Complete Edition Portuguese Brazilian Language Tutor Software & Audio Learning for Windows Only Review

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Complete Edition Portuguese Brazilian Language Tutor Software & Audio Learning for Windows Only ReviewFirst and foremost, I want to tell you that the price for this program on Amazon is far too high. If you go to get it direct from Transparent then you can probably get a substantial discount. I bought mine around the end of 2010...the advertised price was $179...after searching around the net for coupon codes, I was able to knock about $50 (hint...you can enter more than one coupon code on their website when you are checking out!!!!!) off this price AND it was a digital download so I was able to start learning right away (you can have them send you a CD copy for $10 too).
Second, I want to throw a big disclaimer out there before you get too deep into this review. I studied and speak conversational Spanish which gives me a distinct advantage over an absolute beginner who is trying to learn Portuguese without any knowledge of romance languages. That being said, I think I think my experience with this software would be vastly different from someone who has no idea about Spanish/Portuguese grammar nor how to learn a language. I have knowledge of both although I'm not in expert in either. I'd also like to say that I have not completed this whole program, and am just a few weeks in so this is really my initial impression....that being said, this is in no way a comprehensive review, but just my thoughts on how the program works overall. Finally, there is a series of audio lessons in which you listen to native speakers read passages and have conversations...I have not listened to this although it it a pretty basic, but important part of learning a language. I'm sure I'll be perfectly happy with this portion of the package when I start using it.
Ok, so my thoughts on this program are as follows; The presentation is ok. Its a bit difficult to navigate at first and I can't help but feel like I have been missing something as I have been trudging along the past few weeks. I wish the presentation was more complete/ all encompassing in the sense that there was one program I had to open when I want to learn something and then it actually teaches me a lesson (vocab, grammar, games, tests, everything). Instead, I find myself in one program reading the vocabulary from lesson 2 in Byki, reading a couple passages in the main transparent program, and then popping open a grammar glossary (another program) to review sentence structure. Then, I open Byki again to practice some of the words I learned in the past. The program isn't linear in that it doesn't tell me exactly what I should be focused on today and it isn't presented in one easy to use program. I find myself opening 3 different programs just to complete a lesson. That's too disjointed for me to like.
I like Byki because it drills you in vocabulary although I have to say that the games are rather boring and sometimes detract from what you are actually trying to do (that is...learn a language). For example...one of the games is concentration. I spend more time trying to remember where the word for boy (menino) was located then focusing on what the actual translation is. In fact, out of the 10 or so games offered in the software...I really only like to use two or three of them. I think games are really important in learning a language because it makes it more fun then just drilling flashcards all day.
My other issue with this software is that there doesn't seem to be much introduction (in lesson format) to the basic ideas behind verb conjugation, grammar, subject/noun/adjective/verb placement, etc. Instead, it seems like the student is expected to go into the glossary and read a boring passage on where the adjective should be placed relative to the noun in a sentence. This is boring and a $200 software program should have an actual lesson with videos to tell you something like:
"Hey, this is an adjective and this is a noun. Here is what they look like in a Portuguese sentence. You will notice that the adjective must always agree with the noun's quantity (singular vs plural) and is usually placed after the noun unless you really need to stress that particular adjective, but this is rare."
Instead you just get a bunch of sentences in Portuguese and they leave it up to you to look up whatever questions you may have about why something looks the way it does in their glossary tool called GrammarPro! I can see this being particularly difficult when they start throwing verb conjugations at you especially because it doesn't explain outright the difference between regular and irregular verbs and the three basic types of verbs (those that end in "-ar", "-er", and "-ir"). This is definitely more of a self-guided study tool rather than a substitute for an expensive classroom setting. While there truly is no substitute for a classroom (except living abroad of course), I think they could have put this program together a bit better for the beginner. I will say that GrammarPro! does seem to be quite comprehensive and can probably answer most basic grammar questions you have...I just don't like that you (the beginner) will have to figure out that you need to open this little glossary up and look for all the answers to your questions. I would think that this has to be incredibly difficult and tedious for a beginner, but not so bad if you have any understanding of how romance languages (spanish/italian/catalan/french/etc) work.
So, to button this up a bit...I'll offer a few pros and cons of this software package from my point of view:
Here's what I do like about the program:
1) It's not Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone is a marketing scam in my opinion. Anyone who truly wants to learn a language MUST learn grammar and NEEDS to have things explained to them in their own language from time to time. Rosetta Stone neither explains things to you in a straightforward manner nor does it include grammar lessons (at all...no GrammarPro!...nothing!). Their marketing angle is that they are teaching you a second language just like a baby learns its first language (by associating pictures with sounds) which sounds like it would be a good thing, but the reality is that adults and children learn in different ways so I don't believe that Rosetta Stone's strategy will work for you in the long run. Case in point...sure we learn English when we are babies...but eventually babies turn into kids and then kids go to school and take English classes where they learn about the intricacies of subject/verb agreement and all that other fun stuff...and they do it for 12+ years! Plus, Rosetta Stone is insanely expensive.
2) They throw a ton of vocab at you in Byki and despite the craptacular games, you can still learn a heck of a lot of useful vocab in a short period of time.
3) The pronunciation practice piece of the program does a good job of helping you with your pronunciation. You can slow words down (which actually works pretty well) and then compare how you say the word to how a native says the word. It even maps out important pieces of pronunciation such as fricatives, vowels, and pitch so you can compare to the native speaker. This coupled with my girlfriend coaching me (who is brazilian) helps me a lot with the words that I find difficult to pronounce.
4) The games that I do like are pretty useful because they force you to identify proper sentence structure and conjugation of verbs.Here is what I don't like:
1) This is not even close to being perfect or "complete" and it is in no way a substitute for a classroom setting.
2) The lessons are not actually "lessons". It presents you with a set of vocabulary and sentences and you are expected to teach yourself the proper grammar by referencing everything in GrammarPro! Very boring and tedious. I think they need a streamlined presentation and program to make this easier for beginners.
3) While I do like a few of the games a lot, most of them are useless or boring.
4) I'm not really enthusiastic about the progress metrics. Basically, it tells me that I've learned a certain number of words/phrases over X period of time and that Y% are "fresh" and Z% are "stale". It would be nice if it told me "you've learned this many adjectives relating to emotions" or "you've learned how to conjugate this many irregular verbs in the present tense" or "you have completed X% of Lesson 1". This is not a key feature I guess, but that kind of feedback might keep someone coming back for more because they can really see the progress they are making. In the end, I think if you are going to buy a software program today to start learning Portuguese, then this is probably the one you should buy...for now. It seems to be the most "complete" out of anything out there, but you will definitely have to supplement your learning by chatting with Brazilians, completing activities in workbooks, etc. If Fluenz ever develops a Portuguese language program then I would give that serious consideration over this as it looks to be exactly what I want in language software. Unfortunately, they only have the basic right now (Spanish, French, Mandrin, etc). Good luck!
Complete Edition Portuguese Brazilian Language Tutor Software & Audio Learning for Windows Only Overview

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