Italian Vocabulary SparkNotes Study Cards (Volume 12)

I bought these cards after reading one particular review that said they were a better set than another. After receiving the set, my immediate impression was that the flash cards were not really cards but just thick paper. There is no coating so I don't believe they will last long with handling. My second disappointment was that ALL words, whether noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, adverb, conjunction were placed in the box alphabetically. I guess you need to put them in the box somehow, but NO ONE learns a language alphabetically. Why not place them by popularity within grammar group? IE. Nouns first, then verbs, etc... So, that's what I did. I went through all 1000 cards and grouped them by noun, verb, other. My next step will be to place the important nouns first then the lesser important. Yes there are nouns I want to learn first like food, drink, airport, general travel nouns and less important like heart, kidney, liver. Same with verbs etc... If I were fluent in a language other than English and were making these cards, I would color code them by grammar type, group them by priority learning 1,2,3,4 and for goodness sake make them from something more durable than thick paper with no coating. In the event a word could be both a noun and a verb (or other), make the card 2 colors with noun color on the left and verb color on the right. With all that said, the list is quite exhaustive and will be helpful, it just wasn't what I had hoped to get.

This is a large set of cards and includes many parts of speech in alphabetical order. They are about the size of a business card and unlamented. They do not include pronunciation guides. That said, they are the cheapest set I've found. I made index card separators to isolate the ones I know or am working on. They can stick together when you pull them out. I removed the ones that are easy, to make room to go through them comfortably. Good for vocabulary but grammar and pronunciation need to be added from elsewhere.

I bought this box based on other Amazon reviews. The good reviews were right! I have found them very easy to use and helpful.I have been learning Italian from the Pimsleur course, which emphasizes conversation and particular sentence forms rather than vocabulary. So, somewhere along the way, I need to add words. That's what the cards are for, and they seem to be working.

These cards are pretty good, but not fantastic. First of all the material is just paper, and not especially thick paper. They will be easily folded or damaged so you have to be careful. The fact that they come alphabetically ordered rather than in order of word types (i.e. nouns, verbs, etc.) is a little surprising. All in all, they do what they need to and there are a lot of them. As long as you are aware of the above issues then I would recommend them to anyone looking for Italian flashcards.

No phrases, no diagrams, no fill in the blank questions, not organized by subject as it says in the description. Having said that, it's a decent set of Italian flash cards.

I've purchased two different Italian flashcard boxes to help me with my Italian language study so far, and this SparkNotes version is far more useful and user-friendly than the QuickStudy brand. For several reasons, I'd recommend the SparksNotes to anyone trying to start learning Italian. First, the SparkNotes word selection is much more mainstream and general, and at that beginning of studying a new language, that is exactly what I want. The box contains a large but not overwhelming sampling of verbs, and the nouns are words that I might actually use in conversation or encounter in a newspaper article or book. I really feel like after mastering this box, I can hold my own in a normal conversation, be well-prepared for an Italian class, and read the newspaper, understanding most of what I hear and read. I won't know every word, but because this box was carefully curated, I'll recognize most of what I encounter. And I will have the right words to express most of what I want to say. The QuickStudy box was filled with words like "cranberry sauce," "to windsurf" and "videocassette." Not helpful! The SparksNotes editors, on the other hand, did a great job sifting through words to choose ones that are broadly applicable, useful for everyday life and communication, and up-to-date.The second reason that I preferred the SparksNotes box is that the cards are much, much easier to read. These cards are about the same size as a normal business card, and the vocabulary words are printed in what appears to me to be around a 24 point font, and they are boldface. The Italian words are black print on a white background, and the English words are white print on a dark blue background, and neither side is shiny. Totally easy to read, even in low light! The Quickstudy cards are about the same size, but the print is quite a bit smaller and much more difficult to read--they're maybe 14-16 point font, not in bold type, and one side of the card is shiny, which makes it even harder to read. Zipping through cards quickly is easier when the print is clearly legible.Another reason why I prefer the look of the SparkNotes cards is that they aren't cluttered with information that isn't helpful. The other brand lists both singular and plural articles and attaches the plural ending to each noun after a backslash--even when the noun is regular. SparkNotes cards will print plurals when they're irregular, but otherwise, they keep the plurals off the cards. Streamlined cards are easier to process and remember. Look at the difference:QuickStudy spring : la/le primavera/eSparkNotes spring: la primavera (<--and imagine it printed in bigger, bolder type)On the SparkNotes card, the big bold word jumps off the card at you. You have to work harder to get the information from the other cards. When you're trying to work with big stacks of cards, it makes a difference. SparkNotes has done just about everything possible to help readers absorb and retain the information. I don't feel like the QuickStudy cards made nearly the same effort.I bought the QuickStudy cards months ago and still haven't learned more than maybe a third of them. I bought the SparkNotes and finished the box in about three weeks. They are that much easier, more rewarding, and more pleasant to work with. That should say it all really. OH, and the SparkNotes box is much cheaper than the QuickStudy, so it's no contest at all. Hope this helps. Happy shopping and happy studying! :)

I got these to help get ready for a trip to Italy. I like that there are a LOT of cards so it covers a lot of vocabulary. What I don't like is it doesn't give you tips for how to pronounce the words and the cards are a little thin and papery. However, for my purposes they work so overall I'm satisfied with the product.

Excellent for practicing

These are great although they do feel a little small - although if you want 1000 cards to fit into a box that's home friendly I guess that can't be postcard size. These are more like business card size and have a word in Italian on one side and the English/American version on the other side - hey guys we can cope with a little phonetic spelling from over the pond eh? Now you might balk from buying these as I did for a while - telling yourself you will either build something using technology and put it on your phone - great idea and good luck spending your time going that route. Because I found there seemed to be nothing already created that was a cheap as these or as easy to use. Unless you are going to use a Frequency Diary - it lists the most common words in order - so on page one you'll get 20-30 words that are the most frequent in Italian. Page two the 40th - 70th words and on like that. Great idea to get one - but my bad idea was to try to write flash cards myself - what a pain - how time consuming - and where's a box big enough to put them in - and how many packs of cards at £2.99 - jeez!!Start here and you'll get 1000 of the most common words in a box that fits. All you then need is 7 red cards the same size to give you 7 sections - so you can then use classic learning organization for flash cards but you don't build the set yourself. (Just look up how to learn using flash cards - there's a organised way to do it using 7 sections in the box)Once you've cracked 1000 words you'll be past the flash card stage of learning - so no need to worry about the second 1000 words. Suggest you might want a Frequency Vocabulary like this one  Italian Key Words: The Basic 2000 Word Vocabulary Arranged by Frequency, with Dictionaries (Oleander Language & Literature)Italian Key Words: The Basic 2000 Word Vocabulary Arranged by Frequency, with Dictionaries (Oleander Language & Literature)

Very simple cards. One side has a single italian word (with article) and the other side has a strict, english translation.Cards are around a tetra-pak in size. There is no assistance with pronunciation.Does an article and a noun constitute a 'phrase'? If not, then no phrases here.I will buy a small, cheap dictionary and open it at random pages. The dictionary will be compact and probably include variations.I do not understand how this product received any 5* ratings.

Excellent resource to help develop my vocabulary. Really pleased with my purchase.

These cards are perfect for assisting in teaching ESL students the most common english words. The cards are just like business cards but could be a little thicker being as they will be used over and over again but they do the job in any case.

Consigliato per un utilizoz base e di termini abbastanza semplici. vero che molte parole di uso comune non sono semplici e facili da ricordare