Italian Language Builder (CD) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

If you have completed Michel Thomas's 8-hour course you will find that this is a mixture of revision and new material, about half-and-half. It goes a bit faster than the main course (there are no students on the recordings) so you will probably want to work through it two or three times. Unlike the main course, there is a booklet with a transcription of the CDs, which is useful for revising on the bus.

Personally, I find Michel Thomas's gravelly voice and exaggerated intonation memorable. He is sometimes unclear or inconsistent, but that just prompts me to investigate further. A good book (such as Alwena Lamping's Grammar) is helpful for clarifying the things that Michel Thomas doesn't explain well or pronounce clearly (such as the difference between 'mi' and 'me').

You need to be quick on the pause button: he often leaves no gap at all between saying the question and giving the answer. There's no point in trying to use this material while driving or doing the ironing.

It's a bit expensive though - I would have expected three CDs at this price. Even so, if Michel Thomas brings out a third level course I'll be the first to get it.

Having waited for this sequel to the 8 hour course for some time I must say I was quite dissapointed by ths 2 hour course.

Almost everything covered in it is covered in the 8 hour course with little or no new information being covered. However, it does serve as a good revision to the 8 hour course. Having said that, you could have just listened to the 8 hour course again!

When is an ADVANCED course coming out? (i.e. another 8 hour course). This is what we want!

I am an ESOL and German teacher and decided to give his 8 hour beginner Italian course a go because it was free in a newspaper.

As a linguist i found i could easily do a CD a day in the car and remember it and there is no other method of learning a language which is so quick and effort free. i have drawn much inspiration from his teaching in my teaching needless to say. however i did find in the initial course that as there was no difference between his pronunciation of 'won't' and 'want' that both i and the students on the cd got in a tizz, which he attempted to quell but only confused us more because we hadn't misunderstood the concept only his pronunciation and his attempts at solving 'the problem' only made it more confusing.

as for the builder. i disagree with the reviewer who said you might as well listen to the first one again as there is nothing new. i feel my italian is far, far richer after it and i can do a disc in two days. he teaches you more day to day phrases that you would hear in the workplace, in hotels or on the street.

however what i didn't realise before doing a michel thomas course is this: he gently instils structure into you which is great i.e. verbs, pronouns, conjunctions and prepositions but i probably only know the names of about eight things after two courses.

for example in under two weeks from scratch i can confidently say:

"That's very nice of you. i would have done it for you but at the minute i am extremely busy. would it be possible for me to find it for you tomorrow?"

and other long sentences and clauses which many university languages students could simply not manage after years of bad classroom practice but apart from 'message', 'journey', 'house' and 'information' i don't really know many nouns at all.

i realise he has given us the structure and it is up to the learner to find out the vocabulary. in all honesty no teacher can "teach" vocabulary so i shouldn't really be complaining.

i did get confused though over a couple of things. near the beginning of CD1 he says that "la settimanna prossima" is next week but later on in the cd he says "la prossima settimana". which is it? i'm confused.

he also teaches "I intend" initially as "ho l'intenzione" but later on omits the 'l'. as i don't know anybody who speaks italian i have no idea which is right.

however i have been the harshest that i possibly could be. it is excellent in general and as i mentioned there is no better method/teacher in the world. we just have to remember that nobody is perfect.