Fluenz Reviews 51

I've been studying with Fluenz for several years. It could have been shorter, but I completely stopped for 4 years and had to repeat - a lot! No fault of Fluenz. It's the only program/method I've been able to stick with and now I'm in the middle of level 5! It is the most practical and it never gets boring.

I've read the reviews (and thank everyone for the many contributions) but not many seem to factor in the intelligence of the user. Okay, what do I mean? Well, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer - by a long chalk. I'm in my twilight years (recently described as a 'coffin dodger') and never achieved more that a few CSE's at school. So, how is Fluenz for me? The answer is great. BUT... It's how you use it. Okay, if you've been blessed with the intelligence of Stephen Hawking or Albert Einstein you'll probably witter on about the software or how the lessons are not as good as Rosetta Stone etc and maybe throw in how expensive it is (which I will mention later), but that doesn't help a thicko like me. So how am I getting on with it? Am I learning Italian? (The language I have chosen). Yes. It teaches you what you are likely to need and although you won't pass the Advanced Learning exams to become an English teacher in Milan you will learn enough to a) enjoy it! Because it's not the traditional tried and tested way that's boring, and boring means difficult because you quickly lose interest and b) You will be able to use it on your next trip abroad (or in the local Italian restaurant) - this itself will give you confidence & and you will come home buzzing and wanting to fire up the program as soon as you can. Fluenz teaches you what to say in the real world. My advice to get the best from it is simple. As we all have varying levels of intelligence simply partake in each lesson (in order) until it's sunk in. If you are clever then you'll work through them one after the other, if, like me, you're not then do them time and time again. Some I do 3 or 4 times. So what? I'm learning!! The worst thing you can do is move on to the next lesson without learning the first. It doesn't work. As to cost....yes, it's not the cheapest out there to be sure. But once you have it then it's forever as is the support. I purchased Fluenz in the days of the CD's (now I understand long gone and all on line) but have contacted Fluenz for support and got it. (It's because I couldn't get the CD's to work - that's when I found out I didn't need them lol). I appreciate this is a long review but if it helps just one person it will be worth it. I'm no Benny Lewis but I am grasping the Italian language. Whether you chose Fluenz or not I wish you good luck & if you really want to learn another language don't give up. You will want to at times I'm sure but keep at it. You'll get there!

Several years ago I did three modules of Fluenz Spanish in preparation for a trip to Spain. First of all, I had a lot of fun studying with this program because it engaged my hearing, my vision, and my kinetics. I also liked the fact that I learned some grammar. With those three modules I was able to talk with people on the phone in Spain in their language and to coordinate with an Airbnb host who didn’t speak any English.
Right now I’m learning Italian in preparation for a trip to Italy. Even though Italian is more difficult than Spanish, I again have a lot of fun learning it and look forward to testing my language skills when I get to Tuscany. Arrivederci!

First of all I have to point out that The Fluenz program is a good although they are not innovative and the app gets minimal attention. They focus on private and group lessons.

Here is bad business practice.
Since last 3 years they have been emailing their database and telling their customers that programs are high definition (HD). In the first year I emailed them to find out if I can upgrade my Spanish to HD version. Apparently there wasn’t a HD version for most of the languages. I thought it is fine. It is a “one time” error.

They send the same email a later in 2020. I asked them again about the HD version and got the same response that many languages do not have it yet although in the email all programs are advertised as HD.

And now in 2021 they sent the same email, still no HD.

So basically they make hundreds or thousands of people buy their program with false advertisement in 3 consecutive years. Well done!

I have been working on Fluenz French for a couple of years now and am close to finishing out the fifth and final set of lessons. The focus is on the fundamentals of grammar and sentence structure than rote memorization of phrases so you are interacting with French speakers you can express yourself. It's taken a lot of time and like any language acquisition I've supplemented with other sources, but Fluenz is a high quality resource.

