Customer Reviews

Tell Me More German Version 6

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

 

 

You may have heard someone say that "Product X is the Cadillac of [insert category here]. Tell Me More German isn't just the Cadillac of German language learning software, it's the Mercedes, BMW and Porsche all rolled into one. This software may be frustrating for those who want to learn some basics before departing on a relatively brief trip overseas. If, on the other hand, you want to immerse yourself in as many aspects of German as possible to achieve both cultural and literal fluency, then search no further than this product.

How you approach Tell Me More German is the key to either a) your success, or b) your frustration. If you expect side by side translations spilling over with grammar rules as you go along, this package will not work for you. If, on the other hand, you remember the oral (aural?) and visual cues given you to learn English followed by written reinforcement, you will be far more likely to succeed. As someone who has had more than a fair share of introduction to the German language, I concede that this product might be easier for me to use. However, what I learned in German helped me immensely as I approached Tell Me More Dutch, although I didn't expect this to happen when I began using that package.

The combination of Tell Me More German's spoken analysis, use of videos, written exercises, drills, etc., are a clear indicator that this package is for serious German learners. Read the screen prompts, follow the instructions, repeat lessons when and if necessary, and you will be well on your way towards total comfort if almost any normal situation if and when you travel to German-speaking Europe.

Between the linguistic, cultural and historical information provided in this package, the cost is miniscule compared to what you would have to pay at the university level to receive the same education. I have only one recommendation: buy a high-quality headphone/microphone combination to get a more accurate interpretation of your accent. The encouragement provided by the language-recognition software is well worth it.

All-in-all, there is no question why toptenreviews.com awarded its highest honors to Tell Me More German. In fact, the only language in which Auralog has not claimed the #1 spot in language software on toptenreviews.com is Russian, and that's probably because there is no Tell Me More Russian on the Market. When there is, I am certain it will join its bretheren.

I was originally set on the Rosetta Stone by name recognition only. Once I read the reviews and found TeLL me More, I decided to give this program a chance. I'm glad I did! Coming back to German after many years away, this has been a great re-introduction into the language, as well as an assessment tool to determine what my skill level is. While I would recommend it to all learners, I do think those with no language knowledge at all might have a tough time initially with word associations, but eventually, hard work should pay off.

The included headset is of sufficient quality to work with the program. I love the phonetics although the grading scale is sometines sketchy--in my opinion--I cannot always tell the difference in how I pronounce something that's graded w/full bars VS. one on which I might be graded only 3 bars. At first I was afraid I'd run through the program too quickly but after seeing the extensive exercises and still being in the beginner level, I obviously don't have to worry about that anymore.

I also like the workflow of the guided mode. So far, the only thing I would like improved is the print feature. It literally prints a screen shot of what it sees, I'd rather it be able to print the whole list of what I'm looking at so that I can easily take it with me for study.

Overall though, I'd recommend Tell me More to anyone. It's features and functionality are impressive for any price!

I am so impressed with the quality of graphics and amount of information this software has!!! I has videos, pictures, native speakers reading phrases that you can use in your everyday!! This program is so amazing that you can easily check the pronunciation of every single word by a native speaker and then record and compare it with your own voice! I am blown away with this program... and the graphics are so well done (not boring boxes like in the Rosetta Stone software)! You will not regret buying this software for learning languages!!

In my opinion, this product is a great way to learn German. Readers should understand though, that before I started with the software, I had taken 150 hours of lessons from Berlitz & had been living in Germany for 6 months. So that being said, I cannot speak to how well this product will work for extreme beginners. This product helped me expand my vocabulary, practice my speaking, improve my grammar and learn more about the country in which I am living. This product will not make you a fluent speaker, only actual speaking can do that, but this product will make you feel more comfortable with in hearing, reading and writing the language.

I highly recommend this product to anyone who is interested in improving their German language skills.

This is beyond the worst waste of money ever. It has zero educational value. It takes a fair amount of time to sort through loading on your computer and such. Once it is installed, you go through all the processes of setting up the program, entering all your information, purpose for using it, etc. After all that, you think you are reading to learn a language. To the contrary, this is how the very first beginner level went. I want to be specific so everyone is very clear on how bad this program is. It shows a picture and then 3 sentences next to it. These sentences are complete sentences with subject, verb, and so on. At the top, it says to carefully listen to each choice before selecting an answer. In the end, you will find out there is no question and no place to select an answer. There are just the 3 sentences. All 3 sentences actually apply to the picture. If you click on one, you are not submitting an answer like it says, you are having it say the question outloud. After you go through several pictures and sentences, it gave an activity. At this point, it still has given NO instruction at all, just pictures and sentences. One of the pictures was as basic as a set of books just sitting in a pile.

