TeLL me More Dutch (3 levels: Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced) | 
 enlarge | From: Auralog
Category: Software
Buy New: $245.00
New (2) from $245.00
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 4078
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows Nt 4, Windows 2000, Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Operating System: Windows 95
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 9.5 x 1.7
MPN: 5-008-12
Model: 7-008-123
UPC: 410000113196
EAN: 0410000113196
ASIN: B000630NAS
Release Date: September 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | Dutch language software with more than 500 hours of learning | | • | Covers reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, grammar, and culture | | • | 2,600 exercises, organized in 35 different types of activities; 3 learning modes | | • | Speech recognition technology; modern, user-friendly interface | | • | Contains levels Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Sold in a White Box. TELL ME MORE , the worlds leading software for language learning, is valued by users and teachers alike for its speech recognition technology and personalized language courses. TELL ME MORE now counts more than 5 MILLION SATISFIED USERS WORLDWIDE. This package contains levels Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced, and is the perfect solution to learn DUTCH. 500 HOURS OF LANGUAGE LEARNING & OVER 2,400 EXERCISES. Interactive dialogues with 550 sentences and 15,000 words. 8,000-Word glossary. Grammar and conjugation Grammar rules and 700 conjugated words using simple, animated explanations. Lesson report: a detailed account of your progress where you are able to play back your dialogues. Personalized learning paths: The Progress Chart and Diary organize your study by selecting activities and proposing a study plan corresponding to your level and objectives, as well as your schedule. State-of-the-Art Speech Recognition: With speech recognition technology, TeLL me More recognizes what you say, assesses your pronunciation and corrects any mistakes. Spoken Error Tracking System: TeLL me More pinpoints and highlights mispronounced words within individual sentences using the exclusive S.E.T.S. technology. Phonetic Animations in 3D: 3D animations allow you to visualize the articulation of words with dynamic animations and advice on how to formulate words. Free headset with microphone included.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Pronunciation is not standard Dutch February 19, 2008
Jo Hindriks (Leesburg, VA United States)
I am a native speaker of Dutch and reviewed a couple of the lessons in the free trial portion of the manufacturer's website. I noticed right away that the female voice overs are decidedly not standard Dutch pronunciation, the person who speaks the texts is from the south, or from Flemish Belgium. This may not be a big deal but if you want to learn a standard Dutch pronunciation don't rely on this software.
 Great product for intermediate learners of Dutch November 22, 2005
Shiloh
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Let's get one thing out of the way. If you are a complete beginner to the Dutch language, this is probably not the product for you. As the previous reviewer said, you're dropped right into the middle of things with no real introduction at all. I can say that, if I were just getting started with Dutch and had purchased this package, I would be extremely frustrated. I've been able to progress fairly easily through the lessons but I've been studying Dutch for almost a year. Constantly, throughout the program, I find myself acknowledging how frustrated I would be if I didn't know the things I know in the way of vocabulary and grammar. There are really no grammar lessons to speak of, only an exercise with a link to a grammar explanation that relates to that particular gramatical topic. The explanations themselves are fine, if a bit technical. Having been away from any formal grammatical learning for nearly twenty years, I find the terminology in many of the explanations to be unclear and sometimes rather cryptic. A vocabulary list is given for each lesson but it is by no means an exhaustive list of the words that are used in the lesson. It doesn't even come at the beginning. Only after you have stumbled your way through a couple exercises is a list of key words presented. These two things, grammar and vocabulary are the biggest stumbling blocks for the total beginner to a language who is using the TMM system.
If however, you are like me and have been studying for a while and have a basic grasp of Dutch grammar (very basic in my case) and know some vocabulary, I think this would be a valuable addition to your study agenda. There are dialogs and speaking exercises with a very good voice recognition system that really makes you feel like you're having a conversation with your computer. Crosswords, word search and other games help to introduce you to new words. Videos with follow-up questions to test your comprehension are worth their weight in gold when you live in a country where access to spoken Dutch materials is non-existant.
