Berlitz French Premier Version 2 (PC/Mac)

Product Details

• Delivery Destinations: Visit the Delivery Destinations Help page to see where this item can be delivered.
• ASIN: B003S3RLJ4
• Release Date: 6 Aug 2010
  

By : Avanquest Software
Price : £20.28

Product Description

Manufacturer's Description

Experience for yourself how fun and easy it is to use the Berlitz Language Learning System. Berlitz has been synonymous with effective foreign language learning for 130 years. Whether you're learning French for travel, business of personal use, Berlitz will engage you in easy, fun and interactive activities that will help you learn French faster than you ever thought possible. Suitable for All Levels Beginner - Learn and speak French Naturally. Start with the basics, such as greetings, introductions, travel terms, money, shopping and more. Intermediate - Know your way around in French. Learn to talk about your environment. Berlitz makes it easy to ask for directions, order a meal or tell the time. Advanced - Start speaking confidently and with ease. Begin to express yourself in conversations using the French speaking skills you have learned.
Award-Winning Software Learn to speak French easily and with confidence on your Windows PC or Mac. Berlitz's complete language learning system will engage you interactively so you can learn faster and more effectively.

• Start speaking French confidently in just 30 days.
• Great for travel, business, school or personal use.
• For beginner, intermediate and advanced users.

New Features for Version 2

• 15 New Beginner Lessons - More than 12,000 words and phrases covering beginner level topics.
• Progress Tracking - Keep on top of your progress and identify what you have left to learn.
• New Activities - Make Learning fun with Fill in the Blank, Word Whirl, Concentration and Four Square.
• New Tests - Prove your knowledge and track your progress.

Learn on Your PC or Mac Learn to speak easily and with confidence on your Windows or Macintosh computer. Berlitz's complete language learning system engages you interactively in four different ways so you can learn faster and more effectively.

Engaging Activities Mean You'll Learn Faster:
• Audio Learning - Learn by listening to actual conversations.
• Multimedia Learning - Enhance your knowledge by watching videos.
• Flash Card System - Reinforce your learning with this proven method.
• Speech Analysis - Improve your pronunciation with practice conversations.

Learn in Your Car with Audio CDs Build Speaking Proficiency with Berlitz Audio CDs. Master your speaking skills with a complete and comprehensive course on audio CDs - directly through your car speakers, iPod and other mobile listening devices. Learn on the Go Innovative iPod Exercises. Whether you're relaxing, cooking dinner, taking a walk or doing chores, you can practise your vocabulary with both audio and pictures on your iPod. You'll even get to regularly test your proficiency with word lists that match the software.

Learn and Explore at Your Own Pace Speed Up with our Flash Card System - Reinforce your lessons and quickly improve your speaking skills with this proven exercise method. Learn more than 1,000 vocabulary words and phrases with Berlitz Premier Flash Cards Berlitz Premier allows you to determine your own learning pace by deciding when you need translation-and when you don't. Plus, you can…

• Slow down the dialogue.
• Build a personalised vocabulary list.
• Listen to native speakers.
• Click on any word to hear its pronunciation.

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. Interactive Games make Learning Fast and Fun From simple puzzles to fast-paced Plug-n-Play games that help increase your reading comprehension, Berlitz makes learning languages exciting for the entire family.

Reviews "The concept of multiple learning strands is certainly a clever one which gives this package the edge over the average language tutor." ITReviews.co.uk "a powerful learning package" PC Utilities "an incredibly good tutoring system aimed at everyone from beginners to reasonable speakers" MacFormat System Requirements: Windows: Window XP, Vista or 7, 256 MB RAM, DVD Drive, Sound card and speakers. Macintosh: OS X 10.4 or Later, 256 MB RAM, DVD Drive ^According to Chart Track figures reported January to May 2010 by units and/or value for each Berlitz title compared to the next equivalent language title reported. Product comparison based on competitive products in-stores on 09/01/09.
BERLITZ FRENCH PREMIER V2

 

Berlitz French Premier Version 2 (PC/Mac)

 

Product Features

• The UK’s Best-selling Language Software from the No.1 Name in Language Learning
• New Features for Version 2 including new beginner lessons, progress tracking and fun new activities
• Suitable for all levels - Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced for business, home, travel or school use
• Learn on your Mac or PC with this award-winning software
• Complete instruction – learn by listening to actual conversations and watching videos
• Flash Card System – Quickly improve your language skills with this proven learning method
• Practise your vocabulary using your iPod or other MP3 player, plus, extend your vocabulary with the vocabulary building screensaver
• Master speaking skills in your car with a complete audio course on CDs
• Advanced speech analysis – improve your pronunciation with speech analysis tools
• Interactive games – puzzles, fill-in-the-blank and more make learning enjoyable and effective

Customer Reviews

I love these Berlitz language courses! The flash cards are excellent for building vocabulary and the programme keeps a track of your progress as you learn.
It's a clever little piece of software that is great to dip into or spend an hour so in front of a computer with. You can even put it on your iPod apparently - although I haven't actually tried this yet, but if you want a course that is a comprehensive French language course, then this may fall a little short.
If you're wanting something to dip into before a week away, or want fun trying out French in your spare time, then this is great fun! But if you're serious about learning the language from the bottom up then this may not be everything that you want.
Great fun!

The Berlitz French programme appears to be exactly the same as the one produced under "Transparent Language".
The keyboard has improved, and on my Mac, automatically switches between the French and English keyboards. However, finding key necessary letters such as those with a circumflex, wasn't easy. The other irritating feature is the raft of Americanisms. Whilst the programme does allow you to permanently amend the spelling, it still grated to be told that a cinéma is actually a movie theater, and a jardin is a yard. It would not take much effort to produce a version more suited to the UK market.
The flashcard system is, though, excellent. This version doesn't allow you to build your own flashcards, but with the ability to refresh stale items, it would be enormously useful to those revising for exams.
The premise behind this programme is that the user is "immersed" in the language. That would work better if there were direct hyperlinks to other French resources. Instead, it feels more as if you are trying to learn a language with very little explanation as to how it works. There are explanations available, but presented in a very dry manner. Overall, I would be concerned that this would be a difficult approach for someone not already familiar with the process of learning a different language.
The programme contains 15 lessons, from initial introductions, to business vocabulary, and 6 conversation lessons to complement topics. It's clearly aimed at the adult user, and teenagers may find the topics less interesting. The lessons take the user into the past and future tense, but this is only to a lower intermediate level in terms of being able to use the language.
Some of the activities are good. I did enjoy the pronounciation activies, Some of the others rely heavily on being able to use the French keyboard effectively, and I had some residual problems with the keyboard, in finding how to add some accents.
I'm not convinced that this programme would be a good introduction to the language for a beginner. As a refresher following learning French at school, it does have some good points, notably the Byki flashcard system, and pronounciation practice. But overall, I'd like to see a bit more work on this before I'd feel comfortable in recommending it to friends.

 

Berlitz French Premier Version 2 (PC/Mac)