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 and drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, with automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with native speakers to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (3)

I needed the Rosetta Stone in high school!
This is an amazing product! I have to preface my comments by stating my biases-I think the best way to learn a language is through immersion lessons in that country (this is how I learned Czech). If that's not possible, then the next best way is with intensive lessons with a great teacher (I don't have a Spanish tutor yet, but I'm going to get one). But for those of us who want to study Spanish on our own every day (I do one lesson a day, which takes me about two hours), the Rosetta Stone is awesome. I've never used any other language software, so I don't know if there are other great programs on the market that are this good, but I doubt it.

Why is this product so awesome? It's intuitive, fun (isn't that half the battle in learning a language?), interactive, and comprehensive. I'd describe the method as similar to the Berlitz language school method in that you start the lesson and great looking pictures come up on the screen with the words that match each picture (the obvious difference being that the Rosetta Stone does this with great graphics on your PC versus a Berlitz teacher using a picture book). Then the words are spoken so you intuitively learn by making these connections (you need a good headset).

After you learn the words the lesson goes through the same words, but in 4 different exercises (Listening, Reading, Speaking, & Writing). Over time the words build up to phrases and then to sentences. I really like the creative way the lessons teach each activity while repeating the words/phrases you're learning in a way that's not boring.

The other thing I'd say is these lessons are fun, which means I'm highly motivated to keep learning (I actually look forward to doing my lessons every day!). I wish the Rosetta Stone had a Czech version when I learned that language because it would've changed my experience from being a grind to being enjoyable.

I should mention there are a couple of things that annoy me about the software (in the Writing exercise there's not an Auto-scroll function for 2 of the parts, so you have to click on the next picture to advance; also, there's not an easy way to tell what exercises you've completed in the lesson, so I have to write down what I've finished when I take breaks). Although I'd like to see these improvements made, they are relatively trivial compared to the overall brilliance of this product.

But back to the positives, I've also noticed how mentally exhausted I've been since I started using this program. I had the same feeling the first couple of weeks when I started learning Czech intensively, so this is a good sign my brain is really being stretched by this software.

Lastly, the Rosetta Stone is very interactive because you have to click on the correct pictures/text or type in the correct spelling as you do the exercises. So, it's easy to stay engaged as you're learning, versus feeling being bored by reading some grammar lesson from a textbook or wasting your time making dull flash cards.

Based on the excellent progress I've had so far, I'm going to buy either the Italian or French versions from Rosetta Stone next, since for the first time in my life I'm having a blast learning a language and I'm progressing faster than I thought was possible.

Great software but has room for improvement.
The only thing I don't like about this program is that the method does not take into account the fact that people who try to learn another language have amassed a great deal of knowledge before they embark on a new language journey. For example, in my case my thought process is very much efficient if things are explained not only in pictures but also in textual form, particularly the English language. For this reason, the course should have considered the mother tongue of different people, to make the learning process a lot easier and faster. In my case, to overcome this handicap, I downloaded the PDF text file of the English Level 1 and 2 from the Rosetta Stone website to help me grasp words and phrases that are not adequately conveyed by the visual choices of the program. The English version is not the mirror of the Spanish lessons, but it is a great help when one is lost in the occasional inadequacy of the visual examples of the program. An optional translation of the lessons, by way of one toggle switch in the interface, would have been perfect. With the proliferation of MP3 capable CD players in car stereos and other portable devices, Rosetta Stone should also squeeze all the audio lessons contained in its language disks in just one disk (I am very sure this is possible if done in MP3 format), thereby extending the learning process to the car or somewhere when the learner is simply far from the desktop.

Despite the above, I rate this product as a 5 star, because in less than 3 months of intensive use it helped me attain a very high level of proficiency, which even my Spanish speaking officemates are simply amazed.

Learning A Language With Success
There is no better program we've found than this. Though skeptical at the onset, we made the purchase. An airport sign advertised promises that seemed unbelievable. Yet months later and through interesting lessons, we've grown much in our knowledge of Spanish grammar and context. Give this one a shot, it doesn't disappoint! ... 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 (10)

The best way to learn
I have looked at nearly a dozen different Spanish programs, but this program really mimicks the way a native tongue is learned. Any program that says that you can become fluent in a language in 2 months is lying to you. How did you learn your native language? Did your parents give you an English grammar book when you were a baby and have you conjugate verbs? Of course not! You heard your parents, their friends, and relatives speak it to you over and over and over again. Through that, you began to pick up words and phrases and were able to associate them with their meaning. But it took you quite a while didn't it? You weren't speaking your native language 4 months after you were born, were you? But over time you became fluent.