The activity also had no learning value. It was a word search. There was a list of words in the target language and then you searched for them. That was it, nothing to help learn the words at all. The next activity was a series of sentences with a word missing. There was a multiple choice of words to pick to fill in the blank. Remember, no instruction of the language has been given at all. Many of these sentences were verbs. No instruction on the language has been given at all, let alone verb conjugation. (I already know the target language, I got the program for my teenager who will be taking the language in school next year). You click on your answer. It did not really tell you if you got the question wrong. I knew when I got it wrong because I already knew the language and was able to, on my own, because of my prior knowledge of the language, tell that the word changed to one color if correct and another close-in-color if it is incorrect. It never made a sound to indicate it was incorrect nor did it give a correct answer or a chance to select a different word. It simply then went on to a different sentence.

About tech support. I spent the week attempting to call the tech support number. You would think that someone there had used the program at some point. NO ONE I spoke to had ever used the program. At most, they signed in. One person explained to me that she spent a fair amount of time in training, but it was all about installing the software and setting up the program. I spoke to several people at Tell Me More and no one there had any clue about how the program was supposed to work. Two times, I was transferred to someone that I was told might know how the program is supposed to work. It is Friday night now and I never heard back from either of the two people that I left messages with. I find it amazing that the people at the company itself, at the technical support line, have never used the program beyond installing it and have no clue how the program is supposed to work.

Please save your money and frustration. Of anything I have ever purchased that I can recall, this was the biggest waste of money and time. And if nothing else, any place with such a rotten technical support staff, rotten training of their staff, you will be 100% on your own with this non-refundable software program.

Many people are frustrated in the other reviews that this set doesn't begin simple enough. I just wanted people to know that there is another version that has the "Complete Beginner" in addition to the "Beginner" material in this set. It is also more expensive but I wouldn't buy this version if you are beginning with no German. See TeLL me More German Premium - Complete Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced There is also a Homeschool version with the Complete Beginner material. See TeLL me More German Homeschool Version (4 levels from Complete Beginner to Advanced). People are giving positive reviews to the other sets. I'm not connected to TeLL Me More German or anything. I just thought I would let people know.

I have this software and use concurrently while in a German course. I don't think the software is user friendly. It's a bit frustrating to navigate through the interface and at times I'm not sure what the activity is supposed to entail.

I do however like that the program keeps track of your scores and gives quizzes. I also enjoy the speaking portion of the software, but it would be better if it could record and play back the world as you're learning it.

Overall I would say this program is mediocre. I haven't used Rosetta Stone so I can't draw a comparison there, but I also have linkword software by Unforgettable Languages that helps build vocabulary (and still needs to be improved).

This is by far the best German software. I did a lot of research before my purchase and was able to evaluate demos of other companies as well as look for reviews online and ask advice to teachers at my university. I was impressed by TeLL me More, and decided to buy this software and am really satisfied about it. There are so many different activities that learning is very engaging, videos and dialogues makes it also very interactive. The speech recognition technology is great as well, and I really feel it helped me a lot with my pronunciation.

I speak a very little amount of german but i was looking for something that starts from the ground up. You know teaches you basic words, how to say them and what they mean and then gradually work up to putting words together to make sentences. This isnt the case. It jumps right in to sentences and phrases, luckily I understood what was going on, at first. Right now the program is teaching me how to pronounce words and not even giving me the meaning of the words I'm trying to say. It does have a glossary where you can look up the word your pronouncing but it takes several clicks of the mouse and a few pages have to load to get to it....good luck remembering how to spell the word your trying to research by the time you get to the glossary. Once you leave the glossary your not even going back to the same part of the lesson you were in anyway your starting over. I dont know why they don't make the translation coincide with the word your trying to pronounce.
If your a complete beginner I urge you to spend your money somewhere else. If you just wanna brush up then try me and see if I'm wrong

viel gluck!!

I found this product to be simply tedious and annoying. I've learned a little german through Rosetta Stone german for dummies, and wanted to be able to become atleast proficient in german. With all the praise this product got i thought it would be incredibly good. However when i started using this program it would start u off with vocabulary that you've never learned and when you use the translation key it gives you five or so translations for each word, making it even more confusing, and then you would get crossword puzzles that included tons of words that the program hasn't even taught you yet, so i would try to look them up, but many times i would not be able to find the right word to fit the number of spaces, and even if i did, i would rarely remember what the word was. Then there were these exercises where you would have to type what the speaker was saying down: first they spoke way too quickly for somebody learning the language, and second, if u had one little tiny mistake in how you typed the sentence (you forgot to capatalize a letter, forgot the period, spelt a word a tiny bit wrong) it would mark the ENTIRE sentence wrong, they also used many words that you've never learned yet, and i don't get how hearing words that you don't know is going to help. Also if you were trying to find any words in the dictionary you would have wait a minute or two for it to load and then search for your word, and then go back to your excersize that you would now have to start all over again. Plus it would also give you grammar excercises on grammar its never taught you. The entire program never really teaches you anything unless you spend a long time trying to find what you want in the grammar excercises and memorize them and memorize the dictionary which is a complete pain. I was frustrated so much by this program that i emailed the company to ask where it teaches you the vocabulary, and she just said it teaches you as you go along, which doesn't happen at all.
In short, save your money even a simple book like Barron's Learn German the fast and fun way for $18 is much more effective at teaching you german then tell me more german.