4 comments about Instant Immersion German Deluxe v2.0 [Old Version].

1. After reading all the bad reviews of the Instant Immersion Deluxe 1.0 product, I almost passed on the 2.0; however, I decided instead to give it a try, hoping that a new revision would bring great improvements. I should point out the fact that I have had 3 semesters of college level German, and would consider myself to be of Intermediate level. Also, this review is being written based upon about an hour of usage with this product. I am not sure what has improved over the 1.0 product, since I don't have it; however, I think anyone wanting to learn German or any other foreign language would be better served with a good German language book (such as the Living Language Series) or a good audio course such as Michel Thomas. One of the most frustrating things is the bad voice recognition. I actually went out and bought a high quality headset with a noise cancelling microphone, however, I still seem to be having issues with voice recognition. There are times when it works great; however, there are also times, such as when building sentences with your voice, that it just cannot seem to discern the difference between certain words (my accent cannot be that bad). This makes it almost impossible to complete some of the voice excercises. Having said that, this product is not all bad, some of the good points include:
   - I like the fact that during the dialog session, using the voice recognition, you almost feel as if you are having a conversation with the computer. (although you are limited to one of three responses for each question)
   - The pronunciation practice will try to give you a score (0-5) based upon how well you pronouce a word. While not always accurate, it does help.
   - The sentence building helps you build your grammar; however, you have to manually access the help to read about the grammar rules. It would have been more helpful for the software to explain the grammar to you as you are constructing the sentences, or recognize and point out the grammar mistakes you are making.
   - There are a huge variety of exercises you can perform with each dialog, and a day planner can help you keep track of your daily progress or plan out your studies.
   
   Overall, I would have given this product 2.5 stars, but that is not an option, so I gave it two stars. One point that was made in many of the 1.0 reviews was the lack of documentation. While this Deluxe 2.0 version did not come with any paper documentation in the box, I did find that a large PDF manual was included on the CD's. I felt the documentation was adequate.



2. I bought the French and the Italian versions and loved them. What I like the most is the ability of the program to keep you concentrated all the time through audio, visio and interaction making learning of a new language (one of the most repetitive and boring tasks) an interesting one. I don't think you can recognize all the features of the program in one or two hours. I used the software for 2 days and discovered feature after feature making my work even more easier and interesting. The speech recognition is not perfect but I never found the exercises that involve this feature unpassable. You can keep on aiming for the best results or you can continue if you are happy with the way you sound. I am very pleased with this method and will give the software all the stars possible. (I am on line looking to buy the German one too.)



3. I'd rather have active tests instead of just listening CD's about grammar in the car. But, I know that for some people that works better. I liked the exercises in the talk-to-me cd's. Overall a good learning set...



4. Excellent product. My only complaint concerns shipping. Specifically Amazon would not allow me to include my PO box in any form as part of my address. My PO Box is where I receive mail, not my house. It was returned to you as undeliverable, then you resent it UPS/FedX. Thanks for resending it, however it would have been a lot cheaper for you if Amazon would just let me list my Box # on line 2.

No comments about Vocabulary Builder - Learn German: for Children 4 & up.

4 comments about German Now! 8.0.

1. This isn't so much for beginners, but it's pretty fun praticesoftware and great for help with pronunciation. The videos are a neatfeature, too. I'd say you should have done at least two semesters of German in college or so before this would be something for you--but then it's one of the only options on the market for more-advanced German students since so much that's out there is for total beginners.



2. When I bought this software I was thrilled with the comments on this product that I decided to give it a try. However when I installed it, it was so boring that I lost interest in a matter of minutes. The vocabulary drills always take you to the same ten words, even though it says it teaches you 10000. The bonus grammar software included will never teach you any grammar, however I must recognize that it has some good dialogues if you want to practice your listening skills. If you want a more complete software I recommend Learn to Speak German.



