Italian Intermediate Coursebooks

[kanewai]

I'm looking for a good, solid intermediate-level Italian course book, and I'm frustrated by what I've found so far. I've been consuming Italian media for a couple years (novels and podcasts), and using online programs like Speakly. I'm at a point where I could use a good old-fashioned course with grammar and drills. I've looked through the forums, and still can't find the right course for me.

The Nuovo Magari books are the closest I've found, but when I looked at a sample lesson I wasn't super impressed. There were a lot of pictures, and a lot of white space, and only a few actual drills, per page. Has anyone used this series?

The previews for the Nuovo Espresso series did not impress me, and it looks like the books are designed for a classroom.

I've thought about trying Assimil's Perfectionnement Italien, but I've found that I get impatient with their intermediate series courses. I might splurge on it if I don't find anything else, but I'm hoping to find something a bit more focused. I like Assimil, I just don't know if it's what I need right now.

Ideally, I'd like to find something along the lines of the French CLE courses, or the online Kwiziq for Spanish and French. At this point I'm not even sure if what I want exists!

[lingua]

I really like this set but you'll likely have to order it from Italy if you can't find it on Amazon.

GP. Grammatica pratica della lingua italiana by Marco Mezzadri
GP. Grammatica pratica della lingua italiana (esercizi supplementari) by Mezzadri and Pederzani

It starts from A1 and works to C1. Each unit is two pages and covers a specific grammar point. When I thought I wanted to do the B2 test I started using this. The supplement works with the main book with additional drills to do. It's not all drills however. Sometimes it's fill in the blank, etc. I thought it was well done and noticed it seemed to include coverage of the irregular things in the language. I'll be returning to this book once I finish one of the reading comprehension books I'm currently working through at the moment.

Have you done much with the various Practice Makes Perfect series for Italian? I have nearly all of them and for the most part I think they're decent ... definitely better than the German ones. At least there are a lot of drills if that's what you are looking for.

I have a dozen or more intermediate-advanced books similar Nuovo Espresso that I bought in Italy over the years but I haven't worked with them in a long time so I don't remember how good they are. Some of them were part of the sets used in the courses I took in Italy or from my homestays there. I've never found much in English past the beginner level unfortunately. Probably no market for it in the US.

[kanewai]

I really like this set but you'll likely have to order it from Italy if you can't find it on Amazon.

GP. Grammatica pratica della lingua italiana by Marco Mezzadri
GP. Grammatica pratica della lingua italiana (esercizi supplementari) by Mezzadri and Pederzani

This looks like it might fit! It's a good thing you included the author - there's a book with almost the exact same name, just without the "GP" in front, by the same publishers as Magari and Espresso.

[Cavesa]

The closest thing to the Progressives that I've found are the worbooks by Alma Edizioni: https://www.almaedizioni.it/it/catalogo ... ULTI/GRES/ and there are a few more books like that on the market by other publishers, but not that many. As far as the online resources go, there is unfortunately no Kwiziq or a similar alternative. https://onlineitalianclub.com/ that's probably the most serious online resource of this kind, but still not that complete, I'd say.

[kanewai]

The closest thing to the Progressives that I've found are the workbooks by Alma Edizioni.

Every time someone produces a good course in one language, it spoils us for the others! I've looked at the Alma books, but they remind me too much of all the "fun" French books I used to pick up, and that I would only use for a week or two. I actually find that I stick with the harder and more rigorous courses (like FSI) far longer.

[garyb]

I've looked at the Alma books, but they remind me too much of all the "fun" French books I used to pick up, and that I would only use for a week or two. I actually find that I stick with the harder and more rigorous courses (like FSI) far longer.

That sounds about right for my experience with "Grammatica avanzata della lingua italiana", which I had bought hoping for something comparable to Grammaire Progressive avancé/perfectionnement but just didn't do much for me at all. Too focused on teaching the theory of the grammar rather than practical applications, and too many pointless "fun" exercises like crosswords and matching words to pictures. I can't speak for any of the others, but that has put me off them.

[lingua]

I'm using Il buongustare (B1/B2) which is published by Loescher Editore. I think it's well done and I will be getting some of their other books the next time I do a big Italian book order. Many of their books are geared towards intermediate-advanced learners. If their other books are as good as Il buongustare and the grammar books I originally mentioned then I would feel confident about the quality of the rest of their books. Keeping in mind what works for me may not work for others.

https://www.loescher.it/catalogo/italiano-per-stranieri

[Lysander]

I'm looking for a good, solid intermediate-level Italian course book, and I'm frustrated by what I've found so far. I've been consuming Italian media for a couple years (novels and podcasts), and using online programs like Speakly. I'm at a point where I could use a good old-fashioned course with grammar and drills. I've looked through the forums, and still can't find the right course for me.

The Nuovo Magari books are the closest I've found, but when I looked at a sample lesson I wasn't super impressed. There were a lot of pictures, and a lot of white space, and only a few actual drills, per page. Has anyone used this series?

The previews for the Nuovo Espresso series did not impress me, and it looks like the books are designed for a classroom.

I've thought about trying Assimil's Perfectionnement Italien, but I've found that I get impatient with their intermediate series courses. I might splurge on it if I don't find anything else, but I'm hoping to find something a bit more focused. I like Assimil, I just don't know if it's what I need right now.

Ideally, I'd like to find something along the lines of the French CLE courses, or the online Kwiziq for Spanish and French. At this point I'm not even sure if what I want exists!

kanewai,
Do any of these books look like they could work for you?

http://www.progettolingua.it/Catalogue.htm

I think these may all be too simple for you. However, if you click into a particular option and scroll to the bottom, there is a PDF link for all of them, so you can get an idea fairly easily. Some of the readers at the bottom seem like they might be helpful for a somewhat less advanced student too since they have audio.

Anyway, I hope something here is a helpful for you!

[kanewai]

I really like this set but you'll likely have to order it from Italy if you can't find it on Amazon.

GP. Grammatica pratica della lingua italiana by Marco Mezzadri
GP. Grammatica pratica della lingua italiana (esercizi supplementari) by Mezzadri and Pederzani

It starts from A1 and works to C1. Each unit is two pages and covers a specific grammar point. When I thought I wanted to do the B2 test I started using this. The supplement works with the main book with additional drills to do.

I found it on Amazon, and it is exactly what I needed - thanks! I like that it takes a straightforward and methodical approach to teaching, and that it is 100% in Italian. I was a bit skeptical about a book that could cover A1 to C1, but now I understand how it works. There is only a limited bit of audio tracks, so any students will want to supplement it with podcasts or a course with more.

I've tried using great courses for French and Spanish that started from A1, because I can always use a refresher on the basic building blocks of any language, but they were painfully tedious. This course doesn't have any filler, or waste time trying to convince me that "languages are fun!" (It's a pet peeve of mine, and I find this in a lot of American courses)

My only real complaint so far is the thinness of the pages - it's almost like tissue paper. This is not a book that I can throw in my bike bag. I just ordered the supplemental book of exercises; I wanted to wait and see if I liked the main book before buying it.

If anyone else is shopping around for it, be warned that there is another book by a different company with almost the exact same title. Check to see if it's the book by Marco Mezzadri.

[lingua]

I just restarted it myself but have only completed the first unit in both books. There are 60 units in all in case anyone else is interested. I would like to do all 60 by the end of 2021.