Description:
Imagine lounging on the strip at Copacabana, enjoying the last rays of sun before you prepare for Carnival, turning to the waiter to order a drink, and then stumbling through your request for a frosty caipirinha. In this day and age, you could probably survive using simple English words, but think what your trip could be if you could haggle with the market vendors, banter with your taxi drivers, or roam free from the tourist hotels. With Portuguese Now! Transparent Language has really put together a language learning system that lets you build proper speaking, reading, writing, and understanding skills. Portuguese Now! offers five different games to bolster your learning curve; conversation practice that lets you interact with the native Brazilians; video and text compilations that teach the history and culture of Brazil; common words and survival phrases necessary for all beginners; and Listen and Speak segments (our favorites), which let you use an included microphone to match your speech to prompted words--a fun and easy way to develop your voice inflection. The main layout focuses your time on the interesting video and dialog activities, but you may want to bone up first on the alphabet and frequently used words. The helpful Getting Started area describes step-by-step learning suggestions, which are worth reading and will lead you to more productive language lessons. While it's a little disappointing that this software only covers Brazilian Portuguese, there is no denying the worth of this program. The navigation and layout are technically primitive, but the basics behind the lessons--what really counts--are done well. The variety of options for speaking and listening practice provided in Portuguese Now!--along with graphical comparisons to rate your progress--helps you push your way from stumbling through the language to beginning fluency. --Madeleine Miller
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