People who live in other countries usually become fluent in that language in about 6 months to a year, depending on the language. And that's with hearing it 24/7, speaking it, reading it, and having no choice but to understand it. They are immersed in the language. That is what Rosetta Stone is trying to do. It is immersion. You see the picture, see the words, and hear the phrase or words associated with them. And this way, you never forget it. It's much easier to remember that caballo is horse when you have seen a picture of a horse with the word superimposed on that picture while a native speaker is saying it.

It is going to take a while. There is no such thing as fast-food language. You have to be patient and you have to be dilligent. Repetition in the program is excellent, but the dilligence of the learner is the key to seeing results!

The Most Excelent Program
The Rosetta Stone product is a wonderful way to learn a language. It uses your intuition to teach you and you can choose whether you want to learn to speak, listen, or read and write. You may advance in one area more quickly than in others and more than one user can keep track of their scores. The ease of the program and the ability to quickly learn the language is wonderful. The only drawback to this program is that it does not start with conversational spanish. It also does not break down the verbs and grammar, etc. The books discuss these things, but you travel through the program and learn the way you would if you were having to hear the language (or read it). I love it and so does my 10 yr old. I am not a natural at languages, but have recommended this program to all of my friends. I also have dealt with the company and found them to be wonderful at tech support and in getting me answers to questions.

Not as good as I was expecting
This programs is good listening practice,and offers somewhat useful speech practice, and writing practice, but thats about it. There is no grammar practice at all. In Spanish this is critical. Learning verb conjugations are boring, but you simple have to understand them, same with pronouns ect. The Speech practice and writing exercises are simple repeating, and writing the Spanish you hear. This will do little for your ability to speak, because your going to have to translate the English to Spanish in your head, and vis versa. How can you say anything If you don't know for sure what the words and phrases mean.This is the way children learn right. (...). Want to say I want this or I need that, your out of luck, because this program does not show, or explain how. Everything in this course is third person. You get ton's of the boys are jumping, the girls are running ect. If you go to a Spanish speaking country how useful is this going to be? Like your going to strike up a conversation about someone else with a native Spanish speaker? No verb conjucations for I, you, we!!! A small problem considering you will use these verb conjucations at least 70-80% of the time in the present tense.If you get this course you need a dictionary, a verb conj. book, and if you can afford it the pimseur series, or Barron's FSI (IF you don't have the money). After about half way into the course I stopped, because I felt like I was on a vocabulary treadmill, learning new vocabulary words and little else. That's when I orders some good workbooks like Spanish the Easy way, The the practice makes perfect books, and wishing I would have bought these books first, as I use them and the pimsleur course, and put this course on the backburner. Anyway I will say that sadly this course is by far the best software program available for learning languages, but it's lacking and way overpriced for what you will get out of them. If you want to learn how to speak the language this is not the course for you. If you want to work on listening comprehention, and vocabulary building than you may like it.

For those with much time and litte ability
For those who have never been able to learn a foriegn language this might work. It's tediously repetitive, introducing material at such a slow rate that even the most mentally challenged should find is easy going. Perhaps this explains its popularity in the State Department.
The pace of the course is so slow though that anyone trying to use this to learn a language at a reasonably rapid rate is going to find it little more than frustrating. After a few hours you will finally be able to put together sentence like 'The men are dancing.' That's absurd. Adults dont'NEED to learn languages like children do. We can learn them much more quickly and more efficiently.
All of the exercises provide the user with crutches. One is never forced to come up with the phrase in a foriegn language. One merely has to choose from among those provided. The written exercises are merely dictation. The accent reduction exercises are really exercises in pure mimicry. In short the software is very low-powered. There is no fancy AI here. It's really very crude.
At this price the quality is simply not adequate.
So that reduces the demographic for this product to mentally challenged individuals with a great deal of liesure time, and a great deal of money. If you fit into that category, you might give this a try. Otherwise find something faster, cheaper, better.

My Favorite
I have purchased several different Spanish training courses but the Rosetta Stone is the one that I spend the most time with. I think the program does a fine job of synthesizing the natural process by which all humans learn their native languages. The price is a bit steep, but after working with level one for quite some time I went ahead and purchased level two as well. I figured that based on how much use I'm getting out of it, the money spent on The Rosetta Stone was money well spent. ... Read more

Features

• Program selected by U.S. State Department, Peace Corps, NASA
• 8000+ real-life color pictures and phrases spoken by native speakers
• Develops listening comprehension, reading, speaking, writing
• Previews, tests, and automated tutorials for extra help where needed
• 12 activities in each of 210 lessons; for ages 6 and older

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 (12)

Foreign Service Spanish Program
This is for Magellan and everyone else who tried finding the Spanish teaching program used by the American Foreign Service.

I ran into it on a shelf at, uh, Borders Books. The title is:
Barron's Mastering Spanish, 2nd Edition.

ISBN: 0-7641-7597-1

Barron's hypes it as as the program used by our foreign service. And there are two Flavors: Level One and Level Two. Same format in both, 12 CDs and a textbook. Same price for each level: $79.95.

