Features

• French 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

• Learn Spanish words and phrases--it¿s easy, fun, and more effective than ever
• 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 covering several common subjects

Reviews (1)

Must have for education purposes
I bought this program to help myself memorize a lot of Spanish vocabulary for a college course and it helped out very much so with its flashcard like set up. Not only did it have a very large amount of vocabulary but it also had sound recordings of the vocabulary so you can also learn the correct pronunciation. However, Before You Know It Spanish is not only limited to use in Spanish. This software also allows you to create your on lists for flash cards and then memorize those also. This makes it very useful for learning by memorization and enables it to have many different uses such as having to memorize formulas for math class. These lists you can make are also able to be put onto Palm Pilots/Pocket PCs and you can also share them with friends because each list has its own save file. My opinion of this program is that it does everything it is meant to do and it is a must have educational tool. You can not go wrong with this software. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

not for serious study!
I bought this program not expecting much because of the low price and my expectations were correct. This program seems to be designed for a person who wants to learn a few Arabic terms that would be useful a couple weeks before traveling to an Arab country. It is definitely not a serious student of the language especially because it does not even use the Arabic script! It just transliterates Arabic words into Roman script.

This is the one
Arabic is a pretty tough row to hoe for anyone whose previous languages are romantic. I've tried a couple of these CD-ROMs and this is by far the best. This is the one to get.

Can't Wait
While I haven't used this course yet I have used the Spanish immersion course offered by Topics Entertainment (Talk Now! etc.) and the course is great. It's a lot of fun to play the games and is very educational at the same time. It's helpful to both beginners and those who already have a working knowledge of the language. While I already have a strong background in Arabic, I am excited to have this CD set to augment my other materials...for review and language maintenance. It's definitely a must have and the price is certainly right. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn to speak Mandarin Chinese through complete immersion. The Euro Method is an easy and simple way to learn to speak a second language. Based on the same techniques that allow a 4-year-old child to speak a language long before that same child can read or write, the Instant Immersion Mandarin Chinese CDs teach users to speak Mandarin Chinese quickly. The software provides interactive lessons that truly immerse users in the language. The two CD-ROMs enclosed are from EuroTalk, a European publisher of language-learning software. Talk Now! and World Talk will take users from beginning to intermediate levels using fun and easy-to-follow methods.

Talk Now! Mandarin Chinese is designed for beginners who want to start learning a new language as soon as possible. Whether on a business or vacation trip, or even when meeting a foreign visitor, Talk Now! is the CD to use. By hearing and practicing authentic everyday speech, the user's natural ability for language will develop. The EuroTalk CDs are designed to be fun. The program uses quizzes, games, and stories to help reinforce the lessons learned.

The second CD-ROM, World Talk Mandarin Chinese, is the next level up from Talk Now!, and goes on to the next stage with new activities, added dictation, and a new recording section. Topics covered include the calendar, building sentences, asking directions, and using numbers. With the recording feature, users can hear and compare their voices with those of a variety of native speakers. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

An outstanding bargain, but get a dictionary too
This would be a very good price for just the first of the two CDs. Both CDs allow you to listen to words and phrases from a variety of categories of everyday vocabulary such as time, numbers, colors, and food, and both offer quiz games to test your knowledge. I am still working my way through the first so the second is still beyond me, and I'm concerned that I might not be able to understand the second even after mastering the first. Fortunately there is built in help in English.

The first CD allows you to listen to two different voices (one fast and natural, the other slow and careful) pronounce a starting collection of words and phrases, record yourself speaking them so you can compare, and test your knowledge with simple quizzes of 4 levels of difficulty. In about a month I have learned enough Chinese to impress my Taiwan-born fiancee and now she wants to borrow it!

Caveats: You probably won't have enough vocabulary for comfortable conversation by the end of the first CD. But Chinese is hardly a simple language to learn and you will be amazed at how quickly you benefit from the course. Also, the first CD has some inconsistencies; the two voices actually say different things for some of the words. I used a Chinese-English dictionary to decide which was correct. If you are going to learn the language a good dictionary is a valuable companion reference.

