Instead of easing you in gently, the software launches into conversations (whole sentences and paragraphs rather than a few words at a time) which are hard to follow and do not always have English translations. I don't know how any beginner could learn easily from this and I got very frustrated with it within about 20 minutes. I'm going to give it another go, but I'd suggest you spend your money elsewhere, unless you already know a bit of Italian, in which case I'm sure it's quite good. The software is easy to install and use, it's just all in Italian so I can't understand it!!