So does it work? Can you learn a new language quickly and easily sitting at a PC?
Installation is straightforward and you are guided through the routine. You can install to the hard drive, for which you need 500MB, or if you are short of space you can install so that it runs from the CD-ROM, which only needs 35MB. The system requirements are very basic. There are PC and Mac versions which require Windows 95 or later, or OS 8.6 or later respectively. Basic sound card, speakers and microphone are required as well as an internet connection for the additional on-line resources. There is a manual, but unfortunately it’s a Word document that you have to print yourself.
There are two main sections – Titles and Reference Tools. The Reference Tools are somewhat disappointing. There is an animated alphabet and a Grammar Reference. Whilst the Grammar Reference is admirably comprehensive with links between related areas, it’s merely in standard Windows help format and has a fairly dry, academic style. It makes no innovative use of PC technology in it’s presentation. Hardly designed to make you “never feel like you're studying”. An accompanying grammar book would be of more use.
The Titles section is where the main action is. There are four tiles – two for beginners, one for intermediate and one for advanced. Each tile is then split in to five sections as shown in the screen shot. The Theater (sic) section is where the language is introduced with good, clear audio, text and graphics or somewhat dated video. The Reading section has the same text but with Grammar references, the Activities section has a number of games to practice the language presented in the Theater. The Pronunciation section gives students the opportunity to try and match the waveforms of their pronunciation of the language presented in the Theater with that of a native speaker; a virtually impossible task. Finally, the Conversation section allows the student to take part in the conversations they have heard. A rather controlled, unnatural practice environment contrary to the manufactures claim.
Help is available wherever you are in the programme. Whilst, like the Grammar Reference, this is very comprehensive, it is generic to all sixteen titles in the series and as a result it can be a little confusing when clicking on help for the Reading section to see an example using a Spanish text.
Just diving and trying to use the software can be quite confusing especially for a beginner as the beginner activities are far too difficult. I would suggest that they are more appropriate for a pre-intermediate learner. Perhaps to combat this the Theater, where the language is introduced, makes heavy use of translation, a rather outmoded teaching method for language learning, which goes against the supposed “immersion in the language” that the manufacturers claim.
On the positive side, once you have found your way around the system you can jump in and out of the activities and the software will remember where you have got to and links this information between the activities. So if you have reached a certain stage in the Theater and then move to the Activities section you have the option to only be tested on the language the Theater has introduced so far.
The Activities section has variety of ‘games’ to test how much you have learnt in the Theater and Reading sections. Each user’s scores are logged and can be viewed at any time. These are very much drill and practise tasks which continually repeat until completed correctly. This can lead the learner, particularly in grammar exercises, into merely giving the correct answer rather than understanding the target structures. This is a common problem with behaviourist style activities. At the end of each title, however, a link is included to a number of online activities. These are perhaps less ‘fun’ but are more structured and if the answers are incorrect the learner is directed to the relevant section of the title to find the correct use and explanation of the target language.
