Italian Software

Last Updated: Sun May 20, 2012

What's the best software to learn Italian?

Think learning Italian needs to be tedious, long and hard? It doesnt HAVE to be.

We've heard it all before. Learning a foreign language is difficult, and every method out there promises to make it fast and painless. However, they cant all be the best and alot of the programs out there really arent worth anything. Which is why we have created this list, to seperate the facts from reality and strip away the smoke and mirrors of fancy sales pages and commercials. Instead what you will read below is the realistic evaluation of the top three products currenty availible for learning Italian. Based upon our research as well as consumer reviews on the internet.

Each product will have a value between 1 and 5, 1 being the worst and 5 being the best rating it can recieve in a given area. The areas that will be evaluated are, Features, Fundamentals, Simplicity, Teaching Method, and Tools.

Rocket Italian

#1 High value at a low price

Rocket Italian is our top choice for learning Italian over any other program. Because it offers everything the other programs do and more, in a more affordable package. With the added virtue of some additional features Rocket Italian has like the ability to contact a Italian teacher 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Which gives it an extra way to help you along with learning the language.

The Rocket Italian program itself is setup with 45 audio/video lessons. Of those 45 the first 25 cover all the very basics, how to read and speak Italian effectively. Which is then followed up by 10 intermediate lessons, which takes that core you built with the first 25 and builds a stronger understanding from it. The final 10 lessons brings everything you have learned together placing you into real world situations using everything you have learned so far and taking that next step into an immersive environment to hone your skills. Using practical social situations to build your confidence and understanding.

The Rocket Italian program component series is as follows:

Conclusion:

So overall, the Rocket Italian program really is your best bet for learning Italian. Well deserving of our number one spot on this list of Italian learning programs. And given its comparatively reasonable price of 99.95 for the digital download version, which when weighed against its competitor is a lower cost but higher value. If you buy the physical version though, it is 300$ but free shipping is thrown in.

Natively Italian

#2 Excellent choice

Natively Italian is the number two choice on this list. As while it is a fantastic program in and of itself, it does not quite meet up to the high standards set by Rocket Italian. Wondering how we came to that conclusion? Continue reading to find out...

Natively Italian uses immersion as its primary teaching method. What that means is, when you start learning with Natively Italian it does everything possible to draw you in, make you feel as though you are in an Italian speaking country trying to learn. Using both real world pictures and situations, combined with native voices for you to interact with giving you an interesting and effective learning experience. And another great feature to help your growth, is the fact that Natively Italian tracks your progress and over time will start to focus the lessons on areas you are exhibiting more trouble with.

Now lets take a look at why this program was rated the way it is, using the scale you saw at the beginning of the review.

Conclusion:

So, our conclusion is that Natively Italian is an excellent program. And if it weren't for the overall cost, and the slightly superior effectiveness of Rocket Italian it would probably be our number one choice without question. However, if you intend to use Natively Italian, your best bet is to buy the complete package from the get go. As the basic variants really dont offer much, and may turn you off of the Natively program altogether which will force you to buy yet another program.

Rosetta Stone Italian

#3 Solid product

Rosetta Stone Italian finishes out our top three list in third place. Which may come as a surprise, as im sure many of those reading this have seen at least one commercial advertising Rosetta Stone as THE language learning software, bar none. However, while it is a good program it is not better then Natively Italian or Rocket Italian really. But before you dismiss it entirely as a result of its placement, lets take a closer look at it.

You probably do not remember, but the methods Rosetta Stone uses is the same method you learned your native language with as a child. With immersion and picture association it immerses you entirely into the Italian language, using a series of pictures to represent different words. Which makes it easier for your mind to recall the word by association with the image. However, there are no translations and you will more or less learn everything by trial and error. Build up slowly from single words, to phrases and then sentences.

Conclusion:

Overall, Rosetta Stone is still a decent program. The price is really the biggest problem with it, but if its not an object for you and you feel safer using Rosetta Stone, or perhaps you've used it in the past. Then it is a reasonable choice and will help you learn Italian. However, your time and money are better spent with one of the other two.