Reviews (3)

fantastic, fun and easy
The illustrations are great along with the little work sheets,so
Learn Italian!
I have been searching for an easy way to teach my daughter, age 4 who has grown up only speaking english, my native Italian. I have tried various computer programs, books and tapes, and other teaching methods. All were rather boring and unhelpful, my daughter soon lost interest. This system is wonderful! The lessons are interesting and fun. They are blended wonderfully with songs and activities that keep a child's attention. I highly recommend this program. I do recommend that someone in the family practice with the child and participate with them while they listen. This is by far the best children's language packet I've seen.

An engaging and informative program for learning Italian.
My son and I enjoyed the music, activities and games provided in this learning program.The use of children's voices for the cassette was very effective. A great starting point for both children and adults alike. Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio: Juvenile    2. Children's Audio - 4-8    3. Children: Grades 2-3    4. Foreign Language Study - Italian    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Language Arts - General    7. Juvenile Nonfiction / Foreign Language Study    8. Language Teaching & Learning (Other Than ELT)   

Features

• Audiobook

Reviews (45)

from a former SAT coach
I used to work as a professional SAT Reading coach, making big bucks; the key issue for most of my students was vocabulary. Rather, VOCABULARY. (The other is slowing down and thinking as--not after--they read.)
Fastest way to Build your Vocabulary!
Easy, fast, effective and fun way to improve your vocabulary. It will be a good investment!

Alphabetically sorted
The words have indeed been carefully selected. However, I believe there are more efficient ways to improve your vocabulary. Instead of organizing words by themes, they are listed alphabetically. This means that you have to select and rewrite them somewhere else. If you are as busy as I, select a book with themed "word-clusters". ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Audio-visual aids    3. Audiobooks    4. Children's Audio - 9-12    5. English language    6. Language Arts - Vocabulary & Spelling    7. Study and teaching    8. Vocabulary    9. Language Arts & Disciplines / Vocabulary    10. Language self-study & phrasebooks   

Reviews (8)

useful but limited
The audio CD's are a good complement to the text.But for a 288 page book, you think they could teach you more than the present tense!Ok, they teach the imperative (eg. command) tense, but that's it.Nothing about the simple past or future.Just listen to yourself talk for 5 minutes and think about how hard it is to keep it ALL in the present tense.

Learn Italian the Fast and Fun Way
I ordered this book for a class my husband and I are taking through our local community enrichment programs.The CDs really help, to give us practice in speaking Italian during the week between our classes.The book itself is very clear and presents important concepts for the beginner.However, I have found the book a bit difficult to work with.It is hard to find specific items, be they verbs or idioms, within the book.Basically, I would say that the book is not "user-friendly," in our current vernacular.However, there is a lot of good material in the book.

Molto buono!
I ordered this for an adult continuing education class that I am taking - Beginning Italian. This is truly a fun book - much better than the old French textbooks I had in high school. It is well illustrated, words are spelled phonetically, and it moves at an nice pace (not too elementary, but also not too challenging.) There are no audio tapes, but I have the advantage of a weekly class with an Italian instructor who is from Italy. The book comes with some flash cards and a small dictionary. The list price is $18.95, but Amazon sells it for less. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Language    2. Audio: Juvenile    3. Conversation and phrase books    4. English    5. Foreign Language Study    6. General    7. Italian    8. Italian language   

Reviews (16)

It's hard to keep going
I'm actually just finishing the first level of Barron's Mastering Spanish and I think it's going to be a little hard to maintain momentum through this next level. I'm excited about what this one has to offer, though. It explores a lot more tenses and looks like a great platform for getting closer to fluency, if you are disciplined about it. They change things up a little on this one, which should be nice.
Side-By-Side Comparison of FSI Programmatic Spanish (Remastered) and Barron's Mastering Spanish
As the editor of the Learning Spanish Products Reviews (LearningSpanishProductsReviews) site and as a native Spanish instructor, many of my readers and students have asked me to makea Side-By-Side Comparison of FSI Programmatic Spanish (Remastered) and Barron's Mastering Spanish.
Excellent follow up to Level I class
I have both the Level I and Level II Foreign Service Institute courses, and since I've already reviewed in detail how the Level I course works and compared it with the other major offerings out there, such as Michel Thomas's, Berlitz, and Instant Immersion, I'll keep this review brief. If you're interested I refer you to my review of the Level I class which I've also posted on Amazon.Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio: Juvenile    2. Spanish    3. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction    4. Foreign Language Study / Spanish   

