Learn Portuguese Now! 10 - Rio and Samba to Learn Portuguese

The installation software is easy to follow. In fact, it has been made so simple you may think you have done something wrong. Tip: Learn Portuguese Now! 10 doesn't like double clicks so remember to just click once when needed. There is a separate CD for the audio for the MP3 player and iPod.

The user interface is very smooth on Windows XP. Maneuverability says it all. On the menu page there is a Guide button, a Before You Know It (LAB) button, and the Learn Portuguese Now! button.

You will not even notice tasks you have completed in your rush to advance to the next language challenge. The user interface is that good. Click on the quote balloon icon and you have Brazilian speech every time. Listen to your own pronunciation against that of the Brazilian speaker. Try the exercise with text and translation or without. Toggle the Portuguese Language Keyboard to make it appear and disappear. One little click of the button and the Brazilian speaker slows their speech down a bit. Click DONE in the lower right-hand corner and choose a new tab with a different activity. It's that simple.

Learn Portuguese Now! 10 is so well structured from a pedagogical and software stance that calling it a state-of-the-art and revolutionary language software isn't an exaggeration when describing what this delivers for beginning and intermediate users.

Small screen photos are OK but clicking to enlarge them makes them blurry.

In the Immersion Environment, the organization is a little off. The last two topics, Survival Phrases for Brazilian Portuguese (with dialogs) and The Most Common Words in Portuguese, should be at the beginning of the list, not the end. Conversely, the intermediate topics Brazil and the Samba and Rio de Janeiro begin the list.

The flash cards in Before You Know It really keep you moving; they flip back and forth so you can check your answers. [Screenshot: Transparent Flash cards] If you make mistakes, the software takes note of it and follows up to be sure you learned the lesson. The different learning modes keep you in check. This language lab will put you through your paces if you let it.

When you are ready, I recommend that in the Immersion Environment you do the previews in Conversations. If you can understand and repeat the answer in Listen and Speak in Sentence Pronunciation, then it is time for you to book your ticket to Brazil and really immerse yourself in the language. [Screenshot: Transparent Sentence Pronunciation] Immersion does not get any more real than that.

Learn Portuguese Now! 10 is so hot it sizzles. I get a strong feeling of serious intent about teaching Brazilian Portuguese here, and this software can give as much as you ask of it and more. This language software challenges you and will help you meet your language-learning goals.

There are several ways to contact the company for tech support. Help is an email away at support@transparent.com, and the support team tries to get back to you within 24 hours. You can also call them M-F 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern U.S. time zone) at 603-262-8300, or fax them at 603-262-6476.

Be sure to check out the help section online, at www.transparent.com. The technical support icon is in the upper right-hand corner of the page. And let's not forget Customer Service. It is on the same page and lists its email address as info@transparent.com.

In Learn Portuguese Now! 10, the tools abound. The Activities section makes learning fun as it challenges your recall. Practicing words, sentences, and sounds challenge you to match the Brazilian speaker, if you dare to try—and you should!

Conversations lets you practice dialogs for different occasions, as if a foreigner traveling in Brazil.

In Reference Tools Portuguese GrammarPro will explain all the grammar rules if you need them. See the Transparent Language images for Brazilian Portuguese in this review.