WindoWatch Magazine Volume 7 No. 6 June 2001 Learning to Speak (Even More) with The Learning Company® Copyright 2001 by Margaret Werdermann Check Out Version 8! We've gotten our sweaty little palms on Version 8.0 of the Learn to Speak software. Let's see what's new and improved from Version 7, shall we? Installation and Customization If you remember, I had an awful lot to say about the 'gripping' topic of installation and configuration of version 7 in the first article in the 'Learning to Speak with the Learning Company' epic. So, has anything changed with version 8?
System Requirements Well, The Learning Company has increased the CPU requirement from a Pentium 75 MHz to a Pentium 90MHz or better. The rest of the specs stayed the same at Windows 95 with 16 MB RAM or Windows 98 with 16 MB RAM, hard drive, 256-colour SVGA, 4x CD-ROM drive, Windows-compatible sound card, a mouse, and a microphone. Although increasing the CPU speed makes their minimum recommended requirements a little more realistic, I stand by my original minimum specs for version 8. You'll have a lot more fun with this software on a system with at least a Pentium 200 running Windows 95 or 98 with 64 MB RAM and a 6x CD-ROM.
As I said in the last article, if you've got more power/memory/speed than this - great - you'll do even better. One notable improvement for version 8's system requirements is the ability to make the software compatible with Windows 2000. This is simply done by visiting The Learning Company’s support site at this link no longer works - we were unable to find a replacement to download and run the version 8 patch. This page is very easy to navigate.
Just find the name of your software in an alphabetical program list, click on the blue filename (in the 'Download' column) beside it, and follow the instructions. The patch is quick and easy to download and install. Installation Installing the version 8 software is as simple as version 7 was - just insert the first CD, sit back, and let the software do the work.
I was quite happy to see a couple of version 7's installation annoyances eliminated, though - for starters, my old nemesis QuickTime. No, I don't mean they aren't using QuickTime any more. I don't have that kind of luck. However, version 8's installation fixes the bug in version 7 that forced the user to install QuickTime even if it was already present on the system. Now the installation program asks if you want to install QuickTime and gives you the option to skip it during installation.
That's one frustration out of the way. The other annoyance eliminated from the installation was that the microphone testing program doesn't pop up in the middle of the process. Again, if you remember from the first article on version 7, setting up the microphone can be an involved process. I would prefer to get the software installed before spending time messing about with the microphone, so I really liked this change to the installation process.
![Learn To Speak Spanish 8.0 (by Request) Learn To Speak Spanish 8.0 (by Request)](https://www.citylifemadrid.com/wp-content/uploads/Fiestas-del-Pilar-fuegos-artificiales.jpg)
You can still access The Learning Company's microphone testing program by opening the language program and choosing the Customization menu item. From here, you can click on the Test Microphone option. If you're having trouble with recording or playing back using your microphone, you can refer back to the first article in WindoWatch's version 7 series, or click on the following URL to access The Learning Company's 'microphone problems with version 8' support site (otherwise known as 'Learn to Speak Spanish 8.0 Technical Note' - personally, I think my title is much more descriptive): this link no longer works - we were unable to find a replacement Hey, no fair! There was no 'microphone problems with version 7' support site! Could it be that The Learning Company has been reading my articles?! (fade inthe familiar music from the opening sequence of The Twilight Zone) Yes, yet another improvement - after having to figure this stuff out by ourselves with version 7, The Learning Company has given us recording/playback troubleshooting instructions with version 8. Of course, they aren't as pretty as ours were in WindoWatch with all the helpful screenshots; but, if you didn't archive that article (and my next question is, of course, 'why not?'
), at least you have somewhere to go for help now. Course Customization OK, so we have the software installed. Are we ready to roll yet? Oh no we aren't, and I'm thrilled to tell you why!
