This leading introductory Italian text features a balanced, flexible four-skills approach to communicative competency, cultural awareness, and language structures.
I always prefer classroom textbooks to a more casual phrasebook or language learning CD (usually geared toward the casual tourist). And in that regard, Oggi in Italia does not disappoint. I learn tons of vocabulary and grammer in an easy fashion. I highly recommend this book for any learner of Italian.
I'm currently using this book to learn Italian and I feel that some of the lessons come before the vocabulary. So, it's like you're expected to complete sentences with vocabulary that hasn't been introduced yet.
If I had to do it over again, I probably wouldn't use this book.
This used book was in great condition. There were no marks or writing on the pages. One thing to keep in mind is the shipping time. It took longer than I thought it would; about 1.5 weeks. But, the seller was good about keeping in contact and making sure that I received the book. It was a great purchase overall.
This Italian book is accurate and engaging. I highly recommend it. The only reason this is not a five-star recommendation is because of two reasons. First the price, it's over $80 for the book, which is very expensive, and second to get the most out of the book, you would need to bounce around the chapters, read them out-of-order. For example, some examples in the early chapters introduce grammar that is not taught until later chapters. Some people can proactively figure things out, but not everyone can. But in comparison to other italian language books, this is the best.
I'm sorry, but I just don't get the detractors to this text. With apologies to Pimsleur, learning a language is hard work. OK, if you want to learn how to say, "Hello," or, "Where is the bathroom," try one of the quickie methods, but if you want to be fluent in a conversation, live in Italy, or study there, there is no substitute for struggling with the pedagogy. Maybe there are some of us that can pick up a language effortlessly, but I'm not one of them. I was raised in an Italian family and heard it every day when I was a child, but when it came to really learning Italian, I had to sit down and work on it ... hard. This is a fine basic text, covering all the tenses, grammatical forms and basic vocabulary. It also nicely covers pronunciation and culture, which are often neglected in basic language texts. The material is presented in a traditional, logical manner. Yes, every now and then there is a word that is not in the glossary, but that is part of language ... sometimes someone says a word you just don't know. I guess that is what a dictionary is for. To use this text effectively, I would recommend buying a dictionary and a guide to common verbs, whoich are, frankly, necessary no matter what method you use. The workbook is recommended but not necessary. If you have someone around who is fluent, so much the better, but you can do almost as well by listening to the news at night from Italy on the Internet, buying an Italian movie or two, and struggling through an Italian novel a few sentances at a time. Work your way through this book and you will have passable conversational Italian, and be able to work your way through a newspaper as well. If you don't want to put in the sweat equity to learn Italian, sign up for a brain transplant, but otherwise, go out and buy a book like this one and plan on some hard work. Your effort will not dissapoint you if you do.
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