Valodas can be used for a number of purposes. I recently downloaded and started using it, along with some other tools, to learn Spanish. For a few weeks now, I've been able to converse with my Spanish speaking friends in their mother tongue, and it's an excellent way to practice your new skills, while levelling your skills at the same time. The Spanish software that I downloaded was relatively easy to use, and once I got a hang of things, I found it pretty straightforward and effective.
Valodas offers a good alternative to other online language learning resources, including podcasts, books, forums and of course, conventional language classes. However, on the negative side, discovered that the selection of vocabulary was very strange, with many words that aren't particularly useful or common. On another note, the Spanish software didn't seem to have any graphics, and the pronunciation was a bit difficult, especially for someone who is not accustomed to the Spanish spoken language. However, there was one positive point - I was able to clearly hear every word, even those which were not familiar to me. The same cannot be said for some of the audio examples that I found on Wikipedia, for example, which only gave me a rough idea of the pronunciation.
The software allows you to choose from several different levels, and the features are easy to use. For example, as I mentioned above, there is the flashcard application, where you can add pictures to your words to help you remember them better. There is also an enriched dictionary, where you can search for specific terms, and it even includes words in my own language that I had never heard of before! The Spanish dictionary software also includes a grammar and quiz builder, which I found extremely helpful as I was still learning the basics of grammar. Once you have finished with the course, Valodas will download the results, which are stored on your computer, and you can review them at any time.
