Rating: Summary: The organization was very diificult to follow and confusing Review: I wouldn't recommend this program, especially to a beginner. I've had 4 years of spanish a couple years ago and I wanted to improve my vocabulary and grammar and found it very difficult to do with this program. I also felt that someone coming in with no knowledge of spanish would be very frustrated and confused by this program. It gives menu choices of different things you can learn, grammar, vocabulary etc, but it doesn't tell you where it's best to start from. Also, if someone doesn't understand terms like "Subjunctive" and "Indicitive Gerrund" this would be even harder to understand. I'd definately recommend not to buy this program. I returned mine and now I am looking for a new program to try. good luck!
Rating: Summary: Good For First Time Buyer of Language Software Review: My basis of comparison is limited, but so far I like this title. It is easy to use and seems to have alot more information that I will ever be able to go through. The 5 CD's seem like a little much, but they are full of information on all levels.
Rating: Summary: this is a very good piece of software. Review: This is an effective language learning program. most of the negative reviews revolved around the difficulty of the content, the lack of guidance or the "unorganized" interface. I feel the approach of this software is one of the best in its price range. lets face it, learning a language is difficult no matter what claims are made on the box! this program (like the name suggests) immerses you in spanish language. it's your job as a motivated student to find your way around (not unlike stepping of a plane in a foreign country) and in the process learn a good amount of spanish. yes, the video appears difficult at first but you can pause it at anytime and if you right click on any word you get a translation and pronuciation of the word. you can also click on the translation button and see the text in english as you hear it being spoken. there is even a control panel where you can change the difficulty level and the speed of dialog among other things. the grammar sections are comprehensive and there are plenty of exercises which relate to and reinforce the lessons. the interface and navigation bar lets you jump to any are of the program you want to work on. the exercises change depending on which lesson is selected and there is a progress screen where you can track your progress. if you supplement what you learn here with other stuff like watching your favorite dvd's with the spanish subtitles on or reading bilingual magazines you will really benefit from the solid foundation this software offers.
Rating: Summary: this is a very good piece of software. Review: This is an effective language learning program. most of the negative reviews revolved around the difficulty of the content, the lack of guidance or the "unorganized" interface. I feel the approach of this software is one of the best in its price range. lets face it, learning a language is difficult no matter what claims are made on the box! this program (like the name suggests) immerses you in spanish language. it's your job as a motivated student to find your way around (not unlike stepping of a plane in a foreign country) and in the process learn a good amount of spanish. yes, the video appears difficult at first but you can pause it at anytime and if you right click on any word you get a translation and pronuciation of the word. you can also click on the translation button and see the text in english as you hear it being spoken. there is even a control panel where you can change the difficulty level and the speed of dialog among other things. the grammar sections are comprehensive and there are plenty of exercises which relate to and reinforce the lessons. the interface and navigation bar lets you jump to any are of the program you want to work on. the exercises change depending on which lesson is selected and there is a progress screen where you can track your progress. if you supplement what you learn here with other stuff like watching your favorite dvd's with the spanish subtitles on or reading bilingual magazines you will really benefit from the solid foundation this software offers.
Rating: Summary: Worth what we paid - nothing Review: This program, which claims to be WIndows XP compatible, is nothing more than a Windows 95 program. It would not install into the Program Files directory until I used the Progra~1 form. Next, when the program launched, it resized my screen to EGA resolution - yes, this program is THAT old. Finally, it claimed it couldn't fidn the CD even though it had just been installed from that CD.As the title said, it is worth exactly as much as we paid - nothing.
Rating: Summary: Good pronunciation section; horrible layout Review: This series would be ok for practicing and learning pronunciation, BUT the whole layout of the software is EXTREMELY confusing. Even worse, most of the vocabulary used in the lessons aren't even in the glossary, which really confuses you. So, only buy this CD if you want to practice pronunciation. DO NOT buy it if you're starting from scratch, and don't have any foundation in grammar or vocabulary.