3. I bought this for my girlfriend because her mother is German and she always wanted to learn. She found herself literally falling asleep at the computer !!! The speech recognition doesn't work worth a damn !! I could say most anything in English and it would rate me as good ! The whole thing doesn't seem to have any planning associated with it. You just muddle around trying to learn German. I sent it back to Transparent for a refund. Let's see if at least they can get that right. If you are a beginner, STAY AWAY FROM THIS !!! Try Rosetta Stone, it seems more for beginners.



4. I'm interested in Learning German since I'm in German Club at school and thought I'd take a break from the german books and get software , huge mistake with this product. Its boring and is really is a waste of money . I begged my parents for this and they got it ...and I was happy . When I opened and installed it and ready to learn... The guy said it had three levels and he had good feedbacks from other people that bought his product and etc . This is not for beginners...

No comments about Say It In German (PC & Mac).

2 comments about Talk To Me German (Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced).

1. This software is very difficult to study, you dont begin with the easy level instead you have to jump to a very complicated process of activities without an introduction; you will only learn some sentences, that one can use for travel and meeting people, that is all.



2. I bought this software before a trip to Germany. I found it very useful as I was able to get around for my trip. Activities are very good and engaging. An impressive feature is the speech recognition: the software comes with a headset and microphone and is able to grade your pronunciation. I fell it helped me a lot as German people were able to understand me! I already recommended it to some of my friends.

5 comments about TeLL me More German - Intelligent Solution - Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced.

1. I love this software, the only reason I did't give it five stars is the lack of being able to print out portions of the grammar explanations and the dictionary very easily in a pdf or word format. All in all I think it is worth the cost.



2. I speak a very little amount of german but i was looking for something that starts from the ground up. You know teaches you basic words, how to say them and what they mean and then gradually work up to putting words together to make sentences. This isnt the case. It jumps right in to sentences and phrases, luckily I understood what was going on, at first. Right now the program is teaching me how to pronounce words and not even giving me the meaning of the words I'm trying to say. It does have a glossary where you can look up the word your pronouncing but it takes several clicks of the mouse and a few pages have to load to get to it....good luck remembering how to spell the word your trying to research by the time you get to the glossary. Once you leave the glossary your not even going back to the same part of the lesson you were in anyway your starting over. I dont know why they don't make the translation coincide with the word your trying to pronounce.
   If your a complete beginner I urge you to spend your money somewhere else. If you just wanna brush up then try me and see if I'm wrong
   
   viel gluck!!



3. This is absolutely NOT for beginners. My kids have had a little German already and were totally confused by this. I have had 2 years and could find my way around it OK. But, I didn't find it very useful. The software is "impatient" in the dialogue mode. If you don't respond at the exact right second and exactly the correct pace it can't understand you. The grammar section is silly. It does not coordinate with the lessons. You have to dig around in it trying to find what you're looking for. I could go on and on. I'm very glad I got mine as an overstock. I would be FURIOUS if I paid full price for this. I don't even know if it's worth the $25 I paid.



4. Many people are frustrated in the other reviews that this set doesn't begin simple enough. I just wanted people to know that there is another version that has the "Complete Beginner" in addition to the "Beginner" material in this set. It is also more expensive but I wouldn't buy this version if you are beginning with no German. See TeLL me More German Premium - Complete Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced There is also a Homeschool version with the Complete Beginner material. See TeLL me More German Homeschool Version (4 levels from Complete Beginner to Advanced). People are giving positive reviews to the other sets. I'm not connected to TeLL Me More German or anything. I just thought I would let people know.