(The software here insists I rate the program, but I have no idea what it's worth, so I gave it 3 stars, to satisfy the implacable electrons.)

What is Immersion Anyway?
This is a response to the review NOT for true beginners, March 5, 2004 Reviewer: A software user from Somewhereinthe USA. You may be a software user, but you don't know what immersion means. Perhaps you should look it up! It's sink or swim with a foriegn language. You should know that there are immersion schools around the world that operate on this basis. How do you think babies learn to talk?

Good When Partnered With Written Work
I self-study, using this in combination with a textbook, and it has been very effective in helping me gain confidence in actually using the language. It probably replaces the "language lab" I had when studying Spanish in college.

One important note: Their customer support is excellent! I've managed to lose two disks, and they've been promptly replaced each time.

Instant Immersion means just that... so no surprises
To the people who complained it wasn't for beginners...the program is called "Instant Immersion" it is if you want to learn it like you were dropped into a Spanish Speaking country with very little translation available to you. There are two schools of learning out there... hold your hand and start from the very beginning...or this way which forces you to learn to be able to do the lessons... some say you can learn a language within two weeks if you are immersed into it. So now you have no surprises and no reason to complain if you get this program.

Great for Spanish Review
I've had the program for a week and a half and am working on the second disk now. It is a very good program for reviewing Spanish (I had Spanish all through HS, through AP Spanish Lit, but I haven't used it since), but I can see how it might be difficult for the true beginner. If you're looking to review Spanish and don't want to be bored with tedious exercises about stuff you already know (or just need to be briefly reminded of), then this is the program for you. While it might not be the most entertaining program available, I haven't been bored and have learned a lot. There are many types of exercises, which keep things interesting while working different skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking).

They definitely throw you right in, but the first exercise doesn't have any wrong answers, they just want you to pick an answer and see what happens. If you roll the mouse over a word the definition pops up in a little box, which is very convenient. There are lessons for learning vocabulary and grammar, but most of the time you are left to figure things out as you go (with the help of those pop-up definitions). The first half of each lesson group is point-and-click with the mouse, while the second half uses speech recognition (one of the best features of the program), so you need a microphone.

You also need a Spanish <-> English dictionary, as the built-in glossary isn't easy to negotiate. There doesn't seem to be a search function and it's all Spanish to English. You have to click on a tab for the first letter of the word, then click to advance the "pages" to get to the word you want. It's much more convenient to just reach for the dictionary than to find a word in the glossary (and I've needed to do so many times). The glossary does work well from within some parts of the lessons, where if you right click on an answer choice you can go straight to that entry in the glossary, but for others (e.g. the crosswords), you don't seem to have access to the glossary at all.

Technical stuff: I have Win XP and the software has run very well on my computer except for one thing--it doesn't seem to be able to access the data for a user (or create a user) unless you run the program as an administrator. There might be some other way to get it to work, but if so, I haven't found it. No big deal, but a little annoying.

The first CD installs on the computer, then when you finish that one, you just switch CDs and continue where you left off. The program doesn't ask for them--but it's pretty obvious what to do. I haven't run the audio CDs on the computer, but they seem to be entirely separate from the computer lessons. I listened to the first one, and I'd actually recommend listening to the CDs before starting the program if you are a beginner--they're much more basic. ... Read more

Features

• This suite of learning applications, games and lessons are designed to dramatically improve your listening, speaking, reading and writing skills
• Exercises and multimedia clips build students' vocabulary, grammar and comprehension skills
• Have fun and build language skills with Word and Sentence Pronunciation activities
• Advanced speech analysis tools compares your pronunciation to native speakers for superior speaking skills
• Talking dictionary includes thousands of native speaker Sound Dictation activities to enhance listening skills

Reviews (1)

Powerful suite although possibly too involved for some
This learning suite consists of about half a dozen programs, each of which does different things and offers different features. I found it very complete and full-featured but somewhat difficult to navigate around because of all the activities and separate modules. Also, it's hard to tell what some of the mouse buttons mean and you just have to click on them to find out what they do.

Four of the programs, such as the Spanish Alphabet Reference and the Spanish Grammar Basics, install as separate applications and can be launched either separately or from within the main program. You'll find the latter two under "Reference" from the main menu.

The main program is called Language Now! which has all the main features. These include My Spanish Adventure with Andre, which shows you a movie with Spanish narration; Conversations in Spanish; Fundamental Spanish, which contains 100 of the most common words and verbs in Spanish; and Survival Phrases in Spanish, which contains hundreds of phrases in English and Spanish.

Also part of the Language Now! program is the pronunciation program, or digital speech analyzer, which combines a wave form anayzer, pitch analyzer, a fricatives analyzer, and a vowels analyzer, which is even more sophisticated than the one that comes with my Instant Immersion Deluxe Spanish program.

