Putting words in your mouth

Being able to communicate with non-English speakers abroad is practical, too. If you're spending a few thousand dollars on airfare and hotels, or if you're overseas on business, you don't want to waste time using hand gestures to ask for toothpaste. Familiarizing yourself with local languages is also respectful: You saying "Guten tag" might make the Austrian waitress smile.

In years past, adults studying a foreign language while remaining in the United States either signed up for time-consuming courses or spent hours at the kitchen table every night poring over a textbook and listening to tapes. Now, laptop computers are the teacher of choice for would-be polyglots, making foreign language study easier probably than it has ever been.

Jessica Good, owner of Passport, a self-described travel boutique in Cambridge, said language software is an excellent, low-budget way to prepare for a trip. It provides the base of knowledge necessary to avoid a lot of hassles, she said, especially if the user is taking a relaxed approach to their studies.

"Don't get bogged down in trying to be fluent," said Good. "Just get the basics. At the very least, get an introduction to what the language sounds like, the alphabet, the numbers."

We tested three companies' foreign language applications: Rosetta Stone at $259, Berlitz at $39.99, and Instant Immersion at $39.95. Staples and other large retailers, including online stores like Amazon.com, carry all three companies' products, though not necessarily every language they offer.

We chose beginner's German for our test because we wanted to try a language other than French or Spanish. Besides, German seemed less intimidating than Chinese or another language with a non-Latin script.

Each firm took a different pedagogical approach. Rosetta Stone emphasized repetition. Berlitz threw us immediately into a conversation. Instant Immersion provided a high-quality video game. We're not linguists, but we felt like their approaches worked. It was thrilling to make a connection between "Sie kommt aus Hamburg jetzt" and "She comes from Hamburg now" after 10 minutes of using the Berlitz program, for example.

Students must take note, however: All three products demand hard work. They all have voice recognition software, video, interactive features like educational puzzles, and audio files that can be downloaded into handheld devices to supplement their lessons. But those bells and whistles mean nothing if you don't use them.

We chose Berlitz as the best package. Rosetta Stone was an excellent, easy-to-use product that we believe would help anyone who wants to seriously study a language. But its price is prohibitive, even if it comes with a quality headset and microphone that would cost at least $25 if purchased separately. Instant Immersion was also great, but its software was far more complicated than Berlitz's.

BERLITZ
Cost: $39.99
Pros: At first, the Berlitz method is intimidating. As a video of native German speakers meeting at a train station or similar stock scenario plays, text of the actors' conversation in German and English simultaneously scrolls off to the side. It's like watching a movie with two sets of subtitles. Users can pause and slow the video, click on individual words for their definitions, or play the role of one of the characters by recording their own voice-overs. The approach requires a lot of juggling. But after just a few minutes, the system became self-evident, and we began absorbing the storyline.
Cons: Anyone seeking a slower introduction to a language will be disappointed with Berlitz. It has options geared toward teaching the alphabet and similar rudimentary lessons, but those don't play to its strengths.
Final word: Perfect for those willing to jump right in.

ROSETTA STONE
Cost: $259
Pros: The benefits of the Rosetta method are obvious from the start. Users are drilled with a variety of interactive lessons where, in the beginning stages, they read and listen to nouns like "boy" and "girl" and verbs like "run" and "read." To test comprehension, you're prompted to click on different words, choose between different images, and speak with a proper accent, as determined by a voice recognition feature. As new terms are introduced, we were learning them out of context and by repetition. It's a good combination of covering the basics while cultivating a sense of the living language.
Cons: First, it's expensive. Second, the drills can become monotonous. They can be skipped, but then we felt guilty about cutting corners.
Final word: Pluggers will embrace this one.

INSTANT IMMERSION
Cost: $39.95
Pros: Instant Immersion comes with an interactive DVD and CD-based software. The former allows users to study using their television and remote, an approach that many would likely find far more comfortable than being hunched over a computer for hours. The software has an excellent voice recognition system with meters that allow users to see how their accents match up to native speakers. And the company's video game "Who is Oscar Lake?" was surprisingly fun to play and deceptively educational. As you interact with characters in the game, you realize you're absorbing lessons by playing - an effortless way to learn.
Cons: The software was far more complicated than Berlitz's, though its options were similar in terms of clicking on individual words to see their meaning or how they are pronounced. We never fully got the hang of it.
Final word: The biggest variety of choices in terms of learning styles, but the software might overwhelm the technologically challenged.