I Really Don’t Think Natively Language Academy is to be Trusted
80The latest ad I saw from them seriously made me laugh out loud
I am currently writing some texts about learning languages. This reminded me about something that I found very amusing.
A while back I used to see ads for a company called Natively Language Academy almost everywhere. Right from the start I felt that they weren’t to be trusted, because they are one of those companies that claim that you can learn a language in an incredibly short amount of time. Such claims are often very dishonest, and Natively proudly proclaim in their ads that you can learn a language in ten days with them, which is something I find highly doubtful.
But when I started seeing more ads from them I was very amused and now I trust them even less. One ad in particular was so bad that I feel the need to share my feelings about it.
The ad in question is a vertical banner that I’ve seen on several sites. It shows balls with different national flags on them flying over a black background, and above them is the text “Choose your language.”
The flags on the balls are Japanese, Swedish, Swiss, Russian, Canadian, Italian, and Israeli. At first I was confused by the Swiss, Canadian and Israeli flags. In Canada the official languages are English and French, in Switzerland the official languages are German, French, Italian and Romansh, and in Israel the official languages are Hebrew and Arabic. I was a bit curious how those flags could allow you to directly “Choose your language.”
Wondering which of the languages I would get if I clicked on one of those flags, I moved my mouse pointer over the ad. I found that if you do that, you get like a little tooltip-text floating over the flag you hold your pointer over it. And I was surprised by the results.
The Japanese, Russian and Italian flags all showed the right languages. The Israeli flag showed the text “Hebrew”, which I guess is alright. But holding your pointer over the Swedish flag shows “Danish”, the Swiss flag triggers the text “Swedish”, and the Canadian flag gives you “Candian” [sic].
Ok, Sweden and Denmark are geographically very close, and the languages are etymologically pretty close too. But I would never trust a language academy that states that the languages are interchangeable. And I thought that it was only in bad comedies people constantly confuse Sweden with Switzerland.
And seriously, Candian? First of all, I don’t think that even one spelling error is allowed in an ad for a language academy, especially not when there are so very few words in the ad in the first place. Secondly, even if they would have written Canadian, what language is that?
I’m wondering if I should sign up for a class just to see if I can learn to speak Candian in ten days.
I do understand that it is probably not Natively that made the actual ad; they just ordered it from some ad company. But even so I wouldn’t trust them as a language school, even if they are better than the people who made the ad at telling one country and one language from another. This still really shows that they do not at all verify the accuracy things done for them, so I wouldn’t trust any textbooks that they produce.
So, in short I would say that my recommendation is to stay away from Natively if you want to learn a language.
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HAHA well, im swedish and i can say that danish is pretty hard to understand for a swedish speaking person xD
and.. well, learn a language in 10 days xD good luck
^^ i tly agree whit you about everything u just said
åh xD såg precis att du va svensk.. ja.. xD lol, då antar ja att du redan vet att danskar är svåra att förstå, lolz
I just filled out their form to get the price of the courses, you have to give out your telephone number in order to see how much the course costs, then I got a phone call from the states giving me an "extra" discount from what was on the website, got passed onto the supervisor for the close! Real hard sell tactics, very american in it's methods (sorry US but having been on the wrong end of Boiler room tactics, it's true). I was told the course is similar, though better, than Rosetta Stone, who know's but I think I will give them a miss. Shame as I really want to learn Spanish as I live here in Spain, so anyone that's come across a trusted website/product, let me know.
I got a call from this academy as well. I told them I was not interested. Next I received an e-mail in which I was told that following the phone conversation - as agreed - they were sending me a link to finish my purchase of a new language learning package. I tried to reply to this e-mail to inform them I was not interested, but the reply e-mail box seemed unavailable!
Thanks for the warning, I was also a little put off by the ads for this company so I listened to my inner voice and checked for forums discussing the product, which I would recommend doing for anything you wish to purchase, you will not believe the things you find. Anyway thanks again for the info...another dollar saved.
I was looking at there site and clicked on the buy now buttong to see a price only to find out its an invalid link -.-
Nice observations...
But I think now they have been corrected some of their misleading...
