Italian With Michel Thomas Short Course CD

Finally, a language course that doesn't feel like a chore. I've listened to this several times and just ordered the full 8-CD course.
I don't see how you can criticise a 2-hour course for not including certain things, since in two hours it's bound to miss out almost everything. So don't expect to be able to chat to a German at the end of it.
This is about structure, so it would be easy enough to get a vocabulary book and apply what you learn to other words.
But I feel like I've gone from knowing nothing about German to the start of having a real feel for it. And in no time at all, with no pain.
The best thing to do is to stick it on your iPod, remembering not to say things out loud when you're on a train of course. With your iPod in one hand, it's dead easy to pause like MT suggests. Initially you get a beep to tell you when, but soon there's no beep and it's up to you.
I also think it's a good idea on the second or third listening to NOT pause. In real conversation you don't have three minutes to work out what to say so it's a good habit to get into to work out your answer fast. There's a small pause before the 'students' start speaking that should give you enough time.
I think the students are helpful, because you start to hear when they're wrong and work out what they should be saying. Perhaps they are annoying at times, especially when they just can't pronounce 'Ich' properly time after time (I keep expecting Michel Thomas to slap them or something).
Michel Thomas himself is simply entertaining, and sounds like a cross between Peter Ustinov and Victor Borge.
I can't wait to do the full course.

I thought it was great until... (57/60 people found this helpful)

What I really liked about this course was that it taught the language without any rote learning and seemed to do so very effectively. I had considered myself a linguistic lost cause previously and was delighted to learn anything at all. However, after completing the 8 lessons I discovered that I couldn't really understand anything said at normal speed, nor construct phrases without having to think really hard first. It would be useful if MT taught you the italian for hello, goodbye, telling the time or even any numbers beyond 3 for that matter, even if pleasantries and vocab aren't the focus of his course. A lot of MT cannot really be applied with an italian in italy- when you don't have that throaty voice telling you what to say, you are suddenly at sea. In my opinion he exaggerates how comprehensive his course is.

Also, idiosyncrasies in both his english and his italian pronunciation are a problem. Two examples: In english he pronounces "want" and "won't" the same when asking for translations- this produces "incorrect" answers from any student (including those on the tape) which he does not realise are his fault even though the same thing recurrs repeatedly (why did nobody tell him?). I found the long, slow, incorrect explanations that "want and won't are different in italian even though they are the same in english" irritating. In Italian he pronounces "Io" as one syllable Yo. It only ever sounds like this in very fast speech in italian.

The other problem is that you have to pause the cd to answer out loud (this is the constant method of instruction). This is a problem because it is very often not obvious whether MT has finished asking the question or not- it is very frustrating when the female student butts in straight away without giving you time to pause and think for yourself. With all the pausing required, MT's courses take much longer than the length of their recordings suggest (if you follow his instructions) and I was never sure where would be a good place to stop.
Neither of the students are really the ideal choice. In addition to the female student's bull in a china shop approach- really unhelpful in the "think- answer" method of MT- the male student makes very simple mistakes repeatedly. (That said, his pronunciation is often better than MT when he gets the words right!) It would be useful if the mistakes made by the students were not always quite so obvious- it is a waste of time listening to people giving very obvious wrong answers.

Impressed as I was at the time, however, I decided to continue.
The next stage, his "vocabulary builder" is, strangely, rote learning, parrot fashion. As well as being extremely boring, it is not very useful because the individual phrases are not explained in any detail- you don't know the meaning as you did in the 8 lesson course (the depth of understanding being one of its good points). The advanced course doesn't follow straight on from the 8 lesson course so you can't skip the vocab builder.

This was the point at which I changed to Pimsleur- which, in in my opinion is everything that MT should be! Pimsleur uses a similar method but in a much less haphazard fashion. All of the speakers are native. Pauses are on the cd, you learn to think and answer quickly and confidently in Italian and you also know exactly how long the lesson will last (each one is half and hour). There is a smooth progression from beginning to end. 5 lessons away from the end of Pimsleur (90 lessons in total), I have gone long way beyond what MT teaches (in all areas) and am a lot more comfortable using it. It gives you more vocab (including all the numbers you could ever want in part 1) than MT without ever resorting to rote learning. Like MT, all of the language learning is on the cd's, but Pimsleur does provide lessons in reading- so you know how to pronounce Italian from writing. In addition I found the grammar and word-order much less confusing. I think that completing part IA (15 lessons) of Pimsleur would be more useful than MT- although it does not cover as many verbs or tenses as MT, you would get by more easily in Italy and improvise more effectively with what you had.
I would say MT got me speaking Italian like an Austrian, Pimsleur like an Italian. I regret spending money on MT.

You can't buy comprehensive Pimsleur on Amazon UK and it is very expensive- quite a few public libraries have it though.

Amazing how quick you learn (16/16 people found this helpful)

I got this two cd course yesterday. I listened to the first cd yesterday and could formulate long sentences and questions on my own by the end of it. The second one expands on this and also brings in some grammatical help as well in formulating tenses and verbs etc. I was amazed that I could say what I wanted to say quickly. If you need to learn a language well and in a hurry I would recommend this course.
I have now ordered the full 8 hour course and can't wait for it.

However, there are some minor drawbacks with the course. Whilst the feeling is that you are in a classroom (there are two other students learning at the same time as you) which helps you to compare your progress and feel confident in your answers, the students do get irritating after a while. I felt like shouting the answer at them. Also, you have to use the pause button all the time. To use the cd properly you have to give yourself as much time as you need to formulate the answer. This can be very helpful and I liked this, but it means you can't listen on the move or whilst your washing up. Finally, there are so many other things I want to be able to say now which are not covered. However, as I know how to formulate verbs, using a dictionary can help with this.

All in all, it is the fastest language I have ever learned. I only wish he spoke Greek as well. (use bbc greek language and people for that one).

Michel Thomas is Brilliant (8/8 people found this helpful)

The methodology of Michel Thomas as he strives to teach you Italian isincredible. I have purchased the introductory set to his whole course andI am more than satisfied. I would reccomend this with no hesitation ordoubt. :) enjoy!

Language by questions (13/14 people found this helpful)

Its like being in the ring with a benavolent tiger, this guy knows his stuff. At first the pace seems slow but he introduces a word, then makes a phrase, then a sentence, then makes it negative and so on. Its not static like lots of other by rote courses.

Italian With Michel Thomas Short Course CD

Michel Thomas

Reader Reviews:

Great fun and it works (1/1 people found this helpful)

I thought it was great until... (57/60 people found this helpful)

Amazing how quick you learn (16/16 people found this helpful)

Michel Thomas is Brilliant (8/8 people found this helpful)

Language by questions (13/14 people found this helpful)

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