Customer Reviews

A+ Spanish

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

 

 

To learn Spanish, "A+ Spanish" is a better program to begin with than the program "Learn Spanish Now", both published by the company Transparent Language. It is better because instead of just memorizing phrases, it taught me the language in a step-by-step way: with words, phrases and short, simple sentences, all accompanied by grammar. Through the grammar that I learned, I am able to create sentences on my own, instead of just spouting memorized phrases, which is what I basically ended up doing in the "Learn Spanish Now" program. Yet, the "Learn Spanish Now" program, which I consider a program for advanced speakers, does comes in handy for me now that I understand Spanish better grammtically thanks to the A+ program. In "A+ Spanish", not all verb tenses are covered, but many of the most important ones are. Sometimes you are referred to a part of the program called "Grammar Basics", which contains a more in-depth coverage of grammar -- this isn't much of a hassle since you can just keep that part open in another window, but my preference would have been to just have all the grammar discussed in the main part of the program. Like "Learn Spanish Now", "A+ Spanish" has many features: a pronunciation guide of the various sounds of Spanish based around the alphabet, a 10,000+ vocabulary, electronic flashcards, optional slow sound so that you can hear pronunciations more easily, conversation practice, on-line quizes, games and other things. All these features give you extra practice and thus enable you to better learn the language. The only thing this program leaves out is some advanced grammar, but considering that the program is intended for beginners I can't blame the programmers too much. All in all it's a very good program.

I can't get this CD to work with Windows XP. There's no sound and no video. I tried the technical support on Transparent Language's website but their solution didn't work either.

This CD will interface with the company's web-site for on-line exams, but it is NOT an on-line program. I did notice that the written alphbet pronounciation guide is different from the pronounciation of the speaker on the CD, noticably for LL, j, g and y. I don't know which is correct, and wonder if there may be other errors. Still, for [the money] you can't really go wrong.

I like the contents of the A+ Spanish wordwise; however, the mechanics of this program doesn't work to well. In fact before I purchased German Now 9 (I have German Now 8, Spanish Now 8, and A+ German.) the special features ran somewhat, now only the written, the pronunciation and flash cards part of this program works. I have Windows Me. Perhaps if Transparent Language would update like they did with German Now 9, it would work better on the more recent Windows. Depending what computer system you have, I would recommend buying it.

I purchased this CD-ROM a while ago and I really do LOVE it. It may not be the most fancy program, but it DOES work on every version of Windows I've had (XP, Vista and 7 - 32 AND 64-bit). The feature I appreciate the most is the "turtle" button. When you press the turtle button, the native speakers speak s-l-o-w-l-y so you can really hear and understand much better. Seeing that you can purchase this now for only a couple of dollars, you really can't go wrong with this. You'll spend a boat-load of money on any other software program like this, so give this one a try before you invest a LOT of money on another program.

For my purposes, I copy the contents of the disc on to my hard drive and install it from there. Why? Because then I've got all the audio and video files on my hard drive and I don't have to use the CD at all. The first time you start up a lesson when you've installed the way I've just mentioned, a window pops up and says it can't find the audio and video files. You DO have the option of clicking on providing the correct path, which is now on the hard drive as it is expecting to find them on the CD drive. Once you enter that correct path, it recognizes all the audio and video files and you never have to bother with that again.

Another tip for you is that in Windows Vista and Windows 7, the "help" files won't work correctly unless you download the "WinHlp32.exe" file for those Windows version from Microsoft. Basically, the help files included on the CD are of an "old" standard that isn't supported after Windows XP, but Microsoft DOES provide a free and easy to install download to again make the help files on this CD work. Here are the links if you need them for this CD or any other "old" program's help files you may have that don't work in Vista or 7.

Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) for Windows Vista:
[...]

Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) for Windows 7:
[...]

Seriously, people, currently there are three people offering this for less than three dollars. Just buy a copy and use it. It really IS a decent program, and I've just given you tips to make it work perfectly on any new and/or old PC running Windows. It has a very easy to use interface, and comes with a neat "Vocabulary Master" program (flip cards) and "alphabet reference" utility. Come on people, for less than three bucks you can get started on learning Spanish and have fun doing it. Give it a try. You won't be disappointed. :-)

BEWARE.. This is an online software program..If you don't have DSL buy something else.