101 Languages

Software Review

There are some excellent features that are included on the 101 Languages of the World software. Highlights include the cultural lessons, interactive games and activities that make learning interesting. There are also added lessons and content available on the website, which adds to its value for money. The package comes with speech recognition software, although it is not as sleek as other more expensive programs' versions.

This program is more than adequate for people who want to get prepared with Spanish before heading off to a Spanish speaking country on vacation. It will give you the basics, although there is not much in the way of conversation practice provided. The program is not far-reaching enough for serious Spanish learners to feel fully satisfied.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

(features / teaching tools / support etc)

Features that are included with the 101 Languages of the World program are. The program falls short by not providing personal progress tracking capability. The speech recognition software on the program is useful for learners to work on pronunciation, but it is not as glitzy as some speech recognition on other software. With personalized learning paths, you do have the freedom to pick and choose the content that you study and the pace of learning, which is a definite advantage over some other programs. There is a word and root search function, but dictionary or verb conjugator is not provided with the software.

Teaching tools is one of the strengths of the 101 Languages of the World program as there are a variety of tools used in comparison to other products in a similar price point. Count on audio and video files, speech recognition software, word recognition activities, cultural lessons, interactive games and online testing. It is a shame that online chat was not included with this software or it would have scored major brownie points over some other software around the same price point.

Support with this program is adequate as it provides a user manual, which is backed up by phone and email support. It is a pretty easy to install and use program, so there is probably little chance that you will have to use the support in any case.

LEARNING POTENTIAL

If you are planning to use this software to be able to speak a bit of Spanish before heading to a Spanish speaking destination for travel or business, then this software will get the job done. If however, you would like to develop proficiency in Spanish, then the 101 Languages of the World Spanish software is not going to take you to that level.

On a certain level this software falls victim to trying to spread its focus too wide. Since Spanish is just one of the languages that are included on the software package, the content that is included with this program is just not as well designed or thought out as some other software. Another downfall of the program is that while it provides good resources on its website in addition to the software, there is not enough content in the program to allow Spanish students to come out of the program with balanced skills.

VALUE FOR MONEY

If you are planning on becoming a polyglot, then the value for money on this software is phenomenal. There are several different languages that are represented in the software package. As a Spanish program it is affordable and includes some good solid features, but there are other products that are available for around the same price that offer more content for Spanish across the key learning areas.

      AT A GLANCE

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