In short, for the learner with some knowledge of the language, TMM Dutch provides valuable exercises and games that help to take the monotony out of the learning process and give you some much appreciated interactivity to balance out the somtimes laborious book and audio CD approach that so many of us start out with. This program should be thought of as one more tool to use and not as a replacement for the other, time tested methods of learning a language.
My recommendation would be to start off with one of the book and audio CD's from either Donaldson or Quist to build a foundation of grammar and vocabulary. TMM Dutch would, in my opinion, make an excellent follow-on to either of these books and would invigorate the learning process rather than frustrate it. As well, another very important thing for me has been to get out of the "learning" environment and to try and start getting some experience with some "real" Dutch. Order a Dutch Harry Potter book and start reading it. Once you have some core grammar concepts and good dictionary by your side you can do it. Make flashcards of the words you don't know and learn them. Getting outside of my lessons and into some actual dutchiness has been a real boost to my motivation.
I hope that the previous reviewer will continue their Dutch learning and revisit this program sometime in the future. I think they will find that it does have a good deal of value for a learner who is bit farther along in thier studies. That has been my experience.
 Don't waste your money February 17, 2005
Jackie (Belgium)
8 out of 15 found this review helpful
I bought this software hoping to learn Dutch--unfortunately, you seem to need to already know a great deal of Dutch to use it. You are dropped into the course, no vocabulary, no grammar, nothing. First, I emailed Auralog's tech support to ask if I was missing something--after three days, I had to resend my email as I had no response. The very next day, I received a rude response that three days isn't so bad (so I guess I should be grateful that they responded at all?), and they didn't answer the question. Fed up, I called the US number and spoke with someone. It turns out that this is an "immersion program." When I said this is never mentioned anywhere in their product information, the tech support person told me that she only handles installation problems. She said that I should just use the built in translation to find out what the words mean! Not easy, because there is no translation on several exercises, and the glossary is ONLY Dutch->English (there is no English->Dutch glossary!) I asked if I that means that I am on my own, and I got silence on the other end. I guess so.
The only decent thing about the software is the speech recognition--if that is worth $150 to you. Other issues: the user interface is difficult and you can't even minimize the software (you must either quit out or use key commands to get to other programs). Unfortunately, they don't have a money back guarantee--and now I know why.
 Quite simply miraculous January 30, 2005
Jerry E. Sullivan (Vienna, VA United States)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Over the years, I have looked at many different ways to study foreign languages. I have, basically, two different styles: either a multimedia approach, or the tried and true "read, listen and repeat" drills that are far more effective than most people give them credit. The language course reviews I see on Amazon look to me like they generally fall into one of two categories: either people who are really serious and want to explore every facet of the language, or people who thought that 15 minutes after popping in a CD they would have achieved cultural fluency.
Tell Me More Dutch is for people who really want to achieve some measure of fluency or proficiency in Dutch. Although you could become conversant through using it, it is more for people who are almost looking to adopt a second language. Yes, you will work at it, but it is extremely fun, bordering on addicting, and the feedback it provides throughout all facets of learning, inspire you to grow and achieve more in the language. Tell Me More Dutch comes on two CDs, each of which has many, many lessons, with a load of exercises within each lesson. The software will track your completion of language modules, and if you so desire, give you a schedule to complete each disk based on the goals and objectives you select.
Tell Me More Dutch is, without a doubt, the best foreign language learning program I have ever seen, and I have tried several: Berlitz, the Living Language "Ultimate" series, Barron's FSI, and Language Now (note: only the Language Now series was in Dutch, but the method used by those others pales compared to Tell Me More).
Yes, Tell Me More is a little pricey, but remember that the goal of this software is to give you Dutch as a second language (at least, that's my perspective). My package included a microphone that allowed for feedback on my accent. The package also includes, reading, writing and listening comprehension exercises. Within completing the first lesson, I am actually able to feel somewhat comfortable visiting Dutch web sites.
There is none better. Please note that you may want to use better quality headphones when you are in the dictation modules. Also, if there was anything to say that was critical of this product, it would be that there are no companion CDs, other than those I've acquired independently, for learning and refresher away from the computer.
|
|
|
