Customer Reviews

Eazyspeak Spanish Levels 1 and 2 (PC & Mac)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My husband bought this program for our 6 year old daughter who is taking a Spanish class at school. It was advertised as a children's program and the labeling was ambiguous as to what age was appropriate. Once installed, it was clearly innappropriate for younger users--full of sexually suggestive content and disturbing images (e.g. dismemebered and decapitated 'characters' in the tutorial section, cartoon-style violence, female characters with exaggerated physical characteristics, characters smooching excessively, etc.). While most older kids wouldn't be fazed by this, and might find the cartoonish violence amusing, it's not a game for a youngster. I advise parents of younger kids to look elsewhere and of older ones to preview the content and decide if it's the kind of game you want your child playing with. On the plus side, for adults and teens, the immersion-style structure of the activities seemed to be easy to use and quite instructive.

I've been using EazySpeak Spanish for about a week now and find it HIGHLY enjoyable and amusing. I do, however, have to agree with other reviews in that it is not for children. I was a little surprised at the semi-nudity of the characters and how, in one exercise, one bikini-clad female had semi-circles in her chest region to suggest nipples. Also, elsewhere in the program, one is introduced to the Spanish words for beer, rum, brandy, cigarettes, and various types of wine. All of these topics should be off-limits to a 12 year-old, which, the box claims, EazySpeak is suitable for.

Overall, the program is fun. However, a parent should know beforehand that there are exercises such as "Help the Thief," which is a numbers game in which you assist a burglar in breaking into a safe. Also, there is an entire exercise dealing with drinks which takes place at a bar. Finally, there are the occasional moments spiced with "adult humor"... one such moment being a man kissing his wife goodnight while in bed, but fantasizing about a cute female at his job. Again, not child-appropriate, but all of this should be left to the discretion of the buyer.

When I tried this program out, I at first had some trouble running it. [...] They give you a link for the version of Flash 8 you need to run. After this everything worked well.

While some may have been offended by bathing suits and bodacious characters (all characters are clothed), I did not find it offensive in the least nor did my young kids. Yes there is some kissing (cute but not obscene), but get real, if your kids are not allowed to see people kiss, then yes, this may not be the program you want for them. IMHO there is absolutely nothing obscene here folks.

This program is the best thing going for learning Spanish quickly! I would recommend it for both children and adults. It immerses you into actual environments, such as restaurants, hotels, taxi, bank, etc. It is fun and exciting to actually start conversing right away with Spanish speaking people. There are many games and puzzles that you work out with real life scenarios. Very artistic and fun. You can go to the bank, the hospital, and several different places, learn a new set of words and situations that you can really use in a foreign country. My hats off to the designers and creators of this program. Well done!! Bravo! Muy Bien.

What a wonderful game - addictive and motivating! If you want to be able to make original sentences, you might need something more in depth with a bit more grammar, but for "Eazy Speak" this is right on the target! Fun for any computer user! I would use this for ages 14 or 15 and up. Not for the very young, and not a good introduction only, but to better your understanding, this is great. You have to remember its main goal is teaching, not just fun, but I think both are easily accomplished.

Not for young kids, though! Looking for Spanish curriculum for younger kids? Try Flip Flop Spanish which has a CD with the writable workbook.

Sra. Gose
Author of Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 1 & Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 2

This product is amazing. After learning my husband was taking me to Mexico for our 25th anniversary, I was nervous about going into a foreign country without knowing any Spanish. This game is amazing. It is the fastest way to learn a language without the long drawn out grammar explanations. Afterall, I just wanted to learn the basics, phrases for restaurants, banks, airports, shopping etc. This game was so much fun, you couldn't tear me or my husband off the computer. We kept wanting to play because learning was so much fun. The phrases I learned contributed to a much more enjoyable trip and now I have enrolled at the local community college to further my Spanish. This product is perfect for any one travelling and wanting to learn the phrases and colloquial expression fast.

The software requires a "patch"...not a big deal.

Once I got the thing up and running my attention span was about 5 minutes. The "goofiness" is a detriment and the aspect of trying to learn is hindered by the balance of trying to figure out how to use the software.

It has a tutorial but that is a waste of time as well.

If you are SERIOUS about trying to learn some basic conversational Spanish, try something else. Don't waste your time or money on this one...

My daughter loves Sims so I got this to help her improve her Spanish. It is fun to play for adults, too. The complete immersion method is more effective for learning a new language.

I got this CD from the library to try it out. I have a system running Windows XP with SP2 and the install fails. Not only that but the uninstall fails! I went to Kutoka's website, tried their fix and it still doesn't work. It's incompatible with the latest Windows fixes and with the latest Flash software. Not very robust. Not worth buying.

very entertaining. The pictures and voices make this a fun way to brush up on your Spanish speaking skills. Some knowledge of the language is much needed though. You have to know some basics or be near to someone that does.

This is a good little program that can help you speak basic Spanish, but not by itself. While it does a good job teaching phrases and vocabulary, it's "immersion" approach means you should arm yourself with a good Spanish/English dictionary. It would also be a good idea to get a book and use them in concert.