The Survival Phrases section in the main program has phrases for over 30 situations, such as "Meeting and Greeting," "Restaurants," "Emergencies," etc. There is also an Activities area which has games like crosswords, word dictation, Vocabulous!, Unscramble, Verb Quest, Plug-n-Play, and Graffiti. In addition, there is a Pronunciation section and Conversation and Speaking section.

The four smaller extra programs include the "English-Spanish Lexicon" or dictionary, the grammar program, called "Spanish Grammar Pro," which is structured like the Windows Help facility, so if you know that, you know how to get around this one too. It might even be different from the one accessed within the "Language Now!" rogram. The third program is called "Shooting Gallery and Crossword," which are sort of self-explanatory. The fourth one is "Before You Know It," which is basically a vocabulary building module almost 40 different word lists on such things as animals, food, clothing, the weather, travel, and so on.

It also includes a "Flash Card" program which I tried, but didn't find very useful. It only seemed to have a few dozen words and it repeated them too often to be of much help, I thought. I liked the Spanish Grammar Basics program which covers in detail all the different parts of speech and defines all of them for you. So if you need to be reminded about what demonstrative pronouns are, a periphrastic verbal construction, or the preterite (past perfect) tense, this will do it for you.

Overall, this is a very full-featured and powerful Spanish suite that I can recommend although it may take some time for you to learn to use all the features productively. For someone that doesn't want anything this complex I recommend the Instant Immersion Spanish Deluxe edition with 8 CD's instead. It also has a speech analyzer but the entire program is structured somewhat differently from the present one. The lessons are sequential and you have to complete them all in order to progress from Beginner Level I to Level II, and from Level II to Intermediate Level I, the Intermediate Level II, and so on. (This isn't quite true as you can jump between levels and CD's if you want, but the program keeps reminding you to do exercises you've skipped within a CD or difficulty level until you do them). This makes it a little more structured and less flexible than the present one although I think most people will find the interface more intuitive and the progressively increasingly level of difficulty in some ways better for learning. But both programs are excellent and will definitely help you take your Spanish to the next level. ... Read more

Reviews (44)

Jumpstart Advanced toddler
We bought this as a Christmas present for our son that just turned 2. We were looking for an educational computer game for him and we already had Reader Rabbit Toddler (which he loves). When I first started Jumpstart Adv. Toddler I thought it was way too simple, then I discovered that most activities have 2 levels. Level 1 is pretty basic and doesn't require the kids to do a whole lot...my son was very bored with this. Level 2 is much better...in fact it is more advanced than Reader Rabbit. Most of the activities do not require toddlers to click on the mouse, but if you can click it goes faster. I was surprised by how fast my son figured out the activities. He can do most everything by himself, but he still needs me to help him navigate some. This package comes with 3 cd's - school time, song time and art time. THe song time cd has several fun songs that he just loves. Overall I really like this game and have found it to be very educational. As soon as my son has mastered clicking the mouse we will be getting the preschool version.

JumpStart Study Helpers Math Booster
Knowledge Adventure's Jump Start Study Helpers Math Booster... is another real winner for all children in grades 1st-5th - like is partner - Knowledge Adventure's Jump Start Study Helpers Spelling Bee - this program has cute, fast paced, great music and sound three styles of arcade-like games to teach your children their math facts - no more boring math flash cards - learn math on a fast paced pinball machine, or arrange math facts for the the "burpers" or "smack" space ships and and space rocks to get correct answers to math problems - fast and fun - even for an old Grandma, me - all games are controled using the arrow keys and space bar excep to the outer space game where you shoot with a mouse - like the Spelling Bee it has over 800 pre-programmed math problems - all basic subjects are covered - addition, subtraction, muliplication, division, decimals and percentages in SIX different leveals - will auto advance at your child's own speed - on screen instructions for everything - also, like its partner, Jump Start Study Helpers Spelling Bee - you can program your child's "real" weekly math problems in to this program so they can learn their "real" weekly school math lessons in a fun arcade style of learning - you will love it for the small price tag - your children will love it for all of the fun they will have - and you will love it even more when your child brings home a A+ grade on their report card in Math. The [low price] is "right" - please buy it - once again this old Grandma is happy to be able to send my first grader, and my second grader back to school this year with this GREAT study tool. Knowledge Adventure can be very proud of these two programs ther Jump Start Study Helpers Math Booster and their Jump Start Study Helpers Spelling Bee - buy them both and enjoy!
A very pleased Grandmother,
Jacqueline Lee Wilson

JumpStart Spanish a winner
My 5 year old loves her new JumpStart Spanish program. She has learned to count in spanish and her colors so far. Very fun games and rewards. She is really picking things up fast. We have not had any real computer problems, it has locked up once, but that has happened on other software as well. The sound works well. For the price I would recommend this as a beginning spanish program.

