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Summary: Worked for me!
Review: I just spent a week and a half in Italy and Pimsleur I left me able to communicate succesfully in all the situations I found myself. Why? Because it was easy to stick with Pimsleur, I really knew the material that we had learned.While the material covered is fairly limited, the fact that the tapes taught me to pronounce written Italian allowed me to use a travel phrase book very successfully for all the interactions I came across that Pimsleur had not specifically covered. Some of the people I was travling with didn't know correct pronunciation and they sometimes had trouble making themselves understood when they used the phrasebooks. If you do decide to buy pimsleur for a trip, here are some practical suggestions: start the program well before the minimum 30 days before you leave... odds are high you will want to repeat some of the lessons to ensure you master them. Also, it is very expensive, so do shop around before purchasing. But for me, once I found the best price, it was well worth the cost!
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Summary: a few tips
Review: I'm currently using Pimsleur to learn Japanese and Cantonese, and I'm thrilled with my progress. Pimsleur has a truly effective system for learning language painlessly and effectively. (Some) people say they needed to listen to each tape 2-5 times before they felt they knew the material. Fortunately, that's not necessary. Here's how to make equal progress on just one listening: Each time you're prompted to come up with an answer on your own, *stop the tape* and give yourself time to think before you get interrupted by the soundtrack. If the tape gives you the answer before you've come up with an answer yourself, you haven't learned anything. Also, as much as I love the Pimsleur comprehensive courses, they're still wildly expensive, even with Amazon's sometimes-substantial discounts. Try getting them (...), then sell them after you're done. You won't need them anymore.
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Summary: Stress free, effective way to learn in your spare time!
Review: If you want an easy way to learn another language without all any of the trouble, this method is the way to go! You lean at your own pace, on your own time, and the comprension level was amazing. I learned and retained the language. Multo Biene!
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Summary: The Best Way To Learn a Language...
Review: Many claim that the best way to learn a language is to live for a year or two in the country where it is natively spoken. True as this may be, it is rarely possible with Italian. On a recent trip to Italy, I was overwhelmed with the amount of Italians who refused to speak their native language with foreigners, and prefered English. Thus, this possibility is but lost for us who want to speak the beatiful, flowing, and musical tongue of Italy. Others, however, will tell you to take the Italian course at the local college or in high school. Sadly, these courses have been proven, again and again, to be worthless in teaching students the language of their choice. (And many of us, unfortunately, foiund this out the hard way!) Then, as a last resort, we turn to sell-teaching methods, phrase books, tapes, and videos - neither of which help. Well, finaly, after years of searching, did a friend inform me about the famous Pimsleur method. (And this friend just happens to be a college professor of language at New York University.) The method lives up to it's name, and enables you to easily, and quite effortlessly, comprehend the language of your choice. The Pimsleur method is not a new fad. In fact, it has been around for quite some time, and has become one of the fastest selling language tools in thw world. Dr. Paul Pimsleur discovered the ultimate touch in learning anything. He used the principle of basic anicipation, and comprehension. (Which is the way in which the language hemisphere of your brain works.) What he found, was that once you learn something, it is in your head and is ready to be used with past knowledge. What conventional wisdom told us was that, once you have learned something, it needs to be drilled into your head. (and this is perhaps the failure of many language courses, today) The average attention span in a human being, in terms of comprehension, is only about 25 to 30 minutes. Thus, each of the thirty lessons in this course is that length. From this, we can see that this is a very thouroughly researched, and well put together method, and why it works. This particular course, (Italian I, with reading practice) is not Pimsleur's best effort (that goes to the Russian course), but if it is used correctly, it is quite effective and work wonders. The advantage of this course is that you learn to speak Italian before reading it. (And I think we all learned to speak before we learned to read our native language.) And thus, it is a quite natural way to go about things. In the course, there are 30 lessons on CD or tape. Each lesson is about 25 to 30 minutes long, and features and English speaking tutor, and Italian female speaker, and and Italian male speaker. About halfway through the course, about half of the directions given will be by an Italian speaking tutor. Ray Brown (English speaking tutor), is a very persuasive and relaxed teacher. He is not at all condescending, and helps to focus your attention to important aspects of learning the language. The Italian speakers give slightly varied pronnciations of the word, which helps to show that languages are spoken differently by different people - something you usualy never hear in a traditional language course. There is one particular disadvantage to this course compared with other Pimsleur course. (I have used the Italian, French, Russian, and Spanish courses, and they each are a lot of fun to use.) This course features a reading booklet, and at about 25 minutes, the lesson ends and the remainder of the half-hour is devoted to reading, sometimes arbitrary, wors from the list for the lesson. This isn't quite as effective as it could be. It ends the learning cycle too abruptly, and it may be confusing at first. Thankfully, hwever, Pimsleur devoted the last CD to the complete reading excercises, and you may do this after you complete the first course. (There are three courses of thirty lessons.) I suggest this approach so that reading and speaking do not clash in your head. I suggest, also, only to purchase an Italian-English Dictionary after you complete the final course. Overall, this is the next-best thing to going to live in Italy. But, since most of us are not going to do this, Pimsleur is the only good choice. It is effective, easy, and a lot of fun. The only downside is the reading booklet, and the price. (Although, [Amazon.com] has graciously reduced the price considerably. Shipping and handling, however, may be a different story.) If you like, you can do what many have apparently decided to do, and sell the course after you have used them. all in all, it is a magnificent way to learn the lovely and musical language, Italian.
