In order to help you avoid spending time at memorizing words that you don't need, at least right away, we checked what people commonly use in conversations and that is what you will learn first in the two volumes of introduction. By isolating all the words from transcripts of italian interviews that we conducted for the lessons in our SmartItalian Audio CDs Beginner, we found out that 65% of these words were small words and always the same, regardless of the person and the theme - 65%!!! Working with these volumes, you will know 65% of all conversations, verbs and all. Then, you will develop strong listening skills with these CDs Beginner, and gain a great confidence in speaking the Italian language.
The revolutionary idea behind SmartItalian is placing comprehension first and foremost--before speaking. You cannot have a conversation in Italian if you cannot understand at real speed what is coming back to you. SmartItalian is a unique program that prepares you to have a two-way conversation in Italian.
The difference between the audio CDs and the CDROM is that the CDROM has all three levels and some extras, as well as the videos of the interviews on which the lessons are based (to see people when they speak always helps), but it's for the computer only (Windows and Mac). With the appropriate software, you can download the audio cds easily onto your mp3 player. Also check SmartItalian for Travelers.
"It's unbelievable that this simple, easy approach has never been done before. Some of the most successful, useful inventions become obvious to the rest of us after someone comes up with the idea, and we smack our foreheads with the palm of our hands thinking: Why didn't I think of that? It's so obvious! SmartItalian is like that." Music Critic, Belmont, MA
See also SmartFrench and SmartSpanish. The demo is available for the French on the smartfrench website.