Reviews (2)

I disagree--this book is very useful.
I am attempting to learn German on my own.I'm a native english speaker who has learned a moderate amount of Spanish; I've learned how to learn.I bounced from one "system" of learning to another--tapes, books, etc, and had found nothing useful.They all had greivous flaws:one obsesses over lots of obscure nouns, another fails to provide a reasonable audio track / book material matchup, etc..This system is a bit cumbersome; one must have two books open and the finger on the CD pause button.. but it is workable.. enough so that I'm going to purchase it (it was checked out from a library).The speakers have REAL German accents and reflect what you can expect to hear.Additionally, the situations presented are very poignant.. the phrases you memorize by going through the dialogues are among the most pragmatic I've seen yet.Bottom line:if you are SERIOUS about learning and are willing to WORK for it, this is good material *in my opinion*.This plus a German dictionary and maybe a German computer language program (for all basics like hours, money, numbers, days.. the endless repitition you need to do to " get" the sound and mimic) are all you really need.

German the hard way
This method of learning German is not for beginners! Having had previous German study, I was able to understand the concept and process of this course, but with difficulty.There are no English translations on the tapes.The course is more book intensive, and there are two booklets that accompany the tapes.They must both be used simultaneously, which is cumbersome.The rules of grammer are not introduced or discussed; reliance on a separate grammar section is required, and could be understood only by individuals who have had previous study in a foreign language.Sometimes the speakers' voices trail off, and occasionally pronunciation is not distinct. While this is how we will probably hear the language, it is not helpful in the learning process. I think many of us expect to use tapes for learning a language in a more passive way, i.e. in the car.The neccessity to have both books at hand during each lesson makes this kind of learning impractical. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio: Juvenile    2. English    3. German language    4. Grammar    5. Self-instruction    6. Textbooks for foreign speakers   

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Language    2. Children's Audio - Language    3. Foreign Language Study    4. Foreign Language Study - General    5. Japanese    6. Modern languages: audio-visual & multimedia   

Reviews (5)

Not bad, but probably best as a supplement
I guess it depends on what your goal is and whether you have studied a foreign language before.I've studied Italian, German and Greek and have managed some level of proficiency in all of them.By this time, I have come to know what I like in a language course and what is most useful.I think this particular course is probably best utilized as a supplement.I've been listening to it a few times a week for a couple of months.I'm not sure whether I've really learned anything I didn't already know.(French is similar to Italian, so I have a head start on the language.)At the beginning of a language study, I do think you should acquire an idea of how regular verbs are conjugated in the present tense and I can't say that I'm really getting that.I'd like to hear a verb phrase in all persons and numbers, like "I'm going to the store, you're going to the store, she's going to the store, we're going to the store, etc."Then I'd like a tape that would give me all the most useful phrases I'll need, like "I'd like room for two nights" or "a glass of red wine, please."I think I could get more out of a tape that simply gave the phrase in French and then repeated it in English, rather than have a whole little scenario, as this course does.However, the value of the little scenarios is that they give a good idea of what a typical conversation about a certain subject may be like.This way one can get a pretty good idea of the questions he may be asked and get some practice in recognizing them when he hears them.(I know from experience that there's nothing more embarrassing than asking a question in a foreign language and then not being able to understand the reply.)With that goal, I think this little course could be a valuable supplement, but I would not recommend it as the primary learning tool.If I had a time limit to learn French, I would have moved on to something else weeks ago.I don't think this lays down the basics quickly enough for someone who has previously studied a Romance Language.

