Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists or drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, and there are automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (2)

This is a good start
I have completed both level 1 and level 2 and I have learned quite alot, but, I cannot yet claim that I speak or write the Italian language fluently. This is a good course, and worth the money if you are very serious about learning Italian, but it is only a good beginning. It will not teach you much about verb conjugation or how to build a proper Italian sentence. Italian is a tough language to learn for the English speaker and it requires a huge amount of study, and many different types of study sources. This course is probably the best of its type available, but as with all of them it can only take you so far.

Awesome Learning Tool!
I have had some knowledge of the Italian language so I am not a total beginner, but pretty close to it. The reason I purchased this software is that I found myself loosing the little knowledge I had. How this program works is through picture recognition along with coinciding speech. For an example they will show you a picture of a bird in different sequences such as: flying, swimming, and the color of the bird etc... They also show people doing similar actions. By picture recognition, repetitive patterns, and hearing the words, you do learn the language. The pictures do build in a methodical way and eventually you do learn to form the words, and then into sentences. But, there is no explanation in the how and why the grammar works. The word "the" is different in Italian with respect to masculine, feminine, plural, and the program does not explain this aspect of the language. You learn merely by rote imitation. This indeed is how a child learns to speak a language. A nice feature to this software is that the native speaker does speak in a slow pronunciation, in some parts of the program you can really slow the speakers voice down and hear every syllable. The program allows you to record your voice so you can hear your progress. Learning in this way is fun and I do not find my mind wandering. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

The Rosetta Stone Level I program offers a comprehensive course of study for beginning learners, leading to intermediate proficiency. The program contains over 3,500 real-life images and phrases in 92 lessons and more than 250 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. There are reviews, exercises, and tests for every lesson with automated tutorials throughout the program. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Sometimes you get what you pay for...
After trying two language programs before this and being highly disappointed in their performance I finally put out the money for this program. It is comprehensive and I have found it very valuable in it's method of teaching the Italian language. I highly recommend it.

Love Rosetta stone Italian software
I have had some knowledge of the Italian language so I am not a total beginner, but pretty close to it. The reason I purchased this software is that I found myself loosing the little knowledge I had. How this program works is through picture recognition along with coinciding speech. For an example they will show you a picture of a bird in different sequences such as: flying, swimming, and the color of the bird etc... They also show people doing similar actions. By picture recognition, repetitive patterns, and hearing the words, you do learn the language. The pictures do build in a methodical way and eventually you do learn to form the words, and then into sentences. But, there is no explanation in the how and why the grammar works. The word "the" is different in Italian with respect to masculine, feminine, plural, and the program does not explain this aspect of the language. You learn merely by rote imitation. This indeed is how a child learns to speak a language. A nice feature to this software is that the native speaker does speak in a slow pronunciation, in some parts of the program you can really slow the speakers voice down and hear every syllable. The program allows you to record your voice so you can hear your progress. Learning in this way is fun and I do not find my mind wandering.

Preety good
A very good software but nothing is perfect language always takes a long time and this does not signifigantly shorten the time. But you still learn it faster ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

With the modern PC having a variety of possibilities of which traditional language-learning methods could only dream--voice recognition, video dialogues, and so on--the past few years have seen an extraordinary boom in language-learning software packages. However, as picking through this surfeit can be tricky, it is important to find a reliable brand, and the Learn Now! series is definitely among the best software packages.

The program comes equipped with 2 CDs, one of which has various key sections--useful "survival phrases", fun activities, conversations, and practicing speech against the voice of a native speaker--while the other has a thorough grammar tutorial. This combination is certainly a valuable one for people who are serious about learning a language, and the product is clear and easy to use: in role-plays, phrases are highlighted in a box and their English translations placed underneath, while the voice recognition software allows you to measure your own voice against that of a native speaker, and the games hone the things that have been learnt. Sections are tailored to various activities, such as getting around, going out, and business situations, while at any point you can call up a grammar tutorial which explains a particular point on which you are unsure.

