Grazie Marky.

Learning any second language(in this case Italian)is a process. The important thing is that you enjoy the process. So if you enjoy the process of learning Italian you're going to be ok. For example I like working with flash cards, listening to Italian music, watching Italian movies in Italian, listening to audio libri/CDs for learning Italiano, reading books in Italian, text and otherwise and all the other things for learning Italian. Learning Italian is like going on a journey to some far away fascinating land. You come to realize that the journey is more important and forse more fun than actually getting to your destination.

wow Villa youre amazing..now I need to crack open my old class notes to make sure I pronouce all of the words correctly. Im going to make my flashcards tonight...well some of them as im stretched for time.

There are many different methods to learning and you must adopt the method you enjoy most otherwise you won't learn. What computer programs and the study at home audio books etc do is something called the Sandwich Method, which basically gets you to repeat set words and sentences for various situations and teaches you how to respond to certain prompts. This is valid up to a certain level, unfortunately the world doesn't work like a language program. Neither does a classroom, but it gives you much more flexibility with your language.

Of course time and money are an important factor to consider when going for a course, also the quality of the teachers is important. Teaching Italian as a foreign language is some years behind the teaching of English (mainly because more people want to learn English), and I have heard many horror stories from people learning Italian, but the system is improving.

Anyway, the long and short of it is do what you enjoy doing and what you can afford to do. At the end of the day, whatever you do is better than doing nothing!

__________________
[URL="http://www.ezancestors.com"][COLOR=RoyalBlue][B]EZancestors.com[/B][/COLOR][/URL] - a genealogical portal for those researching their family history in Britian

[B][COLOR=Indigo][URL="http://www.word-wise.net"]word-wise.net[/URL][/COLOR][/B] - affordable quality ebooks

I agree Sardoman.. I really need to get off my bum and do something rather than nothing..I have money and I should make time...well time is hard but there is time to make ..if that makes any sense at all...
When I started this journey I had it all planned out..."Ill study Italian for two years and get as far as I can with the course ..to an advanced level..and Ill practice to speak Italian with my Italian friends at the resturant..and then when I go to Italy in '09 Ill only speak Italian..."
Yea well..

jessabella, You're going to be ok. Non dimenticare to listen to your Italian CDs whereever you go in your car or walking/jogging. At any rate don't pay attention to the negative stuff about learning Italian. You can learn molto with CDs, DVDs and books.

This past summer in Perugia I recorded my teachers in class. Have since put some of those cassettes on CD. I listen to them over and over.

My friend recently bought an ipod-video that holds something like 20,000 songs and 100 movies. I'm going to get the same one presto and put molto intaliano on there.

A proposito, some of the books/CDs for learning Italian I have are:

1. The Big Green Book of Italian Verbs 555 Fully Conjugated Verbs. Comes with a CD rom. Mc Graw Hill

2. Learn in Your Car Italian Verbs 101 4 CDs. Penton Overseas,Inc

3. The book Ultimate Italian Beginner-Intermediate(Comes with 8 CDs) Living Language

4. Italian the Basics - Living Language comes with book and 3 CDs and a bilingual dictionary

5. Ultimate Italian Advanced - book with 8 CDs

6. Beyond the Basics - Italian - Living Language - book with 8 CDs

7. Italian in 30 Days - Berlitz - Book and one CD

8. Essential Italian - Berlitz book

9. Let's Talk Italian! 1,001 Real-life Phrases and Idioms - The way people really speak. Book by Sparknotes

10. Italian Demystified A self-teaching guide. Marcel Danesi MC Graw Hill

11. Italian A self-teaching guide - Edoardo A. Lebano - Joh Wiley & Sons, Inc.

12. Italian Verb Workbook - Barron's

13. Italian Verb Drills - Paola Nanni-Tate - MC Graw Hill

14. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Italian Third Edition
Gabrielle Ann Euvino

15. Italian for Dummies with 3-CD audio set!

16. Italian Idioms - Barron's - book

17. Frommer's Italian Phrasebook & Culture Guide

18. Wicked Italian for the Traveler by Howard Tomb - Workman Publishing - New York

19. Oceano Practico Diccionario Italiano-Spagnolo

20. New Italian Self Taught - Fuk & Wagnalls bought this one and a few others at a used book store

21. Italian in 20 Lessons by Collins Cortina - London and Glasgow - Picked this up in a used book store

22. Italian Vocabulary A complete Learning Tool Teach Yourself Italian - NTC Publishing Group

23. Workout in Italian book - 100 Easy to grasp lessons for beginner Italiian - Sparknotes

24. Berlitz basic Italian Dictionary and phrase book - This is an old book that has served me well!

25. Italian Phrase Book - Penguin Books

26. Learn Italian The Fast and Fun Way - Barron's

27. Eyewitness Travel Italy - The Guides that show you what others only tell you - www.dk.com

28. Guida ai verbi italiani - www.progettolingua.it

29. Jiffy Phrasebook Italian - Langenscheidt publishers

30. Cassell's Italian Dictionary - Italian English and visa versa - Very large dictionary

31. Travelers' Pocket Phrase Book and Dictionary Italian - Hawthrn Books, Inc. Plublishers New York - Copyright 1965 - Used book store