Getting By in French
I have had many years of French in America which in no way prepared me to speak anywhwere in France...especially in out lying country regions.Formal address of each person is mandatory at all times with proper attire(coat/dress pants/tie/dress shoes for men , skirt/dress and dress shoes for women)will get you every where in France as long as you speak as fast as the tape or faster.I played the tape each day for 2 months and everyone understood me.Eight years of American French will not help without extreme speed in talking. Best intro tape ever,,,don't forget the new Euro. Viva La France and good luck , Capt, Mike

Just as advertised
French is very difficult for those who have never learned another language.I made use of this tape/book combination for about a month and was truly able to "get by".I found as many do, that just giving an effort put me in good graces with people I came in contact with. They would then most often speak in English. Give the book and tape a good effort--Lots of repetition--and you'll benefit. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Language    2. Audio: Juvenile    3. Conversation and phrase books    4. French    5. French language    6. General    7. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction    8. Foreign Language Study / French   

Reviews (1)

~Lots of Fun and Educational, Too~
My five year old son loves this book and tape set. It only took a few weeks until he learned all of the words and terms. Although, we wish that a more advanced version were offered because we've been searching for a more advanced program and nothing has been as fun as this and Learn Spanish in the Kitchen. We both highly reccommend it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Children's Language    2. Audio: Juvenile    3. Creative activities and seat w    4. Creative activities and seat work    5. English    6. Foreign Language Study - General    7. Foreign Language Study - Spanish    8. Games for travelers    9. Spanish language    10. Textbooks for foreign speakers    11. Juvenile Fiction / School & Education    12. Language teaching & learning material & coursework   

Reviews (2)

Itwas good experience
The book is helpful for beginner learners.Well organized and easy to use.

Small. But good, considerings its size.
To paraphrase the publisher's commentary, what makes this the student'sbest choice for Somali is that it is almost the only choice.It is not abad book, but to call it a "complete" language course is astretch.Read more

Subjects:  1. African Languages    2. Audio - Language    3. Audio Adult: Language    4. English    5. Grammar    6. Somali language    7. Textbooks for foreign speakers    8. Juvenile Nonfiction / Foreign Language Study    9. Language & Linguistics    10. Language self-study & phrasebooks    11. Non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic languages    12. Somali   

Subjects:  1. Audio - Language    2. Audio: Juvenile    3. Chinese    4. General    5. Language & Linguistics    6. Language self-study & phrasebooks   

Editorial Review

The Berlitz cassette pack with phrase book series comes in several languages, including some harder-to-find language programs like Thai and Hebrew. The series lives up to its claim of letting listeners hear the language "as it's really spoken"--which means fast and slightly indecipherable, just like being in a foreign country and not knowing the language. For anyone who's learned the hard way that trying to understand the local language is nothing like high school language class, that's a real blessing. But true beginners may struggle to memorize the longish phrases like "I want something just like that, only smaller and cheaper."The 90-minute cassette comes with a color-coded phrasebook containing over 400 essential expressions, plus travel tips, dictionary, and a pronunciation guide that reads like another foreign language altogether. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A very good reference if you plan to visit Israel.
I found the cassette and phrase book well organized and easy to use, and especially appreciated the fact that the people on the cassette speak everyday Hebrew. It is a "phrase book," but I would have liked a little more in the way of grammar, and a more extensive dictionary, butoverall I found it to be very useful. A word of caution: if you don't knowany Hebrew at all, you need to put in a bit of time familiarizing yourselfwith the pronunciation guide and the way the book works, and memorizing themost common phrases, rather than just taking it with you and expecting tobe able to use it in Israel with no preparation. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio: Juvenile    2. Foreign Language Study    3. Hebrew    4. Hebrew language    5. Self-instruction    6. Sound recordings for English speakers    7. Spoken Hebrew    8. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction    9. Language learning: audio-visual & multimedia    10. Language self-study & phrasebooks   

Reviews (2)