In addition to these sections, the part on survival phrases will be of much use to those who have already reached a basic level. There are several practice dialogues based around commonplace situations--in the hotel, the bar, the airport, etc. Although some of the advice borders on the infantile ("When you decide to travel outside the USA, you will probably need a passport"), much of it is useful, and rounds out what is a well composed package for someone starting out on the road to using the language overseas. --Toby Green, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Reviews (12)

A great way to learn Italian
I found this software to be extremely helpful. The sentance dictation section was excellent, as it allowed you to hear spoken phrases (not just one or two words) by native speakers. In addition, you could adjust the speed of the spoken phrases (either fast or slow). I used this software while I was taking Italian languages classes and it was helpful in reinforcing what I learned in class. In addition, the video clips used in the software are from a video series that is commonly used in Italian language courses. The downloadable grammar guide was also an excellent resource to have on hand while using the software. As you do the drills/exercises, you are also able to click on most words to get detail about the grammar rules. I would definitively recommend this to a someone who is trying to learn Italian quickly.

Best Italian Software
I found Italian Now to be quite good for learning the Italian language. It gives you the ability to start almost anywhere making it ideal for beginners through experts. Being a beginner when I bought this program I started with the alphabet reference and a grammar tutorial. These were both very good features and after some practice they helped to lay a good foundation for further learning. From here there are endless things to do. This program does an excellent job of teaching vocabulary and useful phrases. Perhaps one of the best things this program does is working on your pronunciation. In several different activities I had to speak Italian into a microphone and it was compared to a native speaker's pronunciation which helps you to drastically improve your own pronunciation. I am more than satisfied with this program and I highly recomend it.

Eh, good if you get them cheap
You will NOT learn a foreign language by one of these programs. The vocab is way too limited, and neither the Version 8 series nor the Version 9 series addresses past or future tenses substantively. I have purchased six of these over the past couple of years, four Version 8 (German, Irish, Latin, Hebrew) the other two Version 9 (Spanish, Italian), and for some idiotic reason, the Version 8s are SUPERIOR to the upgrades. The Version 8s have more texts and thus more variety. LatinNow Version 8 is probably the best program I have seen from this company, good texts of various grade levels, plus you can fresh up on your Roman mythology!

These "tapes", and that is basically what they are, computerized language tapes, are only going to be useful if you plan on dedicating time for rote memorization of grammar and vocab outside of the program. These programs can be good to help supplement textbook study, as we need to hear the language and grammar for it to sink in. If you think any one of these programs in and of itself is going to make you fluent, you're very sadly mistaken. I would recommend finding them cheap and working on them while you eat breakfast, then spending 15+ minutes a day per language w/ grammar, vocab, writing (ie thinking w/in the language), out of a textbook. That way you can cover your bases, if you are the self-guided student looking to master a new language to get a head start on college credit or to learn it just for the heck of it.

Also, the Hebrew keyboard layout is atrocious and barely functional. I assume this might be a problem w/ all non-Latin/Germanic alphabets, like Chinese and Russian. This makes the games worthless--and the games are probably the best part of the program.

The worst possible way to learn a language
The user interface is so hard to follow it's unbelievable. You have to scan up the screen, then down to the right, then over to the left and track all of this while trying to learn vocabulary.

I bought this thinking that it was only $40 so how bad could it be...well it is BAD!

Buy the FSI courses or Rosetta Stone - they are much more expensive but worth the price, especially if LanguageNow is the alternative. I have French, Spanish, German, and Russian and each of them are fantastic. Of course they are two different methods of learning but both are effective in their own way. At the end of the day you need to go to the country where the language is spoken and spend some time to really learn a language...

Good start but lacks cohesiveness in its (Italian) method
The single major flaw in this product is its lack of direction for the beginner. I purchased the Italian version to compare it to Rosetta Stone's method. The difference in price will tell you which is the better one. This product has good ideas (dialogs & memory games) but Rosetta Stone's approach is sound and well organized.

