Great, real world language learning tool I had thought about purchasing other language "learn at your own pace" software for Italian for a few years. I finally decided to go ahead and buy one and stumbled upon Fluenz. I had never heard of it prior to this and was about to buy Rosetta Stone since I had their free demo. Fluenz, had a different approach, however, which was to teach conversational Italian - words, phrases, etc. which would be used in the real world. All the lessons are presented in an interesting way with explanations of why words and phrases are used. I decided I'd buy it and I'm extremely pleased with the teaching approach. It teaches you the language in a way you can use almost immediately with phrases which you will use on a trip to Italy - what you learn is everyday speaking. Definitely would recommend!

Fluenz - The Very, Very Best in Foreign Language Programs If you can't afford private foreign language training and want to learn a foreign language at your own pace, then Fluenz is the program for you. I have both the Spanish and German programs and really like how there is a tutor in each session to explain things. There are plenty of written exercises to do to test your comprehension and if you type an incorrect answer, you can easily find out what you did wrong, correct it, and move on. You can also record your voice so that you know what to improve as far as your pronunciation. Fluenz is far superior to Rosetta Stone. The software is also easy to download onto your computer, Ipad, or Iphone. Technical support is very good, too.

Great experience compared to Rosetta Stone I have tried both programs and I found Fluenz to be the best by far to teach myself Italian. I used Rosetta Stone to see how their program worked, I found myself lost after just a few chapters. I would highly recommend Fluenz to anyone wanting to learn a new language. Fluenz is a well thought out program that eases you into the new language.

Did not work well in China online I tried to use Learn Mandarin in China, specifically Qindao and had both performance problems and an inability to set it up to learn Chinese characters. Now that I'm back in the US, I'll try again, but it was sure a let down not to be able to use the learning while I was in China for 2 months.

Knowledge in bite sized pieces I am on Spanish level 5 and have learned the imperfect verb tense from this program. They give the conditions under which the imperfect is used in bite sized pieces with one condition per lesson. I am pleased with how my knowledge has grown. Due to the extensive reviews and interactivity I find that I am retaining what I learn better than I have with other methods of learning such as reading textbooks. I only wish there were more levels.