Oxford Take Off In Italian [CD-ROM]

Having read and reviewed dozens of books on learning Italian, I have to say that this is one of the best resources that I have ever seen. I only gave this item four stars because there is some room for improvement. Below I'll outlines the positives, describing the item in greater detail:

1: If you purchase this item, you'll receive a set of CD's that have activities and dialogues that are shown in the book. Some activities on the CD's are not in the book and require you to work on your listening skills. This is a HUGE plus -- not many books do this. There is a "review CD" that is billed to be used in your car since it doesn't require the book. The extra material in the final CD will help you practice your listening skills without relying too much on the book.

2: You will also receive a book which has all the lessons. Each lesson is divided into parts with sections on Italian grammar. The explanations are clear and concise and exercises follow to help your learning. I find some of the explanation to be a bit short, but for beginners the amount of learning is concentrated into small lessons might work well. I would follow up a second grammar book to help improve on certain concepts that are presented. Also accompanying this is a travel dictionary and phrase book. I wouldn't say that this is the greatest travel dictionary, but it is adequate. The last dozen pages is the most useful section and includes important phrases you are likely to encounter.

3: There is an access code to access the materials that are online. The online materials contain mp3's as well as extra exercises and activities to further improve your understanding of the language.

The main function of this book is not to become a grammar genius but to get your ear used to hearing the language and getting your mouth moving to speak Italian. In this regard, this book is A+ -- not enough Italian sources engage your listening and speaking skills. For the price of this kit, you certainly can't go wrong. If you follow the program faithfully, practice speaking and listening to the dialogues, you can't go wrong. The CD's feature instructions on how they can be used as well as pointers for improving and using what you have learned. I wish something this comprehensive existed when I began learning Italian. Absolute beginners will benefit the most from this book. If you've had any classes in Italian and are looking to improve and practice what you learned, you could also benefit from this kit.

Great product from Oxford!

The Oxford Take Off in Italian language learning kit consists of a booklet and 5 CDs. This is an old school learning kit, the type you listen to in your car on the way to work. There is no software to go with the kit. It teaches speaking and listening proficiency, but don't expect to learn to read and write in Italian. It is primarily designed for tourists and travellers. You will not become a fluent speaker, but will be able to get by pretty well on what you learn.

How well someone is able to learn with this kit will, of course, depend on the individual. People who learn languages easily will find it the most useful. People who struggle with languages will probably need something a little more sophisticated, with supporting software.

The biggest advantage to this kit, as opposed to software like Rosetta or something like Pimsleur, is the price. This is a very affordable language lesson. I think it is ideal for someone who isn't sure if they want to commit to learning a language. It will allow you to experiment before investing 100's of dollars into a bigger system.

This product is not an attempt to teach you to MASTER Italian, but to give you a good foundation in the language, with a focus on travelling/tourism. As such, it's great and offers a surprising amount of material--much more vocabulary, for example, than you normally get in your 'quickie travel' language items. The lessons are each broken up into five mini-units, really quite bite sized pieces, that introduce a few new items while reviewing old ones.

At first, jumping back and forth between the CD and the book seems like it's going to drive you crazy, but it really doesn't--both the book and the CD prompt you when to switch and what to do. And the CD track format makes it easy to relisten to a dialogue.

However, the CD format also makes it a pain in the booty to *FIND* a certain track. There is no 'key' to the track listings, so if you want to start lesson three, you have to poke and poke till you find the right track. Ruinous? No. Annoying because it's so easily avoidable? Yes.

This is a British product, so SOME of the translations (calcio = football 'soccer' to us US types) may need a little tweaking, and the narrator (a native Italian speaker)'s British accent is a bit wonky--sometimes it sounds posh-London, sometimes almost Cockney.

The online support includes all new dialogues and activities for the units, neatly broken down; but does slow a computer down if you're on dialup.

There is no visual support to this item, which seems a lackluster use of online supplements, so if you're a visual learner, this might not be the ticket for you. Auditory learners will be in heaven, and the activities switch up enough--you repeat phrases, then you ask questions, then you write a few answers, etc--keep even the shortest attention span engaged.

I took a year of Italian in college, (egad, almost twenty years ago!!) so I'm not a 'new' learner. I figured this product would refresh what I had forgotten to allow me to pick up where I left off, as if I'd just left off, and move on. I've found it, with that purpose in mind, to be fun and engaging; challenging, but also allowing me to build confidence in the language. Is it going to replace Rosetta Stone? No, especially not for visual style learners. Is it a DARN good budget friendly and fun option? Definitely.