Italian Now!: A Level One Worktext

I was looking for an Italian language resource that was both introductory in nature, but not so rudimentary that it could not serve as a building block for future mastery.

Italian Now! is an entry level/college-high school first semester course designed to give the Italian student a solid foundation/introduction and a springboard to intermediate study.

I was impressed by the facility with which the dialogues utilize the vocabulary and the applicablity for daily life. I'm about a 1/4th through this book; I feel that I will be ready to speak this beautiful language when my wife and I travel to Tuscany late next year.

I started learning Italian by myself using the Pimsleur (listen only) method and reached a point where I needed to learn how to read and write Italian and also grammar, etc. I tried a few books, but Italian Now! is the only one that I stuck to. It is fun, the lessons are organized in a very effective way; it makes it easy to memorize new information and understand the grammar, without seeming overbearing.

Well I just began to study Italian by myself at home and I bought this textbook. Its a very good starting point to learning Italian. Learn basic expressions, pronunciation, and grammar. I recommend anyone who wants to start learning Italian to buy this textbook.

I'm currently half way through this book, I hack away at it bit by bit in 1hr or 1 1/2hr segments everyday day or so. I'm an Italian destination specialist that is moving to Italia in one year. So of course I must learn the language. I do agree with another poster that on its own you can't learn the language with this guide. I started learning Italian August 2006, with the Rosetta Stone level 1&2, that took me 9 months to complete. It took me so long because I hand wrote and translated each and every lesson in addition to the audio learning software. I finished that in May 2007, I then started re reviewing Rosetta Stone little by little. But I found I couldn't get all the grammer correct. Rosetta Stone dosn't teach grammer all that much. Rosetta Stone has me speaking Italian but getting alot of grammer wrong. After returning from Italia again this August, I decided to futher my studies. I picked up this book along with the complete big yellow grammer book about a month ago or so. This book has really helped me grasp grammer and past/present/future/plural tenses so well and I'm only half way through it! My boss speaks Italian, so we together work over everything I don't understand on my own. But this lesson book is great. I'm so glad on a whim I just bought it! Cause I'm glued to it just about every evening for a little bit. Overall and excellent additional learning source

I am using the Pimsleur series to start learning italian. Pimsleur is wonderful for getting you to say things, but it really skimps over grammar explanations, vocabulary, conjugating verbs, etc. This book really excels at filling the gaps. Pimsleur helps you say stuff, this book provides the skeleton that your speaking ability rests on. With exercises after each section, and short chapters that don't intimidate, I can't imagine a better book for a beginner. My advice is to thru the first 15 Pimsleur lessons (the first 30 would be even better) so you get a flavor for what the language sounds like without being worried too much by grammar. If you start with the book too soon your english-reading system will make it hard to pronounce the words correctly; an english speaker will read "grazie" as "grahzee" when it is actually closer to "grah tsee ah" and if you start learning words wrong from a book you'll have trouble correcting that from the tapes or even recognizing they're the same word! But this book is wonderful for explaining the subtleties you'll be wondering about after working thru some of the tapes, and it takes you far past what is presented even in the entire 90-lesson Pimsleur set.