This product DOES have more resources than Rosetta Stone but they're left to the user to figure out how to utilize them when studying the lessons. For beginners this will lead to a lot of wasted time and frustration.

Stuffing the product with goodies does not make it better. They need to concentrate on the HOWTOs. Until such time this product is not very useful to beginners. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

KidSpeak Spanish French German Italian Japanese Hebrew is a double CD-ROM featuring six comprehensive language programs. It is fun and easy to use and will help multilingual children practice a choice of different languages through a range of games, songs, and puzzles.

Each of the different language programs is an immersion program, so all the instructions are in the chosen language. For this reason, younger children who are not so confident with the basics of the language may need adult support. More confident children will quickly pick up what they are expected to do and will be able to work independently through the games. There is also a very useful help option which explains the choices of games in English.

Having chosen the language that they wish to work on, children can then play a range of games and listen to songs to consolidate the vocabulary that has been introduced. Most of the games can be played at three levels of difficulty. The games include activities such as identifying fruit, colouring fruit appropriately, pairs games with pictures and words, identifying animals, ordering pictures, setting given times on clocks, and putting objects into a backpack. A wide range of vocabulary is consolidated, such as numbers, the alphabet, animals, objects, times, colours, fruits and vegetables, the weather, transport and leisure activities. A set of online activities, which can be printed out, will also help to review what children have learned.

KidSpeak Spanish French German Italian Japanese Hebrew would be a very useful buy for children ages 5 to 12 who are multilingual or who are learning a range of languages at school. It is also ideal for a parent who wants to introduce their child to a new language. --Amanda York ... Read more

Reviews (7)

There must be a better bang for your buck.
I bought this software on the recommendation of some software review site, and I must say my 9 year old daughter and I were disappointed. The graphics are sometimes hard to make out on the screen. (The animation altogether isn't very appealing at all, but that's not why I bought it . . . )And my daughter kept repeating, "But I want to learn sentences!" It's just an okay introduction if you want to learn the names of fruits and vegetables.

I could not run the software on window XP
The software is too old to run on the window XP professional. I could not use it.

Awesome For Kids
KidSpeak 6-in-1 is an awesome product for kids to have fun with and learn several languages(Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Hebrew). The animation is very fun and my kids really love this. I love the fact that my child will talk to me in a different language and I'm sure other parents would agree. When it comes down to it, Transparent Language did an awesome job with this software and I couldn't be more satisfied with it.

Language Learning For Kids
KidSpeak 6-in-1 is my child's favorite thing to do on the computer. There are many fun games and activities to do in KidSpeak which teaches a child foreign language. The cartoon animation and the characters are very entertaining for my child who spends hours at a time playing this game. This is a good way to have a child exposed to foreign languages which are easier to learn at a younger age. Before you know it, your child will be talking to you in another language. KidSpeak 6-in-1 has 6 languages included with it (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Hebrew) meaning there is plenty for a child to learn and do in the program. I would recomend this program for all children because it is educational yet fun at the same time.

I have Windows ME
I haven't really been able to run this software, I think it's because I have ME. I have used it before on my sister-in-law's computer and thought it was a great way to grab a young child's interest in another language. ... Read more

Features

• Step-by-step guide and a tutor who introduces each lesson
• More than 10,000 words of content
• 15 easy-to-understand lessons; 3 online quizzes
• Alphabet reference--learn the letters and their sounds
• Electronic flashcards; practice conversation with native speakers

Reviews (1)

Fun and Easy
This product is the best language teacher I have seen yet. The moment I turn the program on, it just unloads massive amount of information. Plus its user friendly and fun to use, it makes learning a new language fun and desirable. (Hence the name A+ Italian) I recommend buying this program if you have ever had the desire to learn a new langauge at all, you wont regret it. And I recommend buying it from Amazon they have the best prices, they offer very aggressive pricing for quality products and I wouldnt go anywhere else. I also recommend the A+ French program as well. ... Read more

