Customer Reviews

Talk Now! Learn Icelandic - Beginning Level [Old Version]

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

 

 

This program is positively wonderful for word practice and pronunciation with a number of flash-card style game and a very elegant listen-record-replay interface. While the two characters do pronounce words slightly differently, hearing those variations really helps to understand the phonetics in a way that a single voice would lack.

However, this really is more of a companion tool for a more traditional course. I purchased this with "Colloquial Icelandic" and would definitely recommend purchasing them together. There are some extremely strange spelling/pronunciation variations and without having a written explanation of these things, you may be left staring in great confusion as the characters read phrases on screen -- "Hva" is pronounced "kwah?" WHAT? Having "Colluquial Icelandic" to turn to for explanation helped a great deal. That package has two audio CDs of alphabet, number, vocabulary and conversation exercises with a very well-written 370 page coursebook.

I gave this product a 5-star rating as it is superb for its intended purpose, but it does not stand alone as a complete course.

I'm sorry to say that I purchased this product with the hopes of learning some basic Icelandic, but I can now say that I've learned more Icelandic from my trips there, than from this CD-ROM. Upon putting the disk in my drive (I have an up-to-date PC with all the programs required for effectively running the program), but alas, nothing happened. Upon further exploration into the contents of the CD-ROM, I found no program on the CD at all! After taking the disk out of my drive and inspecting it, I found that it had been printed on a CD-R. The booklet and case appeared as if they had been created on someone's home computer which was running severely low on color ink - totally cheap and unprofessional. I've emailed the company and am awaiting response, and needless to say, I will be asking for a full refund. Save your money, and wait until RosettaStone comes out with a useful product on the Icelandic language. Takk for nothing.

I was very disappointed with this program. But I was also thinking it would be more comprehensive and include more than just basic words and phrases. Even so, the male and female guides in the program often pronounce the words slightly different which can be frustrating. I learned more Icelandic (along with correct pronounciations) while in Iceland than I did with this program. And besides, anyone under the age of 50 in Iceland speaks English.