Customer Reviews

Visual Link Spanish - Level I V.4

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an absolutely excellent program. Extremely easy and enjoyable to use, and with great results! I tried so many of them, and there is simply nothing else that even comes close! Instead of teaching you useless phrases such as "a lady eats fish under the tree" (a phrase that most likely you will never use), this program actually teaches you how to "assemble" useful, everyday practical phrases that you will be using a lot, from the "blocks" that are easy to understand and easy to remember. Buy it!

This is an excellent program. Visual link provides CDs. You intall two programs to your computer that provide new vocabularly, a visual/aural way to construct new sentences by providing instant sentence structure, so you are speaking Spanish after the very first lesson, and pronouciation of the more difficult constantants/vowels, like the LL in Spanish. I had bought Rocket Spanish which is loadable to an IPOD or MP3 player, but found that only listening (I'm a visual learner) was not helping me understand the grammatical concepts or helping my retention.

Yes, you have to use your computer to review lessons but you have to do that with just about any program, including Rocket Spanish. You get CD's to listen to and a convenient carrying case. Keep those in the car. Each CD corresponds to a lesson. Review the lesson and complete the exercises for reinforcement, then listen in the car to learn aurally. The audio CD's review pronounciation and quiz you on recently learned concepts. I find that when I go back to my Rocket Spanish MP3 lessons that they now make sense because I can visualize the words and have a better understanding of the grammatical structure of Spanish. I find the computer based lessons more accessible than Rocket Spanish. But, the programs complement each other. I suggest ordering the free CD directly from the Visual Link website to get a feel for the program. Chances are you will get an email offer that will reduce the price to around $99 the same as Rocket Spanish. You will then get additional offers for Level II that reduce the cost by 50% ($49.99).

They now have Level II and a complementary on-line program that goes deeper into the grammar, prounciation, and conjugation of Spanish verbs.

As far as the one review stating you have CD's and this is a pain. Just load them onto your computer then upload them to your MP3. I find that simply popping them in to my CD player is great. Each time I start a new lesson, I think there is no way I can remember all this new vocabularly, but by the end of the lesson, I pretty much have everything stored in my memory bank! I really enjoy this program.

The free d/l of level 1 'basic needs' is wonderful.
Particularly pleasant to (have to) listen to is the voice of 'Maria' (a Mexican speaker of Spanish), and the voice of the unknown guy.
I did learn and remember a lot from that limited test.
However, I then ordered the complete Level 1, and it arrived, and I am dismayed to find that it can only be used on one, or at most two, personal computers.
(if you 'de activate it' on PC #1)
This makes me hesitate to load it, register it,and activate it at all.
my current laptop is using Vista, and I'm also hoping to purchase another PC soon....
Verbally they say that the course 'will work', but the packaging says 'windows XP & Vista'

I wonder how buying a 'used' version could possibly even work out for someone?
AND...in time if I want to use this again, will the company be willing to replace it??(??)
Since it costs almost $100 I do think this is a valid concern.
Yes, the audio CDs will be available to me and my family,
BUT the whole point was the VISUAL-LINK.
So: I dunno.
3 stars for the dismaying surprise, otherwise 5 for the free download portion,
since elementary as it was,I remembered it much better than all the stuff we did in 2 semesters at college last year.

Visual Link is the best complete or comprehensive software based Spanish program that I have found. What I found most effective about this program is the method in which it enables you to quickly start forming lots of sentences simply by taking a group consisting of one or two verbs and a second group consisting of one or more verbs and then a third group of consisting of nouns. After the first lesson you will be surprised at how many new sentences that you can form. With each lesson, you will be adding more words to the groups and as a result you will find yourself quickly forming new sentences in Spanish.

I have recommended Rosetta Stone in some of my previous reviews but only because I hadn't discovered this software at the time. As a visual learner, I can say this software is a lot more effective than Rosetta Stone and more economical.

This software's interface provides plenty of instructions on how to use the software. But even without the detailed instructions, I am sure that you will find the use of this software self-explanatory. Another thing that I am sure that you will like about this software is that the narrator provides lots of tips and explanations about Spanish grammar, pronunciation, etc. For example, the narrator points out that the "r" in "quiero" sounds a lot like the English letter "d." The only recommendation that I have for this product is that I would have preferred a native Spanish speaker as the narrator instead of a native English speaker. That way I can be sure that I don't pick up his English speaking accent when he pronounces Spanish words such as "yo." But that's really a small grievance.

Visual Link also includes lots of quizzes not only to review and reinforce what you are learning, but also for you to assure yourself that you are making progress. Another feature that I am sure that you will find beneficial is that the course includes several audio CDs to help review the material covered in the software. I plan to take the audio from the CDs and put them on my Ipod for additional practice.

I should also add that if you want a learning Spanish program that you can use and also let your children use in order to learn Spanish, Visual Link is probably the best course available. My 12 year old niece enjoys this software as much as I do but she quickly became bored when trying to use Rosetta Stone software.

Here are some other products that I recommend for Spanish language learners. In order to speak Spanish fluently, you must also learn lots of new words. For increasing Spanish vocabulary, I recommend Quick Study-Spanish Vocabulary Flash Cards-1000 cards You get 1,000 of these cards at an excellent price.