32. Italian in 10 minutes a day - Book - A complete language learning kit! www.10minutesaday.com

33. Merda! A book - THE REAL ITALIAN YOU WERE NEVER TAUGHT IN SCHOOL! Rolna Dellicio - Plume

34. Italian Step by Step - Book - Charles Berlitz

35. Manuale pratico per stranieri - Parlo Italiano con CD - Picked this one up in Piacenza, Italia this past summer

36. The Timeline History of Italy - Barnes and Noble

37. Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno - All the really interesting people were in the Inferno

38. Drive Time Italian - A complete Course in Italian from the Language Experts - 4 hours of lesson on 4 CDS - Living Language

39. Grammatica Italiana per Stranieri in italiano books 1 & 2 Picked this up in Perugia this past summer

40. Immersionplus Italian An Audio Immersion Experience - The final step to fluency! - Intermediate to Advanced - "It's the most valuable foreign language tool I have ever owned!"
3 CDs - 3 hours & Listening Guide - An Italian friend from Venice said I speak perfect Italian. Owe it in part to this course. Penton Overseas, Inc.
www.pentonoverseas.com Have this same one in French anche.

41. Italian Espresso - Italian course for English speakers. Books 1, 2 and 3 with CDs www.almaedizini.it Picked this up while in Italy last summer.

42. The Little Blue book - The stranger's guide to Perugia - Free - Welcome to Perugia, the capital of Umbria, The Green Heart of Italy and Tucany's underrated little sister.

43. Qui Italia - Corso elementare di lingua italiana per stranieri - Libro e CD - E molto buono! - Fatto in Firenze

44. Il Punto - Text book for learning Italian - Used at Mt. San Antonio College near Los Angles, California(Mount Sac) Written by Americo Marano who teaches Italian at Mount Sac.
Day & Night Publishing

45. 201 Italian Verbs fully conjugated in all the tenses by Vincent Luciani - Barron's

46. Self-Teaching Italian by Charles Berlitz

47. Italian Conversation - www.quickstudy.com

48. Italian Grammar - Quick Study

49. Italian vocabulary - SparkChart - A Barnes and Noble Publication

50. Ercole Invincibile - Edibimbi

51. Global Access Visual Passport Italian 2 DVDs - 2 CDs - Plus Phrasebook with 2-way dictionary

52. Great Italian Short Stories by P.M. Pasinetti - Dell Publishing Co., INC

53. Speak Italian in a Week - CD and manual - Penton Overseas, Inc.

There are a few others plus all the books on tape in Italian on CDs that I picked up this past summer while in Italy.
Oh, and then there are the music CDs in Italiano anche.

Poco a poco you can collect books and CDs to learn Italian. I buy one or two every week. Go to used book stores anche.

Non dimenticare that's it's not just about learning Italian but also maintaining your Italian. Ciao e buona fortuna!

wow Villa..you have a lot..I should invest in the cd's ..especially since I drive about 25-35 mins to work..wow I can get a lesson everyday!..hmmm...
I have an ipod that holds alot as well as an Iphone that holds like 20 gig or something like that..I should use it to my advantage..especially while im working ..I just listen to music..now im really looking for some italian musicians that i like..so that I can listebnt to them at work..but ive only found a small amout of music in my genre

I purchased the beginners Learn Italian package at Rosetta stone and I must say it's been excellent so far.

I have RS and lovvve it. Ive learned alot and works for me much better than some of the other programs I've tried. A couple times I've gotten confused with words and grammar. But, whenever i repeatedly cant figure something out I look on lifeinitaly or just google for an answer.
So, I really like RS and recommend it to anybody who wants to learn a language.

Ciao xocouture. A friend of mine has the Rosetta Stone but is always calling me for a translation. How do you get the thing to translate what it is saying. There are pictures and all but my friend says there are no translations. Is there away to get the translations?

I was always wondering how the Rosetta Stone course worked, good to see such positive reviews here. Seeing the extensive list of language resources in this thread by Villa I can't resist adding the method I think is often overlooked but is excellent for beginners - the assimil courses Assimil (senza sforzo) - I start with this when I need to learn a language.