LANGMaster Spanish Review

Rating: 72/100

LANGMaster Spanish offers an online, multi-media course for non-native speakers. With the Spanish + Collins Dictionary package, you gain access to hundreds of lesson pages, 1,000+ images, 2 hours of sound recordings by native speakers and over 3,000 new words and phrases. The program also uses IBM ViaVoice® Speech recognition technology to ensure proper pronunciation on the student’s part.

Pros

• Multimedia. By using different forms of media to teach the students, LANGMaster makes learning a new language more interesting and engaging.
• Speech Recognition. Unlike other online courses, LANGMaster uses speech recognition technology so that the student learns to pronounce everything correctly before moving on to more advanced stages.
• Interactive. In addition to the speech recognition, this course offers Click&See and Say&See methods that are designed to help the student translate the words immediately.
• Affordable. The basic course is available for free download and an additional license key can be purchased for 27 Euros ($36.41 US dollars).

Cons

• Not Structured. The course covers many areas of learning a new language, but the course is not completely structured. The student has the freedom to pick and choose lessons as they go, which prevents them from creating building blocks.
• Only for Download. This course does not contain any CDs or hard copies. The only time you will be able to practice is when you are sitting at the computer.
• Not Mac Compatible. The program is only compatible with Microsoft Windows. If you are a Mac user, certain functions won’t work for you.
• Accessories not included. You have to supply your own sound card, microphone and have the correct system requirements to run this program.

Special Offers

You can sign up for a free trial with LANGMaster which lasts 14 days. After that time you will need to purchase a license key from their e-store in order to continue the lessons.

Guarantee

There does not seem to be any guarantee offered on the LANGMaster website. This is likely due to the fact that they offer a free, 14 day trial over which time the student can decide whether or not the course is worth 27 Euros.

Conclusion

While this course does offer an interactive, multi-media form of learning, it is too broad and generalized for the self-taught. It’s hard to know where to start and which lessons are important. Plus, the program is only compatible with PCs, which means the millions of Mac users out there won’t be able to participate. While this program is better than some other online courses, it would be worth it to spend a little more money to get a program that has better features and is more structured.