My daughter simply loves it!!!!
My 2 year old loves this set of CDs. I found that it reinforces all the things we are teaching her.... shapes, colors, numbers the ABC. The duck that sings is very sweet to their ear. I found it sooo great I am buying it for my daughter's school so the other kids can benefit as well.

Jump Start 4TH GRADE ADVANCED
I rented this software from the Library. It is a 3 disc program. My 3rd grader (almost 4th grader) loves the Ultimate Field Trips and Mystery Club volume 3. The fundamentals disc is a little too hard for her right now, so it is challenging. I played it because it looked fun and it was fun for me to play. I love the "mystery" tone of the software. I like these programs because there are fun games that do not get boring, and while your kids are playing the games, they are also learning a lot. I am going to purchase this software and the 3rd grade ADVANCED program so my child can review through the summer. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Good Start!
I just got the cd a few days ago, and I've been studying the lessons for two days. This is FUN. Well worth the $9.
It's very challenging because the lessons are structured so that you can't guess what the answers are or what's coming next. In other words, the cd is teaching you to really LEARN. Now if I could just remember everything ... I'll be speaking spanish!!
So far, so good. This program is definately worth checking out. I'm very happy with it.

Beware: June-July 2003 reviews said to be forgeries
Look up this company's product "Language Now", where near-identical reviews from different accounts were all posted in June 2003; and see post-June comments.

Excellent
I Can Speak Spanish is the ideal program for beginner level Spanish speakers. For starters it leads you off with basic grammar and the alphabet which seems like a logical start to learning any language. Then it contains 15 seperate lessons that are all very good and have somewhat of a more personal classroom or course feel. One of the best features is the Before You Know It program which is like having electronic flashcards to practice with and it is really helpful. This is a good program and well worth the buy if you want to learn beginning Spanish.

Easy and Fast
This is a really good program for learning Spanish. It was very easy to follow and is set up in step by step lessons that kept me learning as fast or as slow as I wanted. There are various practice games and a really good flashcard game that is perfect for studying. Great buy for learning Spanish!!!

Good Stuff
This program is really good stuff. It has a lot to teach with 15 lessons and has a flashcard game that is a good program to study with. I was also really impressed with the voice recognition technology that allowed me to compare my pronunciation with that of a native Spanish speakers. This is a good way to learn Spanish and a good buy. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Instant maybe. Immersion questionable.
My dad got this for me to supplement a Latin textbook I have been studying for my high school language course. It is quick and easily understandable. You get plenty of words and phrases, which is perfect for a traveler. If you want to learn the language for the sake of knowing it, not travel, however, you'd better get a book to supplement this. It doesn't teach about pluralization, verb conjugation, or other oddities that the language holds, such as, in Latin, the ending -m which implies a direct object. The Latin CD also does not use the dashes over the vowels (ie. â,ç,î,ô,û). Overall, I am very happy with the product and with the price of $39.99 (USD), but I am also quite glad I have my textbook (ECCE ROMANI) to go with it.

Okay for the price
I was hoping this set would contain the first CD or at least part of the first CD in the two-CD Instant Immersion programs, which would have been a great deal, and would have truly given you a good start in all these languages. However, this set only has very basic material for each language, and in fact is more like having a basic CD vocabulary and phrasebook for each language rather than a real mini-course or introduction, which for me is only marginally useful.

The vocabulary sections are divided up into 8 sections: first words, colors, food, numbers, shopping, countries, time, body. The ninth section is for phrases, and one advantage is that they are pronounced individually for you, which you can do for the individual words, too. There are two categories of games, easy and hard, and the program tracks your progress.

If you like to collect lots of phrase books with basic vocabulary, this might be fine for you, as you can at least learn some words and phrases that might be useful, but for me the major shortcoming is there is nothing on the grammar. I would rather invest the money in the 2-CD version of the half dozen languages I'm interested in, and then pay the extra for the 5 and 8 CD advanced Instant Immersion software when I'm ready to progress to the next stage of learning.

Still, for a reasonable price you get 33 languages, including all the main European ones plus things like Swahili, Korean, Finnish, Hindi, Tibetan, Vietnamese, and so on. So if you like to play around with exotic languages this might be the set for you, but you'll need to supplement it with a real language learning course if you're serious about really going anywhere with your studies.

I need to mention one drawback to the CD's, however. I have reasonably fast, 16x read and 48x write speed CD, and the program still runs fairly slowly, although I have a half gig of RAM and a 2.6 GHz system. It's mostly noticeable when using the pronunciation capability, but it spends a lot of time just seeking when you're jumping between sections. It's tolerable on my CD player, but if you have an older, slower one, be advised it's going to be slow.

