Product Description

Berlitz Italian Premier (Small Box) Mac/Win

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #576 in Software
• Brand: Avanquest Software
• Released on: 2008-07-14
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Mac OS X

Manufacturer's Description

Learn to speak Italian at your own pace with Berlitz Now you can learn languages the easy way with the market leading software that's been helping people learn foreign languages for more than a decade. Berlitz Premier is fast, easy and effective. Guaranteed!

With this unique, time-proven learning system, we've provided three powerful ways for you to learn:
(1) on your Windows PC or Macintosh,
(2) in your car, and
(3) on the go using an iPod or other mobile listening device.

Explore at your own pace - Berlitz Premier allows you to determine your own learning pace by deciding when you need translation - and when you don't.

Innovative Games - Berlitz Premier puts the fun back into learning with interactive games like Plug-n-Play to help increase your reading comprehension. This engaging fill-in the-blank game allows players to begin with a foreign phrase or paragraph that is missing text and a corresponding list of possible foreign words.

Advanced speech analysis - Berlitz Premier provides advanced speech analysis to help you speak like a native. Simply record, playback and compare to perfect your accent and improve your pronunciation.

For more than 125 years the Berlitz brand has been synonymous with effective foreign language learning. With learning centres spanning the globe, Berlitz has more satisfied graduates than any other program of its kind. And now Berlitz Premier is guaranteed to make learning easier and more fun than you ever imagined.

Learn on your computer - This award-winning software for both Windows and Macintosh gives you four easy ways to master languages and engaging activities mean you'll learn faster.
1 Total immersion - Learn by listening to actual conversations.
2 Multimedia learning - Enhance your knowledge by watching videos.
3 Flash card system - Reinforce your learning with this proven method.
4 Speech analysis - Improve your pronunciation with practise conversations.

Learn in your car A comprehensive Italian course on 4 Berlitz audio CDs. Learn in your car with a complete course on 4 audio CDs. Berlitz makes it easy to improve your fluency while you're on the road.

Learn on the go - Innovative iPod exercises... and more Practise your vocabulary using your iPod or other MP3 player. Test your proficiency with word lists that match the software.

Plus... Flash card software for your Palm or Pocket PC Vocabulary building screensaver, and much more!

Ideal for all levels

Beginner - Get comfortable as a new learner by starting with the basics: Meeting and Greeting, Basic Travel Terms, Numbers and Money, Colours, Sightseeing

Intermediate - Rapidly improve your pronunciation through conversation: Asking for Directions, Ordering a Meal, Shopping, At the Hotel, Emergencies

Advanced - Learn words and phrases that will make you sound like a native speaker: Office Conversation, Speaking on the Phone, An Evening with Friends, Survival Phrases

About Berlitz

Berlitz has helped millions of men, women and children speak new languages, and its cultural consultants have assisted thousands of organisations in reaching across cultural barriers successfully. The company's origins date back to 1878 when language tutor Maximilian D. Berlitz developed a new method of teaching people. His approach, which he developed into the Berlitz Method, was so successful it became the gold standard of language instruction and led to what would become a globe-spanning organisation.

Magazine Reviews

A host of different ways to approach learning…a powerful learning package (PC Utilities, 2009)

Customer Reviews

Brillant all rounder
What I like about this Berlitz Italian Premier is you have so many ways to learn the language: on your computer, sitting in the garden with the CDs or going for a walk with your iPod. The lessons are clear & easy to follow. The games are entertaining & fun and a great way of practicing your new knowledge. The flash cards are a great idea to help build up your vocabulary. I would recommend this product to anyone wishing to learn a language on their own.

found it a bit too pacey
I would say this set was too pacey for me. For me learning a new language from cd requires that you hit it off straight away with the very first chapter of learning. I found the phrases were too long and not repeated long enough. I've had the good fortune to listen to the Collins Italian series and really loved it. some might find the Collins too repetitive and simple but totally loved it. I had a feeling this would not be the same but I was curious to see anyway. This will not be a waste though as I can move onto it once I finish the Collins series. There is the option to learn through the pc but I'm not that committed to learning that way. I wanted something that can play in the car over and over and learn that way. If that's you as well I would say go for the Collins series first.

Good package, but needs an up-to-date operating system.
This pack has a nice combination of audio CDs and interactive software, so that you have a choice of language learning methods. There's no hard copy of a phrase book or dictionary included, which surprised me a bit as a) I consider this fairly essential for anyone learning a language or needing a quick reference on an overseas trip, and b) Berlitz are a major publishers of such guides. The only text that is included is a not particularly great manual outlining the capabilities of the software and extolling the virtues of Berlitz's other language kits!

There are 4 audio CDs which cover:- introducing yourself, talking about your job, hobbies and sports interests, marital status(!)/families, ordering food in a cafe or restaurant and asking for directions. The order of these topics doesn't seem particularly logical, with most of the first CD being taken up with business chat, whilst the directions and food ordering come much later on CDs 2 and 3. Also, very basic stuff like the Italian alphabet and counting to 20 come after longer and more complicated conversations on who you are and what you do.

The method used is 'immersion' which means you are thrown into conversation with little or no prior explanation of the phrases or vocab being used. Though this kit is rated as suitable for beginner, intermediate and advanced pupils, I think beginners (like me) will really struggle with this 'in at the deep end' approach. If you have some prior knowledge of the language, I think you will be much more at home.

The software is supposed to be suitable for a wide range of operating systems, going right back to Windows 98 - something that really appealed to me, as I have a very old laptop running on Windows ME. I have to say I had a lot of problems with installation - the system unhelpfully tried to get me to download a version of Quicktime that isn't compatible with ME (which I then had to remove, so I could reload the earlier version) and also came up with various security errors during the installation procedure. I did manage to install the software eventually, but it ran so slowly that regrettably I cannot recommend it for users of older operating systems.

I would have given this 2.5 stars, but you can't award halves, and I'd feel mean rounding down to 2 when I couldn't trial the software very satisfactorily.

Overall,it's good if you have some basic Italian already and an up-to-date OS - if not, look elsewhere.