Italian Now!: A Level One Worktext

by Marcel Danesi

Book Overview

Designed for both classroom use and as a text for self-teaching language learners, this book consists of 30 work units, an extensive Italian-English and English-Italian vocabulary list, idioms, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764130730
• ISBN13: 9780764130731
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 2.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 7.8" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

great for beginners, especially used with an audio course

I am using the Pimsleur series to start learning italian. Pimsleur is wonderful for getting you to say things, but it really skimps over grammar explanations, vocabulary, conjugating verbs, etc. This book really excels at filling the gaps. Pimsleur helps you say stuff, this book provides the skeleton that your speaking ability rests on. With exercises after each section, and short chapters that don't intimidate, I can't imagine a better book for a beginner. My advice is to thru the first 15 Pimsleur lessons (the first 30 would be even better) so you get a flavor for what the language sounds like without being worried too much by grammar. If you start with the book too soon your english-reading system will make it hard to pronounce the words correctly; an english speaker will read "grazie" as "grahzee" when it is actually closer to "grah tsee ah" and if you start learning words wrong from a book you'll have trouble correcting that from the tapes or even recognizing they're the same word! But this book is wonderful for explaining the subtleties you'll be wondering about after working thru some of the tapes, and it takes you far past what is presented even in the entire 90-lesson Pimsleur set.

Great Italian workbook!

I bought this book when I was using the Rosetta Stone program because I got halfway through Italian 1 and could not ask basic questions in Italian. This book was a great supplement. It helped clarify structure and grammar and made it easy to learn. I think it is a good supplement to another learning program that focuses on pronunciation. This book could teach you to read Italian and give the fundamental principles of the language but you need to learn how to speak Italian as well.

Excellent product, and an excellent value

A woman that is passionately in love with Italy and all things Italian writes this review. I tend to study the Italian language before my trips to Italy and then immediately stop using it once the trip is over. I have finally decided to get serious about studying Italian on an ongoing basis and bought this book. The book is much more complete than I expected it to be. I will summarize the layout of the book and the pros and cons from my perspective. The book is subdivided as follows: 1. The Basics 2. Expanding Basic Skills 3. Interacting with People 4. Daily Life 5. Getting Around 6. Hobbies and Vacations This book is written in short chapters that tend to be about 10 pages each. These short sections are very easy to get through in 10-minute snippets of time. Each chapter contains the following sections: a) Conversations: written in Italian and English b) Comprehension: questions about the conversation written in Italian c) Vocabulary: written in Italian and English d) Language skills: expands grammar and language usage e) Culture: information about Italian culture f) Exercises: to allow you to practice what you learned in the chapter g) Review: which is included every 5 chapters to reinforce learning Pros: 1. Very well designed to maximize learning without overwhelming the student 2. Excellent at teaching written Italian 3. Good for learning grammar and proper sentence structure 4. Provides written guide for pronunciation 5. Big book, 544 pages in length 6. Answers to the exercises and questions are provided in the back of the book Cons: 1. Would be very difficult to learn to speak Italian from this book alone Overall, I think this is an excellent book for someone learning Italian in a classroom setting, or as an additional teaching aid to an audio course. I do not feel that this book (or any book) is adequate to learn spoken Italian, or any other language. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to expand his or her beginning study of Italian.

Excellent Workbook--Great Value!

I have been extremely pleased with this workbook. It has a large variety of exercises and puzzles that keep me interested. The grammatical explanations are clear and concise. The format is appealing and easy to read. I do a few sections each day, and I am making great progress without feeling overwhelmed. The book is huge, too--a fantastic value for the price! My only complaint is that not all new words are accompanied by a pronunciation guide--that is why I'm glad that I'm also using an audio program.

excellent introduction to the italian language

This is an excellent workbook to complement the audio portion of any self-study language program in italian. Its' strength is to present material in small digestible chunks of information of both grammar and vocabulary, that can be understood and digested on a daily basis. The practice exercises - that follow a dialog presentation of a typical activity representative of daily life and a small dose of grammar - reinforced the daily feeling of accomplishment. If your intention is to learn italian and to dedicate at least a half hour to an hour a day, this is the perfect vehicle for doing so. Italian is a beautiful language, not only because of its sound and rhythm, but also because of its language structure. Highly recommended!!