Customer Reviews

Michel Thomas Speak Italian for Beginners: 10-CD Beginner's Program (Michel Thomas Series)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this course in Jan. 2007 and have completed the first CD and now on to the second. I must say that Michel's approach is quite different from other courses I have tried on Italian. Most courses start out with the traditional greeting between two people. Ciao! Come sta, etc. The first thing Michel talks about is "there are a few thousand words that are similar in English and Italian". The first Italian word you learn is "possibile" or "possible" in English. Then "è" for "it is", then "per me" for "for me" Put together "è possibile per me". You have your first phrase "it is possible for me." I am on the second CD and have not hear "Ciao" yet! Right away you start learning the spoken structure of a sentence by learning several verbs and how to use them in a sentence.

You are learning with two other people. They are struggling to say it just like you are. Make sure your CD player has a pause button. You will need it and have to press it very quickly. When Michel says "How do you say...." listen quickly and press pause. Try it yourself in Italian, then press play. The other students on the CD will try to say it. You learn much better if you try it first before listening to the other students.

I gave this four stars , since on occasion, there are some phrases that have a word that Michel has not mentioned yet. The students seem to know it somehow. So far this has happened with "con me" and "con Lei" (with me, with you) and "La vede domani" (I will see you tomorrow). Michel says the word "La", but does not say why it is in the sentence. Also, with the first CD, I think Michel is teaching in the "formal" context, using Lei for "you" instead of "tu". However, he does not mention that fact. Even though Michel says not to review, I found myself needing to do that, and would recommend it before moving on with lessons.

Overall I think it is a great way to learn. You find yourself looking around you and thinking how that would be said in Italian.

Since I spend a lot of time driving, this has been a wonderful way to learn for me. I have no other time, and now my otherwise 'wasted' time is useful. Also, the way he teaches is great because you learn useful phrases you can use right away, so you pick it up really quick. Oh and you can put it on your iPod and listen to it pretty much anywhere.

I had the MT 10 cd set for beginning French and thought it was great. In preparing for a trip to Italy, I got the Italian version. It isn't as good, primarily because MT seems a bit lost at times. He doesn't control the two students who sometimes seem to be in charge of the lesson. There are long exasperating stretches when the instruction is practically non-existent while we listen to the students grope for what to say and how to say it in Italian. It still gets three stars because MT's method gives a lot in a short period of time, even with his shortcomings here.

I picked up a lot of Italian when I was a teenager, although a lot of it was dialect. When I wanted to get a good understanding of the language I bought the Pimsleur courses, which are excellent but molto caro. My significant other, though, dislikes the Pimsleur approach and so, on a whim, i bought her the Michel Thomas Beginners' Program. We started listening to it together, and it's superb. His approach requires that you relax and make no effort to remember. Gradually, painlessly, he imparts grammar (which he calls "structure" to avoid stressing you out with a word that causes many reflexively to clench mentally). Now I have his advanced cds as well and I'm learning things I never knew or never understood properly. It's wonderful how he imparts understanding. So gradual and so effortless. It's fun. I highly recommend his cds. And they're much less expensive than Pimsleur and, in my view, as good or better.

I used Michel Thomas' Spanish lessons to prepare for a trip to Argentina and it was very helpful. I already knew I liked his intuitive, practical method of teaching, but I had no idea the Italian CDs would be so much more comprehensive than the Spanish ones.

He covers far more verb tenses than on the Spanish one (present, simple past, imperfect, conditional, and future).

He's a terrific teacher - I recommend these tapes to ANYONE. It's so much more useful and practical than the classic "listen/repeat" ("Where is the train station") kind of language lessons.

My only complaint is that he teaches "you" completely in the formal 3rd person tense, never in the informal "tu" form, and I've already been busted for that in practice conversations with an Italian friend. So I'd recommend looking up some of those verbs/rules and just making the adjustment yourself when you're doing the exercises.

Am ready to move on to "advanced" and I can't wait.

While both my wife and son criticize Michel Thomas's Italian accent and his use of the formal "you" rather than the widely used familiar form of "you", I found this to be a wonderful learning experience for my 90 minute per day commuting. Nice and slow. While words are only occasionally spelled out, a substantial limitation, I now feel very comfortable with sentence structure. I will now purchase the advanced series.

This was a really great way to learn Italian except the grating annoyance of having to constantly listen to someone whose pronunciation was horrific. The woman's voice (student) sounded like she'd never heard Italian spoken before. Come on, use Italians so we can learn how the language is supposed to sound. We're going to be mimicking a really, really bad accent. I wanted to listen but I really just couldn't stand it.

If you've ready to learn one of the main European languages and you haven't yet heard Michel Thomas' approach to language learning, you're in for a treat. He leads you along, makes it fun. Ok, you've heard about fun with other language programs. They lied. I don't. But, you have to be realistic enough to understand that nobody gets fluent in any language without time and practice. Did I leave out effort? Yes, intentionally. With Michel Thomas' system, you get honest to goodness communication skills that you can start using from day one. It takes time and practice, but little to no effort. No memorization. No books. No study. Listen. Learn. But it's more than learning, it's learning to communicate. Forget conjugations and the five different uses of the subjunctive that had you biting your nails before your high school finals. This is real language learning, taught realistically. I'd go so far as to say, even if you never wanedt to learn Italian and have bitter memories of high school French, get these CDs and give it a shot. You're going to learn and...surprise, surprise!...you're going to like it!

I used these to give myself some familiarity with Italian prior to a trip to Rome. I don't like traveling to foreign countries without at least the basic comprehension of the local language. I found the the Michel Thomas approach to language learning very effective for me. The slow building of an italian vocabulary, integrated with grammar and useful sentences seemed effortless. Each lesson is an expansion on the past lessons for with an introduction of new vocabulary and grammar. The result is repetition without boredom and introduction to new material without being overwhelmed.

I listened in my car to and from work. I would listen to each half of the CD twice before moving on. I was amazed at the results. I was able to communicate in Italy without any issues after studying for six weeks.

First, Michel is a male.
Second, Michel has such a heavy accent (but not Italian) that in a number of cases I had to listen the the Italian to understand what he was saying in English.
He gets hung up on some small details (incessant repetition of the two pronounciations of "vuole").
If he spelled some of the more confusing words, I might have had some idea what he was saying. He says "chalk kay" dozens of times, but since he gave us no clue as to the construction of the sound he was making, I had to do some research to determine that he was saying "cio che".

I think I will go elsewhere for my next lessons. Maybe from someone who is a native speaker of at least English or, preferably, Italian.