Rating: Summary: Piece of crap! Review: This UK-produced language-learning software title is pretty bad. I'm glad I paid nothing for it after rebate (except sales tax). The box design is attractive, and you think you are getting a good deal with 7 CDs. But opening the package you'll find no manual, just a single installation note apparently written by a non-English speaker. The installation program is a joke; it would crash on my Windows 2000 machine unless I chose the "maximum" option. Very crude indeed. Then, I ran the demo as instructed, which doesn't even have a quit button! I had to use Task Manager to kill the program! Not to mention that annoying, echoing "Tell Me More" at the beginning. Really annoying... childishly so. Which brings us to the actual content of the package. There are 4 components to this "deluxe" package. Four CDs make up the Tell Me More program, which is basically a language exercise program. For example, in one set of exercises you'll be asked questions and expected to answer them. The computer will analyze your answer and respond accordingly. In another set, you watch some poorly produced video footages and just listen along. There are also word puzzles like hangman, etc. Overall a very poorly put-together package. For some reason, it would only run in 256 colors on my machine, which is a very unpleasant experience. Another CD contains a program called Spanish Plus basically teaches you the language, and this is where you should start, since Tell Me More requires you know something about the language already. But there's not too much material in Spanish Plus to make a satisfying learning experience. And sometimes the program would just crash on my Win2k machine. A third component is a vocabulary builder CD-ROM. Again, very crude. The 4th CD-ROM is an audio CD, although I actually haven't been able to play it in my portable CD player so I don't even know whether it works or how it is. Judging from the other reviews, not good. I also bought the German package, and was glad I didn't open it so I could return it after finding out how poor the Spanish package was. If you can get this for free, it can indeed be a good value if you don't mind the poor interface and poor exercises. Otherwise, do not spend money on this.
Rating: Summary: Glad I paid nearly nothing for it Review: This UK-produced language-learning software title is pretty bad. I'm glad I paid nothing for it after rebate (except sales tax). The box design is attractive, and you think you are getting a good deal with 7 CDs. But opening the package you'll find no manual, just a single installation note apparently written by a non-English speaker. The installation program is a joke; it would crash on my Windows 2000 machine unless I chose the "maximum" option. Very crude indeed. Then, I ran the demo as instructed, which doesn't even have a quit button! I had to use Task Manager to kill the program! Not to mention that annoying, echoing "Tell Me More" at the beginning. Really annoying... childishly so. Which brings us to the actual content of the package. There are 4 components to this "deluxe" package. Four CDs make up the Tell Me More program, which is basically a language exercise program. For example, in one set of exercises you'll be asked questions and expected to answer them. The computer will analyze your answer and respond accordingly. In another set, you watch some poorly produced video footages and just listen along. There are also word puzzles like hangman, etc. Overall a very poorly put-together package. For some reason, it would only run in 256 colors on my machine, which is a very unpleasant experience. Another CD contains a program called Spanish Plus basically teaches you the language, and this is where you should start, since Tell Me More requires you know something about the language already. But there's not too much material in Spanish Plus to make a satisfying learning experience. And sometimes the program would just crash on my Win2k machine. A third component is a vocabulary builder CD-ROM. Again, very crude. The 4th CD-ROM is an audio CD, although I actually haven't been able to play it in my portable CD player so I don't even know whether it works or how it is. Judging from the other reviews, not good. I also bought the German package, and was glad I didn't open it so I could return it after finding out how poor the Spanish package was. If you can get this for free, it can indeed be a good value if you don't mind the poor interface and poor exercises. Otherwise, do not spend money on this.
Rating: Summary: Hard to figure out...not good for beginners Review: This was fairly easy to install. The lessons are for people who know basic Spanish. If you have a tutor, then this is good to use accompanying what you are learning, but this is not recommended for people who don't have the basics. If you are really planning to learn, get a tutor or buy the Rosetta Stone Spanish Explorer.
Rating: Summary: Nearly worthless Review: You'll pick up some words. But thats about it. IF you want to learn a foreign language, just buy some audio CD's, a dictionary, a newspaper of the language and some videos/dvd movies/tv shows that speak the foreign language. All the software I've ever tried is completley worthless by itself. But it's a decent supplement. By the way, the CD roms aren't even filled up all the way. 1 and a half worth of cd info and stretched it across 7 CD's to make it look big.
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