I used this program before going to Italy and actually using what was taught, so here's my two cents:



I tried to use this program to study Italian and I must say that if you put in some time and effort you'll remember what's taught. Unfortunately, a lot of it isn't very useful and some of the language is too archaic to be of any use and some of the phrases tend to annoy Italilans. For instance, when I asked "Come si chiama" ("What is your name?" according to the book), a native Italian didn't understand. When I asked another native speaker who was fluent in English, he didn't understand either until I asked him in English at which point he told me to use "ti", not "si."



I've had similar problems in communicating with people due to little things like that in the book-and the problem wasn't my pronunciation but the words I was using. Some of them were just too old fashioned to be understood readily when asking directions and the like. The vocabulary needs updated as well. After all, how many people these days are a "telefonista" (switchboard operator) or "datilografo"(typist).



The book prides itself on being practical, but it isn't. The emergency/dealing with problems section is crammed into the second half of the next to last chapter as well, which makes it hard to find. and too small. Italy is plagued by delays, traffic jams, strikes and the like, so it would make more sense to devote more space to how to discuss these things. Just having the word for strike (sciopero) would be a huge plus because they're often announced on the news a day or two before and hearing this word and knowing what it means would get one's attention.



Other complaints about the edition with CD's: The speakers on the tape are too fast and it isn't easy to "rewind" CD's. Also, there are imaginary dialogs in which you are expected to fill in 1/2 the conversation and a gap is provided for you to speak. Unfortunately, it isn't enough time and you'll have to pause the CD to keep from getting interrupted in the last quarter of your sentence. This is extremely aggravating. The divisions on the CD's are too big to be able to navigate quickly to problem spots without a computer.



Finally, there isn't much at all in the way of grammar so you'll need to buy a grammar book as well unless you'll only be using a handful of phrases and for that I think you'd be better off with an Italian phrase book. The one thing it does do well is it tries to teach you pronunciation and how to pronounce Italian words right off the bat (so you can read a real Italian word out loud that you see and not have to rely on a phoneticized version for English speakers). It's relatively cheap, so I guess you get what you pay for. I recommend either the "Oxford Take off if Italian" over this. You'll actually understand the basics and you'll learn them more thoroughly when you're done with that course. Oxford Take Off In Italian: The Complete Language-learning Kit Book-and-CD Package. For especially slow and distinct speakers, Italian For Dummies Audio Set (For Dummies (Language & Literature))is good. Please comment if you like.



Update: I was in a bookstore and saw that there's a new edition out. Glancing through it, it looks like there are some improvements.