Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Motto Benne, 6 April 2005
Heading off to Southern Italy with the family for a few days I wanted something to give us the basics and this CD did the job. Stick it in the car stereo and you will quickly pick up enough to get you through most situations. I can vouch for this as we have just returned from our break.No it is not comprehensive - how could it be? I would recommend backing it up with a dictionary or basic phrase book. Yes, the 'plot' around someone learning on the flight to Italy is a little clunky. However, if you are looking for a quick fix prior to short trip. that will give you the confidence to use the language while you re there, then I can't imagine there is a better resource out there.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
bene, but not molto bene, 31 Jan 2005
By A Customer
What do you want from a teach-yourself Italian CD? If you want to know most of the phrases that you might need to get by on holiday then this is probably a good place to start, but could leave you still wanting more. On the plus side it manages to get you around the shops and cafes quite successfully, covering as it does how to ask how to buy, order and ask for (and understand) directions. It uses dialogue in a fairly realistic way to develop confidence- as long as you don't mind fellow motorists look at you strangely when in a traffic queue- and gives you a range of tricks and cheats to fill in the blanks. It shows that with just 50 words, or variations on them, it is possible to get by. On the down side it leaves a few gaps. For example it only covers numbers up to tweleve "so you can tell the time". Fine, but presumably Italians deal in spans of twenty minutes etc, and have bar bills that come to more than 12 Euros. In addition the CD advocates the use of pointing and gesticulating to fill in some of the gaps, which seems to defeat the object. It is also a bit sparse, particularly on the shopping and menu fronts. Lamb, Veal, Beef or fish doesn't give much choice! Finally is the corny plot behind the dialogue, which grates enormously. All in all, not bad for the money, and not bad for an introduction which bears a few repeats, but left me wanting more.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Same script as others, but information does go in!, 21 April 2007
This uses exactly the same flight script as the French, Spanish (and no doubt other ones!). However, it's in a relaxed manner so you can listen, and pickup kew words and phrases easily. We tend to find the conversation funny rather than irritating, "Aaaaandy, Italian's are very polite people". Once you've heard the same about every other nationality, it does make you smile! Easy to listen to at home, in the car or on your iPod. And very useful as a starter into the language. If you only know a handful of words, or you are a complete newbie to Italian, I'd recommend the Teach Yourself CD. It also comes with a brief booklet covering the words and phrases.
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