Product Description
From the Manufacturer
Here at EuroTalk, we believe there is no such thing as
someone who is bad at languages--only someone who hasn't yet discovered the
right way to learn. Everybody should learn another language!
Talk Now! is designed for people who want to learn a language quickly. If you
don't have time to become fluent, but need the basics in a hurry, Talk Now! is
for you. Talk Now! uses games and quizzes as a basis for making the learning
process fun and relaxing.
Features:
- Talk Now! is ideal for beginners.
- Comprehensive. Topics include: phrases, first words, food, shopping,
countries, colors, telling time, numbers, and human body parts.
- Interactive. Immediate response to every choice you make. Addictive, fun,
and easy!
- Compare your pronunciation. Compare yourself with native speakers using
the record facility. Microphone required.
- Test your knowledge. Easy and hard quizzes, plus a challenging memory
game.
- Monitor your progress. Keep a check on your total score and print your own
awards.
- On-screen help. Help available at all times in over 75 languages.
- Print a picture dictionary. Print your own dictionary for a handy
reference.
Learn to speak using your own native language!
Most language software sold in the U.S. requires you to first be proficient in
English before you can learn another language. Not with EuroTalk software! All
on-screen help and menus, words and phrases, quizzes and tests--even the
printable dictionary can be changed to the language of your choice!
Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English,
Finnish, French, German, Greek Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian,
Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Mandarin, Malay, Manx, Norwegian,
Papiamento, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish,
Tagalog, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Vietnamese, Welsh, Zulu, or any of over 80
different languages!
All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
9 of 9 people found the
following review helpful:
Aday! Bring your banana chips and give this a try!, January 15, 2004
Malayalam is not a language for which you can have a huge choice of learning
tools. If you are a relative "gringo" with little experience in Indian
languages, this may be a good program to get you started with the basics of
talking.
Lucky for English speakers - Malayalam is influenced the most by English
after Sanskrit and Tamil. Unlucky for English speakers - there's a whole pile of
linguistically different sounds involved in the other two parts of the language
before English is ever even thought about. Get out your marbles and listen up -
if you've got an open mind and a little bit of assistance, you might just end up
knowing some Malayalam.
The format is wonderful, with sections for basics, food, time, body parts,
phrases and more. Each level allows you to go through and hear of all the
pertinent vocabulary (this can set to play in a continous loop - a nice way of
learning and practicing away from the constraints of the computer). There are
games for each section in two different levels of difficulty, and keys that
allow you to build memory clues. With each game you accumulate points, and the
points are tallied towards a final goal at which you recieve special
recognition. You recieve nice encouragement for all correct answers - if you
learn anything at all from this, if will definitely be the words for "Yes" and
"No"!
The overall theme is suprisingly entertaining, without being condescending or
childlike. It's very nicely designed, compared to many other language CD-Roms,
and doesn't give you the idea that it's the same general template used for 35
different languages (except in one aspect, see below!) This was definitely
designed with adult learners in mind, and for what - $19.99? - it has some
really nice multimedia functions that keep you focused, including printable
vocab lists.
I originally had a problem loading TalkNow Malayalam to my computer, but the
technical assistance people were helpful, via email, and the problem was easily
solved. That was great.
I did not give this a five star rating because of the following:
The pronounciations are very fast, and there is no way to slow them down. The
given vocabulary and phrases are only written in Malayalam, so unless you know
to read the script, you are left alone to dissect the more subtle sounds, to
which your ear may not be accustomed. Find a native speaker for guidance.
Also, if you are a native speaker of Malayalam looking for a refresher, or
someone wishing to read and write Malayalam, this is probably not a good scheme
for you. It's more along the line of "learn some words and phrases before you
travel there" knowledge. A good CD-ROM for more Malayalam intensive language
study is available at www.vidyarambham.com
And finally, the biggest suprise: Talk Now Malayalam is lead by your virtual
guides, an extremely white, northern European couple whose images are always
present at the bottom of the screen during the vocabulary recitations. (I
imagine they're the standard TalkNow Language folks, but in this case it's very
wierd!!) Their lips move to make you believe that these honkeys are speaking
perfectly pronounced Malayalam, in voices that would only come out of their
slight frames had they been posessed. Perhaps this was a bit of subliminal
encouragement for all the WASPs who decided to take a stab at learning Malayalam
to impress the cute programmer down the hall. Mind you, this is not a detraction
from the lessons at hand, but overall the effect is hillarious. Hopefully it
would just add to the fun of learning a new language. "If they could do it...
darnit, I can to" :)
While this program will not make you a candidate for retiring to Kottayam and
ferrying a houseboat along some Kerala backwaters, you'll at least entertain
native speakers, and at best win yourself some allies by any honest efforts
made.
Tie on a lungi and give it a whirl. Best of luck!
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