learn in real time--fully understanding as they go along, turning words into short sentences, and then building them into longer, more complex sentences, until they are conversing in Italian.

Michel will have listeners formulating their own thoughts and sentences from the very beginning, even if they have never succeeded in learning a language before. Michel has used this very method to teach celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Warren Beatty, and Princess Grace of Monaco.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007138166X
• ISBN-13: 978-0071381666
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.9 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #676,701 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not bad, but certainly not great, October 17, 2004

By	puthupa "puthupa" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

I borrowed this from my local library and am extremely happy that I did not pay for it. Other reviewers are correct in stating that verb usage is quite good, while actual vocabulary is pretty low.

Obviously, I'm in the minority with regards to my rating, so I will cut to the chase about what I didn't like about it: 1) hearing the two students make mistakes repeatedly. I don't need to hear someone mispronounce a word repeatedly - I would prefer to hear the word pronounced properly. Hearing someone else flub a term repeatedly is an irritation. 2) the loose structure - I prefer a more organized approach than a conversational one.

I am now trying out Pimsleur and finding that much more up my alley, because the approach is very organized, pronunciation is taught (longer words are broken into their phonetic components so you learn how to pronounce each syllable), and you don't hear another student repeatedly make errors - trust me, you don't need to hear someone else's mistakes to learn how to do it right.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michel Thomas has a Winning Formula, July 8, 2000

By	Martha L. Gariepy (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Italian With Michel Thomas: The Language Teacher to Corporate America and Hollywood (Deluxe Language Courses With Michel Thomas) (Italian Edition) (Audio CD)

I ordered the eight C/D deluxe edition after reading about Thomas's courses in British Airways' flight magazine. So far the collection has exceeded my expectations. You learn by getting the language in your ear and building sentences immediately. Thomas does not waste any time. I studied Italian at university twenty years ago, so this pace was not a problem for me. If it's grammatical instruction you seek, look elsewhere. The course may be a little too accelerated for the true beginner, but for someone who wants to "brush up" and learn all the essential everyday vocabulary, it's perfect!

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK - for a crash course in basic communication, July 18, 2005

By	Laura De Giorgio "www.deeptrancenow.com" (Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

On a positive side these CDs contain some good suggestions for accelerated learning of foreign languages (I have purchased sets for Italian, Spanish, French and German). By learning some essential rules of the language, and discovering associations with what you already know, will help you in assimilating a lot of new material rapidly. As such, the program may be ideal if you are planning to go to a country where this foreign language is spoken and you need to learn how to express your basic needs and find your way around - and don't have much time to learn it.

At the beginning of CDs, it is also approproately mentioned that you will learn much faster if you are in a relaxed (and open) state of mind. I have just about every available audio program for the above foreign languages, and I have found this one the least relaxing, mainly because I found it tormenting listening to two people struggle with pronouncing new words. The experience was like learning to speak English language from a person who is stuttering. God knows, if you're having difficulty learning foreign languages and pronouncing foreign words, maybe you even enjoy this method - but even for that purpose I'd rather recommend Pimsleur Programs, or Learn in Your Car series. If you intend to listen to language learning CDs for extended period of time, you may find it more enjoyable listening to CDs with native speakers. There are NO native foreign language speakers on Michel Thomas CDs.

At the beginning of the CDs, when the two students are introduced - it is said that soon you can come to identify with those students. Personally, I think, you'd make faster progress if you start identifying with native spakers.

As far as the language learning CDs in the same price range go, I have found Behind the Wheel series of CDs infinitely more appealing.