Italian the Easy Way

by Marcel Danesi and Wald (editor) Danesi, Marcel; Heywood

Book Overview

This imaginatively presented course is useful to those outside a classroom environment who want to begin learning Italian, as well as those students of Italian who wish to supplement their studies to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764134132
• ISBN13: 9780764134135
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.9" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

The best workbook I have owned.

This has to be the best workbook to easily learn Italian.

Brush up your Italian

I achieved a reasonable degree of proficiency in Italian several years ago, but through lack of use, have forgotten a lot. I bought this book with the intention of doing some self-guided study to "brush up". It is absolutely perfect for that use. Each short lesson is followed by numerous written exercises. All the answers are in the back (no peeking!)The book would be a useful supplement for anyone learning Italian through other means - in a class, via audio or computer-based courses. It would give the curious a basic understanding of grammar, but would not be a useful single tool for achieving spoken fluency or comprehension as it does not involve listening or speaking.But for those in my situation, it is perfect, and much cheaper than buying a full grammar text and/or audio course, much of which you might not need.

Great review book

I studied Italian many years ago and wanted to refresh my understanding. This book has been a great help. The subject matter is well organized into tables and there are plenty of exercises to help you check your understanding. There are also lots of tips and other explanations to clarify the presented material. I highly recommend this book.

A Very Good Book to Supplement Coursework

I am an Italian student in college and bought this book to sharpen my understanding of Italian in general, and am very satisfied with the results. Both textual and graphical reinforcements are used here, which help when one is trying to learn vocabulary or increase his or her writing skills.Each chapter is broken up into several sections where there is a short "lesson" followed by several reading, writing and vocabulary exercises. As you move on through the chapter you are expected to recall vocabulary and rules from previous chapters, further reinforcing these lessons while teaching new ones. The exercises are very well put together and easy to understand. If one is having problems with a particular part of an exercise, it is also very easy to simply flip back and take a second look at a particular part of the lesson one is having trouble with. The organization is very clear, I did not lose my way at all as I very commonly do in these kind of books. In addition, the English/Italian, Italian/English mini-dictionaries in the back help immensely during writing exercises.This is not a book I would recommend for people who are trying to learn Italian from scratch. It is built as a supplement for course and textbook work, and the mini lessons are exactly that: small and not detailed enough for someone who is not at least partially familiar with them. It is not a textbook and should not be taken as one.For people who are looking to improve their understanding--or grades as the book promises--this is exactly what you are looking for.

Wonderful help for a self-teacher!

"Italian the Easy Way" is a great start for new Italian students. It covers a lot of ground, starting from the simplest vocabulary to basic Italian grammar to more complicated thoughts and sentences. The chapters are divided into short segments, with lots of practice sheets. It provides a thorough base for an Italian student, and turns the learning of the language into good clean fun.