Review: Living Language Ultimate Italian
by Salvatore Bancheri and Michael Lettieri
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talian is one of the easiest languages for English
speakers to pick up, because our ancestors had the foresight to steal
all the Italian words and incorporate them into English. Thus, only
about 1/5 of the Italian words need to be memorized. This book comes
with two sets of CDs: one set for use in a car, and one set for study
at home. The CDs cover additional material that is not in the book.
In the Beginner-Intermediate volume, the lectures are exceptionally well-organized. There are only a few difficult points in Italian, such as the subjunctive, and these are adequately explained. The lessons cover typical situations that you are likely to encounter when traveling to Italy, such as having your wallet stolen by a pickpocket, becoming sick, losing your passport, and getting lost. The second book covers more advanced topics such as getting arrested, what to say when you get kidnapped by terrorists, and being mangled in a car accident (okay, I'm kidding). Each lesson has a short essay (inexplicably written in English) containing useful information about how things are done in Italy.
Here are some typical sentences you will be able to say after reading this book:
Scusilo, io credono che abbiate rubato il mio portafoglio. Excuse me, I believe that you have stolen my wallet.
Credo che il problema sia che il vostro mouse è rotto ed il vostro calcolatore non è acceso. Non ho fatto questo. È culpa Bill Gates. I believe that the problem is that your mouse is broken and your computer is not turned on. Also, your hard disk has crashed and all your files have been erased. I did not do this. It is Bill Gates' fault.
Hey, vigilanza in cui state guidando, bum. Hey, watch where you are driving, you bum.
Non potete fare questo a me. Richiedo un avocado. Non sono colpevole. Ancora, il mio passaporto è caduto in un vulcano. You cannot do this to me. I demand to see an avocado. I am not guilty. Furthermore, my passport has fallen into a volcano.
Buon viaggie!