Language30, Irish
I thought this was a very excellent course for getting started at learning Irish. I liked the fact that in most of the courseeach word or short phrase was said first in English, once, and thenslowly, twice, and only twice, in Irish, with a pause between words. For beginning to learn Irish, I thought that the simple, easy -to - understand phonetic spellings of each Irish word in the booklet were preferrable to more exact, but harder to use phonetic symbols found in some courses.I think that Irish is difficult to learn to pronounce compared with Spanish, German or French, which I learned easily. There are better courses to buy.
If you are travelling to Ireland, and feel a need to learn just enough Gaeilge to get by, then this is a good course for you to try. The purpose of it is just to teach you phrases so that you could say enough in thelanguage to, for instance, order a lager at a pub. These types of tapes aregreat if going to Italy, France, Germany etc., and there being a great needto know a bit in those particular languages. In Ireland, however, there isno need to learn Gaeilge. Everyone speaks English, but not everyone speaksIrish! You should have no trouble at all ordering your lager at aRose&Crown Pub. This defeats the whole purpose of the course. If youare truly interested in learning Irish, there are better courses to buy. Ifyou just want to impress a few Irish people with your phrases in theirnative tongue, then don't waste any more time reading me, and buy thetapes=) ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio: Juvenile    2. Celtic Languages    3. Foreign Language Study    4. General    5. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction   

Reviews (5)

Nice books, but Berlitz gives the worse service.
I bought all three books in the series: A Visit to Grandma, The Missing Cat, and Five Crayons, all in one order. I didn't use them for a couple of weeks, and kept them in their boxes. Finally getting around to the books, TWO of the three audio cassettes broke within the first week of use. It has been more than a month and a half, and I've been emailing and calling Berlitz (multiple numbers; I feel like i'm getting the run around) to see about replacements, but to no avail. After all the emails and calls, Berlitz says that the best the can do is sell me the items again for half price. All I desire are the tapes.I have the books, of course.It's disheartening that this large, multi-national corporation 1) does not stand by its products, and 2) can't afford to send a customer two tapes. Very useful
The three Berlitz books/tapes in this Adventures with Nicholas series have been a great introduction to German for my 5 year-old.This is the most difficult of the three; use it third.The Missing Cat is probably the best to use first, and then The Five Crayons.

scholastic material
This is definitely more self-study educational material in German than an enjoyable tale for bedtime reading.While that doesn't detract from its value, it wasn't what I was looking for in a book.I imagine this is a very helpful book for children who would like to learn German but who have parents who don't speak it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio: Juvenile    2. Children's Audio - Language    3. Children: Grades 2-3    4. Foreign Language Study - General    5. Foreign Language Study - Italian    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Italian    8. Modern languages: audio-visual & multimedia    9. Modern languages: readers & reading schemes   

Reviews (13)

A good start, but book seems unfinished
I agree with most comments in all other reviews especially "gwilym".I have been using the book on and off for a few years while I am trying to learn the language.I too, wish to learn the Bosnian variant, and find that the book is definitely more "Croatian" in its use of vocabulary.However, considering the disolution of Yugoslavia is still fairly recent and not many newer books exist, I was very glad to have use of this book.It is quite easy to follow and the different stories provide useful vocabulary.
Vrlo Dobro
This is a great book for the beginner and those who need to brush up on their skills.Well organized, easy to follow with lessons/homework at the end of each chapter.

Destroyed by lazyness
This could be a very good book for learning Croatian. As said below, the idea with each chapter consisting of three dialogues concerning tourism, business and a soap opera is very good since it enables the learner to cope with different situations. On the whole, the grammar is presented in a clear way and after finishing the course the learner should have a good grasp of Croatian grammar. Still, somewhere along the line someone got lazy - either the author or the people at lay out. Read more

Subjects:  1. English    2. Foreign Language Study    3. Language    4. Serbo-Croatian    5. Serbo-Croatian language    6. Slavic Languages    7. Textbooks for foreign speakers    8. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction    9. Juvenile Nonfiction / Foreign Language Study   

