Perfect Italian Intermediate Course: Learn Italian with the Michel Thomas Method (Michel Thomas Language Method) Audio CD – Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

this is a superb piece of language teaching. nothing else in the genre comes close

The accompanying booklet which contains a transcript of the dialogue has 4 blank pages. Is there any way of obtaining just the booklet as my learning is severely impeded by this?

Excellent method, you learn without effort

untidey naming convention of the audio files

This course follows on from the beginner’s course in the Michel Thomas range. If you are not used to his method, you might find it a bit strange at first. There is nothing to write down, no massive textbook to follow. There are no verb tables and no reams of vocabulary to learn. There is just a slim guide to vocabulary, which you’ll need to help you with the rules that underpin Italian.This course is all about conversation. It teaches Italian in an entirely verbal way, just as children learn to speak a language. Even if you speak a bit of Italian, I would avoid diving into this course, and instead work through the beginner’s course. I say that because the beginner’s course gets you established in the method it uses, and steers you nicely into the intermediate course. It places you as the fourth person in a three-way exchange between two students and a teacher. You can hear what they are saying, and follows with the students, and learn from their mistakes. It’s a simple but effective way to pick up the language. And that’s really what Michel Thomas is about – picking it up as you use it, rather than hammering away with verbs and then using contrived artificial examples to practice them.We found this course easy to get into, as we had already done the basic course in the range. We spend a lot of time in Italy, so we are exposed to the language often. That definitely helps us, but the course is excellent when we are in the UK for long periods, as it keeps the language in our heads, and we find it easier to focus on learning in this controlled way, when we are not faced with a tide of advanced Italian all the time in Italy.We tried Rosetta Stone and a few other course, but we like the Michel Thomas method. It suits our lifestyle. One of the great things about it is that we can learn together, following the course and having a bit of fun with it. We learn from the course and our errors as we interact with it. It can be complicated at times, and we worked through the course several times to get the skills into our heads sufficiently to actually use in daily life in Italy.

Extremely boring

Michel Thomas is the bomb when it comes to learning language. If you've not used his method before, it's quite different from traditional language learning methods where you just repeat words and phrases. Basically he teaches you the structure of language, and once you've got the hang of this, dropping new verbs and nouns into the structure is easy. The teaching method is that you listen to him teaching a couple of other students, and they take their turn in answering his questions before you pause the audio and have a go.I've used the French course with great success (well, in the sense that I learnt what he taught!) and found this Italian just as good. You do need the foundation course (which is called Total Italian) before you move to this one which is an intermediate level course. If you've done another basics course (like a Rosetta stone or a Duolingo for example) I think you'd still need to do the first Michel Thomas one because he teaches in a different way.

The Michel Thomas method, taught here by the great man himself, is as effective as always. Although it does require two commitments/understandings from the listener:1. Patience to accept the delivery in the order provided. There is no real explanation of the course order or content. Not a big problem, however, as MT is well-versed in delivering language courses in very good order. It can take some getting used to though.2. Determination on the part of the student. This method is effective where the listener repeats the lessons repeatedly. For me, when I go running or on the commute, is the ideal time.It is surprising how much actually gets communicated. We went to Sicily after I had listened to this several times, and was able to communicate quite well. Going to a native speaking region does highlight your own weaknesses, but I was able to get about, ask questions, etc. and be understood (most of the time, at least)Michel was undeniably getting on a bit for this presentation, he can provide deep insight, and some outright gems of knowledge, with an occasional curmudgeonly twist. He was a pioneer in language education, and it can be a pleasure to hear him on these courses.Highly recommended.