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222 of 226 found the following review helpful:
 good coversation practiceApr 29, 2000
By Belinda Frost
This is not a program for those who want a grammar based way to learn a language. Actually I don't have version 8 but I have version 7. I think their concept is the same, though-learn language through conversation practice, not grammar exercises. If you have had some Spanish and want to improve your speaking abilities, this is a good program for you, but if you have never had Spanish and would like to understand grammar concepts, this program will not provide a chapter based grammar, learning program.
142 of 144 found the following review helpful:
 A Lot Of Research Gets You The BestMay 29, 2001
By Kim Gordon
I surfed the internet for language software. It was a soupy mess! GAZILLIONS to choose from!! In the end, after reading different reviews I decided to buy this one. It is NOT the kind of language learning where you memorize nouns by nouns and verbs by verbs which is just too monotonous!. This program is like jumping in without checking how the water is first.. The way REAL people talk.. how you would talk back. And it is NOT intimidating at all; I mean, how great to talk to your computer all alone on a Wednesday night with nobody to hear how bad you are? An example of how this software works: we follow this guy from the airport in Madrid greeted by his aunt and uncle. A little movie shows him walking through the airport, etc. There is also a box which translates it for you in english. Then you have choices on your screen to choose how you want to break these words or conversations down: 1. You can slow down the pace of the speech. 2. You can click on any one word and hear it said 3. You can click on one word, hear it said, then use the microphone (provided for PC users only, Mac must use the Plain Talk mic) which records your voice and you play it back. A little meter rates how you sound compared to the local guy.. 4.You can also click on a whole phrase, hear the guy say it then you can repeat it and compare.. 5. You can also click on the 'game' icon where you have a choice of 5 games to practice with as well (also called 'sneaky learning..' ). Whatever screen you are looking at you can click on the '?' (help) button and it will show you EVERYTHING that you need to know. Like the little turtle on the screen, I kept thinking 'what the heck is that little turtle for?' I clicked on the '?' button, which opened up a sample of the page I was just on, then I clicked on the turtle. Voila! Click on this to slow up or down the speech .. Duh. guess I shoulda known. I didn't know how to work the microphone thing; click help, then the icon, it tells me to hold down my mouse while speaking..One of the reviewers of this software said that it was just way too advanced for him. I just don't think he gave it (or himself) a chance. I was TERRIFIED of buying software.. I know nothing about computers and kept thinking it would be a huge waste. I'd never figure it out. I have to tell you that I stuck it in, clicked around, READ THE '?' HELP SECTION and completely got the hang of it and am learning like mad!! The question for those who are looking to buy language software is the question of grammer based learning or jumping in and doing it. I think it's better jumping in. People say that you should just move to a country where you want to learn a language -- and who can do that?? So I'm thinking software like this is the next best thing. I have high school level spanish (which was 15 some odd years ago) and I live in Los Angeles so I know a bunch of words but couldn't figure out the whole verb meets sentence structure thing. This software is EXACTLY what I needed. No matter what you choose, you have to do is stick with it and commit to learning. You won't learn unless you use it. Oh, and the ... rebate didn't hurt, either!!
112 of 114 found the following review helpful:
 Read before you buy!Jun 26, 2000
By ultexpert@mindspring.com
This program is not for beginners! If you are an intermediate to advanced Spanish learner, then you may get some good use out of the program. As a beginner with very limited Spanish knowledge, I wasted my money trying to learn anything from this program. The speakers in the video talk way to fast to understand and when you slow the speech down, it garbles the audio.
33 of 34 found the following review helpful:
 Not RecommendedDec 02, 2001
I do not recommend Spanish Now. First of all, it's not very good for a beginner because it has no good way to build the vocabulary. Other Spanish programs I have tried showed pictures of items and gave the Spanish name for it to help build one's vocabulary. Anything like that is absent from this program. All it does is give a list of sentences and read them to you and, if you're a beginner, you're expected to learn a lot of new words all at once. You can learn words from it, but it is a very boring and tedious way of doing so. Secondly, the program is just stupid. In one section, it gives a list of phrases that you would need to know if you're planning a trip to a Spanish speaking country. Before each set of phrases, it has whole complicated paragraphs that tell about Spanish customs and they're all in Spanish. If a person can read all these paragraphs about customs then they wouldn't need to be learning how to ask the location of a good restaurant or something simple like that. Third, I found the games that this thing has to be pretty boring. Fourth, the company obviously didn't proofread their product very well because it contains errors in the text. Worst of all, it has translational errors. So no matter what level you're at in learning Spanish, I don't recommend this software. As a matter of fact, if you're a beginner and you want to learn the language, don't buy any language software and expect it to be your sole learning source. I've used several Spanish CD-ROMs and none of them alone will teach you much about Spanish. They're only useful when used in conjuction with books, tapes, or other programs. And if you just want to learn enough Spanish to get by, this one will help you but there are far cheaper ones that will teach you just as much. I would recommend QuickStudy Spanish by The Learning Company.
27 of 28 found the following review helpful:
A very helpful programJun 29, 2001
By Fred T. Price
I am trying to learn to speak spanish at home and I find this program to be a great tool for learning to pronounce words and sentences. I listen to the native speaker while watching the sentence on the screen then speak the sentence into the microphone provide with the program. The computer uses a voice pattern to show me how my sentence compares to the native speaker. I can slow the speaker down if needed and I can compare various aspects of my recorded sentence with the native speaker. There are games and other helpful activities included with the program. I really enjoy this program
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