Customer Reviews

Learn to Speak German 8.1 (2002)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this product to supplement private lessons to prepare for a trip to Austria. I had ten weeks to get ready.

For [price] the product is pretty good. The software worked fine on my Windows XP laptop and the audio supplement CD also worked fine.

The book seems quite comprehensive and extends well beyond my simple needs or ability. The basics are covered in the first few pages. It includes written dialogs to complement the interactive lessons.

The lessons so far have proven helpful in reinforcing and expanding my weekly face-to-face lessons. It has also allowed me to venture into specific areas I know I will need, such as travel dialogs: where is the train station, can I make a reservation, how much is a taxi to the hotel.

The book includes a vocabulary section, but that is a small piece of a large book. I plan to buy a pocket dictionary for my trip.

One warning: the speech recognition feature is extremely generous and forgiving. I found I could say entirely different words and still get a rating well above average for pronunciation. Anyone who relies on this program may be quite surprised when they meet a German speaker in person. Find some other way of checking your pronuciation before you entrench bad habits!

On the plus side, any feedback at all encourages people to talk. The simple listen-repeat of an audio-only lesson plan doesn't engage as much as this. I just ignore the "accuracy meter" and its lavish praise of my native-like accent. Yeah, right! :)

My only REAL problem with the software: that stupid cartoon bird that inroduces each section. The good news is you can skip him entirely, he adds no important content and doesn't show up durind the lessons.

I've tried a few other programs, which I won't mention names, but all lacked in some major area. One didn't have any translations at all but had great reading and writing, another had no organized method at all (ie. lesson 1, lesson 2, etc). So anyway I figured I'd give another software a try and looked around and this one seemed to look the best (interface, method, content, etc) and it sure is. For one, the software is laid out into lessons. Finish one part move to the next. If you're only looking to learn some useful things for travel or business you also have the option to jump to those specific sections. Second, the software incorporates audio, video, written, and graphical aspects all together so you see it in writing, in picture/video form, and hear it as well. You can even have interactive conversations! Also the translations, while not perfectly literal, are still closer to the literal meaning than most softwares or books. Oh and the software tests you too which is great cause you know where you're at and how good you're doing. Now the three coolest things about the software is that 1. It comes with 4 cd-roms, 1 audio cd, and a 280 page book! The book and cd have the same content as the software. This means that you can brush up or continue working whilst away from your computer!! 2... After using the software a bit I thought... is this company not for profit or something? For all this material and value it's pretty much like they're giving it away. 3. There is a LARGE amount of content. The boxes of previous versions say two years worth of german... it definitely looks like it. So anyway, there's my review :-) One more thing... there's this little cartoon bird that introduces you to each lesson that I think is really cool. It sounds silly but he's kinda funny and I think it's helps to break the ice and give you a little laugh.

This is the best learning product I have ever bought. It comes with the most content (5 cd's & Study book) I have seen. I bought a Learn Spanish product by someone else and it [stinks] by far compared to this one!...This one only cost $[money]...It's crazy, you just talk in your mic and it understands about 95% of the time...That's good! I'm sorry, I am just so happy with this product I had to say something. Auf Wiedersehen(Owf-Veed-er-sayn) means Goodbye in German...

I bought this software on the strength of the other reviews. I had tried 3 other german software products and all of them were not very good. I just can't believe how superior this product is to the others, how much fun it is... It definitely requires a microphone on your computer (not included) and I really wasn't interested in using a mic, but after a few minutes I totally changed my mind. It's fun and it forces you to work on your pronunciations. Everytime I use this package I find myself telling my wife or kids whenever they wander by how cool it is. This is a great german starter kit. My one and only nitpick is that the dictionary could be beefed up a little, but hey, I have a Worterbuch.

I was skeptical at first, Learn to Speak German on a computer? But after a few short lessons, I am not only learning it, but remembering and putting my own sentences together. This package is put together well, giving you easy to follow lessons, vocabulary exercises and end-of-lesson tests. The voice recognition is very good, and makes you feel like your accomplishing something when you compare yourself to the narrator. Then, you also get an audio CD with all the lessons on it. I like to listen to it when I am driving. I recommend this program for anyone that needs to speak german quickly.

This product has the potential for excellence. However there are several features through out the CD which were unavailable. For example, the on-line lessons did not exist. When I called the technical support. I was told they did not know when they would be available.

Some features are very good however. The dictionary is worth the price of the software. And the book is excellent. It is the actual lessons, the lack of clear information, how to use the features which is so disappointing. I would not re-buy this product.
DD

I have only recently started to learn German. I used this cd at a friend's place and found it to be very helpful and intutive. It really is a great product product beginners, where you can skip all those boring grammar lessons and get straight to using the language. Also helps in building up interest in the language. The only thing lacking is the depth of the subject. But like I said, itsa great product for beginners.

I have not tried the software yet, but just so that everyone knows, Amazon's listing is not completely correct. It says that Learn to Speak German 8.1 is a 5 CD set, but I just got my order and it only comes with 4 CDs. The company selling it (NothingButSoftware.com) says that the 4 CD version is slightly newer, but has all the same stuff in it. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but will give another review if I find anything else out about it.

Since I have to give a rating, I'm just going to rate it the same as the average right now.

I have tried several other products, both cd, cassette, and print. This is defintly better than other products costing more. My daughter is nine years old and likes to use this product as a sort of a game to see how many words she can accurately pronounce. My only complaint is that the progress chart should be integrated between the basic lessons and the diferent topics.

I have been very pleased with this purchase. It is well tailored to teach spoken German. The software starts with basic words and fairly quickly introduces conversation sequences from relevant situations. Voice recording allows the user to hear is own voice and compare it with that of a native speaker a feature which helps learning the correct pronunciation. Grammar is reviewed thoroughly but is not very well exercised.