Foreign Lang. SW Improves Its Speech
Learn To Speak German 6.0 and Learn To Speak Spanish 6.0 include new speech-recognition technology to provide the user with enhanced self-study language learning.
Students learn to speak and understand the language by studying vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing. Cultural notes, audio recordings and more than one hour of QuickTime movies deepen students' knowledge and understanding of the history, geography and customs of countries where the languages are spoken.
The speech recognition technology (Windows only) in the programs enables users to improve their pronunciation by recording their own voice and automatically comparing their pronunciation of words, phrases and complete sentences to that of native speakers. The software shows users how their pronunciation is improving by evaluating it on a sliding scale from "tourist" to "native."
The QuickTime movies in each program's 30 situation-based lessons contain more than 20 native speakers enacting the story and dialogue. Exercises and games, both onscreen and in the 350-page textbook, offer engaging ways to reinforce comprehension, grammar and writing skills. The Learning Co., Fremont, CA, (800) 852-2255.
This article originally appeared in the 01/01/1996 issue of THE Journal.