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Spanish Your Way 2.0
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(Continued from Page One) by Sean Sutton |
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Spanish Your Way 2.0 claims to employ "the most accurate speech technology for language learning". It is supplied with a reasonable quality microphone and this can be used to "speak" to the other characters in the picture and advance the conversation.
When my turn came I said, in my best Spanish, "Gracias, buenas noches" as prompted.
Nothing happened. The panel did not advance or change in any way and no matter how many times I tried, the program did not move. After attempting to adjust the system sound settings, I still could not get the speech-recognition feature to work. Even more troubling, perhaps, was that there seemed to be no feedback whatsoever in this mode.
The only way the recording could be used was to listen to my pronunciation back-to-back with that of the native speaker, but this activity has limited value.
Every program should have functions built in to let the user know what is happening - even if what is happening is wrong, but Spanish Your Way 2.0 left us in the dark.
On another computer, a 166 MhZ Pentium with 64 MB RAM, the "advanced speech recognition" was working about 50% of the time, and there was negative feedback (often in spite of the fact that the oral answer was correct). However, without the speech recognition, the conversations seemed dull and barely more interesting than a traditional teach yourself Spanish book. Similarly, the simple game of matching an utterance with a picture is neither inspired nor inspiring.
As well as conversations, there are grammar activities in the program as well. These practice prepositions, comparatives, negatives, verb matching, verb tenses and ser vs. estar. Basically they follow the same pattern of introducing the grammar through simple pictures and sentences and then giving the opportunity to find the correct answer. In Prepositions, for example, the practice screen shows prepositions and sentences and a drawings of animals around different objects like a car or a cup. Clicking on each sentence will reveal a picture. In the Prepositions game, a sentence is spoken and the user must match it with one of several possible pictures. All the sentences and words can be listened to and the user can record their own voice to compare their pronunciation with that of a native speaker.
The fundamental problem here is that the games are dull. While the conversations seem to approach language learning with full immersion in mind, these games and practice exercises go to the other extreme with such unnatural sentences as: "the mouse is in front of the cheese," and "the dog is not in the box," and so on. With conversational topics such as medical needs and hotels and accommodations this program is obviously aimed at adults - why then use so many sentences aimed at 5 year olds?
The Introduction to Reading is basically an audio alphabet. Each letter of the alphabet can be clicked and the user can then listen to how that letter is pronounced within the context of a word. The instructions say to "explore" the alphabet and listen to the words. Even more so than the grammar games, this exercise lacks direction and motivation for the user. The program offers very little motivation for sitting down at the computer to click on the 28 different alphabet buttons and just to practice all the words beneath them.
As well as grammar games and alphabets, there are several games designed to practice those words and structures learnt already. In the Vocabulary game there is a lengthy and complicated set-up to perform before the game begins. Once this has been accomplished each word can be heard and illustrated for practice. Then 4 pictures appear and the word is heard. The user has to choose the matching picture to get it right. Alternatively one of the pictures will be highlighted and the user says the corresponding word.
Question & Answer is a multiple choice game in which the learner must decide which answer is most appropriate to a question (or vice versa). Again words can be heard and answers spoken. The program also offers crossword puzzles. Dictation lets you hear a word or phrase and then type it in. Menu practices the ingredients for a number of Spanish dishes. Map practices the names and locations of Spanish speaking countries and cities. And all these games offer listening and voice recognition (if it can be made to work).
Again, this review centre shows remarkable disregard for the needs of the user. From the first time the user logs on, I would expect Spanish Your Way 2.0 to keep track of those activities completed well, those completed with mistakes or those not completed at all. The progress charts could then be updated in real time to reflect on the work done. Instead, however, it is up to the users to decide for themselves whether they have completed a task satisfactorily or whether they need to work more on it.
Not mentioned in the manual are the Internet lessons and the cassette. The cassette is a cheaply produced copy of the conversations. The Internet lessons offer a free sample of lessons from "Language Connect University". To help you get connected the CD comes with Netscape Navigator 2.0 and 15 days free Internet access.
However, in spite of several attempts to access the site, I could never get through.
Pedestrian is the word I would use to describe Spanish Your Way 2.0. The interface is not particularly user-friendly and the graphics old-fashioned. The games are dull and it would require extreme dedication to work all the way through every exercise here. And, unfortunately, the potential innovation of speech recognition did not work as it should have.
One aspect of the program which did work, however, was the uninstall. I used that feature to good effect.
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Written December 7, 1997
By Sean Sutton
Last updated December 22, 1997
By Jim Duber
Copyright © 1997 Sean Sutton and Jim Duber. All rights reserved.