Fluenz Version F2: Spanish 1+2 (Win/Mac) with software DVDs, audio CDs, podcasts, and Navigator. Learn Spanish with the latest upgrade.
by Fluenz
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Software Reviews of Fluenz Version F2: Spanish 1+2 (Win/Mac) with software DVDs, audio CDs, podcasts, and Navigator. Learn Spanish with the latest upgrade.
Customer Review: Best Spanish language lessons I have found
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been dabbling in learning Spanish for the past few years. I started off with Rosetta Stone but it was very slow-going and frustrating in its lack of practicality. I then tried Pimsleur audio lessons, which were great, but lacked the visual facet of seeing the written words and learning to write the language. Recently, I found Fluenz Spanish 1&2 for Mac (also available for Windows), which is a sort of multimedia Pimsleur on steroids. It covers all facets of learning the language from hearing the words, to seeing them spoken, and then reading and writing the language as well.
The software comes with a disc for each of the two levels. You move through each lesson sequentially, listening to a life-like conversation while reading Spanish and English subtitles. The conversation is then followed by a word-by-word explanation of the conversation by a teacher who clearly explains the fundamentals of grammatical structure, along with practical language, accent, and cultural information.
After you have reviewed the lesson's conversation, there is a series of practice "workouts" that will allow you to listen to, speak, write, and read the words and grammar you have just learned in the conversation. The use of multimedia is very effective because it allows for both auditory and visual learning. Within just a lesson or two, you will be able to speak a full sentence that would be readily useable in a Spanish-speaking place, such as "I would like to have a glass of water, and he would like a coffee" or "Where is the bathroom?" This is so much more useful than the sort of thing that I learned from Rosetta Stone after many hours of work: "The blue square is smaller than the red circle." I also greatly appreciate Fluenz's clear explanation of how a sentence is put together, instead of just trying to guess based upon pictures, which is the way Rosetta Stone is structured.
In addition to the lesson discs, there is also an audio disc that provides a small amount of supplemental teaching for every few lessons. Podcasts can be downloaded from the website as well.
If you want to build your vocabulary, I am not sure this is necessarily the product to do it. Fluenz's focus seems to be more on providing strong fundamentals upon which to build vocabulary. There are plenty of other resources that can help you increase your fund of words, such as Byki, or the iPhone app "Spanish Anywhere", or web sites that offer a Spanish word of the day.
Aside from this being a very good product, I am also impressed by the outstanding customer service of this company. I had purchased the original version of the software a few weeks ago. Within 2 weeks, I was disappointed to discover that an updated version had been released. I emailed the support team on a weekend (though they weren't open until Monday) to ask if I would be able to buy an upgrade. I had a friendly and helpful response within 2 hours, and at no extra charge, a copy of the updated version was in my mailbox before the end of the following week. That is the sort of approach that is rare these days. I hope Fluenz will continue that tradition as they continue to succeed and grow.
Customer Review: Excellent Way to Get Started in Spanish
Summary: 5 Stars
This is James from James Spanish (the learning Spanish blog) with my review of Fluenz Spanish .
A comprehensive course with 2 DVDs and 2 audio CDs with 60 lessons, covering beginner and intermediate Spanish. The lessons progress in a way that lets you build up your knowledge of the language in a natural way so that after just a few lessons you can create your own sentences.
If you are the type of person who wonders `Why?' or `How does that work?' while learning, then Fluenz Spanish 1+2 Learning Suite for Windows is the ideal platform for you to learn Spanish. While other language programs focus on building a vocabulary of basic words, Fluenz explains how the Spanish language is constructed, giving you a solid all round understanding of how to put words together.
Rather than relying on the formula of matching images to words, and the repetition of basic and common phrases, Fluenz goes a step further to show you how to use those words to create your own sentences. By explaining how phrases are made up, you learn how to make up your own.
The lessons draw on your native understanding of English, comparing the two languages so that you get a strong idea of how Spanish works. The way that the information is presented is quick to show you just how intuitive and straightforward learning Spanish can be. With the proper groundwork in place, you will find it easier to move to more advanced levels of fluency in your own time.
Lessons include subtitled conversations, followed by explanations of words and phrases used, taught by a friendly and informative tutor, Sonia Gil. Once she has given you an understanding of the phrases, you move on to applying this knowledge in interesting, interactive exercises.
The scenarios are natural day to day situations that you might find yourself in, and provide conversational phrases for shopping, eating out, and traveling.
