( 8 reviews )
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Posted: May 7 2009
I've been interested in learning another language for some time. Back in high school and college, my foreign language experiences (French and German) were disappointing. Mostly my fault. Now that I'm in my sixties, I thought I'd try again. I had looked at more expensive products, but I'm not ready to spring for that kind of money. The reviews I read on Amazon for the Berlitz product sounding promising, so I thought I'd try it. My fairly new laptop is a Vista (Home Premium) based machine so I checked to make sure this product would run under Vista before I purchased it. It says it does, and, in fact it does, but you need a whip and a chair to get it installed. Each time I launched the install process, it would hang-up just before the end of the process. All the files installed, but no desktop icon and the product would not launch. After several tries, I emailed the support box at Nova. They responded promptly. Before you install, run msconfig and modify the startup process so no other startup items are loaded. Now run the install process again. It runs through and works correctly. In the email, they did not mention the fact that there is a general Vista patch on the Nova web site for all the Berlitz Premier language products. Once you get the install complete, go to the Nova site and run the patch as well. You're good to go! I guess, more to the point, is this a good product to learn Spanish? I think it is. It provides many approaches for you to do the needful (read the manual before you start). It includes CDs that you can use in your car. There videos that help you put the language into context. I know some of the reviews complain about the accent of the speakers. I can't speak to that point since I have no real experience. I could end up speaking Spanish badly with a strange New England accent, but I'll be speaking Spanish! I think I have gotten fair value for my money. No more, no less.
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Posted: Feb 28 2009
I was surprised how quickly I learned Spanish and it was fun. I not only was able to learn on my computer, but also in the car and in the gym. I tried other products and this was the best.
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Posted: Oct 10 2007
clunky, not mac friendly, poor vocab, fake "total immersion" (basically just people having brainless conversations that are too fast for beginners and too insipid for intermediaries). Berlitz has a really bad reputation and it's easy to see why when you receive this kind of product in the mail. I work in a school where we receive dozens of products to sample every month. Berlitz (aside from the really old editions, from the 1950's) is always the worst.
