Customer Reviews

Mercurio: An Intermediate to Advanced Reader in Italian Language and Culture (Yale Language)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was fortunate enough to have Fedi himself (one of the writers of this book) as a professor. Although the introductory chapters are slow-going, there is a lot of information that would ordinarily not be found in a typical 400-level ITL textbook.

Fedi and Fasoli use contemporary examples to enrich these lessons: excerpts from well-known (and not so well-known) films, advertisements from IKEA, and web-group message boards are just a few of the pedagogic devices that make this text brilliantly accessible.

Although much of the content seems topical, I guarantee that this book will stand the test of time for several years.
I also want to add: this book has an EXCELLENT vocabulary -- even if you are a native speaker you will learn some new words from this book.
Highly recommended for advanced learners of Italian.

This is an excellent reader for intermediate/advanced students. It is a great book for increasing your vocabulary of the Italian language. The readings are current and up-to-date, and this is just an all-around great resource. My only 'gripe' with this book is the use of end notes, rather than footnotes. Meaning that if you need to find look up a reference that they have provided for a translation or what-not, you have to flip to the back of the book and search for it.

That aside, this is a great resource. If you are an intermediate/advanced student wanting to learn more about Italian culture and build your vocabulary, this is the book for you.

I wish that it had more exercises and reading comprehension type questions.

This book is not easy but is well designed for the person with a fairly good basis in the Italian language. I am very happy to have it for my onward going studies.

I ordered this book used. First time I have done that and I am sorry that I did. It arrived and as I thumbed through the pages I see that the prior owner used a pen to write notes on practically every single page including her homework assignment. I don't consider this acceptable. There are also orange, blue and green markers on almost every page over certain words.
This book should have never been put on the market. I am having to scratch out all of the previous owners notes, and also I ran out of white out to get rid of some of the note.
I will NEVER order another book from Amazon again. They should be ashamed of themselves putting this book out for sale.