To speak Spanish fluently besides having a stand alone course such as Visual link Spanish as your base and a method to learn new Spanish words, you will also need to master conjugating Spanish verbs. The best product for that is the Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) software. The Verbarrator software does a great job of replacing the boring Spanish verb conjugation books and makes learning Spanish verbs enough fun that you will want to use the software every day. And the more you use the tool the quicker that you will learn how to conjugate Spanish verbs and reach fluency. The Verbarrator is probably the best investment that I have made in my journey to learn Spanish because it is a product that I use almost daily.


The last product that I recommend for anyone who is really serious about learning Spanish is The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice w/CD-ROM (UItimate Review & Reference Series). This Spanish grammar book covers every aspect of Spanish grammar imaginable. To get the equivalent learning-Spanish value of this one book you would have to buy 3 or 4 books in the Practice Makes Perfect series

this product is amazing! [...]

you can go to their website if it's not here, google it.

they are always having sales, and bundle deals, at first i was a little skeptical from all the sales, but i got what i wanted, no s&h fee or any added fee. i'm determined to learn spanish, my bf is mexican, and i always go to his family parties, they tend to speak mainly spanish, afer a year and a half of not understanding anything they're talking about, i decided to get this, not only have i learned (really learned) words, this does an AMAZING job of helping me create spanish. i still forget some words or phrases, but if someone else says it, i know exactly what they're saying. i'm not a quick learner or a studier, but i'm pretty much addicted to this, im on it daily, cause i can really see the results, now i know there is hope for me to learn spanish, i have no regrets in buying this, and HIGHLY recomend it. it's great if u just want it to travel, it teaches all of that, but it's way more than just that, although i don't use the audio, it comes with plenty of cds, the way i learn, i need the computer portion, but the audio is great if u dont have any time. i tried it once, it's identical to the computer portion, so its great to quiz yourself so your not tempted to cheat. my bf is so proud of me, cause he can see a huge improvement. sepratly, this company also makes sprecial programs for police and firemen, which i think is pretty cool. i also love how this not only steaches what the word is, how to pronounce it, but it also teaches how to spell it, theres learnig, games, hearing quizzes, and written quizzes. oh yeah, after installing, you don't need the computer cds, just follow the instrutions, and you'll never have to use them. if this is out of stock, please do yourself a favor and go to the website i provided, theres also a demo. i stumbled upon this, not planning on buying anything, did the demo, very impressed, bought, i have NO regrets

Learning to speak spanish is made easy with this program! I learned basic needs in under a month with practice. The audio cds are very handy, and the CD-ROM is laid out wonderfully! I would highly recommend this program for anyone who wants to speak spanish!!

I originally bought the Rosetta Stone package for my family to learn spanish. My wife did not care for it so much. A year later, I tried this product. My wife says it is so much better than Rosetta. I suppose it is different person to person. This one does seem to actually explain spanish in easy to understand terms. My wife loves it, and is actually motivated to learn. (anyone want a good barely used version of Rosetta Stone??)

I purchased Visual Link after going through the teasers they had online. After only a single session, I was feeling confident of my grasp on that module. I was at college at the time, and we had a few students from Chile, Colombia and from Mexico, so I thought I would go to them with my new-found (albeit small) vocabulary. They were amazed that I could pronounce so well and be able to put together complete sentences after only a single session of lessons!

This of course, prompted me to purchase the entire set.

I find that this way of learning helps to compartmentalize my brain so that I can take a piece from column A, add that to column B, throw in a dash of column C, and finish off with a great noun from column D, and BAM, you have an entire sentence!

Visual Link Spanish was an extremely easy way for me to be speaking comprehensive sentences within a single session, and each following session builds up the foundation of the first.

Along with this, there is a Personal Proficiency trainer you can use at a later point if you wish, for a small subscription fee, that helps to keep that knowledge fresh and useful.

I highly recommend this program to Anyone who wants to learn Spanish!

Visual Link Spanish Level 1 is, without a doubt, the best Spanish learning method I have ever used. I tried the free lessons first, and liked it so much that I purchased the course. It is enjoyable, even fun to use; immensely practical (no useless vocabulary); and easy to work with. You will be speaking in complete sentences after just the first lesson. I looked at Rosetta Stone. Visual Link Spanish is much better, more enjoyable, and more effective at a fraction of the price of Rosetta Stone. You can work at your own pace, (unlike being in a classroom setting), and don't need an Internet connection. That means you can take it with you anywhere. They also give you 10 audio CD's to help reinforce the lessons you learn on your computer. I do the "visual" lessons on my computer at home, and listen to the audio lessons in my car while driving home from work each day. The audio lessons are essentially the same sound tracks as the computer lessons, so they work perfectly together, and really and solidly establish what you learn. I have successfully used Visual Link Spanish on both my Windows XP desktop and Windows 7 laptop computers. They have patches to correct the one or two "bugs" I encountered, so no problem there, either. And they give you permission to install on two computers. After finding and using Visual Link Spanish Level 1, I would never recommend Rosetta Stone, Rocket Spanish, or anything else. This is clearly the best. Here's a URL address to sign up for the free lessons: [...]

I have been studying with Visual Link for several years. It is the most user-friendly and interactive program that I have ever encountered. There are so many facets to it--online study, CD courses, magazines, weekly newsletters, cultural tips, Facebook lessons and exercises, emphasis on pronunciation and understanding native speakers when they are speaking normally (fast), answering questions online--it's just the whole bag of goodies on one easy site.
You CANNOT go wrong!!!