One solution would be to get Tenebril software's Virtual Drive Manager program which will copy it to your hard disk so you can run it from there. I've tested it on about a dozen programs and it works on most of them. So it's not a sure thing but the program isn't that expensive and it does work for many things. Tenebril can be found on the web, where I bought it. I don't know if their software is carried by most computer stores or not. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn Spanish Now! 9.0 Deluxe takes you from beginner to confidentspeaker in no time. Listen and speak activities, grammar tools, and vocabularygames build a solid foundation, while real-life video content lets you interactwith native speakers. Learn Spanish Now! also adds online features that createan interesting and authentic atmosphere, making it fast, fun, and highlyeffective to learn Spanish.

Learn Spanish Now!'s four stimulating titles include: Fundamental Spanish,Survival Phrases for Spanish, Conversations in Spanish, and A Spanish Adventurewith Andrés. GrammarPro!, the software's comprehensive grammar tool, adds morethan 10,000 words, extensive tutorials, and grammar quizzes to your desktop.Installed, GrammarPro! integrates seamlessly with all four Learn Spanish Now!titles to provide detailed grammar analyses with just a click of your mouse.

Online features, fun interactive games, conversations, and phrases round outthis deluxe suite. Practice your pronunciation using the integrated speechfeatures, then record your voice and replay your conversation. Learn at your ownpace by deciding when you need translation. Microsoft Windows users also receiveGlobalWriter98, a word-processing tool that helps you write in more than 100languages, as well as a handy screen saver. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Useful in Learning Spanish
I work as a border guard at a USA-Mexico border stop and let me tell you that Spanish Now has helped my Spanish speaking skills a lot while helping to give me a valuable job skill. Before I picked this product up I spoke Spanish on a very limited begining level. Spanish Now enabled me to work on several aspects of my language learning. With the very good audio features my pronunciation and interpretation of Spanish improved greatly. The amount of vocabulary I was able to learn from Spanish Now was astonishing. The games made for good practice and review of the various lessons/knowledge obtained from the program. The conversation practice feature allowed me to develop my Spanish communication skills with life like practice. The overall performance of this program surprised me and I highly recomend it.

Worth the [Buy!!!]
I was skeptical at first, but once I got to using Spanish Now I was very impressed. I decided to buy this because I was taking a trip to South America(where a great deal of the population speaks Spanish) and needed to practice Spanish for the trip. I hadn't taken any Spanish classes since college so I was quite rusty but this program helped me a lot. I was able to dive right in and review vocabulary, practice conversations for various situations, work on my pronunciation, learn grammar, ect. I was very impressed with the great amount of depth offered making this program ideal for begineers or more advanced speakers. Spanish Now also makes great use of available technology by integrating video and audio together in various parts of the program which effectively adds some realism. My impression of this product is that it is well worth the buy leading me to give it the 5 star rating it deserves.

Worthless junk not even fit for the garbage.
The program "Learn Spanish Now" turned out to be total junk and a complete waste of money. The only lesson I learned was to not to buy computer software without trying it first. Don't waste your money on this senseless mess.

This Product is Garbage
I purchased Spanish Now! in hopes of finding a software that would review my Spanish skills so that I could be ready to enter Spanish IV in my Junior year. Not only is this product hard to use, but it didn't review any useful grammar or fundamental Spanish. After finding that none of the features were helpful in learning Spanish in the slightest, I threw it into the garbage. I would strongly advise you not to waste your money.

Beware forged reviews
Apparently this company's management had so little confidence in its product's quality that they felt it necessary to upload a batch of fake reviews in July 2003; one or two for each product variant. They did not anticipate that Amazon would display all reviews for all variants, making their fake review language transparently obvious - as others have also noted here. ... 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 (2)

Good for understanding, but not speaking.
I'll start by saying that I am a die-hard fan of the Pimsleur Language system, so take this review with a grain of salt, if you'd like. I will also say that I have always struggled with foreign languages until I discovered Pimsleur. Now, I am almost fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, and can communicate in several others (Russian, German and French)
Why did I bother with Rosetta Stone if Pimsleur is so great? Well, by itself, no program out there is complete, Pimsleur being no exception. I found that though my spoken skills were developed by Pimsleur as no other program could, my vocabulary was limited, and my listening skills still needed work. I found that Rosetta Stone is good at forcing you to listen and write well. In addition, it greatly enhances the limited vocabulary provided by Pimsleur.
I can't imagine for a minute though that one could develop good spoken language skills with Rosetta Stone by itself. I simply won't believe it, because it doesn't afford you the opportunity to speak in a conversational type setting. This is necessary practise for becoming fluent.
Summary? Use Pimsleur, supplement with Rosetta Stone. Happy learning!