Okay for speech, but doesn't help with Chinese characters
This software is okay for learning to say a few basic words and phrases. The variety of activities makes it more interesting than a phrasebook. But it won't help you if you want to learn Chinese characters, which are the more interesting and important part of the language. If you want to learn to read Chinese, you'll need a good textbook and maybe a Chinese reading & dictionary software product like Clavis Sinica.

keep shopping
re the first cd, talk now: The girl enunciates well but speaks with a tiawanese accent. In one case, (the ankle) the girl gives the wrong (tiawanese?) word for the body part rather than the mandarin word. The guy slurs his word endings a bit. The cd only has a handful of words, perhaps what you would expect to learn in the first week of a standard college class. The cd makers neglected to pay an artist to draw the pictures that correspond to the sentences so good luck there as well. I think they had a not particularly gifted first grader do the scribbles.
The second cd, world talk, does NOT pick up where the first one left you but jumps ahead by an unbridged leap. There is no real help provided. you find yourself learning which picture matches with which sentence without ever learning what they are actually saying. Futhermore, the second cd is boring and not at all engaging. surely there is better stuff out there.

Amazon has their reviews mixed up.
The Amazon review is for Talk Now! Mandarin by EuroTalk....but the product is Mandarin Chinese by Topics Entertainment. Ignore the Amazon review.

If want to learn 5 words...
I was a complete beginner, and wanted to learn Mandarin. I said LEARN, not acquire four or five phrases or words. I mistakenly bought this cheap software (like said in other review, get what you pay for) to begin my learning process. The CD's proved to be better frisbees than tutorials and are gathering dust on my computer desk. If you really wish to learn a language DO NOT buy this software. Translations are sketchy, explanations non-existant, and pronunciations deceptive. You don't know what words of a phrase mean what, that tones are vitally important to Chinese, and they don't even bother with pinyin. I recommend other means of learning language than this piece of software... ... Read more

Features

• Begin reading music notation in just a few lessons
• Instructor Hugh Berberich walks you through 150 lessons -- watch his hands and duplicate their movements as you learn to play
• Learn to play 75 popular songs, through the video-animated lessons
• Work with a full recording studio -mixing boards, level meters, transport function and other high-tech aspects of recording yourself
• Understand important piano concepts like intervals, bars, and sharps & flats -- all explained in a clear and concise manner

Reviews (5)

Does not work with Windows XP
Do not buy if you do not have Windows 95. National Geographic has not updated its software for newer versions of Windows. There is nothing you can do or even get support from National Geographic to fix this problem.

Don't get it if you use XP
A word of caution: I upgraded my PC to Win XP and now my National Geographic software is useless. Neither the complete 109-year magazine collection on DVD nor my 8 CD collection of maps will run under XP.
Borderbund won't even discuss it; they foist you off on some third-party entity who says "sorry", but there are no plans to provide a patch or anything.
So go ahead and buy it if you're not planning on upgrading to XP.

Terrible
It's basically an atlas in PDF form spread out over eight CDs. You'll need glasses after scrolling in and out, trying to find anything. A waste of time and money.

Shame on National Geographic!
... I think the software implementation of these maps is terrible. Pathetic is a better description.

In order to use your full computer screen, you'd have to reset your monitor to 480 x 600 pixels. Who has such a low resolution monitor nowdays? This also appears to be the best resolution you can achieve on the maps. If the maps are expanded enough to be readable, they are fuzzy. Pathetic, in my opinion.

... I don't think the 500 "maps" in this package are worth anything--at least not to me. I'd gladly pay 3 times as much for excellent resolution maps. At the current low-resolution implemented on this software release, I wouldn't willingly pay 5 cents. I found no use for the maps at such low resolution. I uninstalled the software.

In short, I feel I got burned. I paid $... for what I consider useless maps and useless software. I did not expect this from National Geographic. [...]

Great Maps, Mediocre Software
One can hardly question the value of these maps. This collection claims to include 535 maps, going all the way back to the 19th century, published by National Geographic magazine. In itself, this is a real treasure.

