Pimsleur Italian Basic Course - Level 1 Lessons 1-10 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programs Audio CD – Unabridged, September 6, 2005

The Italian Basic Course is the second language I purchased a course for from Pimsleur and it's just as good as the other language/course I bought. I'm very pleased with it.The Pimsleur method of teaching new languages is one that really works with the way I best comprehend & retain what I'm learning. In high school I failed multiple years of Spanish, so I always assumed I could never learn another language, because Spanish is supposed to be the easiest language to learn, right?! I also thought I couldn't learn another language because I've heard it's more difficult to learn another language as an adult compared to a child...I can confidently say that this is not the case!In addition to using Pimsleur, it's a good idea to immerse yourself in the culture of the language you're learning by listening to music/podcasts and watch movies/shows/news in the language you're learning. I also find that if I am not certain of the pronunciation of a word (an 'n' versus an "m", or "v" versus "b", etc), which isn't often because the speakers usually have clear pronunciation, I will google translate the word so I can see it.

My wife works for an Italian food company and is literally the only person who does NOT speak Italian. GReat gift for her to listen while she's driving all day. It starts off easy and kind of goes a bit FAST but I guess if you listen to it a million times you'll get used to it

This is the method I used to start my preparation for a visit to Italy last fall. It was excellent for learning pronunciation, at a good pace. The native speaker breaks down difficult words into syllables, and you are forced to listen to each one before putting them together. The building through repetition was also helpful. The native speaker speaks very quickly, which is what is needed to keep up with the speed used by Italians. I liked that the exercises provide questions that are asked and answered in Italian.But as someone else mentioned, it does not go very far in preparing the casual traveler for a visit to Italy. I don't think that is the intent, though learning how to order wine or beer is surely useful! There is very little vocabulary, and though the method is designed to be totally aural, as someone who learned to speak French through four years of college study, I really missed being able to see the written language. As a mature adult, many of the exercises were not typical of what I experienced in Italy -- I was not making plans with Italian friends to go out to eat, I was going out to eat and wanted to be able to order food without sounding like a totally incompetent American.I still think it was one of the best investments I made before my first trip to Italy. It was a great way to start, to be able to listen, and pronounce Italian. However, rather than move on to more of the same through higher levels of Pimsleur, I switched methods. I used Global Access to build some basic travel vocabulary, like being able to get a taxi to the hotel, arriving at the hotel, and some menu items. I also bought a phrase book, and found Rick Steves to be good, though you have to understand that some of what he provides is tongue-in-cheek, and you would not want to use that language in Italy!I am fortunate to be returning this summer, and have added Behind the Wheel Italian, which is good at helping build basic sentences, and provides useful information like the difference between "per favore" and "per piacere." I now understand the language better, from the standpoint of verb conjugations and tenses. For me, it would not have been very useful alone as a short prep for a first trip, as the vocabulary is limited. Finally, I purchased Elizabeth Bingham's "Italian Survivial Guide," which doesn't have cd's so isn't helpful in learning the language, but has some very excellent, spot on "culture notes" throughout the book to help prepare for the differences between American and Italian dress, table etiquette, tipping, etc.If you want to be a casual traveler who can speak enough Italian to survive and show a genuine interest in the language, I don't think you should limit yourself to just one method or resource. You are going to spend a lot of money on airfare, hotels, and meals, so why not invest in a few language learning and culture tools to prepare before you leave?

I thought this was a great program. It focused on practical things first like saying "I don't understand" and "I speak English" and finished up with "I'll have dinner/drinks with you at nine o'clock". I liked the format, often the narrator asked you in English to say things and then you had a chance to do it in Italian before the speaker gave you the response so you weren't just using repetition.As other reviewers have noted, it would be nice to have a booklet with the words for review... I spent two lessons not sure I was hearing a certain verb correctly. I have had a lot of Spanish lessons so found a lot of similarities between Italian and Spanish and the format of their sentences and conjugation of verbs so perhaps the CDs were good for me because I wasn't exactly starting from scratch.I have since purchased the Italian I course to further work on my Italian. It should be noted that the 5 CDs (i.e. first 10 lessons) in the Basic Italian are also the first 5 CDs out of the 16 CDs in the Italian I. So if you think you'd like to learn past the "I'll go out to dinner with you", you might want to just buy Italian I and skip the Basic Italian.

My husband and I are learning together and it's fun for an upcoming trip to Italy. Basic conversation, multiple disk, we have listen in the car, but prefer our office. Great way to learn if you prefer to hear it, disk are not visual if that's your way of learning

it's an okay book with very basic information. it's a good start

I just finished going through the first CD of this set and feel like I'm learning quickly and slowly getting a feel for the sound of the language. I also think it helps that I studied Spanish in college and there's a lot of similarities in the language. All the lessons on the CD start off with a conversation in Italian that you listen to. Then, you learn what each part of the conversation means and practice saying the phrases. At the end, the conversation replays and you practice supplying the answers. The CD always eventually gives you the answer, but the audio pauses to give you time to try and come up with it on your own. Overall, I think these CDs will serve the purpose I need them to. I'm not looking to become fluent in Italian any time soon, but just to gain enough knowledge to be able to get around on a short trip to Italy I'm planning. I think these lessons will help a lot!