Customer Reviews

Talk To Me Italian (Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced)

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

 

 

Bought this because it says it's "straight forward" but it's anything but. When you first click on an activity- it's all in Italian- you're just supposed to figure it out! There's no activity that oulines what a word in Italian means in English- if you want to know you better have written it all down from the dictionary they provide. Otherwise it's a complete mess- I have no idea how people are supposed to learn with this product.

I purchased this about a week ago after reading reviews on several products, including Rosetta Stone, and am very pleased with the quality of the program. There are loads of activities for each level, including pronunciation practice, crossword puzzles, and the like so you can reinforce what you are learning. You can also make CD or MP3 copies of the audio portions so you can listen and practice on the go. The program uses a number of speakers, both male and female, so you get accustomed to a variety of voices, which seems like a practical idea. It even comes with a nifty headset/microphone for the speech recognition function.

However, there are a couple of negatives, which is why I didn't give 5 stars. Although the software was simple to install, there is no book or written material to go along with this, so it's a bit difficult to get started. The material just jumps right into conversations, and kind of skips over basics (like pronouns and articles) so you'll definitely want something else to supplement. I purchased a separate Italian workbook that I am using to understand sentence structure and other grammar, but I think this program will be invaluable in learning how to pronunce and understand the spoken language.

Overall, fun to use and a real bargain.