Features

• Organized into multiple categories, to find the sentences you need instantly -Greetings, Shopping, Emergency and more
• Contains hundreds of basic phrases tailored for each country - whether you need to finda tailor in Rome or a vegetarian restaurant in Paris
• The perfect pronunciations can be replayed as often as necessary, to make you sound like a native

Reviews (3)

terrible
Stay away from this product. Besides the software setup being very confusing, the lessons themselves don't seem to be organized properly. A good language software should build the next lesson based on the previous knowledge. However, this one didn't seem like that, it would throw new grammar, vocabulary without ever introducing it before; I found this very confusing, had to click on the dictionary button constantly to figure out the exercise. Because I had some background in Italian before, I was OK for the first few lessons, then I was completely lost. I can't imagine anyone with zero background learning anything from this software. Unless you are trying brush up on what you once knew, I wouldn't recommend it.

A great way to learn Italian
This software is a great way to learn Italian.

The immersion method used is outstanding. Learning a language is never easy but I liked how the software works. First, you have to listen to the language, try to remember what you heard, see on the screen, then you are the one involved to actually talk to the computer, or do the activities. You come from being a passive learner (just listening and understanding) to active learner (talking, answering,..). It is way better than being in a class!

The progress chart to keep your progress is also very impressive and detailed, it gives you the percentage of activities you did right,and so on.

The activities are very fun and interactive: crosswords puzzles, fill-in-the blanks, word order activities, word ssociation...You learn in an interactive and easy way. I was amazed at how much I learnt.

I found this software very complete as well: there is an amazing speech recognition feature to help you talk and pronunciate right, also written activities, grammar,...

This software is not user-friendly
I purchased this with high expectation but was disappointed from the beginning. I found this software to be extremely confusing and not at all helpful.

First of all, the set-up is not very good. The lessons are broken up into individual lessons and there are probably 15 lessons per "section" (date and time, etc.) on each cd (there are 5) The lessons are listed on a Progress Chart (grid-like chart) and its hard to keep track of what lessons were actually completed. Boxes that represent each lesson will be shaded in depending on how complete that particular lesson is. If you don't finish a lesson and click on it again, you will have to complete the whole lesson instead of just finishing where you left off.

Second is the lessons themselves. Its very hard to learn a new language when the lessons are basically various formats of lessons that throw phrases at you and expect you to figure them out. For instance, several of the lessons involve putting a mixed-up sentence (in Italian) into its correct format or matching an Italian word with its Italian synonym. Others involve crossword puzzles. These are all in Italian. If you don't know basic Italian, its very hard to figure them out. For a beginner this just doesn't work very well. I had no idea what these words meant to begin with, let alone try to figure out how to put them into correct sentence format and actually learn anything besides frustration!

Lastly, my help button feature didn't work. I couldn't ask for help if I wanted to. The software didn't include any instructions so lack of help was a definite issue.

Overall, I believe that the software is very confusing and didn't help at all with my learning the language. This software may be fine for an intermediate or advanced "student" but for a beginner very new to the language it just doesn't work. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good, but only if you learn how to watch it...
This is a fun way to practice Italian. You see the story frame by frame and hear the dialogue being read in Italian, then you can click to see a translation of what was said. Also you can choose to hide the words in Italian, to see if you can understand what they are saying without reading the words. It is very challenging though for me as an intermediate student. But it is also very beneficial for intermediate students and above. I definitely would not reccomend it to beginners.

And now for my biggest complaint about this program and the real reason why I felt compelled to review it. The story is based on an Asterix book where a baby shows up at their house, the comic is called Asterix and Son. Now I guess Eurotalk thought it would be fun to let you hear every single sound as it is written in the comic. In other words, if they punch a Roman and the authors wrote POW! in the book, you will hear a sound like someone getting punched. This is no problem for things like fighting and the dog barking, but in probably 75% of the frames, the baby whines. Again this is no problem in a comic book, since reading the word "Wah" doesn't hurt your eyes. But you would think for this program they would just assume that we know what a baby crying sounds like. They couldn't even let us hear it once or twice and then decide ok we get the picture. They let us hear the baby crying every single time. This gets slightly irritating after the first two pages, by the end of the first CD you will be insane and Italian will be the last thing on your mind, and you will probably be deaf too, so what good is it if you can understand Italian anyway?

