Learning a foreign spoken communication can be tough . To facilitate you get set out , Berlitz , one of the better - known names in language direction , has enclose Berlitz Premier , a new software serial with packages in French , German , Italian , and Spanish , as well as English . I tested the French , Spanish , and German linguistic communication version .
In add-on to the program disc , each Berlitz Premier language package comes with audio CDs for learning while you drive , a compact disk with MP3s to toy on your iPod or other portable media musician , and software for your Palm or PIM ( personal information manager ) twist . take up into account the various ways people may favour to learn , Berlitz devote you various points of entry into the speech — listening to fluent conversation , Good Book games , electronic flare cards , and speech psychoanalysis , and ties them together into a package that lets you learn wherever you are .
Operation
All Berlitz Premier speech communication computer program have the same interface . The opening screen presents four different options : a poor film with many scene of dialogue ; short TV clips of people using the spoken language in unremarkable conversation ; grammar basics ; and survival phrases . Each language has a unlike video with different character , but usually concentre on similar stem : plump to a new place , meeting new the great unwashed , and handling a new environment .
The Spanish moving picture , for deterrent example , pore on the risky venture of a fancied eccentric name Andrés González , from San Antonio , Texas . He mastermind , produce , and stars in his own commercials for a travelling agency call TravelTur . He first head up to Madrid to meet his aunt and uncle and afterward turns up in Bogotá , Colombia and San Juan , Puerto Rico to film more commercial .
The software keep the conversation relatively simple , and makes a point of alerting the viewer to different dialects of Spanish . González learns , along with the viewer , for example , that Spaniards often apply the word una caña ( a beer ) instead of the Latin American word una cerveza .
Immersion
Berlitz ’s immersion style of acquisition , in which normal speech patterns , complex sentences , and new words are constantly introduced , take issue from other language learning political program , such as Fairfield Language Technologies ’ Rosetta Stone ( ) , which takes a more measured , step - by - gradation approach . Rosetta Stone presents new words incrementally and progresses gradually from an initial vocabulary of four password , to uncomplicated phrases , and by and by , sentences . Berlitz ’s instruction set out with strand of complex sentences in a dialogue data formatting .
While the full submersion technique may be fine for some learner , generally , it does n’t ferment for me , as I lean to get overwhelmed by the combination of new mental lexicon and an unfamiliar grammatical social organisation .
Thus , while trying to pick up German , a completely foreign spoken language to me ( I do n’t bed Spanish either , but as a French speaker , it was easier to peck up ) , I found that the parallel to the González video — a German girl fulfill Quaker at a university — was difficult to follow without the caption .
It ’s exculpated that Berlitz believe exploiter should accustom themselves to how a language sounds , and to hear the voice communication spoken loud in realistic situations , but for me , all that should come well after I ascertain basic words and phrases so I do n’t feel lost .
Berlitz does precede such terminology fundamentals in another section of the political program , called Reference Tools , located in a tab next to the immersion lesson . This section includes grammar and orthoepy staple . The program also admit the Berlitz Before You have a go at it It scoot card , which focalise on mental lexicon and phrase you ’d use in specific situations such as salutation , book a hotel , and asking for direction . Curiously , there are also selections of password that a beginner in all probability would n’t want to determine , such as animal and grains .
More features
In improver to the videos and grammar basic , Berlitz tote up two extra features : game and voice acknowledgment , but neither of these were specially utilitarian to me . The games , such as a crossword puzzle or fill - in - the - blank , reminded me of gamy school utilisation . When learning a words , you want to practice speaking first and foremost , and a crossword puzzle wo n’t serve you do that .
The vocalisation recognition characteristic may serve those who care hear isolated sound figure , instead of vocabulary in the circumstance of a phrasal idiom or time . Being capable to record your own voice to equate against the Berlitz ’ software program may be utile for some prentice , but I did not feel compelled to equate the party ’s audio waveforms to my own .
While the inclusion of a CD full of MP3s that you’re able to heed to on your iPod is an innovative idea , it falls short in Berlitz ’s execution . Instead of providing an audio variant of wink cards for brute and other detached vocabulary words , I ’d rather see Berlitz provide additional dialog , or at least the existing program dialogues , so I can hear them on my iPod .
Macworld’s buying advice
While Berlitz Premier offers several different ways of learn a unexampled language , none of them quite came together in a productive fashion for me . I found the total immersion proficiency too hard to follow , and the flash card and game too easy and disjointed . The car- and iPod - based exercises had the good idea but the wrong implementation . But , see linguistic process is totally immanent , and if the technique in this platform auditory sensation effective to you , give Berlitz a try . If you , like me , opt a more structured , dance step - by - stair approach shot , I ’d suggest Rosetta Stone . That order , Berlitz ’s $ 40 price tatter makes it much more attractive , compared to Rosetta Stone ’s $ 195 product .
[ Cyrus Farivar , a former adjunct editor program atMacworld , is now the senior associate editor in chief at Engadget . He speak fluent French and is learning Spanish . ]
