Expand your vocabulary and learn Italian the fun way! (Foreign Language Graded Reader Series)

A great read for beginners in getting to learn how to speak and comprehend the language in an easier format. It's a different perspective and approach from the traditional learning method, abet also provides a lot of fun In doing so.I have tried this with both the Italian and Spanish set and have enjoyed them tremendously and so will you too. I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. My opinions and views are 100% my own, and are in no way sponsored, or compensated for.

Writing a book of short stories for beginner or early-stage Italian learners is not an easy task. First of all, the Italian needs to be simplified so it is accessible to beginners, which involves both an astute choice of vocabulary, and a good understanding of grammatical challenges faced by learners at different levels. Most Italian readers shy away from the task of simplifying, and you end up with long, complex books that may be well-written, but are all but useless to people just starting out with the language, as they are far too overwhelming. The difficulty for authors is that in simplifying the language, the writing may lose points on literary style. So let's be clear... this book won't be winning any prizes for literature, but it is extremely effective for the purpose it sets out to achieve - stories for Italian learners that will get you reading, that you will be able to understand, and that will help you grow your vocabulary.

Secondly, you have to make the stories entertaining, so the reader actually wants to pick up the book and keep reading. Again not an easy task (most books fail badly on this point). In the introduction to the book, the author explains his rationale behind the creation of the stories, which (in a nutshell) is that the most important part of any book is that it is interesting enough for you to want to read it. If you are motivated to read, you will learn. Likewise, if the book is boring, you won't read it, and therefore won't learn anything, no matter how good the book is. So the success of this book of short stories should be judged primarily on the extent to which it captures your imagination and makes you want to read. With the exception of one story (which was rather far-fetched), I found all the stories in the book surprisingly entertaining, and I genuinely wanted to read to the end of them all.

So far, so good. If the author had simply written some entertaining stories in simple Italian and stopped there, that would already be a good achievement. However, what I liked most of all, and what ultimately makes this book so effective for Italian learners, is the inclusion of reading aids throughout the book. These aids do a fantastic job of helping the reader process the stories by explaining key vocabulary and checking understanding of the events in the plot - vital when you are not yet a confident reader, so that you do not get overwhelmed.

It is worth pointing out that the book is not really suitable for complete beginners (despite the title), as you will simply not have enough vocabulary to follow what is going on. There is also the occasional choice of words which is rather advanced for beginners' book, although the problem is not widespread. However, overall, I commend the author for producing a book which I believe will help many people get a start in reading Italian, and taking steps forward in the language. Highly recommended.

If you already know a few Italian words and phrases and are keen to learn more this is a great book to help you further your language learning. I also purchased the audible version of this book so I'm learning reading comprehension together with listening and speaking. I like to read a story and then test myself by listening to it to see how much I can understand. Perhaps not all the stories will appeal to everyone but I read them anyway because I find I pick up something new from each story. Well worth buying and if you're tired of the usual language learning books it makes a nice change.

I have just started learning Italian, using on of the popular language apps. Stumbled onto these books on the store and decided to try reading them. It's the best idea I've had. The concept is so on point, and it encourages me to keep on reviewing the grammar all while learning more vocabulary and having Fun. Thank you Olly!

I have just started learning Italian, using on of the popular language apps. Stumbled onto these books on the store and decided to try reading them. It's the best idea I've had. The concept is so on point, and it encourages me to keep on reviewing the grammar all while learning more vocabulary and having Fun. Thank you Olly!

Excellent book. Very well structured presenting the story, a summary, a quick vocabulary and questions to challenge the understanding of the text just read. I strongly recommend to the ones interested in learning italian.