I decided to use my Covid isolation time to learn French and have tried a number of online applications: Babel, DuoLingo, Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur and, of course, Fluenz.
My top two are Fluenz and Pimsleur, in that order. Fluenz offers the most comprehensive approach, by far. I have spent about two hours a day, most days, for nine months studying on Fluenz and am now testing at the intermediate level. I'm not conversational, but feel very confident that I could easily get through a day in Paris, shopping, asking directions, making reservations, navigating train stations and airports, ordering in restaurants, etc. I understand basic French grammar and have a pretty good vocabulary.

The good of Fluenz:
- Consistent lesson plan structure
- Clear and concise explanations by a "virtual tutor" clear up otherwise confusing aspects of the language (and there are a lot of them)
- Good combination of speaking, writing and listening.
- Flash card reviews are available to drill previous lessons and keep all the material fresh. The flash cards are fantastic and I use them daily.
- The consistent structure of the lessons helped motivate me to push through them on the tough days. Knowing where I was in the lesson and knowing there were only one or two modules left on those days motivated me to grind it out.

The not-so-good of Fluenz
- The woman who voices the Isabella character has an odd accent which makes it very frustrating for a beginner struggling to understand even perfectly spoken French. She ends a lot of words by adding an "uh." Imagine if you were just beginning to learn English and someone pronounces "learn" as "learn-uh" or "imagine" as "imagine-uh." Until I developed an ear for her particular pronounciations, it was very difficult. The other voices are great. Unfortunatelly Isabella is a main character throughout.
- As much as I love the flashcards, they have an unfortunate inconsistency. As you will learn with Fluenz, there are different ways to construct correct sentences. Sometimes very different ways. Most of the times, the flashcards accommodate that. But, some of the times, the flashcards don't. For example, oui and si can both mean "yes" but if you don't have the context of previous sentences, it's not possible to know which is appropriate. Since the flashcards don't give context, they should allow both, in this case. There are A LOT of these cases in the flashcards, so they are sometimes more about remembering exactly the way a sentence was constructed in a previous lesson than about constructing a correct sentence. It would be better if Fluenz spent the time to fix this glitch, but the flashcards are still pretty effective.

excellent customer service. product performs as advertised

It's amazing

I admit that I tried to learn languages and spend so much money for that.. till i saw lesson in you-tube.. when I check to website I didn't hesitate and each day I tell myself that was great choice.. with every lesson i can notice the progress .. I wish if there is a lessons for English because i fed up of courses that teach nothing. Thanks so much

I recommend Fluenz. I feel that I'm retaining the material that I'm learning.

The Dvds are easy to use and systematically each lesson builds on the preceding ones. written and oral exercises enable the user to build up their knowledge of the language and begin to speak and understand it.

I used Fluenz for their Spanish program. I bought all levels 1-5. The video instruction is very interested and engaging. Sonia is a good teacher and keeps your interest. The exercises can get repetitive though. Sometimes you are working with the same sentences over and over again, so some more variety would be nice. The program teaches "thrifty" vocabulary that be used in a variety of contexts. This program is a great introduction for someone to self study. For best results, pair this program with real-life practice with a native speaker. I also started watching a Spanish soap opera to increase my immersion into Spanish. Overall, great product and is worth the premium price tag!

I tried to use Learn Mandarin in China, specifically Qindao and had both performance problems and an inability to set it up to learn Chinese characters. Now that I'm back in the US, I'll try again, but it was sure a let down not to be able to use the learning while I was in China for 2 months.

The program has lots of excises which are organized in a way so that we repeat specific words and phrases but in different ways. So, we don't find them boring and can really learn. Lessons progress in small steps which are well fit for self-learners like us. Yes, we need effort to practice as many days as possible even if a little at a time. But if we follow the advice and keep moving through the lessons, we can learn well. As to speaking, we can't simply depend on this program, but this is the best program I tried.

It is a perfect solution for beginners with very good Engilsh knowledge (I am from Slovenia).
Sometimes it seems, that everything is too slow, but on the other side - Italian stays in my head. And that is important.

