Does anyone know of a really good Italian tape..to learn by..My friend gave me one..but after 5 minutes they lost me!!! Or what abou lessons..How long do you think youd need?

Fodors Italian for Travelers. It comes with a well-desinged booklet to follow along the tape with, and a small pocket guide for your trip.

Second vote for Fodor's tapes. Follow along with the book at the beginning but later listen without the book.

The main thing is you have to concentrate while listening. (I listen while on my daily walk and probably look/sound silly as I repeat the phrases and sentences out loud.) And you have to listen to the tapes every day to retain it.

Everyone is different, but I needed several weeks to absorb everything on the tapes. In preparing for subsequent trips to Italy, I listen to the tapes again, but it only takes a couple of weeks to regain the phrases.

A vote for the Pimsleur tapes/ CDs. They build up pronounciation by syllable, and provide lots of programmed repetition to drill learning right into your brain. Only danger: when you use them, you sound so good that people assume you know way more than you do...so you end up begging them to slow down! But these are expensive, so make sure you like this method before you buy. Public libraries may have them, and I believe they have a intro set of CDs for 19.95...Once you use them, a phrasebook is much easier to use on your travels.

Hey - I plug these guys a *lot* because it's really good and totally free:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/

Va bene! Good luck!!
: )