The BEST
I've taken many language courses, mostly in Spanish and French. I used to quit once it got hard simply because I was bogged down with grammar. The Rosetta Stone for Portuguese Level I(I also bought Level 2), in this case, Brazilian Portuguese, is completely different than any language course I've tried in that YOU choose how and when you learn. The pictures are colorful.You have two men and a woman voice for variety. You get to choose between listening, reading, writing, speaking. The only thing that didn't work for me was the recording of my voice for comparison because the microphone I had wasn't compatable, but in the record mode, you can still play back the speakers either in slow or normal conversational speed and 'see' how the words 'sound'. Fairly good with languages anyway, my accent is gradually going 'native'so I don't need to record myself. Through trial and error I've discovered the 'listening' mode works best. That way when the next picture comes up I can think its description in Portugese rather than be dependent on reading the Portuguese decription.I adore the fast tutorial. You can test yourself. You're given a book that you can read your lessons if you don't feel like putting in the CD. The CD works without a glitch. The best thing about this course is that you CAN'T get bored even with the repetition because you decide how you want to do things. The clever thing about the colorful box is that the front opens up like a book which describes the course features. The Rosetta Stone IS the BEST for language instruction if classes and cassette tapes don't work. ... 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

• Phrase-by-phrase full document translation -- not simply word-by-word.
• Translate directly from Microsoft Word and Corel Word Perfect
• Easy to use, just open your file, and click on the translate button
• Automatically generates all Spanish accent marks and other characters
• Evaluates sentence structure, determines appropriate part of speech, tense, meaning, and word order, to provide a translation sensitive to both grammar and syntax.

Reviews (3)

Very Helpful for Beginners
Excellent in presentation, the only disappointment is that it is teaching the "th" sound that you find in Spain, not in Mexico, but all in all an excellent product.

Great
It is true that the graphics are off from the sound but you learn great amounts so who cares. I reccomend this to everyone.

It's bad
This is BAD! It was so bad, I returned it. The virtual people look cheap, like cardboard, and they keep repeating the same word until you just want to scream! Trust me, I'm not just saying this to be mean, it's the truth. If you don't believe me, just buy it, and then you'll see. ... Read more

Features

• Rigorously designed program elicits suer response and gives instantaneous feedback
• Carefully sequenced, step-by-step instruction can be entered at any point
• 12 run modes allow users to thoroughly work the material using their own learning style
• Native speakers and over 880 real life color pictures

Features

• Build kids' confidence in their math skills with 3D adventures that teach about operations, decmals, word problems, logic, graphing, measurement and more
• Get a headstart on reading, writing and speaking English proficiently with full Comprehension, Grammar, Vocabulary and Usage & Style lessons
• Journey to the center of the Earth or to the Milky Way, with Science modules for Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geology and Zoology
• Explore the geography and history of our world in multiple Social Studies exercises -Study Cultures Of The World, Geography and the history of the Americas
• Learn the basics of Spanish through interactive games and lessons

Features

• Spanish language learning system with portable audio lessons
• 3-CD-ROM set with 750 hours of instruction and cultural activities
• 8,000 word audio glossary; 3,600 exercises; 6 workshops
• 3D animation; S.E.T.S. for correction of pronunciation errors
• Beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels

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

Features

• 100,000+ translations, including specialized national and regional terminology
• More than 80,000 entry words and phrases
• Bilingual; highlights Latin-American Spanish and American English usage
• Specially developed for all skill levels
• Installs quickly onto your hard drive for instant access anytime

Reviews (8)

A very nice product; but doesn't integrate with browsers.
This is undoubtedly the best dictionary & thesaurus available today. The features that impressed me the most are:

1: You don't have to leave the CD in the drive to use the 'pronounciation' feature. You can optionally install the sound files on your hard disk. (Approx. 532 MB)

2: Multiple pronounciations invoked where appropriate.

3: Installs without a glitch and integrates with MS Word.

4: Has a lot of nice features like 'Spelling Help'.

I hope the 12th Edition will integrate with email browsers, not just with MS Word. Also, I would have preferred the thesaurus invoked automatically in an additional pane instead of switching between dictionary and thesaurus.

good word pronounciation
I already owned the Microsoft Encarta World English Dictionary when I bought Merriam-Webster because I wanted the software to pronounce every word, and Encarta doesn't.

Merriam-Webster's main good point:
pronouces every single entry, including various forms of each word, such as "beauty", "beautiful" plus you can copy the whole disc into your computer, so you don't have to put in the CD every time you look stuff up. Can't do with Microsoft.

Other than that, it isn't a very good computer dictionary. It looks like somebody just scanned the information into the computer. The dictionary has limited space, that's why stuff is crammed in the there, but the computer should read with more paragraph separations which costs no more memory. There are few examples.

I also don't like the fact that you have to clear each entry before you can look up the next word, which I don't have to do with Microsoft's.

It is a usable dictionary and thesarus, and has plenty of entries. I think it is particular worth it for someone learning English as a foreign language.

