Fluenz Italian Level 2

Strongly recommended!, September 25, 2008

I did the Fluenz Mandarin course last year, was impressed with the program, and then spent two succesful weeks in Harbin for work (btw, Harbin prides itself with speaking the best Mandarin in China). Because Italian has been my life-long unfulfilled passion, I didn't hesitate to buy Italian 1 when I first saw it. Seeing that Italian 2 just came out, I decided to put in an order, but also to write this review as there are no others yet. This small company is doing an admirable job and everyone should know about it.

These have been my impressions of Fluenz Italian so far:
1. The teacher in the box concept, and the charismatic Sonia, continue to be the hallmark of Fluenz. She is there at every step anticipating the typical questions an English speaker is bound to have when faced with the many rules and issues in Italian. I've been listening to the language for decades during my many visits there, and I actually know many words, but from words to phrases there is a path--and she shows the way in a gentle, reassuring way.
2. The approach is slow and deliberate, and Italian has enough complexity in the way sentences are formed that this pays off. Every single word taught is immediately useful in the building of bigger sentences so that nothing is wasted.
3. In between the tutorial and a final video, there are many workouts that seem simple at first, but reveal themselves as quite ingenious as you go through the process. All the workouts in a given session cover the material offered in that session, as well as everything learned up to then, and as you practice writing, reading, listening and recording your own voice, the connections really come alive. Just as if you were building a jigsaw puzzle, things get easier as the pieces fall into place
4. The actual presentation is very appealing and helps your learning. The video has excellent quality, and the photographic tour of Italy makes the process inpiring.
5. The last point would be the evident passion for, and knowledge of Italy displayed throughout the video tutorials, and in the choice of material learned. Every video explanation comes with cultural and personal context showing much love and dedication for the subject matter. Having completed the Mandarin course, it is evident that the choice of vocab is very specific both to Italian culture, and the realities of English speaking learning Italian.
All in all a welcome addition, and one I believe clearly stands out so I put in my strong recommendation.

Straightforward program breaks learning down into enjoyable, simple lessons, October 18, 2008

Overall, i've been very pleased with the Fluenz Italian product. The first thing i noticed when i started using it was how simple the interface is (i've tried other programs like rosetta stone and found them to be a bit confusing when you're just starting off). The simple interface made the actual lessons easier to understand without being distracted by lots of different buttons or choices.

I found the video lessons to be seamless - you begin by listening to a conversation and then the video instructor breaks everything down for you word for word, so by the end of the lesson, you understand the conversation and are able to have a similar conversation yourself. It was really great to see that the conversations they had specifically chosen were the ones that were going to be the most useful to me right away, so i didn't feel like i was learning things i wouldn't be able to use right away when i went to Italy (for the first time!).

It also helped me a lot that they kept using english (which i of course already knew) as a reference point to help me better understand and pronounce italian. It just seemed a lot easier to learn new things by relating it to what i already understood instead of starting from the very beginning like some of the other programs do.

I did a lesson a day for a couple weeks and felt pretty good at the end for when i went to italy. Granted i hadn't entirely mastered the language (this probably takes longer than a couple weeks!) but i was able to get by on my trip and felt confident enough to talk with locals.

I'd definitely recommend fluenz to people who are trying to learn italian for the first time - it was simple to start and i learned pretty quickly without the dreaded feeling of having "to study."

Maybe the best language system ever, October 2, 2008

This is a very different, and much superior, language training system. Like other programs Fluenz uses a variety of exercises to get you to learn - both oral and written. What is really different is the pedagogy. Fluenz leverages your knowledge of English to understand and learn Italian. I checked out the main competitor, Rosetta Stone and it seems to be based on having you learn as kids learn a language i.e. by association of colors and objects with words, and by acquiring the feel of the language through hearing. I am in my fifties and I don't learn like a child. I have a grammar ingrained in me, a language with which I am familiar, and enough inhibition to stop me from spouting forth in a foreign language if I am not a bit sure that I will not make a fool out of myself.
Fluenz is easy to use right out of its Ferrari red box. The interface is elegant and Italian in style, so you feel immediately in the context of Italy. You are greeted by a teacher in English (and Italian). She guides you through the lessons, emphasizing certain points, encouraging you to stick with difficulties, and generally acting like a real person. I first thought it would be stilted and artificial. It isn't. I am now attached to her and she keeps me coming back to my session - which is half the battle in learning a language. You don't have to worry about whether you should do vocabulary, grammar, or voice exercises, they are all bundled together in a seamless way. Just follow the teacher and her instructions. Help is very easy to access and is a combination of instructions and video. This is the best product o the market.
What's fun is that by the second session, about 3 hours of work in all, you can order and respond with confidence with an Italian waiter in a café. It is a good illustration of the power of this program: you learn right away how to use verbs and put together a simple phrase with useful vocabulary (as opposed to knowing the word for leaf and grass, which you will not use so often). My son did well to give me this program,and I, in turn, would recommend Fluenz to the serious student for the simplicity of the interface, the quality of the product, and above all the insightfulness of the pedagogy. You won't need anything else.