Books : Rapid Italian: 200+ Essential Words and Phrases Anchored into Your Long Term Memory with Great Music (Musical Brain Trainer)

Rating: - Should be compulsory in all schools
This is by far the easiest and best method that I have used to learn Italian. If this method was used in schools we would definitely have more pupils enthusiastic about learning a foreign tongue!! Definitely worth five stars.

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Rating: - Don't do this in the car!!!!
Maybe it is just me, but I thought I would use the CD on way to work and back in the car. All I can say is car sick. Makes me feel sick even thinking about it.

The principle is good I think, I am not good at languages so I know it is going to take a while, but now I am limited to doing the sessions at home, as the car is now ruled out!!

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Rating: - great for a holiday as this works
With a holiday to Italy coming up, preceded by several long car journeys, I bought three language CDs to listen to in the car: Earworms, Learn in Your Car Complete Language Course and BBC Quickstart and I'd rate them them in that order. They're all easy to listen to in the car, although I think they are actually better suited to short journeys than long ones.

Earworms was easily my favourite of the three. You absorb - I don't want to say learn, because it doesn't involve any effort - the phrases as the CD plays. When on holiday, it all came flooding back just like magic - my companion kept exclaiming at how good my Italian was. Yes, the range of phrases is limited and I was scuppered once anyone ventured beyond the obvious holiday areas of buying clothes, ordering in restaurants, getting directions/travelling etc, but within those areas I confidently spoke and not only did people understand me, but I understood what people were saying to me.

On the CD the man says the word in English, the woman gives the Italian translation. There isn't a space for you to repeat the words as such, but because they follow the rhythms of the music you find yourself joining in. They've both got very attractive voices, and interact with each other - there's no attempt though at the painful role playing of the BBC CD. I listened to the CD three times through before going on holiday, which was enough for most of it to stick, and it was never a chore to listen.

Very occasionally I didn't catch the Italian and had to check in the booklet. Very helpfully that has the English, the Italian translation and a phonetic version of the Italian so you can see exactly what should be said. Overall, if you want to learn Italian properly, you need something more comprehensive, but for a holiday this is perfect.

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Rating: - buy it!!!
I'm studying beginner's Italian as an enrichment at college and hope to study it at uni. I've found this cd really useful. It's at a slow pace which makes it easier to learn. Everything is repeated a few times so that it sticks in your mind. It's really good. I'm considering buying volume 2 if there is one.

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Rating: - Waiting for volume 3!
I have always considered myself to be pretty slow at learning languages, I have to hear things so many times I get bored before they sink in. I am not sure that these CDs are making me learn any quicker, but it is far easier to listen to several times over because of the music. I am listening to the second volume at the moment and today as I was wishing someone a good weekend, the Italian phrase came straight to mind without having to think about it.

If you only have volume 1, then on volume 2 the music is more noticeable, and there is an almost comic flute riff in the first track! I don't think I'm spoiling the plot to tell you that the English male voice and the Italian female voice get more flirty with each other through the second CD until you start wishing they would just go get "una camera matrimoniale" ... perhaps the one he has booked in the name of Beckham!