5. I found this product to be simply tedious and annoying. I've learned a little german through Rosetta Stone german for dummies, and wanted to be able to become atleast proficient in german. With all the praise this product got i thought it would be incredibly good. However when i started using this program it would start u off with vocabulary that you've never learned and when you use the translation key it gives you five or so translations for each word, making it even more confusing, and then you would get crossword puzzles that included tons of words that the program hasn't even taught you yet, so i would try to look them up, but many times i would not be able to find the right word to fit the number of spaces, and even if i did, i would rarely remember what the word was. Then there were these exercises where you would have to type what the speaker was saying down: first they spoke way too quickly for somebody learning the language, and second, if u had one little tiny mistake in how you typed the sentence (you forgot to capatalize a letter, forgot the period, spelt a word a tiny bit wrong) it would mark the ENTIRE sentence wrong, they also used many words that you've never learned yet, and i don't get how hearing words that you don't know is going to help. Also if you were trying to find any words in the dictionary you would have wait a minute or two for it to load and then search for your word, and then go back to your excersize that you would now have to start all over again. Plus it would also give you grammar excercises on grammar its never taught you. The entire program never really teaches you anything unless you spend a long time trying to find what you want in the grammar excercises and memorize them and memorize the dictionary which is a complete pain. I was frustrated so much by this program that i emailed the company to ask where it teaches you the vocabulary, and she just said it teaches you as you go along, which doesn't happen at all.
   In short, save your money even a simple book like Barron's Learn German the fast and fun way for $18 is much more effective at teaching you german then tell me more german.

5 comments about German Level 1 & 2 Win/Mac Personal Edition [Old Version].

1. A year later and I am conversing in German (albeit not like a native but reasonably intelligent and understandable). Expensive but worthwhile in place of private lessons or classroom time.



2. Before you pay a bundle for this product, check your local library. My library cooperative, in Hillsborough County, Florida, owns a licence for the whole shebang, every language and every level. Maybe yours does too: it won't hurt to check. I found it quite by accident in my library's online catalog. I registered by entering my library card number, loading a plugin that was provided, and creating a password. Now I can access it at home online and use any set of lessons I want, for the cost of a library card, which I had anyway. Actually I spent quite a lot of time on the French module, but when I got to Paris I had very little opportunity to remark that the children were about to jump off the table. I pretty much agree with the remarks of reviewers who awarded the minimum number of stars. (I plan to cross post this to other language modules.)



3. As I have stated in other product reviews, Rosetta Stone is clearly overrated but solid.
   The problem with the overall approach is that it requires that you spend your learning time in front of a computer, which is where you do everything else. Lot's of competition.
   I prefer to do my language learning during my otherwise wasted downtime while I drive. If I study a language while driving, I win because I use otherwise wasted hours. I, like most Americans, spend more time driving than ever before. When I get home, I want to do other essentials.
   My favorite car GermanBehind the Wheel German (6 CD Course) (Behind the Wheel) course is Behind the Wheel German CDs. This approach frees up your computer, saves your eyes, and allows you to learn to speak German while you drive.



4. Well, I spent a great deal of time with this program and learned a fair amount of vocabulary. However, when I arrived in Germany I quickly realized how little I was able to communicate. The sentence structure of German is far different than English, and therefore stringing vocabulary words together can only result in confusion and the Germans taking pity on you by replying in English. This program does not explain the sentence structure, the use of different cases or verb tenses. If you want to learn German, you must immerse yourself in the language. I found that watching English sub-titled movies was helpful. In summary, this was an expensive dictionary for my purposes.



5. Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1SYASP0TXFS7N This is a video review of the Rosetta Stone prouduct, German language course, illustrating the interface, immersion learning methodology, etc.

No comments about Instant Immersion German v2.0.

2 comments about Instant Immersion German v2.0.

1. I bought this at a Ross for $5, which kinda says a lot for this type of program. There's definitely a disconnect between the written and the spoken. E.g. "A Apfel" is spoken, but not spelled. Donkey and island sound exactly the same because of this (I looked it up, it's actually esel and insel). The phrases that are spoken and shown don't seem to match up exactly either. I don't know German, but I DON'T think "Darf ich Ihnen meinen Freund Stefen vorstellen?" = "I'd like to introduce you to my friend"
   Bonus points for Mac compatibility. 5 discs total.
   3 stars because it was worth $5 but not much more.



2. Well, not didactic at all. The program just put some basic words for you and then you repeat. All translated, which is not good at all.
   Instead of investing this amount of money, better to search for free Internet courses.

5 comments about KidSpeak 10-in-1 Language Learning.

