Having an Italian father who is frequently in his home land, and a Little Miss who spends most holidays over there, it was important that she got more than the basics, and learnt them quickly. Whilst listening to people speak a language is obviously the most effective way to learn a language, I also wanted her to be able to read some of the more common words so that she was able to learn to read Italian as she learnt to read English. Whilst this has obviously not happened as quickly as she has learnt English (she lives here), this book has been a good way to introduce her to the written word.
~~The Book~~
In typical usborne style, this is a nice big, brightly coloured book, so nothing threatening for young children. On the front is a picture of a busy farmyard scene, with words and pictures dotted around the edge of the book.
Inside the book, we start with the information pages; two pages with information for parents. This will help you get the most out of the book.
There is useful information about the quicklinks, wwww.usborne-quicklinks.com. We have been on this site a few times, where you can hear the words spoken in Italian, print out puzzles, and find other information on Italy. However, as sites go, I find it quite confusing. There is a lot of toing and froing to get the words spoken, and after each word, you have to go to the start and then select another one. Not quick enough for little people who want it and want it now. I also thought they should have said the word in English and then in Italian rather than relying on you following the words down the side of the pages; quite confusing.
There is a bit of information about using the book, with some information about masculine and feminine words and accents. This is very much adult stuff. Don't expect a little person to read this by themselves. The best thing they suggest is to listen to an Italian person saying the words and repeat what you hear- great, we have our own ready to read the words!
One of the things I found a tad strange is the yellow duck. What's this? Yes, on every page, there is a yellow duck somewhere- quite what purpose he serves I don't know but Little Miss enjoys finding him in obscure places, although we haven't yet been able to find him on the food page, unless he is cunningly disguised!
Ok, we have read the information pages and are ready to start to learn the language. I decided not to use the computer with it but rather to look at and talk about the words, and say them myself…far easier than a disjointed computer generated chap.
Each double page spread concentrates on well known places and activities, such as the garden, the street, at school, the doctors and the shops. There is a big bright highly detailed picture, with of course the obligatory duck hiding amongst the things, and around the edges are pictures with the Italian word underneath.
We then go onto subjects such as my body, my clothes, actions, opposites, the weather and seasons and sport. These are shown as a series of individual pictures with the word underneath.
Finally, there are pages concentrating on colours, shapes and numbers, all brightly coloured and appealing to children.
At the back of the book is a word list with suggestions on how to pronounce the words and the English translation. These pages are definitely for adults- don't expect a small person to be able to identify where they stress vowels and add the accents.
Italian Dictionary for Beginners (Internet linked) Italian for beginners (Internet Linked) First Thousand words in French First thousand words in Japanese First Thousand words in Hebrew~~What we think of it~~
We look through this every so often because first and foremost it is a nicely illustrated book, and Little Miss enjoys looking for the duck.
As I mentioned before, I think the link to the computer is likely to confuse children because as well as trying to repeat the word, they have to try to find the picture in the book so that they know what the man is saying. For anyone with a basic knowledge of the language this is quite easy because they can then tell the child what he is saying but otherwise it could be a walk in the dark.
Similarly, I think that there should be an English translation underneath the Italian word because for example, la pensilina is not instantly recognisable as a platform, and you could inadvertently be telling a child the wrong translation. There are other examples like this and also words which I don't think are really necessary for a child learning a language.
It may also have been useful to have some sentence construction in the book, such as asking the time, asking people their names, and how to respond to simple questions.
All said, though, we have found it useful to teach Little Miss some of the more common nouns, and to enable her to try to read them- we tell her to read it as it's written, and see how she goes, then give her the proper pronunciation.
It is a book which will appeal to young children, and for anyone wanting children to learn the basics of a language, it's quite a handy book to have.
So, recommended, but try to have a native speaker to hand.
Thanks for reading.
Daniela xx
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