The baby whines 4-5 times louder than anyone in the comic strip talks, so if you turn it down to a level where the baby's whining only hurts your ears a little bit, you will not be able to hear anything else. BTW it doesn't sound cute or even like a real baby...it sounds like some guy trying to sound like a baby. If you manage to get through the entire story, you will probably enjoy listening to people scratch their fingernails across the board or Celine Dion.

Now how could I give this product four stars despite the incessant whining? Well you have to figure out a trick that I learned. You turn the volume all the way down on your speakers, then let the next strip pop up, and see if the baby is whining in it (you will know because it will have the dialogue bubble). Then wait a few seconds, turn the volume up very gradually and when you think it is the babys turn to talk immediately turn the volume all the way down. Hopefully you will get the hang of it before you throw your computer out the window. By the way, until you have mastered this trick, do not, repeat, do not attempt to use this product without earmuffs. ... Read more

Features

• Join your live-action CD-ROM show hosts as they guide you through the fun & easy lessons on each disc(6 CD set)
• Use the Patented EuroMethod approach to learn by doing -- immerse yourself in a new culture and pick up words & phrases as you go
• Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instruction in 102 different languages guide you effortlessly around the world
• In no time, you'll be ordering food, making your way around, conducting business and asking questions
• Covers greetings and expressions, travel, service and emergencies, food -- with speaking drills and memory games to improve your abilities

Reviews (4)

Good Software, But Not For The Total Beginner
I bought my Instant Immersion German sofware at Sam's Club. My software came with 7 CDs. It was [$$$]. If you are going to buy this sofware, I suggest that you find one in the same brand that has more CDs for less money. It is hard for me (a beginner) because there is no exact part of the software that shows you an English word and then shows you the word translated in German. They begin talking to you in German and you have to sort of figure it out for yourself. One thing that I did like was that my 7 CD version included 3 CDs for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced (the same program, just 3 different levels). I highly suggest to purchase this program in addition to German audio tapes and books to get a head start. But once you get a little familiar with the language, it is a perfect software to buy. The best one on the market!

If a person has the time this two set cd is a winner
I started useing this product three months ago a couple of hours a night on the average and am now ready for an actual class. I really love this set of cds titled Instant Immersion German. I have learned a lot; this is a winner in my book and I have never had a problem loading it on my pc.. This language set of CD's is good for beginers. My young children love it too; they think it's just plain fun..David G.

Not exactly what I wanted, but the best German CD I've seen.
I was thinking of something better and more interesting, but instead, I got a bunch of little games that detract from the objective if you do not improve. I have purchased a different CD that is much worse than this one.

If you see this CD first, keep it in your back pocket.

Instant Immersion German -2CD set
It was easy to learn from this 2CD set. ... Read more

Features

• Italian Before You Know It Deluxe Edition includes fun and effective activities that really build your Italian listening, reading, writing, and speaking capabilities.
• Enhance your speaking ability with Pronunciation Practice.
• Test your Italian knowledge with the multiple choice activities.
• Build your writing and spelling skills with Dictation Practice.

Reviews (6)

Fairly good
I'm still lucky that Italians seem to speak english and like doing so.

The CD did help me understand more and if I had been a good student I think It would have been quite successful.

Good not so good
I really liked the interactive part of the cd. Makes you actually learn the words via recognition. I have not been able to find any other software that teaches this way. The draw back with this title is how few words are available... I have been searching for upgrades additional cds of words but... so far they dont exist.... great way to learn limited by what is available.

