Italian Now!: A Level One Worktext
by Marcel Danesi
List Price:
Our Price: $12.91
You Save: $6.08 (32%)
Availability: Usually ships in 7 to 11 days
Buy Used: from $9.32 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Marcel DanesiEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-03-01
ISBN: 0764130730
Number of pages: 560
Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
Accessories:
- Complete Italian Grammar Review (Barron's Foreign Language Guides)
- 501 Italian Verbs: with CD-ROM (Barrons Foreign Language Guides) (Italian and English Edition)
- Italian the Easy Way (Barron's E-Z)
Book Reviews of Italian Now!: A Level One Worktext
Book Review: Not as good as I hoped
Summary: 3 Stars
Based on the positive reviews here, I was a little disappointed. What bothers me about this product is that it's not more systematic about teaching grammar and sentence structure. It starts out with a conversation, and then you answer questions based on the conversation. What you end up doing is *deducing* things about sentence structure, rather than learning them directly. What is really disappointing is the treatment of verbs. I see now that Amazon is recommending buying this book with a verb book, and I would say that is right on target! I already have a CD with some basic phrases, and a phrasebook - what I wanted was to start learning the rules of the language, and this includes conjugating verbs. Skimming through this book, the first info on conjugating any verb is not until Unit 4, p. 40, and it is only partial information! There, you will find "The Verb essere (to be): Part I," and it give present idicative for I am, you are and he/she is. The next verbs are not until p. 79, where you learn "it is raining/snowing." Are those really the most crucial verbs to learn? You have to wait until p. 106 to get the other forms of "essere": "we are" and "they are," along with the different present indicative forms of "to have." Why would anyone choose to put together a workbook like that?! Could it have to do with the fact that Barron's publishes both this workbook, and the separate book, "Italian Verb Workbook?" I'm guessing it does! I guess one could argue that a total of $21.70 for both of them, as currently found on Amazon, is not a bad deal. Still, it's irritating to me, because I thought I was buying a product that, while it certainly wouldn't take the place of an Italian class, would at least provide good coverage of verbs, which are essential to learning a language. Certainly, verbs are used in the conversations and exercises, and translated, but all the forms aren't presented together at once so that you can learn them properly until the pages I've indicated. Then, later on and throughout the book, there *are* more verbs. Still, I would have preferred more systematic treatment earlier on.
A caveat: I've only actually worked through a couple of pages of the workbook so far. Except for the frustration of not having better verb coverage, it looks OK. I would recommend the book *only* with one of the verb books sold at Amazon.
Summary of Italian Now!: A Level One Worktext
Designed for both classroom use and as a text for self-teaching language learners, this book consists of 30 work units, an extensive Italian-English and English-Italian vocabulary list, idioms, and dialogues, all focused to build proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and understanding Italian. Word-completion and multiple-choice exercises, word games, and entertaining stories in dialogue form are supplemented with photos of Italian landmarks, cartoon-style illustrations, and reproductions of Italian classical art that give students something of the flavor of contemporary Italian culture. Italian Now! emphasizes practical, functional use of conversational and informal written Italian but also offers solid foundation in Italian grammar, verb forms, and correct sentence structure.Italian Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Italian Books
The Rise of Gospel Blues: The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Churchby Michael W. Harris
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1994-06-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Basic Italian Grammar Pbby C A McCormick
Nelson; Published: 1988-12; Paperback; Book
Ciao! 1 - Copymastersby Michael Buckby, Giosi Vincentini, Marisa Minelle Katis
Nelson Thornes Ltd; Published: 2001-03-17; Paperback; Book
In Italiano (Book + 3CDs): Rapid Success in Italian for Beginners (Language Immersion Institute)by Sandra Immerso
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2004-03-29; Audio CD; Book
Price in other shops:
Italian (Collins Language Revolution) (Italian and English Edition)by Tony Buzan
Harpercollins Reference Hbacks; Published: 2009-08-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.99
Easy Italianby *
HARPER COLLINS 0 PUB; Published: 2006-03-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Collins Easy Learning Italian Dictionary (Easy Learning Dictionary)Harper Collins; Published: 2002-08-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.91
Collins Gem Italian Dictionary: Italian-English English-Italianby Harper Reference
Harperreference; Published: 1998-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $34.30
Oxford-Paravia Italian Dictionaryby Oxford Dictionaries
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2010-06-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $42.07
Price in other shops:
Oxford-Paravia Italian DictionaryOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-12-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $75.00
Similar Books and other products
501 Italian Verbs: with CD-ROM (Barrons Foreign Language Guides) (Italian and English Edition)by John Colaneri, Vincent Luciani, Marcel Danesi
Barron's Educational Series; Published: 2007-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.65
Price in other shops:
Essential Italian Grammar (Dover Language Guides Essential Grammar)by Olga Ragusa
Dover Publications; Published: 1963-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Italian, Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programsby Pimsleur
Pimsleur; Published: 2005-09-06; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $14.12
Price in other shops:
Webster's New World Italian Dictionary: Italian/ English, English/ ItalianWebster's New World; Published: 1992-09-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.22
Price in other shops:
Learn Italian the Fast and Fun Wayby Marcel Danesi
Barron's Educational Series; Published: 2004-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
Dirty Italian: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!" (Dirty Everyday Slang)by Gabrielle Euvino
Ulysses Press; Published: 2006-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.67
Price in other shops:
Italian Grammar (Quickstudy: Academic)by Inc. BarCharts
QuickStudy; Published: 2002-01-02; Pamphlet; Book
Best price: $2.17
Price in other shops:
Easy Italian Reader: A Three-Part Text for Beginning Students (Easy Reader Series)by Riccarda Saggese
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2005-11-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Italian Verb Drills, Third Edition (Drills Series)by Paola Nanni-Tate
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2010-09-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.25
Price in other shops:
Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Italian Grammar (Practice Makes Perfect Series)by Marcel Danesi
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2008-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.96
Price in other shops: