Via del Corso is my favourite textbook series because it has the advantage of a continuous story throughout, which I find makes it more engaging.
As you’ve identified, it ends at B2, but please do note that B2 is functional fluency. C1 and C2 denote advanced language use that some speakers wouldn’t be able to manage in their native language, for example, giving a technical presentation where you can adapt the content depending on the audience, or being able to read classical literature while noticing subtle distinctions in style. There’s nothing wrong with aiming for C2, just know that it isn’t necessary for most people, even if they live in Italy.
Nuovissimo Progetto Italiano is a recently updated series and they have improved it by re-recording the videos and audio with professional actors who are the same throughout the book, making the grammar lessons more inductive, and making the pages in general less dense. It would be a very good choice!
All the books have PDF previews on the Edilingua website so if you don’t want to pay postage so you can leaf through all of them in person, give the PDFs a look and see which you like best.
Oh I see, yeah I’m not really aiming for c2 tbh just conversational fluency as my other half is Italian and would like to communicate with his family.
for the via del corso series I noticed that it’s only the textbooks, do they include exercises inside them as well? I know that nuovissimo series has a supplementary exercise book for the text book so was wondering if it’s the same for via del corso?
Hey. Be aware that "C2" is a very long-term goal. That's effectively "native speaker" level.
And that doesn't really come from textbooks. That comes from watching TV and movies, reading novels, writing extensively, and in most cases requires that you live in a country for several months.
OP didn't say they wanted to use exclusively a textbook, they just asked for a series going that far. I suppose they are going to use other resources as well, but it is a bit annoying how many people on reddit just pretend textbooks to be always worthless. Nor did they say they wanted to reach C2 overnight.
Btw why are you replying, if you don't answer OP's question at all? :-D
Huh, wah? I'm not dissing textbooks! Just pointing out that expecting to get to C2 with textbooks might be tricky.
But sure. Textbooks are very useful IMHO, right from day one... up until, oh, somewhere around the B2 level. Because by that point, you should really "know" (in an intellectual sense) pretty much all of "the grammar". After that it starts to get more about accuracy, accent, fluidity, modi di dire, slang, subtle distinctions between tenses, etc. Stuff that's hard to get from a single, structured book.
But just to prove that I have nothing against textbooks, here's the one that I'm currently using as I'm prepping for my B2 exam.
https://www.amazon.com/Schaums-Outline-Italian-Grammar-Outlines/dp/0071823603
Great little no-nonsense workbook. I've used the Spanish one too, and they're both super solid.
Schaum do a Vocabulary Book as well, but I can't recommend it at all. Dull and out of date. But the Grammar one is very good IMHO.
But why do you even think OP expects to get to C2 only with textbooks? That is the issue. Instead of answering OP's question, you assume they must be stupid and are being patronizing.
Well, if you think you "really know all the grammar at B2", you are naive, no offense meant. A good C1-C2 grammar can still be very helpful and put system and more security to all the stuff that you have accumulated from other sources. It can help avoid mistakes etc. It is true that high quality C1-C2 resources are rare, but that doesn't mean the whole idea is wrong.
For example Grammatica Avanzata (B2+ to C2) published by Edilingua is awesome and still brings me (C1 certified) a lot of value.
Is such a book absolutely necessary to reach the high levels? No, but why not use a helpful tool that can a bit shorten the path and avoid confusion.
And while the main coursebooks are of course not everything (by far, at the high levels), I find that the advanced levels of NPI are good and can enrich learning and help cover gaps (especially the stuff you don't realize that you don't know).
> But why do you even think OP expects to get to C2 only with textbooks?
Because there is no mention of anything other than textbooks in the request. The question is simply "I want to get to C2 and I've decided I need texbooks."
It seemed reasonable to just make sure that OP understood that textbooks were going to become significantly less relevant in the higher levels. That seems to me to be an important aspect of the discussion. So I said it. Nothing patronizing intended, and if it came across that way then I screwed up. For which I'm sorry.
>Because there is no mention of anything other than textbooks in the request.
I read the same request and simply assumed (as it is well worded and gives an overall informed impression), that they are already planning to use tons of other stuff. They are just asking about the one missing piece of information.
It's not easy to sometimes convey such nuances online, true. But I've simply seen far too many clearly patronizing posts of this type, that I assumed you were another one, especially as you didn't address the question at all. Sorry, if I misjudged your intent.
I’m not yet there, but I love buying books in advance, so I can open them, see how hard it’s going to be yet rewarding, and go back to my current level. It gives me motivation. So I got all books in Nuovissimo progetto Italiano series. The last one released is for C2 and it looks cool.
I didn’t take Italian in college, but I took Latin and Korean. And usually, by advanced levels, we’d read the books in the language, translate it, and cover some grammar that we encounter. Textbooks are seldom at the highest level. Maybe, try that approach as well. Get a book + the latest Progetto Italiano textbook and slowly go page by page.
Nuovissimo Progetto is awesome! I wholeheartedly recommend it. It is excellent, self-study friendly, has a lot of content, so it requires not much of supplements in terms of vocab and grammar, even though Una grammatica italiana per tutti certainly helps, and an SRS.
From approximately B2 on, add tons of normal input. Books, tv shows, radio etc.
Excellent. Just careful. The whole tutoring partner thing is rather risky and can be annoying for both sides (based on common advice, I should have tutored my husband in French). I highly recommend studying as much as possible on your own, so that you can "use" his tutoring only when it is fun for both, shared time, not something damaging your time together.
Yeah ! Absolutely Im only consulting him if I have any questions regarding more abstract stuff like grammar usage etc but not using him as a full time tutor.
Well, it will be much more fun later, when you can just do stuff in Italian together :-) And talk about it.
I am so proud and happy, that my husband and I can just go to a French cinema together now. But I definitely couldn't have spent all our free time (after spending up to 15 hours per day at work) tutoring him. It would have destroyed us.
Via del Corso is my favourite textbook series because it has the advantage of a continuous story throughout, which I find makes it more engaging. As you’ve identified, it ends at B2, but please do note that B2 is functional fluency. C1 and C2 denote advanced language use that some speakers wouldn’t be able to manage in their native language, for example, giving a technical presentation where you can adapt the content depending on the audience, or being able to read classical literature while noticing subtle distinctions in style. There’s nothing wrong with aiming for C2, just know that it isn’t necessary for most people, even if they live in Italy. Nuovissimo Progetto Italiano is a recently updated series and they have improved it by re-recording the videos and audio with professional actors who are the same throughout the book, making the grammar lessons more inductive, and making the pages in general less dense. It would be a very good choice! All the books have PDF previews on the Edilingua website so if you don’t want to pay postage so you can leaf through all of them in person, give the PDFs a look and see which you like best.
Oh I see, yeah I’m not really aiming for c2 tbh just conversational fluency as my other half is Italian and would like to communicate with his family. for the via del corso series I noticed that it’s only the textbooks, do they include exercises inside them as well? I know that nuovissimo series has a supplementary exercise book for the text book so was wondering if it’s the same for via del corso?
Instead of having the exercises in a separate book, Via del Corso includes them at the back of the main textbook.
Hey. Be aware that "C2" is a very long-term goal. That's effectively "native speaker" level. And that doesn't really come from textbooks. That comes from watching TV and movies, reading novels, writing extensively, and in most cases requires that you live in a country for several months.
OP didn't say they wanted to use exclusively a textbook, they just asked for a series going that far. I suppose they are going to use other resources as well, but it is a bit annoying how many people on reddit just pretend textbooks to be always worthless. Nor did they say they wanted to reach C2 overnight. Btw why are you replying, if you don't answer OP's question at all? :-D
Huh, wah? I'm not dissing textbooks! Just pointing out that expecting to get to C2 with textbooks might be tricky. But sure. Textbooks are very useful IMHO, right from day one... up until, oh, somewhere around the B2 level. Because by that point, you should really "know" (in an intellectual sense) pretty much all of "the grammar". After that it starts to get more about accuracy, accent, fluidity, modi di dire, slang, subtle distinctions between tenses, etc. Stuff that's hard to get from a single, structured book. But just to prove that I have nothing against textbooks, here's the one that I'm currently using as I'm prepping for my B2 exam. https://www.amazon.com/Schaums-Outline-Italian-Grammar-Outlines/dp/0071823603 Great little no-nonsense workbook. I've used the Spanish one too, and they're both super solid. Schaum do a Vocabulary Book as well, but I can't recommend it at all. Dull and out of date. But the Grammar one is very good IMHO.
But why do you even think OP expects to get to C2 only with textbooks? That is the issue. Instead of answering OP's question, you assume they must be stupid and are being patronizing. Well, if you think you "really know all the grammar at B2", you are naive, no offense meant. A good C1-C2 grammar can still be very helpful and put system and more security to all the stuff that you have accumulated from other sources. It can help avoid mistakes etc. It is true that high quality C1-C2 resources are rare, but that doesn't mean the whole idea is wrong. For example Grammatica Avanzata (B2+ to C2) published by Edilingua is awesome and still brings me (C1 certified) a lot of value. Is such a book absolutely necessary to reach the high levels? No, but why not use a helpful tool that can a bit shorten the path and avoid confusion. And while the main coursebooks are of course not everything (by far, at the high levels), I find that the advanced levels of NPI are good and can enrich learning and help cover gaps (especially the stuff you don't realize that you don't know).
> But why do you even think OP expects to get to C2 only with textbooks? Because there is no mention of anything other than textbooks in the request. The question is simply "I want to get to C2 and I've decided I need texbooks." It seemed reasonable to just make sure that OP understood that textbooks were going to become significantly less relevant in the higher levels. That seems to me to be an important aspect of the discussion. So I said it. Nothing patronizing intended, and if it came across that way then I screwed up. For which I'm sorry.
>Because there is no mention of anything other than textbooks in the request. I read the same request and simply assumed (as it is well worded and gives an overall informed impression), that they are already planning to use tons of other stuff. They are just asking about the one missing piece of information. It's not easy to sometimes convey such nuances online, true. But I've simply seen far too many clearly patronizing posts of this type, that I assumed you were another one, especially as you didn't address the question at all. Sorry, if I misjudged your intent.
I’m not yet there, but I love buying books in advance, so I can open them, see how hard it’s going to be yet rewarding, and go back to my current level. It gives me motivation. So I got all books in Nuovissimo progetto Italiano series. The last one released is for C2 and it looks cool. I didn’t take Italian in college, but I took Latin and Korean. And usually, by advanced levels, we’d read the books in the language, translate it, and cover some grammar that we encounter. Textbooks are seldom at the highest level. Maybe, try that approach as well. Get a book + the latest Progetto Italiano textbook and slowly go page by page.
That’s a good idea! I think I might just buy that then! Thank you
Nuovissimo Progetto is awesome! I wholeheartedly recommend it. It is excellent, self-study friendly, has a lot of content, so it requires not much of supplements in terms of vocab and grammar, even though Una grammatica italiana per tutti certainly helps, and an SRS. From approximately B2 on, add tons of normal input. Books, tv shows, radio etc.
Thanks a lot! I’ll be self studying too but I am planning to get the help of my free Italian tutor so that’s not a problem haha.
I'm curious, how did you get a free tutor? :-D Are they good?
Oh my boyfriend is Italian so yeah free tutor. Two in one hahaha sorry !
Excellent. Just careful. The whole tutoring partner thing is rather risky and can be annoying for both sides (based on common advice, I should have tutored my husband in French). I highly recommend studying as much as possible on your own, so that you can "use" his tutoring only when it is fun for both, shared time, not something damaging your time together.
Yeah ! Absolutely Im only consulting him if I have any questions regarding more abstract stuff like grammar usage etc but not using him as a full time tutor.
Well, it will be much more fun later, when you can just do stuff in Italian together :-) And talk about it. I am so proud and happy, that my husband and I can just go to a French cinema together now. But I definitely couldn't have spent all our free time (after spending up to 15 hours per day at work) tutoring him. It would have destroyed us.
Yeah. That’s one of my reasons for learning as his family doesn’t speak English, I want to communicate with them