Very Basic and not intuitive
My wife and I visit Italy often and thought it was time to at least attempt to learn the language. We ordered several books and programs to learn Italian and found the Instant Immersion program to be the worst of the lot. I would not recommend it for anyone that is seriously interested in learning Italian

Instant Immersions Italian
Instant Immersion Italian is the best cd that I have found for learning Italian. It is fun and easy. I actually wanted to sit down and learn after just learning numbers and playing the games. It helped me to learn the language on my own and you can't buy that feeling anywhere! This program is a fast and fun way to learn Italian...or any other language too. Classes are boring and they cost too much but this cd is fun and makes you want to learn. I highly recomend this cd and all the other Instant Immersion language cd's. (I'm also learning Japanese. Stick to Italian, trust me.)

Too basic...
Childish guessing games..no meat to this learning experience...do not recommend if you are anxious to learn the language...need more substance. ... Read more

Features

• Practice the basics of Italian by participating in pre-designed conversations
• A set of audio & video clips guide users through the intricacies of the language
• You'll listen in on other people's conversations, improving your ability to understand
• Read interesting articles written in Italian, for better comprehension
• Master survival phrases and build vocabulary from a dictionary of over 10,000 words

Features

• Learn to speak by learning to understand -Listening activities will tune your ear to the subtle points of communicating with another language
• Wide variety of interactive skill-building exercises build understanding of any language -- from Arabic to Zulu
• Pronunciation analysis makes certain you speak like a native
• Participate in real, native dialogs to improve your skills
• Record and playback your conversations to hear your pronunciation and grammar

Features

• Italian language learning software
• 15 Italian lessons, plus fun flash-card program
• Participate in real conversations
• Understand grammar and learn thousands of new words
• Ideal for school, business, travel, or simply personal interest

Reviews (5)

Don't Believe The Hype
I received my software with much anticipation after reading the reviews. I needed a "Before you get started" version just to help explain the "Getting Started" section. I all wanted was images, the Italian and English translations, and a pronunciation guide. It's taking an in depth study just to learn how to effectively use the software. I am very disappointed.

Worth the Buy!!!!!
I was very happy with this software after using it. I found that it was a great program for a beginning Italian speaker and enjoyed using it. It is well worth the buy in my opinion and does exactly what its meant to do. It is a great way to learn beginning grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, phrases and more. I am more than satisfied with this 5-star software.

Good Way to Study Italian
I found that this program was excellent for studying Italian. The lessons are really easy to follow and have good video and audio features. What I really liked about the audio was being able to hear all of the Italian words said by a native speaker which helped immensly with my pronunciation. I also like that an Alphabet Reference and a Grammar Tutorial were included. In the end, this is a very good program that does what its supposed to do.

Speak Italian
This program is awesome. It is far less confusing than most other language learning programs I have tried because it is setup in 15 lessons. It also has various games and other ways to review and practice with that I found very helpful. For an easy and simple way to learn Spanish check this out.

Good for Travel
I bought this product to learn some Italian a couple months before I traveled to Italy. I Can Speak Italian really worked well for me. It was simple to use and gave me a great method to practice with. I took the 15 lessons the program brings you through then used a flashcard program that comes with it to practice with. The lessons really focus well on listening, speaking and reading skills and lead you down the right path to learning Italian. The program also features numerous games and such to also practice with. With this I was able to learn a lot of Italian for my trip. If you are looking for an effective, and cheap way to learn a language I recomend giving this a try. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Start speaking, reading, and writing Italian today. Whether your study is for business, travel, or school, Instant Immersion Italian Pro's teaching methods and technology combine to create a language experience that delivers results. This seven-CD set features four Tell Me More language learning CD-ROMs, an Italian vocabulary builder, Italian Plus with 22 interactive lessons, and an audio CD that lets you practice your conversational skills anytime, anywhere.

Tell Me More's four-CD-ROM suite offers beginning, intermediate, and advanced lessons, and forms the core of this comprehensive Italian language series. You'll be guided through lessons complete with video clips and animations on vocabulary, grammar, phonetics, conversations, conjugation, cultural traditions, and more. Interactive speech recognition even corrects pronunciation and intonation. And because everyone learns at his or her own pace, lessons can be personalized.