1. This is a 3 CD pack. CD #l contained Spanish, French, and German. The basics of basics. My first problem is my having a Windows 98. These CD's are ment for Macintosh and Windows 95. Although it ran instantly I found it locked up after I would exit a lesson to try another language. Was this because I don't have a Win95? It was none the less annoying having to take out the CD and put it back in so I could pick another language on the CD. Another bad point was that each language has praise and instruction of the activities in the selected language which served no purpose.You had to go to the help button to see what the buttons ment in English.That slowed me down having to switch rather than having an instant translation after the foreign language was spoken. Less bouncing around if that was included. The exiting of your language lesson also was spoken/written in your selected language which was foolish. If you're learning German for instance, and you don't read German, you don't know if you're asked if you want to leave or not, and which is the yes and no. Pick the wrong one and you're still in that language when you wanted out. The Spanish in CD #l was a pain in the behind because it was Castillian Spanish, spoken in Spain and Argentina. Their "c's" are pronounced like "th" which can be very annoying if you're expecting crisp pronunciation like you'd speak in Mexico or other Latin American countries. CD #2 contained Japanese, Chinese(Mandarin),Korean, Indonesian. The Japanese was useless as there weren't that many activities and maneuvering the program was difficult because when you selected something, it didn't work. The Chinese was excellent, although I only understood "hello". Again, the CD locked up so I had to take it out and put it back in to run the Korean. Hated it. Didn't bother with Indonesian. For some reason, in the Asian languages, the tone of voice rarely changes so you don't know if the voice is happy or not. CD #3 contained Italian, Portugese, Hebrew. I enjoyed the Italian much better than the other two languages. The memory names of objects/animals/days/numbers games were fun, though I stayed away from Dominos in the math games. How many Americans have ever played Dominos! There were no directions for it either! The 3 levels of difficulty for vocabulary I was impressed with.I liked the songs too for the animals and alphabet though I could only pick out a word or two.I found I partly wasted my money because I have to ignore the Spanish, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian. I seem more suited to French, German, and Chinese. Maybe it's because I'm an adult and not a child who can learn l0 languages at once like I thought. Beware, you or your child learn no conversation. Had the CD's not locked up and had languages that turned out to be turnoffs, I would've rated this higher. I won't return this because of a few uninteresting languages. I'll have enough on my plate mastering the French, German and especially the hardest one, Chinese.



2. I got it for only a couple of languages but my daughter (at 4 & 5 & 6 years old)loves to play with many of them. She will spend aquite a bit of time with it. Hard to tell if she's learning but exposure is good for young ears - and it is not "Mom, I don't want to". Of course I have never tried to put her on a regular schedule with it either.



3. I have a great deal of experience with teaching foreign languages to children. By the time my daughter was 18 months old, she spoke and understood 10 foreign languages. I just received 10-in-1, two days ago.This product is outstanding. My five-year-old daughter who has been exposed to these languages before, loves the games, such as dominoes,tic-tac-toe, memory, vocabulary puzzle-building and more. I am thrilled with the product and would recommend it to anyone, child or adult to work on vocabulary, comprehension and pronunciation. It is truly an immersion program, which is best, but it has a help button if you suddenly have trouble understanig something. if you want to encourage foreign languages for you kids, buy this product.



4. I checked this out from the library to see if I would get anything out of it, but wasn't pleased. The characters don't even speak in English; they only speak in the language that you're supposed to be learning, which makes it nearly impoosible to learn it! The only language I could play on and understand was spanish, and I'm bilingual! Also, when it says the alphabet, it basically says the english alphabet with an accent. When you want to exit, the buttons are labeled in the language you're supposed to be learning, so you can only guess which is which. Last, on about three of the languages I tried, problems came up on my computer and froze the screen. I don't recommend this CD, because they use the no-english method of learning a foreign language, which hasn't worked for me in the past. I do recommend the books Fun With Spanish, Fun With French, Fun With Italian, Fun With German, and More Fun With Spanish, all by Lee Cooper. The words stick in your head after reading them only once or twice! All these books are sold on www.amazon.com.



5. No English translation, so I have no idea how anyone can learn anything from this terrible product.