However, the software realization of this treasure is poor. The software is slow and glitchy, prone to crashes and inexplicable error messages. The main window is a relatively tiny 640x480 pixels, although the maps themselves can be zoomed fullscreen. The working interface is clumsy and reminiscent of old "multimedia" software from a Windows 95 machine. The initial workspace is an image of a compass, a book, a videotape. Want to start searching for maps? Well, take a guess, because there are no text labels, no text tool-tips, and no drop down menus. There is a toolbar with tool-tips, but no text labels. I would have preferred a plain-vanilla menu over faux-elegant images that leave me stymied.

The set comes on 8 CD's. While the program will run with any disc in the CD drive, you can expect a lot of disc swapping. Also, it would have been nice to be able to at least start the search engine with no disc in the drive. There is no option for copying the CD data to your hard drive, which would have been a welcome choice for users with large drives.

Maps appear to be scans of the paper product from National Geographic, complete with fold-creases and dog-ears. These are not digital databases that generate maps on the fly, such as can be found in software like Topo USA or Streets and Trips. No, these are simply pictures of the paper maps. Great maps, but in a digital application, a picture of a piece of paper is of limited value. For example, if a place-name is not entered into the index, searches come up blank -- even if the place appears on one or more maps. Likewise, common tools of map software such as distance measuring, or incremental zooming, are missing.

The software allows you five zoom levels for your map. Since the first two levels are little more than thumbnails, really, you are left with three usable zooms. Even the middle zoom is too small to read place-names. Some kind of fractional or incremental zoom tool would have been much nicer; even basic image software allows you to zoom is by single percentage points.

The scan quality could be better. There is noticable pixelization at high resolution -- blocky fuzziness, especially around text areas. However, since there are over 500 high-resolution maps taking up 8 CD's, clearly some data compression had to be used.

The map tools aren't terribly sophisticated; you can zoom, pan, and select regions for copying to the clipboard (copied sections can be pasted into Paint or other image application).

All that said, this 8 disc set delivers a tremendous map value .... I estimate the cost per map at something like a nickel -- an amazing value. The older maps offer unique historical perspectives into changing geopolitics. The maps are excellent quality, and come with a tremendous amount of "extras" on the map backs (which are also viewable) and sidebars.

Clearly the software implementation could have been better. But for this price, I think the set is a steal. ... Read more

Features

• Learn body and hand positioning for grammar and fingerspelling
• Video lessons and explanations of ASL phrase syntax improve beginners' foundation in ASL
• Hands-on ASL dictionary packed with over 6,000 words - plus synonyms and written sign movement descriptions for each entry
• ASL Phrase Guide offers real-life communication -- over 600 phrases are introduced, with video demonstrations of each entry
• Complete reference guide provides overview of the scope & history of America's third most common language

Features

• Geographic coverage for North America and Western Europe
• Maps compatable with GPS devices (not included)
• Creates alternate routes if you get lost

Reviews (2)

Best of the best
I have used lots of diffrent gps software products and find this to be the cream of the crop. It's visual and verbal prompt made me buy a pocket pc just so i can use it. I had a palm and used the mapolis product for the palm as well. Both are great.
This beats the others hands down

Pocket PC Navigation that's fast
I use both a Palm and a Pocket PC for different applications and the Mapopolis Pocket PC Navigator solution here is outstanding. The ability to route across country, street to street seamlessly is a plus, allowing multiple 'route through' points and showing whatevetr level of detail you require. It provides turn by turn spoken and visual commands and if you go the wrong way it recalculates your route from where you are - no stopping to fiddle with the PDA. I particularly like three of the features; firstly it allows you to scroll or drag the map across the screen - you can see the WHOLE of the USA and by simply sliding your stylus across the screen , a new portion of map appears, regardless of the zoom level - great for checking out what's on the way to your destination. Secondly, it allows multiple options for avoiding Toll Roads and Freeways which is great if you're not planning on sitting in 5 o'clock traffic. Finally, I guess my favorite, is the ability to add your own favorite locations - called Geomarks - such as customers, friends, Fedex buildings or whatever, and then route to, through or from these places - it saves retyping your addresses over and over again! I love it, I hope you do too - thoroughly recommended ... 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.