The Italian Vocabulary Builder combines visual and memory learning to maximize retention. Use the recording feature to practice vocabulary and compare your speech to that of a native speaker's. Italian Plus covers speaking, reading, writing, and listening, helping you grow more comfortable with Italian over its 22 interactive lessons. Explore tenses, culture, directions, and more. In no time, you'll be able to communicate effectively. An added audio CD rounds out the collection, so you can practice anywhere, even en route to your Italian-speaking destination. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

How sad.
I've been waiting months for my computer to be set up so I could get to work on learning Italian; something I've wanted to do forever. What a tremendous disapointment it was. They need to just skip over or toss out that "Beginner" fantasy. I've never been moved to review anything before, but this disapointment has got me typing. I just wish I had read the reviews before my impulse purchasing at the store.

If you are a beginner, move along, nothing to see here. Find something a little more beginner friendly. Or a LOT more.

What you people think PRO means?
I think people doing the reviews about this product can mislead the opinion of customers when it comes the time to make a decision and buy.

First this product name is ITALIAN PRO, obviously it's not for first time learning italian students, the software has an autorun program, that means that you set the disc in the drive and starts by itself, I don't see many computer knowledge in that. Believe my word I'm already studying the basic italian program, in fact the name is just ITALIAN that's why now I'm looking the PRO version.

Well I think the program is really good, there are audio complementary discs also, so with this you can round very well your learning, finally the discs can be used for english, spanish, english, and I think french speakers too. ARRIVEDERCI

Confusing torture
Hodgepodge of amateur animation with no beggining progression. When they say Instant Immersion, they mean listening to 400 words/min italian off-the-bat and asking you to make sense of it.
Mediocre products bundled from disparate authors in a Costco-style package.

Terrible beyond parole
Italian Pro should be entitled Italian amateur. It is gimmicky and useless whether you already know Italian and want to brush up on it or are new. It is all bells and whistles and no substance.

Terrible, confusing...
Had no idea what to do, and I am an experienced computer user. You don't know in what order to start the lessons... if I started at the beginning, then it is MUCH too difficult. I had no idea what anyone was saying and no way to find out. Simply a dreadful program! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Talk Now! language software is designed for beginners who want to start learning a new language as soon as possible. Whether on business or vacation or meeting a foreign visitor, Talk Now! will get you on your way. By hearing and practicing authentic, everyday speech, your natural ability to speak Italian will develop. This CD-ROM is designed to let you have fun with quizzes, games, and stories. You'll be amazed at how much you remember after a short time. ... Read more

Features

• Learn Italian, French, Spanish, or German words and phrases
• A flash card program but without 3 x 5 paper cards and no boring repetition
• Take your lists with you on your Palm or Pocket PC device
• Based on advanced learning algorithms; focuses on material you need the most work on
• Includes 1000 words and over 250 phrases per language

Reviews (1)

Innovative and Very Intuitive
This product is absolutely amazing. It is an extremely useful educational tool for language learning and much more. The Before You Know It Multipack is designed for language learning, especially vocabulary, by basically using electronic flashcards. The Multipack version includes an enormous amount of content for Spanish, French, Italian and German languages and is a good place to start learning the languages or for studying/refreshing. Now this is great for language learning but in my opinion the best feature of this program is the ability to make your own electronic flashcards for anything and you can also share them with friends through email and on Palm Pilots. To me this is a must have for studying anything that you need to memorize. It is so useful and very helpful in these aspects. It also shows you the cards you have the most trouble learning more frequently than the ones that you do not have trouble remembering which in the end means that you will have a very effective studying method. This program is very user friendly, simple to use and has plethora of uses. I believe that even if you do not want the language aspects the program, it is still more than worth having just because of the ability to create your own cards. Ideal for students, teachers, and anything else that requires memorization. Have no doubts, Before You Know It definitely earns its 5-star rating. ... Read more

Features

• Listen to and imitate authentic everyday speech, developing your own Italian skills in the process
• Games and quizzes help reinforce the lessons
• More advanced activities in World Talk Italian -Build long sentences, recite the calendar and use numbers
• Dictation and voice recording software for improving your pronunciation skills