Meanwhile, I do not appreciate companies which are not showing their prices right away.
I used to work there... natively academy is a brand name for DSNR which is an Israeli company that dealing with marketing and publishing over the internet and tv channels like MTV, VH1 and so... (most of the marketing effort goes for usafis.org which is a website that make applications for the green card lottery) in the same place they are salespersons for usafis.org and natively.com and they can sell both of the products... the marketing dept of this company was completely fucked up (a lot of misleadings and misspelling on ads) but now they hired a new marketing manager which is better and u can see that... the program itself is the same software of earotalk.com just a newer version especcialy made for DSNR (the marketing company) which is a good software that also won the U.K qweens award but a full program in natively.com costs 219$ for 3 levels and on eurotalk.com it's cost 39$...
The calling center of natively.com is located in israel so you heard Israeli accent not arab... it's not an american company and there is no connection to new york...(in the beggining they told us to say new york because we worked a lot with UAE, Kuwait, Qattar, Baharain and so but now they are not allowed to say NY or where they are calling from...)
hopefully I helped you a little bit...
So...are they not a reputable company? Are there any reputable companies online?
can the site be trusted to give the payment information......... any help
Now they're running their new campaign on tihs language learning portal: www.uz-translations.net
I had not even finish making a website when I received a letter from the Academy. It looked like a spam message - they offered me that I advertise their product on my site in exchange for a revenue share. I followed to the form I was supposed to fill and found neither terms of agreement nor any extra information. It looks somewhat strange.
Hi! I just had a call from that company, and they still claim that they are calling from New York. But the time in NY would have been 7 o'clock in the morning there at the time, so I actually thought that this was a call from some sales jerks in Africa. If people start the conversation with a lie, why on earth would you buy something from a firm like that?
Hi! I first contacted Natively Academy last year about their Italian course. After a very long conversation with the manager I got 6 (!) different language courses with a massive discount (or at least that's what they said). Obviously I was not planning that...but they were very persuasive and I easily get confused when talking on the phone. After all I like languages and I thought it would be nice anyway. I completed Italian and French but in fact I already knew the basics of both. I found other languages (Arabic and German), that I didn't study before, very difficult to learn or even to start learning...Ok, Italian and French courses were good, fun and informative, but the same techniques don't work for Arabic, for example, because it's just different, I didn't even know how to pronounce words. My friend whose mother tongue is Arabic, told me that some of the words and expressions in the exercises didn't make any sense.
I'm not saying that the course is bad, but my conclusion is - perhaps the effectiveness of the course depends on the language itself.
As to the calling center, they are a bit pushy (if it's the right word). It's too much really. I just got a call from them this morning. The manager told me that she was a seniour manager and that she usually doesn't talk to clients on the phone. But she said she was calling me because I was a VIP client and that she had a very special offer for me (upgrade of all my courses to professional level for just 400 $ or something like that). I said I was not in a position to invest in these courses, at least not now. But she continued along these lines "it's an urgent offer", "I'll give you a student discount"..."you need these cd's if you really want to learn a language properly" etc. I understand their marketing tactics but for me personally it was just a little bit overboard.
My suggestion is if you want to try a (classic) course go for it but be careful (and conscious!) when talking to a manager.
I've got a call from this organization also 10 months ago and they talked to me regarding the spanish caurse.I've perchuased the caurse and i've got it within a month exactly as they promissed. till now I've a good knowledge in Spanish with the help of that learning caurse so i think that you are just trying to tell bad things and by youself using very bad tactics.
Natively Academy? I wonder why they know my email add, then I remember one time I played an online lottery and one of their prizes is earning a green card in the U.S. But unfortunately I found out that this online lottery is bogus! Imagine how this natively academy has a link to fake online lottery game...think about it!
Thanks for let me know all informaton in advance.
My credit card has been defrauded by Natively Native after we signed up with an American Company offering Green Card lottery.Please beware of this organisation!!!
