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 - the worst product everclunky, not mac friendly, poor vocab, fake "total immersion" (basically just people having brainless conversations that are too fast for beginners and too insipid for intermediaries). Berlitz has a really bad reputation and it's easy to see why when you receive this kind of product in the mail. I work in a school where we receive dozens of products to sample every month. Berlitz (aside from the really old editions, from the 1950's) is always the worst. Rating: - buyer bewareBerlitz Spanish Premier (Win/Mac) Actually, I don't know if I like this software or not. It won't open on my MacBook. No advice on the trouble shooting page and no answer to my email request for technical help. Mac user be very wary. Rating:  - Not even worth tryingI decided to give this product a shot before I bought something more expensive, but I wish I'd just gone ahead and committed to something more serious. As a learning environment, this product is scattershot and poorly put together. I kept looking for the "start here" button -- while the box trumpets the several ways to learn, there's just no easy way into the language. The software is supposedly an immersion environment for beginners, but it starts with lengthy dialogues and short sentences rather than the simple phrases you need to learn when you're an absolute beginner. The software also doesn't resize at all, so the software screen just looked tiny on my large monitor. The iPod vocabulary is pretty good, but it's missing a lot of things --it includes "sister-in-law", but not "mother", and only has three seasons. The stand-alone flash card program is good for what it is, but it uses that same limited vocabulary. I belatedly found that the box comes with a copy of Spanish Guaranteed, an all-audio CD program, and while it seems like a decent course, it's the only part of the package in Castilian Spanish. This software might help someone who needs a brush-up on first year Spanish, but if you're looking for a quick course so you don't feel lost when you step off the plane, there are many options that are much better. I also found many free online resources that did a better job, including one that gave me the proper pronunciation of that missing season, el otoño. Rating: - Berlitz too complexYou have to read a long manual before you can figure out how to use this Berlitz Spanish program on computer. I got so frustrated that I went out and bought a Spanish book. The only thing I like about the Berlitz program is the flash cards. Rating: - The Best Thing Is The PriceI was quite disappointed with this product, and had it not been for the price after rebate, I would have certainly returned it. For a beginner, this program can easily be overwhelming, especially in the most important feature which is the "immersion environment." The speech pronunciation guide is a farce. I had a native of Puerto Rico listen to the female voice and she said unequivocally that it was terrible. The program gave my native speaker friend poor pronunciation grades--even when she tried over and over again. Much of the program is not intuitive. The details are not worked out well. An example is the bookmark feature which supposedly allows you to start back where you would like. No--you have to go through each and every bookmark you've made before getting to the last bookmark--and you can't name the bookmarks. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. I'm still struggling with it, but it is painful.
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