This is one of the best improvements in the whole package. With version 8, you can now customize your course to suit your needs more exactly. Take another look at the top of that Customization window we were just looking at: Isn't this great?! Before you start your program, you can choose a specialized extended course in Travel, Business, or Everyday Life.
If you buy this software to get yourself up to speed quickly before the big business trip, you don't want to be wasting your time learning 'At the Beauty Shop' vocabulary. Likewise, if you buy this software so that you can learn some basic language skills before the family holiday, you want to focus on things like 'Ordering a Meal' and 'At the Airport' without being bothered with 'Making an Appointment.' With a click of a radio button, you can customize your course to your own interests and needs. Talk about motivating!
Conjuguemos Spanish
Of course, if you're a 'keener' like me, there's nothing stopping you from doing them all one after the other. Course Content Just when you thought it couldn't get better, it does! If you remember from the second article in the Learn to Speak version 7 series, I wasn't too keen on the Basics lesson that came with that software. It covered important concepts like the alphabet and phonics as well as basic vocabulary such as colors and numbers; but I thought the presentation was, frankly, boring. Well, let the fiesta begin with version 8. The old 'Basics' lesson has been broken into two lessons: Pronunciation and the Basic Course.
The Pronunciation lesson is pretty well identical to the old pronunciation exercises - there's not a lot you can do with learning the alphabet and practicing vowel combinations. The Basic Course, though, has had a total makeover; and, man, is she pretty now! The Basic Course The Basic Course starts out with an animated Orientation hosted by a character by the name of Gram R. Crow (more about him later). The Orientation explains what will be covered in the Basic Course and offers a quick pep talk and helpful hints to make your language learning successful - a thoughtful and educationally correct touch. Next comes a personal favoritethe Pretest.
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Yes, you heard correctly - a Pretest! Someone at The Learning Company has been doing some learning of their own. Before you spend time going through the Basic Course, you have the option of checking out your current knowledge of the language. Who knows, maybe that high school Spanish rubbed off a little more than you thought; or maybe all those hours drinking dark beer and listening to Freddie albums taught you German by osmosis. Here's your chance to see if you actually need the Basic Course or if you should go directly to the extended course of your choice. The Pretest consists of a reading comprehension portion and a spoken portion.
When you finish the test, you are presented with your results and a recommendation based on your score. You can choose to follow the recommendation, or not.
It's up to you. (There's that flexibility we loved so much with version 7.) If you decide to proceed with the rest of the Basic Course (and, unless you're practically fluent already, it's well worth it), you'll get a full-blown set of lessons on fundamental conversational skills such as Greetings and Farewells, Getting Information, and Getting Acquainted, to name a few. Compared to version 7's Basics unit, these lessons are far more interesting. Each lesson includes vocabulary, communication practice, grammar, and exercises. What a relief from version 7's 'repeat after me' Basics lesson! Places scout software management. Another minor, but welcome, improvement was the inclusion of a Drill mode in the vocabulary section.
One inconvenience in the version 7 software was that, in order to record yourself saying the vocabulary, you had to:. click on the word or phrase in the vocabulary list to select it. listen to the software say the word or phrase. click on the Record button on the voice recognition meter. listen to the software say the word or phrase AGAIN. finally record yourself saying the word In version 8, you can click on the Drill button on the Vocabulary page, which automates the whole process. The software says the first word or phrase, you repeat it, the software automatically goes to the next word or phrase - MUCH better!
The next section of the Basic Course is a straight vocabulary lesson. Unfortunately, this goes back to the old 'see and say' routine (yawn!), but the content covers colors and numbers, etc., so you really shouldn't skip it. It's a shame The Learning Company didn't follow their regular lesson format for this lesson, but I guess we can't have everything. At least it's mercifully short. My personal conspiracy theory is that The Learning Company left the vocabulary lesson purposely boring so that you'd be just blown away by the final part of the Basics Course.
