nemorino - 27/04/2008 13:09
I'm a great fan of the Teach Yourself series of books; I've spent many an hour with any number from the series.
If anyone had the pleasure of encountering these books in the 70s and 80s you'll remember how grim and unintentionally hilarious they were (my favourite example is from a very old Turkish course (first ed. 1953): one sentence to translate from the Turkish was 'I shall depart this world an go without learning what 'genius' means.
These days, I'm pleased to say, it's all very different indeed. Of late I've been following the excellent Spanish and Catalan courses, and of course the Italian one. I like grammar etc. being an old school type, and the course has just the right blend of useful day to day idiomatic expressions and incremental approach to grammar - so you can learn how the language works, not just how to repeat phrases.
Good coursebook, 2 CDs (thank god for this and the ability to put them on your iPod!) and you're away. Very rewarding and highly recommended. Likewise the Italian Conversation set: it takes a different approach over the course of 3 CDs, and really is about drilling you into learning and understanding the phrases and expressions you'll really need. Good booklet, too.
As such it's an extremely handy guide if you just want to learn enough to get you on your way with Italian so you can enjoy communicating with people in their own language, but for me it's also a brilliant crash course reminder to get me back into hearing and speaking Italian before going away.
And lucky me, I've got to go to Rome for work for a week in June - so I'm hard at work already!
Ci vediamo dopo, ciao ciao, raggazzi!