I didn't even know this company, but I will sure to steer away from them. They probably just spend all their efforts on marketing, and no effort at all on delivering good language instructions. Confusing Danish and Swedish... I guess it's an American company :-O
Hi All,
Dont trust this company please!! It is purely scam and their aim is to get your credit card details over the phone...(or online). they are well known as well in regard to usafis (if you google usafis and scam or identity fraud, you can make your own picture.)
After giving their credit card details people their banks informed them that there were many attempts from various countries to withdraw money from their account!
The marketing guys are making lots of psychological pressure on the phone-until you agree to a payment! the cds delivered are of poor quality or you never receive anything at all!
The Us government warns people in regard to usafis as it is pure scam!!
Again: The websites are set up to make a serious impression, but their priority is the get your CREDIT CARD DETAILS and not business per se!'
Make your own research on usafis which is an affiliate organisation of DSNR. The tons of posted complaints from people who were scammed/made really bad experience with the above mentioned company is evidence enough!!
If they would be that transparent as they claim to be,they would accept normal bank transfer instead of ONLY western union, cheques or credit cards!
Btw: It is no US company but only owns a presence in a letterbox through UPS, (broadway 25,
NY)....The structure set up makes it very difficult (and nearly impossible) for most people to find a responsible person if they wish to claim back their funds!
Stay away from DSNR! (owners/co-owner: Daniel Scalosub and Nino Ransenberg, Isreal.) They are just a bunch of isreali thiefs who steal your hard earned money.
Best regards,
I live in switzerland and I speak 6 languages...
I would highly recommend you Berlitz Schools of Language: www.berlitz.com
Berlitz has got a very good (international) reputation.
Best,
It is funny!
naira, thank you.
Ok. Accidentally found this page. Unfortunately too late. I told telephone NATIVELY number of my card Visa. Money lost. $ 698.13. It is dishonest company. It's a shame. I am Russian, but wanted to learn to speak English. But now I will not!
Thanks for all the information. You guys have save the day.
NATIVELY Academy is owned by a company based in - ISRAEL -
NATIVELY Academy is owned by a company based in - ISRAEL -
It´s really strange, because they want transfer money to bank which located in Austria!
i recieved atelephone call from them telling me the price in Euro after two hours they doubled the price.so beware them.
thanks dodo for this warning , we should be careful in our choice .
thanks dodo for this warning , we should be careful in our choice .
thanks for this warning.i am arabian and i willbe involved
jajaa the flag item, what´s the different between portugal and brazil language?... I´M from Chile... keep your mind out of mershandising... REAL FK US PROBLEM!!!
i almost filled out the form but stopped when i remembered that someone told me to search for information on any online company before giving out my credit card information. Well 5 minutes after someone contacted me, she spoke in french, she was pushy. i told her that i was not interested and she was angry; she told me that i would never be able to speak spanish and slammed the phone. What a bitch.
I was mislead to think that this package is what I need to get a visa. Now I already paid some amount of money, got a invoice that they are not misusing my card or something like that. But I found out rather late for this, and wanted to get my money back (because they have a great return policy...so they say) by returning them their products. Does anyone know where do I return the products? Is it the address on their site in America? Please help. I would like to repair the damage I've done to myself.
Natively Language Academy are TRASH !!!! AGGRESSIVE, AND THEY DO NOT PAY U BACK IF U SEND THEIR PRODUCT IN THE 30 FOLLOWING DAYS ! DONT PAY !! THEY ARE TRASH !!!
I am having trable with them!They don't call me back with in 72days and they don't e-mail me back in 48hours!They sell empty CD for 100euro and they don't agree to return to send that thing back to them.And also I need to pay shipment as well!I have been fighting with them for 10days now!They are totally Crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!That I am sure! I will post in the gervent service which I got from USA friend!
Today I watched some YouTube video posted from the middle east.
Some videos were written in Arabic language.
And other videos were written in Hebrew language.
When I finished watching Youtube, I found a browser window of 'Natively Language Tool' behind the YouTube window. So I did Google searching to see relative informations. I agree with your opinion about them. Thank you! From JAPAN.
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Svetlana 3 years ago
I had a call from these Academy. They wanted me to pass their English courses. I was surprised to hear a voice with Arabic accent.
Isn't it funny?
Zabimaru, i agree with you!