Three different Simulated Conversations allow you to practice all the skills you learned in the lessons so far by having a conversation with a video partner(s). Prompts at the top of the screen tell you when to listen to your partner, speak using one of the possible answers listed, or wait while the program switches to a different conversational branch. This is a lot of fun and great practice. The fact that this software uses branching conversation technology means that your answers affect the direction of the conversation.
That means you can try out different responses in the same situation, and you won't get bored practicing the same conversation over and over. This is the sort of functionality that allows language learning software to fairly compete with classroom courses. Grammar Before we go on to talk about the Extended Courses, we should take a moment to discuss the Grammar component in the Basic Course. I had a lot to say about the Grammar component in version 7 and most of it wasn't very complimentary.
Has anything changed in version 8? You might say it's gone to the birds Let's pause here for a quick look at our friend, the crow. This little guy pops up in the Orientation and again to explain basic grammar (hence the name 'Gram R. This may seem like just a little extra 'fluff' in the program, but he is actually another of the more important improvements The Learning Company has made in the version 8 software. Crow is physically unintimidating; has a scratchy, funny, attention-getting little voice reminiscent of Iago from Disney's Aladdin; and presents difficult concepts with humor and easily understood examples. Remember the 'first-year university' presentation of grammar concepts in version 7? You can still access that teaching style, if you want, by choosing the Text option in the grammar lessons; but for those of us who want a kinder, gentler instructor - Gram is our manor 'bird' actually.
With the introduction of Gram R. Crow, the Learn to Speak software lives up to its 'for the whole family' claim. This is a character that could teach my ten-year-old grammar and make him enjoy it. That's not to say that Gram is geared only to kids, though. My husband and I really got a kick out of Gram's animated examples involving Miguel's attempts to kiss the lovely Maria, all the while getting the grammatical concept of subjects and objects across quite effectively.
Thank you, Learning Company - this was exactly what we wanted. The Extended Courses The extended courses follow the same good educational format as the numbered lessons in version 7 did, with the notable exception that there are a lot more exercises (called 'Drills' - not to be confused with the vocabulary Drill mode we discussed earlier) interspersed among the components of each lesson. That's good news, as the exercises in version 7 were a little thin on the ground.
The other difference between the version 8 extended courses and the numbered lessons in version 7 is that the cultural movies have been moved from the lessons to the main menu so that you can enjoy all of them no matter which extended course you choose. Some of the cultural movies have been changed, also.
In the Spanish package, for instance, I found more 'culture' in the cultural movies with subjects such as customs and traditions, architecture, and the National Museum. I still wish we could have seen more nations represented in these movies, but the quality and content were even better than in version 7. The Bottom Line Version 8 of the Learn to Speak software includes four CD-ROMs as opposed to version 7's three, a workbook in a slightly better format than its predecessor, and a well-thought-out audio tape supplement similar to version 7's.
Unfortunately, the online study plans I looked forward to with such enthusiasm are still not available. I simply cannot say enough good things about version 8 of the Learn to Speak software.
It has built on the foundation of all of version 7's strong points and has improved considerably on its weaknesses without introducing any flaws of its own. Even more educationally sound than the original and far more motivating, this software delivers on its promise to make conversational foreign language accessible to everyone. It's available just about anywhere consumer software is sold, or you can buy it online at for only $24.95 USD. NOTE FROM AUTHOR: As of July 2006, the price is now $39.99. Check the previous link for current pricing. I can't stress enough that this is amazing value for the money! And noThe Learning Company didn't pay me to write thisbut if they're interested Next month, your friendly neighborhood language guru plans to take a little mental holiday from the stress and toil of learning to speak.
Yes, we're skipping school and playing games - one of the hottest games around, as a matter of fact. Join us to see what makes The Sims so addictive. Product Contact: The Learning Company® Foreign Language Division One Athenaeum Street Cambridge, MA 02142 USA www.learningco.com When she’s not learning to speak, Margaret Werdermann leads the training department of a software company in Canada.
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