Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I'm in the midst of a two-month intensive self-study of Italian. This little guide is certainly eye-catching, which is why I noticed it in the bookstore. The colors and illustrations serve their intended purpose, which is to jog the memory and prevent boredom. However, as a serious guide to Italian grammar this book is a mixed bag for me. The good points first:
1) The number of verbs presented (101, of course) is just enough, not overwhelming. The index at the back (English-Italian and Italian-English) lists 150 more verbs that follow the three basic conjugations.
2) Limiting the tenses presented to the six most common and useful also makes sense. These are listed in color-coded columns which visually are much easier to follow than boring pages of all black-and-white. At the top of each page, the infinitive, imperative, and gerund forms are listed separately, and at the bottom are some sample sentences. The organization of each page is therefore consistent and easy to follow.
3) The illustrations are colorful and entertaining, and may very well help in retention.
The drawbacks, which are in my opinion fairly major:
1) Most important: the verbs are not presented in any formal order, but "follow a story line." This is in accordance with the principle of association explained in the preface, but makes the book difficult to use: if you are interested in looking up a specific verb, you have to go to the indices in the back of the book, THEN go to the appropriate page in the main text. This gets old very fast.
2) Some graphic guidance with changing accentuation depending on the tense and person being used would have been very helpful--this would notably increase the complexity of the text, but without it one is left to guess or consult another text. Pronunciations are available online, but again, this adds an extra step.
I enjoy browsing through this book but I'm using another, less flashy one more right now.
Click Here to see more reviews about: 101 Italian Verbs: The Art of Conjugation (101... Language Series)
Learn Italian Verbs Through Pictures
Master the six most useful tenses of each verb
Find the verb tense you need through easily understandable charts
See verbs in action in example sentences
Listen to correct pronunciation on the book's free companion site, learnverbs.com
It's the easiest way to remember your verbs!
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