Learning Italian

try a podcast for free.

I've downloaded "mike's" podcast, and it's very good for learning basic Italian for travel.

There are a couple of different podcasts available, listen and choose the one that suits your learning style the best.

I purchased Pimsleur's CD set from Costco and it is excellent. I think I paid $30 for it.

I like Global Access. There's a relatively cheap (I think it was $29.00) for a 10 cd set. It's great for the basics. I have about 4 different sets of cd's and a zillion books but I really like these cds!

The BBC has a free website www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/lj/menu.shtml with great beginning lessons. If you go through those you might have all you need. They are fun and interactive. I would also recommend Cyberitalian.com. The cost is minimal. They have a free lesson to try online. Also learnitalianpod.com. It too is free and is very good. We went to Rome and Florence last summer. I used these as well as CDs but did not get nearly as much out of the CDs as I did from these websites.

I am also learning Italian in preparation for a fall trip to Italy. There are two podcasts which you can subscribe to for free. Both are very good, but mydailyphrase/italian is best. You can get info on that podcast at radiolingua.com/italian.The other is learnitalianpod.com. Both offer an upgrade/subscription if you want extras besides the free podcast. mydailyphrase costs 20British pounds for 6 months, converted and paid in US$$ via paypal and learnitalianpod costs $9.95/month, which you can pay monthly. Each lesson is brief, but relates well to situations you will encounter in Italy. Buona fortuna!

Pimsleur's CD are the best and I get mine from my public library. I have used them to "learn" French, German and now Italian and was able to manage pretty well in the few areas of France and Germany where English wasn't always spoken.

Check your local library to see if they carry them and pop them into your car cd player. It sure beats the canned music they play these days.

Ciao

I purchased Pimsler's Italian CDs from amazon.com. The lessons are excellent--I listen and practice on my short morning commute. I believe 10 half hour lessons were under $20.

Our public library provides access to the online Rosetta Stone tutorials for free if you have a library card. Maybe your community offers the same thing. I have also used the Pimsleur CDs (purchased at Costco). If you have some time before you leave the best way to learn the basics is to take a Community/Adult Education Conversational Italian class... The online tutorials and CDs are great as a supplement.

www.travlang.com- A word a day sent to your e-mail address. Read it and hear it... easy.

We too are learning Italian for our upcoming trip. We are taking classes from our local Italian Cultural Society. If you have one nearby, you could inquire about classes. I have also use a great home study program from The Living Language. It is available through Chapters.Indigo.

We purchased the Rosetta Stone software, and found it very intuitive and easy to follow. However, we only got through the first lesson before our year got very busy and hectic. So now we leave tomorrow.... I have downloaded the audio book "Learn Italian on the Plane" to my ipod!

I am also learning Italian for an upcoming trip. I really like the Pimsleur CD's. They have several different sets. They have conversational Italian, basic Italian, and a more advanced Italian sets. Like you said there are so many different types of CDs available it is hard to chose. I have listened to alot of them and Pimsleur is the best but the Berlitz CDs are also good.