Review: Global Traveler
CD-ROM and Electronic Translator
Global Traveler
Language-Learning Software (Windows & Macintosh)
German, French, Italian, Spanish, English
Publisher: The Rosetta Stone - Fairfield Language Technologies
CD-ROM, electronic translator, user's manual
This CD-ROM/electronic pocket translator
package is a bargain deal for beginners.
Most of Rosetta Stone's language-learning software is a bit pricey. While their programs may be good, they can cost over $300. So I was a little surprised when my wife came home with Rosetta Stone's Global Traveler software package that she had purchased at Costco for about $35.00!
Not only does the multilingual Global Traveler offer a robust CD-ROM (Windows and Macintosh) with audio and video, but it throws in an electronic pocket translator for words and phrases in six languages, including German.
Now, no one is claiming that the Global Traveler set is as complete and serious a program as Rosetta Stone's $300+ software. Global Traveler has more limited aims and, as the name implies, it targets tourists and travelers rather than more advanced learners. But for a package costing under $40.00, it is a very capable program and a good value. I have put this program to the test, and I came away quite impressed. Here's why.
First of all, despite largely limiting its vocabulary to the field of travel and getting around in a foreign country (in four languages plus English), Global Traveler covers all four major language skills. It has lessons and exercises for listening, speaking, reading and writing. Although it doesn't come with its own headset/mike like Auralog's $50.00 Tell Me More - German for beginners (you get a nice pocket translator instead), Global Traveler does offer serious help with listening and speaking skills. You can practice speaking, record your voice, and compare your German (or other) pronunciation with a native-speaker, just like with Rosetta Stone's other programs.
To give Global Traveler a true test, I chose to begin with Italian, partly because when I was briefly in Italy last summer, I wished I had known a little more Italian. I also considered that a fair test for me as a real beginner.
Although I just plunged right in with Exercise One for Italian, I could have taken the introductory tutorial lesson that Global Traveler offers for each exercise. I saw four pictures (most still, some in motion) while hearing and seeing a sentence in Italian that described one of the photos. (German and the other languages all have the same format.) The photos and sentences referred to people at the airport, in a restaurant, at the hotel, and so on. I was supposed to click on what I thought was the correct picture for each of 25 items. A chime told me when I was right, a heavy organ chord if I was wrong. (That chime gets a bit irritating after a while, but at least you know you're doing OK.) At the end of each exercise I had a score and time that told me how I had done.
I was also able to listen to the sentences, imitate their sound, record my repetition, and compare it with the original (both male and female voices), repeating any item as many times as I wanted. Other lessons and exercises also teach and test your ability to read and write the language you're learning. There is no special emphasis on grammar, but it is taught as part of the natural approach through vocabulary. People into grammar may want a supplement, but that really isn't necessary.
Global Traveler won't turn a beginner into a fluent speaker of German (or the other available languages) overnight, and it doesn't claim it will. But it does offer the serious student/traveler a solid foundation in basic German that would be very helpful on that next trip to Europe. The bonus Lingo pocket translator (battery included!) adds Portuguese to the language set, and will be a fun item for people into such gadgets. (It even has a clock/calendar/alarm and currency converter!) Unlike a lot of software today, the included user's manual is very helpful. For the price, it would be difficult to find anything approaching the scope and effectiveness of this budget program.
If you want German-learning software that is more comprehensive, see Rosetta Stone's other products below, plus our review of Tell Me More - German.
Global Traveler
Language-Learning Software (Windows & Macintosh)
German, French, Italian, Spanish, English
Publisher: The Rosetta Stone - Fairfield Language Technologies
CD-ROM, electronic pocket translator, user's manual
$US39.99 to $US34.99, depending on vendor
NOTE: At the time this was written, Global Traveler was available at Costco, Kmart (online and in stores), and from various online vendors.
WEB > Rosetta Stone
OTHER Rosetta Stone PRODUCTS (Web Links):
• German Online (subscription)
• Rosetta Stone - German Products (Catalog)
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Tell Me More - German for Beginners
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