Practice Makes Perfect: Italian Vocabulary

The book is divided into 16 units, covering topics ranging from "Family" to "Government, politics, and society" and "Measurements, times, and dates". Words are listed separately by grammatical category, and interspersed with the lists are practice exercises as well as notes on the use of language. These are competently written and an asset to the book, although students may need help in deciphering the grammatical terms. Thematically, the topics may seem to become more advanced as the book progresses, but even the earliest units include more "difficult" terms, such as "arterioso" and "cardiaco" in Unit 3; also, there is no gradation in the grammatical structures being used so that, for instance, the subjunctive features prominently in Unit 2 ("People").

Who is it for? All those students who expect their tutors to provide word lists.

Presentation - Useful mixture of grammatical and cultural explanations, word lists and exercises (with answers at the back).

Would you recommend it? The book may be difficult to use where it would be most needed - that is, at beginners' level. However, I should give it a go.