It`s a good way to learn as long as you don't stop (for a month for example). I stopped 1 month and now I don't remember some of the things in level 3 that were thaught on level 1 and 2. Apart from that some things are unnecessarily translated to english dozens of times, it is unbearable, if we have already practiced those things a lot then why to continue translating them as if we hadnt seen them before, and other things are shown only superficially, but then they are asked a lot, for example, in lesson 4 level 3: the use of verbs partir, servir, devoir, prendre. These verbs are just mentioned (the conjugation maybe) but no emphasis is put on really learning them, and at the same time things that are easy to understand are hammered unnecessarily. Later in the exercises the above mentioned verbs have to be used a lot.
Some units are excellent, but others have too much unnecessary info. and little important info.

As a beginner, I found the Spanish program difficult to use during the listening and typing sessions. Words often blend together, are rushed, and generally don't make a lot of sense.

With the new program, I am not able to report feedback on individual lessons, which doesn't help. At least when I could report on issues I *hoped* they would get resolved.

Additionally, I ran into issues with my Mac headset. System requirements are vague and not well thought out. Luckily, the online version of the program sufficed until the issue was resolved (Not resolved by Fluenz tech support.)

Otherwise, I do really enjoy the teaching style of the program. The lessons, reviews, spoken reviews, etc have been terrific, and help me understand things mor comprehensively. As a past Rosetta Stone customer, this is by far a much better program.

The Fluenz method is a great way for me to learn a language. I did a reasonable amount of research before choosing Fluenz, and I was not disappointed. The method of putting words with pictures that I've heard some other companies use does not seem like the ideal way for an adult to learn a new language.

The whole Fluenz program seems very well thought out. Each lesson has a very brief intro and a short dialogue (with both Italian and English subtitles - each of which can be enabled or disabled) followed by a 5-10 minute in depth explanation from Sonia Gil. She often covers more ground than was in the dialogue. For verbs, she usually provides the full conjugation.

These three sections are followed by a few different exercises, which help reinforce what was in the dialogue.

I worked on Fluenz Italian for about two or three months most mornings for about 30 minutes on my subway commute to work. I did find that I learned enough in that relatively short period of time to get around OK in Rome. Granted, many of the people we came in contact with spoke at least some English. But some did not. So, this was definitely helpful. Oh, and the lessons were enjoyable too - not tedious at all.

I have a couple of suggestions for ways to improve the product. I think that it would be ideal for review to be able to stream all of the dialogues, one after the other without having to click anything in between. Maybe this feature could be only for the dialogues for lessons one had already completed. There are MP3s that come with the DVDs, and they are somewhat like what I'm suggesting. But it would be nice to hear the actual dialogues too.

The dialogues are kind of short. There are maybe only five or six sentences from each of the two people. In addition, some of those "sentences" are repeated in many of the dialogues and/or they are really sort of unnecessary. For example, do we really need to hear Ciao from each actor in every dialogue? That's not so bad, but we certainly don't need the pause that follows. Everybody knows Ciao - even people who have not taken any language courses.

My other comment is that sometimes the explanations seemed a little slow. There are certain things that are covered in early lessons that get explained again in one or more later lessons (I can't remember exactly what those things are; so I might actually be misremembering). But I can understand that each person learns at his or her own pace. And the pace is by no means a big problem.

I highly recommend Fluenz Italian

I am of French descent and could not speak French. I have wanted to learn to speak French since I can remember. I have tried so many programs and books with no luck. I finally purchased Rosetta stone and had to return it since I wasn't learning French. So I saw and ad for Fluenz and decided to try it. I am so pleased. With the CD's for pronunciation and sentences and phrases, my "ears" are starting to understand. There is pronunciation, spelling, writing, punctuation, phrases and sentences also with drills. There are flashcards on line with words and phrases and sentences. Much more too!!

I am on Spanish level 5 and have learned the imperfect verb tense from this program. They give the conditions under which the imperfect is used in bite sized pieces with one condition per lesson. I am pleased with how my knowledge has grown. Due to the extensive reviews and interactivity I find that I am retaining what I learn better than I have with other methods of learning such as reading textbooks. I only wish there were more levels.