Amazon.com Product Description

Now you can learn seven languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese) 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. It's the natural way to learn.

The Rosetta Stone PowerPac contains 22 lessons with nearly 900 real-life images and phrases spoken by native speakers for each language. The program develops all key language skills--listening comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. There are previews, exercises, and tests for every lesson, with automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

A great way to try the best language learning software
This is by far the best language learning software out there for the DIY language learner.It uses total immersion without any English (this is a good thing).I own the full length courses for both Russian and German 1 and 2, and while it was no small investment, it was definitely worth it.The Rosetta Stone software is like the Pimsleur tapes in that it's the best of its kind and you get what you pay for.I bought this program to try it and passed it on to a friend when I bought my full courses.

The "powerpac" is a good investment if at least two of the languages out of the seven on the disc are ones you want to learn.If not, you're better off choosing the specific explorer program for your selected language as single language explorer programs are half the price.

Again, this is great software but you won't acheive any level of fluency with the abbreviated programs.But since the larger programs are extremely expensive,it's a good way to see if you like the system before you take the big plunge and spend the bucks on the full courses.

NOT for serious language learning
Excellent, easy-to-use interface creates a fun environment for an introduction to seven languages.But do not expect to reach any level of fluency because there just isn't enough material for any one language.

I would buy this package simply to see if Rosetta Stone style of learning (use of pictures while hearing the words for the object in the picture) would be appropriate for you.You can't go wrong if your expectations are low.

Say 'The boy is under the ball' in seven languages!
An earlier reviewer claimed that Japanese was not included, which is incorrect.There are in fact, three versions of Japanese available.While the Explorer series are essentially hooks to get you to buy into the far pricier full versions of the software, you still got a lot of language for your dollar.Don't expect to learn a whole language on this CD.Don't even expect to have any degree of fluency.However, as an intorduction to a language, PowerPac can't be beat.The interface is intuitive, engaging and frankly, a lot of fun.A variety of activities work your brain in different ways, helping retension.There is also a 'voice analyzer' feature that compares your voice to a native speakers, but it's far too frustrating to use effectively.Other than that blemish, you have a great facile language learning powerhouse.

Spectacular Value - Easy Language Learning
The Rosetta Stone, with Spanish, French, German, English, Dutch, Russian and Chinese basic language instruction, all on one CD, is a lot of learning in one small package.Putting all the languages together inspires a very intuitive interface.Learning, grouped by categories such as food, numbers, actions, etc., is at your own pace.You can practice to your heart's content.Besides a stand alone tool, it's a great supplement for regular language instruction.As you can tell, I find it quite helpful.But make sure you have your own dictionary for reference when using the program.

nicely structured, very user friendly
My CD-Rom does include the japanese lessons. I find this product extremely accessible and very nicely structured. The lessons progress in easily understandable segments. For me, it is an ideal way to start learning a newlanguage, as you always have a reference between pictures, the written, andthe spoken words. My only criticism is that I would prefer some grammaticalexplanations, especially for chinese and japanese. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Forged reviews
The five-star reviews of this product are forged. For more examples of this, look up their other product "Language Now" - you will see near-identical reviews of various versions of that product, uploaded from throwaway accounts, all in June 2003.

Not good Japanese -English transration
I am a Japanese]English bilingual. I was searching for Japanse-Engilsh translation software for my friend to use. I tried only used Japanese-English, English-Japanese transration part of the software. I was hoping that this would do 70% of the transration correctry but I found that it did less than 10% of the transration. I could not make use out of this software.

Good Translation Software
I have tried numerous translation software products and have found that Easy Translator 4 is the best one out there. This is great for getting translations of email, web pages, Microsoft Word documents, text documents, and any other text that can be entered into a computer. Accuracy in ALL translation software is not 100% but I was able to comprehend all translations done by this software to a very high degree of understanding. Easy Translator 4 gets a five-star rating because it is the best translation software out there.