Reviews (19)

if you're a complete newbie, i recommed getting this fair-quality book, but just know its not great
ok, this is a good book. by studying from this, you'll develop a knowledge of basic hindi grammar backed by a couple hundred words. it is broken into 2 parts. the first 10 lessons is about speaking and the second last six is about writing. i'm now on lesson 9 of the first part and spending a little reviewing the previous lessons.
Suitable For Whetting Your Curiosity And More
I purchased both the book and the audio CD, and so far I've read maybe 8 or so pages, but have played the CDs quite a bit as a companion to my daily commute. Bhatia is my first exposure to Hindi langauge instruction. So far the experience has been enjoyable, though a lot of Hindi letters sound alike to my tin ear.
User-friendly intro to an extremely important world language
Bohut acche!Tej K. Bhatia's book is an outstanding, gentle, yet comprehensive introduction to the Hindi language for a beginner.It's difficult to cite the numerous reasons why this book is so valuable for the apprehensive beginning language-learner, but I'll make an attempt to summarize the high points:
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Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Language    2. Conversation and phrase books    3. Grammar    4. Hindi language    5. Indic & South Asian Languages - Hindi    6. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction    7. Vocabulary    8. Hindi    9. Indic, East Indo-European & Dravidian Languages    10. Juvenile Nonfiction / Foreign Language Study    11. Language & Linguistics    12. Language self-study & phrasebooks   

Subjects:  1. Audio - Language    2. Audio: Juvenile    3. Dictionaries - General    4. English as a Second Language    5. Foreign Language Study    6. General    7. Spanish   

Subjects:  1. Audio - Children's Language    2. Audio: Juvenile    3. Children's Audio - Language    4. Foreign Language Study - General    5. Foreign Language Study - Spanish    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Language teaching & learning material & coursework    8. Modern language learning material   

Reviews (2)

Great!
I taught Italian K-12 and found this helpful in all levels.However,I only used the Cd in the older grades.I love this and the Teach me Italian pack because it is so difficult to find good Italian language teaching material at all.This one is great to use because there are the American favorites that kids already know.I have been through countless catalogs and info for Italian language materials and find this to be one of the best finds!

Great
This is a great fun tool for teaching toddlers Italian. It comes with lots of fun songs, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Old McDonald, Snowman Boogie, Happy Birthday, a game of Simon Says, Silent Night, ect. It has a verbal and song section for each month of the year, with a corrosponding theme, for instance for October they play the song "Five Little Pumpkins". Not all the songs are translated word for word, they do this to still stay true to the American tune. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio: Juvenile    2. Children's Audio - Language    3. Conversation and phrase books    4. English    5. Foreign Language Study - General    6. Foreign Language Study - Italian    7. Italian language    8. Juvenile literature    9. Italian    10. Language teaching & learning material & coursework    11. Modern language learning material   

Reviews (3)

Covers the Basics
Japanese is a very difficult language to learn. This audio and book package does a very good job of covering the basics of a Level One type class.
Sending it back.
Please take my review knowing this: In 1976, I earned admission to Sophia University's "Year In Japan" program.My self-directed preparation came from a 1950s lesson book, but an excellent home stay arrangement allowed me to update my antiquated vocabulary and jump from beginner to intermediate level classes after one term.Of course, language skills atrophy without practice, as I discovered on subsequent, short trips to Asia.Recently, I was motivated to resume serious study. This book is a great and easy way to learn japanese!
if you want to learn japanese FAST than you really should buy this book. Trust me because i have bought many books and i have gone to many language classes just to learn how to speak japanese. so what im basically saying so far is that ya mid as well spend ya money now because as soon as you starttrying your never gonna stop looking for a useful source to learn japanese,because it really is a complicated language and it is so very differentthan english so you need to find a easy way to learn japanese. So like Isaid you might as well get it over with and spend about 60 dollars on abook but seriosly, it a lot better than just trying to look for a goodjapanese book when it doesnt seem to be very helpful. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Language    2. Audio: Juvenile    3. General    4. Japanese   

Reviews (1)

I can't get my kids to stop playing.
This is one of the most educational and fun products I have ever purchased for my children.They are learning more Spanish than I ever thought possible and they are having a great time playing with their friends.We bought it as a family game to learn Spanish and we are delighted with the enthusiasm our children have shown in learning a new language ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Children's Activity / Educational    2. Audio Adult: Language    3. Children's Audio - Baby/Preschool    4. Foreign Language Study    5. Foreign Language Study - General    6. Foreign Language Study - Other    7. Games & Activities - Card Games    8. Spanish