Italian for Dummies (By Onofri and Möller) Reviews

We all know the For Dummies series as one of the leading popular sources of reference material in the world. With 200 million books now in print, people all over the world use For Dummies products for simple yet comprehensive introductions to an extensive range of products. Italian For Dummies is a great 'reference for the rest of us', taking users from the very basics of Italian to an understanding of advanced Italian grammatical concepts. The book takes you through Italian in different contexts, gradually exposing you to new vocabulary and grammar as you go along. As users progress, vocab becomes more specific and the grammar becomes more advanced, allowing users to express increasingly complex ideas in a variety of contexts. The grammar is explained simply and succinctly and, as the book is published in association with Berlitz (a world leader in language teaching), the structure and exercises are both well designed and effective. The textbook also comes with an audio CD which includes recordings of all the dialogs.

Unsurprisingly, because it is basically a textbook, Italian For Dummies is far from a comprehensive teach yourself Italian course. Exercises and activities are not very varied and in no way interactive. The audio CD does not represent an audio course as it simply consists of dialogs; it does help you learn the correct pronunciation of words but in a limited way and as there is no opportunity for you to speak, its usefulness is limited to comprehension rather than conversation. We also found it difficult to retain what we had learned relying  on just the Italian For Dummies textbook; users are neither encouraged to repeat or use in context the material they have learned which are key aspects of long term memorization.

We could go on listing what Italian For Dummies lacks, but there would be little point. As the cheapest product in this category, don't expect anything more than a textbook; the audio CD and online content are nice extras but will not make a significant difference to your Italian learning. Whether you want to simply pick up a few phrases for a holiday, or need a reference source to complement other learning methods, Italian For Dummies is concise, easy to use and not too dry (for a textbook that is). The cartoons and casual tones make it feel lighthearted while you grapple with some rather complex grammar. You will not learn Italian with this book alone, nor will it contribute anything towards achieving fluency. However, at a great price you can be sure to get a good quality textbook with a few interesting extras.

Check out our #1 rated site instead! Why not check out Rocket Italian, our top rated Teach Yourself Italian Guide and winner of our prestigious Gold Award! You can also check out our Top 10 Teach Yourself Italian Guides here!

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