Sonia guides you through the whole program of lessons and is thorough and easy to understand. She speaks in clear and fluent English, but is a fluent Spanish speaker, so you can be sure that she knows what she is talking about.
The graphics and interface of the program are appealing and visually interesting, keeping you engaged for longer.
Unlike other language programs which only teach you set words and phrases, you are able to use the information in Fluenz to help you to learn to communicate naturally and independently, so you won't find yourself thinking `But I never learned how to say that!'
In closing my review of this product, I'd like to share with you the three Amazon products that I have found most helpful in my pursuit to learn Spanish. If you are truly serious about achieving fluency, I'd recommend getting all 3 of them if you can afford it.
1. Lights, Camera, Spanish (Book + DVD): Learn Conversational Spanish by Watching a Romantic Adventure This is actually a 90 minute movie for Spanish-language learners. It gives the option to watch the movie with subtitles but I'd recommend not using them to improve your Spanish. This "movie" also includes a workbook so that you can reinforce the Spanish vocabulary words and phrases from the film. The workbook also has lots of exercises to keep you engaged in the film. But be prepared to hear Chilean accents. Although pleasent to the ear, the accents from Chile are very different from most Latin American accents.
2. Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) This software replaces the traditional verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an interactive and fun activity. This should be a required resource for anyone who wants to improve their ability to conjugate Spanish verbs. Especially anyone who is challenged by the drudgery of learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs and who is looking for a new way to make learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an easy and fun activity
3. Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition) If you are really serious about speaking the language fluently, then at some point you will need to replace your Spanish-English dictionary and get a pure Spanish dictionary with both the vocabulary words and the definitions entirely in Spanish. I use this one only because it was highly-recommended by a friend from Spain who teaches Spanish.
Customer Review: not for conversation
Summary: 3 Stars
this is a good program to get you into spanish, but it has many flaws. there are many errors during the exercises, which is frustrating for a beginner, not knowing if it is an error or how it should be. also, one of the male voices during the exercises is very hard to hear what he is saying. probably the biggest problem is that it is very directed to getting you through the restaurant, the airport, the taxi, the market. there is little about verb conjugation or real conversation. at the end of spanish 1 and 2, i could do the exercises perfectly, but still not converse beyond the canned conversations i had learned. to become fluent, i am reading spanish kid's books, comics, watching videos, and having simple conversations with local spanish speakers. Customer Review: Great Program could use a few adjustments
Summary: 4 Stars
The set-up of the Fluenz Spanish program is well thought out and teaches you how to hear, read, write, and say Spanish. It feeds you information in way that you will remember. I have had the product for 3 weeks now, and I already feel like I will be A LOT more comfortable in a restaurant and at an airport in a spanish speaking place.
I like that it is a DVD that I can bring anywhere so I can use it with my laptop when traveling, at work on my lunch hour, or at home, without haveing to download it to each and every computer I might use it on.
There is an issue with the program where when you type the answer, sometimes it indicates you are wrong because you did not put all the accent marks, which you don't have to do unless you have it on challenge mode. I don't think this issue is a big enough deal to keep me from purchasing the product.
Also, I think there are some volume issues, when the lady (Sonya) speaks she is very soft, but then when the man speaks it is quite loud. Since you can not get to the volume on your desktop because Fluenz takes over the screen, I had to buy a headset with volume control so I could more easily adjust the volume. It's not that big a deal since it was so easily solved.
Finally, there are 2 things I think they should improve:
#1 - I think for the price, they should include a microphone in the box when you get the program. I worked the first few sessions without a microphone (because it the program will just skip that section of the session) but you don't even know what your missing without it. The microphone part of each session is very short, but I think is is VERY important to help with pronunciation.
#2 - I wish the CD's for your car and the podcasts were a bit longer.
Overall, I am still sold on this program and am so GLAD I purchased Fluenz Spanish. I did a lot of research before purchasing and this program is THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE I've seen.
Customer Review: Pleased with this product
Summary: 4 Stars
I haven't tried any other similar products, such as Rosetta Stone, but I've done about 10 lessons and I really like this product. I like the fact that it drills things into your head and forces you to memorize it, this is sort of what I was looking for. It's comparable to a real classroom experience. By the time you do a lesson a second time around, it's surprising how much information you've retained. This product, plus some Spanish CDs in the car, have really helped me start learning the language. I recently went to Mexico and was really surprised at how much I could comprehend. I'd definitely reccomend this product. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is that I think it's a little pricey, I wish it had cost around $200.