Learning Italian

I have been through the Rosetta stone course, and although I enjoyed it I found it lacking. It does everything in Italian, so there are no explainations or clarifications about why things are the way they are. So you get a sense of this sounds right, but not why it is right or wrong. However in the spirit of 'everything helps' this was a good start.I am currently working my way through the Fluenz course. This again is a set of 5 cds. I prefer this course as they break down and explain sentence structure and relate it to the english language. The cds begin slowly and build up in complexity. I could probably have begun on cd 3, but started from scratch. This was good as there were several ah-ha moments where I suddenly understood things.Fluenz seem to me to go quite quickly through the work, but it is currently my recommendation.I have also downloaded a whole load of Italianpod101.com podcasts which I listen to on my way to work.My husband uses italianpod.com, but I have not done a comparison.Of course all this is very subjective and personal.I think everything helps, and living in Italy would make things go a lot faster!!Buona fortuna!

Hi we have lived in italy for a year nobody in our area speaks any english. Prior to this I studied Italian evening classes for 3 years at a local  college 2 hours a week. My opinion is that you only learn when you live in the country. You must emmerse yourself in the language find somebody to speak to every day. (if that is possible for you)However we use  'Perfect Your Italian' Level 5  if you have previous knowledge this is really good. Web site www.teachyourselfextra.com. The course a book and 2 cds cost £34.99 from waterstones.For the verbs I have 'The Big green book of italian verbs'  isbn-13;978-0-07-148761-0. This is very useful.The aid that I have found most beneficial is to read children's books they have been written to teach the children Italian etc in an easy method.I read Geronimo Stilton books it takes some discipline but each day I spend an hour on these. you may laugh but it is amazing the useful vocabulary I have learnt, life according to a famous rat giornalist from the island of Topi.Actually many years ago I met a maltese lady on a ryanair flight back to Britain and she gave me the idea. She used it to keep her maltese language skills upto date.I  teach english here and I find children's  teaching books from Britain a great aid .I had a great present from a student Dizionario maxi book make www.vallardi.it. This is a brilliant dictionary much better than any I have bought in britain.I hope all this can be some help to you bear in mind it is really difficult for us english speakers to learn another language especially as we get older.My husband is from an Italian family and he struggles more than me.Buona Befana