Customer Reviews

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

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I enjoyed the Pimsleur Italian series so much that I bought this.
The bad and the good about this product:

THE BAD - Conversations and dialogue revolve around publishing so it's obvious that they repackaged/repurposed some Simon & Schuster training materials. This is also bad because not as much from the previous Italian series is referenced.

THE GOOD - There are some very useful phrases that apply regardless of the publishing business. The same techique (which I really liked) is used in the lessons. So you can continue to practice on the go. All in all I really liked Pimsleur.

Recommendation: Buy it used if possible and only buy it if you liked the approach and desperately want more.

Otherwise the 80 dollars approx would be better spent on private lessons, classes, etc.

I love the Pimsleur programme for learning Italian because it has turned my commute to work into an extremely useful and pleasant series of Italian lessons. I've done the whole set from the beginning of Level II on (I had taken Italian years ago in high school and didn't need to start from scratch). I am currently finishing Italian Plus. I wish there were more of these CDs, because I don't feel ready to converse at length quite yet, I think. I'm sure it would only be a matter of a little bit more practice, because I have a very solid knowledge of the basics by now.

I got the CDs at my local library and I'm so pleased they were available because I wouldn't have sprung for the set if I had to buy it, even though I do think they teach you the language very effectively.

It's true this set focuses on publishing, but the general ideas are what matters, and the specific vocabulary is secondary. You could just as easily apply these sentences in any other kind of business, if you substitute your own terminology. Here's an example sentence "My boss doesn't like the title. We will solve that problem with the help of the translator who is very good."