Extremely Useful
This language translation program is so useful. The translations are not perfectly exact but close enough that you can tell what is being said without much error at all. Any text you read on a computer or can type into one can be translated between seven languages ( English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese). I really found this useful for going to web pages written in another language, emails to foreign colleagues and just with translation in general. Overall, this program is great and I would highly recomend it for anyone who needs translation software.

Reliable and Impressive
Easy Translator Deluxe 4 is a very reliable and impressive language translation software. This software has the capability to translate any text on your computer from/to seven different languages (Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Japanese). The uses for such a product are endless in today's world and its capabilities truely impressive. I really recomend using this program if you need translation software. ... Read more

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

Amazon.com Product Description

Start speaking, reading, and writing German today. Whether your study is for business, travel, or school, Instant Immersion German 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, a German vocabulary builder, German 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 German 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 German 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. German Plus covers speaking, reading, writing, and listening, helping you grow more comfortable with German 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 German-speaking destination. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Useless, and generally pathetic.
For starters, all the content offered would have easily fit on a single CD-ROM, so their offering so many disks reminds of bogus language courses from the past which had 30 or so cassettes or videocassetes, each with about 10 minutes or so of playback. Each area of the course is essentially worthless. To just describe one disk, the vocabulary disk has about 2,000 or so words almost randomly chosen. Very few of the essential words of the language appear, and instead hundreds of terms deal with country names and things you don't need to know your first days, such as cufflinks and redcurrant.

It is true that pictures and videos help remember words, but the images are thoroughly depressing and pathetic on many ocassions. For example, the woman in the "kiss" term looks like she is doing so forcibly, and in general any picture or video (one in about 30 definitions has a 2 or 3 second video) in which people of any age appear seem to either have a great dislike for the photographer, or for life in general. It is rather disturbing to see such suffering when one is trying to learn a new language.

The other disks are even more worthless, and everything has a depressing quality to it. Needless to say, I sent it back, and will instead try another product. I recommend staying far away from this one!

Absolutely terrible
Despite the attractive packaging, the Instant Immersion series from Europe is absolutely the worst language teaching program I've seen. I picked up several titles at a local store, tempted by the "free" price after rebates. Upon installing German, which I hadn't touched in over a decade, I decided to return all the titles. Most of the 7 CDs are totally useless. The user interface is laughably reminiscent of programs in the Windows 95 days, and you get 256-color, 640x480 video! The audio also slows down often, even on my P4 2.0Ghz PC. Even though you can find it for free, it just ain't worth your time.

Not well laid out
I bought both the German and Spanish Pro software packages. I opened the German first and found it very confusing and poorly laid out. There is no clear lesson plan and there are no steps provided for LEARNING the language. They might as well just drop you in the middle of Munich and expect you to start learning German that way. Needless to say I didn't open the Spanish Pro software and returned it... Unless you already speak German and want to brush up (even then pick something else) you might want to think twice...

confusing and incomplete
i have no experience with German and although I was prepared to be "immersed" in the language, I found these cd lessons very confusing and disjointed. The video sequence flies through several "scenes", all of them disconnected so that it is difficult to glean some understanding through some sort of "context". Some of the lessons in the grammar section which were supposed to be animated were not; there wasn't even audio in some of the grammar lessons so I couldn't hear various conjugations etc...Graphics are not easy to understand either. All in all a bad buy, definitely...I'm going to return this and try something else.

For serious language learners
I really enjoy working with German Pro. It is created and stimulating for the serious minded German student. The "Tell Me More" CD's have many different features which are challenging, but not overwhelming. The only minus to this program, that I have is with the "Dictation" feature. The female speaker raddles off the sentence at top speed, which I can't understand even when the answer is written out on the screen. The male speaker generally speaks slower and is easier to understand. I definitely recommend this program and would be interested in purchasing more advance German products by this company in the near future. In fact I have purchased the Spanish Pro and look forward to using it soon. ... Read more