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Summary: Amazingly effective for the beginner
Review: Of all the "Learn Italian/French/German/etc., in minutes per day/in your car/in your bath/etc., this is the only one that immediately seems to be able to deliver on its promise. I believe Mr. Pimsleur actually figured out what it takes for an adult to begin to learn another language outside the academy.
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Summary: A wonderful way to learn a language
Review: Of all the language methods I've tried, including Berlitz, this is not only the most enjoyable, but the one that really teaches you to comprehend and speak the language at the speed of normal Italian speech. It seems to go in and out of print, so hold out for it! I'm already lamenting that the Intermediate level is currently unavailable.
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Summary: Phenominal
Review: Pimsleur Italian I is the most effortless language program I've ever encountered. The program introduces new material at such a gradual pace that it's barely perceptible. I was astounded, however, at how much I had learned by the end of the program. Before starting Pimsleur I read a few pages from an Italian grammar book and was completely overwhelmed. After finishing Italian I, I reread the grammar material and, although Pimsleur rarely presents grammatical rules explicitly, I was able to infer them to such a degree that not only did the grammar seem manageable, but it felt more like review.
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Summary: Pimsleur Italian I : Very Impressive !!
Review: Pimsleur Level I is the best introduction to the Italian language you can have. At the end of Level I, you will not have an in-depth knowlege of the Italian language, but what you will have is a thorough grounding of how to use many essential greetings and phrases. The key here is - you will KNOW what you have learned. You will NOT have to refer back to the phrase book from your other, less expensive course. This is the success of Pimsleur products, you actually LEARN and AQUIRE language! Furthermore, you will be well grounded to move on to more advanced Italian fluency found in the other Pimsleur Italian levels. I am now well into level III and I am not disappointed or sorry for having taken my time and money into these programs. If you are serious about language aquisition, you will soon realize fluency demands dedication and months of practice. I listened to almost every lesson 2 times, and I soon learned that if you listen to a lesson, and then go back to it the next day (instead of repeating the lesson within a few hours), your comprehension is greatly enhanced. If you are genuinely serious about learning a language, particularly Italian, get Pimsleur I and then levels II and III. These are not the "express" way to get through Italian, but "express" methods simply do not work unless your language needs are for hailing taxi's in Rome! You will find Pimsleur Italian I (and the others) quite enjoyable as well, and I don't think you will be disappointed! Good luck!
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Summary: Pimsleur Method by far the best
Review: The bottom line is, when you're trying to use the language in a foreign country, you need to have a a few dozen words and phrases on the tip of your tongue at all times (e.g. dove, abito, che cosa, Quale la strada per Roma etc.) Pimsleur is the best at doing this. The Pimsleur Method is excellent in that it beats these basic phrases into your head by introducing them to you, making you say it multiple times, then asking you to repeat it again 10 minutes later. You're asked to recall a phrase sometimes when you least expect it--forcing you to truly know your comprehension. Most language tapes I've used just get too overwhelming--they pack dozens of words and phrases onto an hour cassette. The Pimsleur tapes take the same material and stretch it out over several tapes and build in the repetition exercises. There's an English speaking narrator which is essential when you're getting started. Eventually there's less and less English, but always enough so you know what's going on. You do need a grammar book to supplement your learning as there is a dearth of written material that I haven't found helpful as other reviewers have mentioned. Often times you hear a word and don't know if it's Che or K--seeing it written was extremely helpful. I used Italian I last fall before going to Italy and it worked wonders. I'm on to Italian II now where you get into past tense--which wasn't covered at all in all 30 tapes of Level 1. Finally, check with your local library if the cost is prohibitive; it's worked well for me.
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Summary: Pimsleur Speak and Read Italian I
Review: The Pimsleur Italian Course is significantly different from the Pimsleur Russian Course. The Russian Course is all-audio. On average, each tape has 30 minutes of intensive audio-only lessons. (This is great for using while driving.) The Italian course, on the other hand, is not really all-audio. The tapes are shorter (average of several randomly-chosen tapes was 20 minutes of audio lessons.) The last portion of the Italian tapes is then given over to "reading." This section averages 5 minutes (for a total of 25 minutes of content per tape compared to 30 minutes on the Russian tapes.) The student is asked to read a series of phrases from a pamphlet, and then listen to their proper pronunciation. The phrases are not translated and are unrelated to the words being used in the audio portion of the same or earlier tapes. With the Russian course, I found that it took ten to fifteen minutes to submerge into the audio lessons, and the last 15 to 20 minutes were the most productive. With this Italian course, I am just warmed up and have to quit to listen to a series of phrases that I do not understand instead of continuing the audio drills. What is the point? I bought this thinking it was an all-audio course and instead find that the original Pimsleur concept used in the Russian tapes has been modified. There is reading in the Russian set, but it is entirely contained in one cassette at the end of the 30 one half hour sessions of audio and does not interrupt the flow of purely audio language drill. I think it would be useful to let the buyer know that the well-known Pimsleur concept, as found in the Russian tapes, has been modified, and for people like me, the modification fails.
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