worth the time and money

I was a little skeptical about a "learn while you drive" product, but this one is very good. I know Spanish and some French, so much of the Italian sounds familiar and flows well from what I already know. The instructor is excellent... not condescending, doesn't move too fast, and inspires confidence. And for heaven's sake- don't even think of buying just the two-CD "intro" version! If you are at all serious about being able to learn and speak Italian, the first two CDs will only "open the box" and whet your appetite without really teaching you enough to make sense.

Very worth the price and your time!

I tried other language CDs and you mostly ended up repeating what was said. They left me wanting to learn more about how verbs are conjugated and why certain words are where they were. This CD fills in all the gaps, explains how the Italian language works and how it compares to English. This gave me a more complete understanding of how to use the language. Michel Thomas' technique works great too. I felt I was able to expand my ability to speak Italian almost instantly.

Fun, Fun, Fun

I've been bored to death with formal language lessons, and really have been turned off with most of the run of the mill tapes and exercises that were my only other excursion into the realm of language learning.

I bought only the intro 2 CD set in order to quickly prep for a trip to Italy after I found it at a major chain bookstore. I wanted something simple that required no exercises so I could listen to it in the car during my commute to and from work. Despite Michele�s aged look on the CD packaging and the fact that he touted that he was the psychic., uh,... I mean, language teacher �of the stars�, the packaging sold me on a �method different than the usual�, and a price far better than the competition.

Talk about dumb luck!

By the end of the second 6-minute lesson, I was hooked. (I actually did the first two while riding my mountain bike!) Mr. Thomas� method really is effective. He starts very basically with words that are familiar to the English speaker, and teaches his two students ways to piece them together into useful and fairly complex sentences. You are the third student, and by effectively using the pause button when prompted and thinking through his requested phrases, you immediately begin to learn.

More importantly, Michele skips the usual annoying �hello, my name is�� garbage common to most courses that makes you feel as if you�ve committed yourself back to grade school. Very quickly you are able to say things like, �I am sorry, but it is too expensive, and I do not want to buy it because it is not very good.� -- and know how to use the words in a variety of other expressions!

By the end of the first CD of 11 lessons, I caught language fever -- even though my trip to Italy was canceled.

Mr. Thomas builds his lessons in a circular fashion, combining the expressions and words you�ve learned with new ideas and phrases. He helps you understand more complicated areas such as how to manipulate tenses, or to convey nuances just a bit differently� all without letting your forget what you�ve already learned.

By the end of the second CD / the intro course (which I took on my vacation to the UK as I would have ordinarily taken a good book), not only was I kicking myself for having paid too much for the CD [....]

Anyway, after the first 2 CDs, I can now form some pretty complicated sentences and would have been comfortable getting around the basics in Italy with nothing more than the aid of a quick reference book for the randomly needed vocabulary.

Granted, you have to set some time aside to work with the CDs a bit, and you'll not be prepared to close business deals in Italiano after only 2 CDs, but I think this system, in general, is about as close as you�ll get to that old Peanuts (Charlie Brown) cartoon storyline; when Linus used to put his school books under his pillow before bedtime to learn through sleep-absorption, in lieu of formal studying for his exams.

What amazes me most about it, though, is that I am more motivated than I have ever been for learning languages. I feel like a natural. I have just ordered the full 8 CD set [...](will gift the starter kit to someone else) and can�t wait to keep learning, even though I don�t expect to visit Italy any time in the next few years.

In closing, the commute is now language time, and I have declared 2001 the year of Italian (and realistically, a bit of 2002 just to do it right).

But far beyond that, I am having such a great and easy time with Italian, I plan on hitting Thomas� Spanish next, then French, and then brushing up on 5 years of formal German that left me still inadequate; The goal is at least one each year. If only he had Portuguese and many others![....]