Voice helps me a lot!
Three is no other dictionary that I can rely on more than Merriam Webster dictionary. This new edition, 11th, got all updated words used for internet and new high tech terms with accurate vocal sound. I saw some other dictionary with sound, but this dictionary got most accurate sound that I can trust. For some words that have two sounds, it pronounces both of them.
I can not work without this dictionary.

great for kids
The Amazon Features: recommended this dictionary for age 9 to adult and this should have been a big clue. Generally 9 year olds and adults aren't looking for the same things in a product of this type. This is a cute program but all of it is freely available on the Web.

My two biggest disappointments were the brief simplistic definitions and that it lacks cross-referencing or hyper-linking within a definition, -- yes, you can easily jump to new definitions from words within a given definition, but, for me, this lacks the learning that comes with hyper-linking.

My last comment is that as of January 04, the reviews listed under this Medical Dictionary are reviews for other Merriam-Webster products, but not for the Medical Dictionary. Read closely and notice the reference to a thesaurus that the Medical Dictionary does not have.

Easier than grabbing a heavy hardback
The MW Medical Desk Dictionary's best feature is that it's convenient. It offers you the option to install macros that put an icon on your Word or WordPerfect toolbar that will launch the dictionary. Highlight a word in your document, click the icon, and it will look it up. Type the beginning letters of a word in its search feature, and it will attempt to match what you type with a word in its dictionary. Where it fails is when you don't want that word and it's automatically filled the search box with some other word, so you have to delete the letters that don't apply. Sure, it's easier than grabbing a heavy hardback, and better than the outdated dictionary I had, but its automatic look-up ability needs serious work. I also wish it was a spell-checker plugin rather than an add-on dictionary; you can't tell Word (or any other Office application) that it's a dictionary you're adding in because there is no *.dic file for the program to find to add in. Still, for the money, this is a very good program if what you want is a dictionary and not a spellchecker. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Can't run software on a computer with 1GB memory
I have the same problem on a computer running Windows 2000 with 1GB memory. The software won't start and gives me the error message "Director Player 6.0 - This program requires at least 3MB of free virtual memory to run". I know there is more than 3MB of free virtual memory on my computer. I tried different virtual memory setting and found that setting virtual memory to 128MB would cause the software to run. It is obvious that the software has mis-calculated the available virtual memory. It interprets virtual memory > 1GB as less than 3MB virtual memory. I have sent email to the technical support at Encore and are waiting for their reply. I share the previous reader's opinion that setting the virtual memory to a lower setting is not an acceptable solution.

However, after I started the program, I like the interface and graphic. The software is better than "Mind Power Math Middle School" from the Learning Company. I also like that it has a game where you can test your skill.

I will write an update after I receive a reply from Encore.

Way around memory problem
Haven't tried this software but had same problem with some other software, the error message: "Director Player 6.0 - This program requires at least 3MB of free virtual memory to run". The only fix is to change your virtual memory settings to something below 500mb or to exactly 4000mb. Of course, I chose 4000mb since I have a large hard drive and almost 1 gig of memory on this pc.

So the full fix is:
From the Windows XP desktop, select the Start button, right-click on the My Computer icon, and select Properties from the resulting menu.

Click on the Advanced tab to bring it forward, and then select the Settings button within the Performance section.

In the Performance Options window, click on the Advanced tab to bring it forward, and then select the Change button in the Virtual Memory section.

Click the Custom size button...
Change the Initial size (MB) setting to 4000
Change the Maximum size (MB) setting to 4000

Select SET to accept the change, which will close the Virtual Memory window. Select OK to close the Performance Options window. And select OK to exit the System Properties window.

$40 + junk = angry customer
This is a faulty and buggy piece of software. It will not run on my PC (XP Home)without me changing my Virtual Memory from 1000 mb to 200 mb...what an absurdity! The developer offers no solution other than to change my VM everytime I want to use their software.

Well, forget it. They're not the only game in town.

It's Great!!
I have the Elementary Advantage, and I'm about to go into Middle School Advantage. I find these programs are excellent. I am a homeschooling parent, and the Elementary Advantage suite have done a great job in assisting me with teaching my child. I've learned a lot myself. My son is about to enter middle school grades, and as I explore the the Middle School Advantage suite, I marvel at how well its put together. I have not run into answers that are wrong as was the claim of one reviewer. But, that does not bother me because you will find wrong answers in educational books written by the best educators. I focus on the how well I am taught the subject. If I can catch the wrong answers then I was taught well. I paid only $24.99 for each suite. I also have a Dell Dimension 4600, and the programs run fine. For all those having a problem running the program. You better get a Dell, Dude! For the money, IT'S GREAT!

Not Recommended
If this program can confuse X and Y intercepts I can only imagine what else may be wrong with it. I just purchased this for my son today, but will be returning it tomorrow. He has a placement test in 2 weeks and I don't want him to blow it because of this faulty software. ... Read more