Index of all CD-ROMs evaluated
Heimtrainer Wirtschaftsenglisch, English (BE / AE), Assimil. (evaluation)
Author Plus, English, Clarity Language Consultants Ltd, http://www.clarity.com.hk . (evaluation)
The Report Writer, English, Clarity Language Consultants Ltd http://www.clarity.com.hk . (evaluation)
Tense Buster (Demo CD), English, Clarity Language Consultants Ltd, Sai Kung Hon Kong, 1997. www.clarity.com.hk . (evaluation)
Tense Buster ('real' CD), English, Clarity Language Consultants Ltd, Sai Kung Hon Kong, 1997. www.clarity.com.hk . (evaluation)
Tell me more, English, Cornelsen Software GmbH&Co, 1998. www.cornelsen.de . (evaluation)
Focus on Grammar- (Demo CD), English, Exceller Software Corp., West Ithaca, http://www.exceller.com . (evaluation)
The Multimedia English Course 4: upper intermediate, English (BE), Max Hueber Verlag, 1998. http://www.hueber-vfd.de . (evaluation)
Sag`s auf Japanisch, Japanese, Langenscheidt, 1998. www.langenscheidt.de . (evaluation file)
Sag`s auf Arabisch (equivalent to Sag`s auf Japanisch), Arabic, Langenscheidt, 1998. www.langenscheidt.de . (evaluation)
Langenscheidts Vokabeltrainer, English (BE) [French, Spanish, Italian], Langenscheidt KG, 1999, www.langenscheidt.de . (evaluation)
Langenscheidt Expresskurs Business English, English (BE), Langenscheidt KG Berlin + München. www.langenscheidt.de . (evaluation)
Englisch Sprachkurs 2, English (AE), Digital Publishing, München. www.digitalpublishing.de . (evaluation)
Spanisch ohne Mühe heute, Spanish, Assimil, 1984. (evaluation)
Langenscheidt - Sags auf Türkisch Sofware für zu Hause, Sprachführer für unterwegs, Turkish, Langenscheid KG Berlin + München, 1998. www.langenscheidt.de . (evaluation)
Langenscheidt Wörterbücher für Profis test version for 30 days, English, Langenscheid KG Berlin + München. www.langenscheidt.de . (evaluation)
Fit in Englisch Text-Training für perfektes English, English, Langenscheid, www.langenscheidt.de . (evaluation)
Libra - Multimedia (Demo Disc), German Spanish, French, English (Travel talk: Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish), Libra Sales and Marketing, Windsor, http://www.libra.co.uk . (evaluation)
The Rosetta Stone Latin Explorer, Latin, Fairfield Language Technologies, 1993. (evaluation file)
English for Business (Demo CD), English, University of Wolverhampton school of languages and European Studies. (evaluation)
| Programme
|
Real English Interactive | Sprachkurs Englisch (Business)
Euro + |
| Target language | English | Business English |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
The Marzio School
7 Rue des Baumes 13800 Istress, France Tel. +33 (0) 442 550 125 marzio@pacwan.fr http://realenglish.tm.fr (c) 1999 |
HEXAGLOT GmbH
Vertriebsleitung Software Sportallee 41 22335 Hamburg Tel.: 089/36096-442 (Mo.-Fr. 10-12 h) Fax: 089/36096-266 (Mo.-Fr. 10-12 h) 100322.3323@compuserve.com (c) 1996 |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
# of CDs: 2
NO manual Amount of vocabs: not given Price: about $65 (acc. to homepage) |
# of CDs: 1
Manual included as file Amount of vocabs: not given Price: 129,- DM |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Win 3.x, 95/98 Pentium 120 16 MB 12 MB required required 2x required headphones or speakers |
MS-DOS 3.1, Win 3.1/3.11,
Win 95
386 SX 4 MB 10 MB SVGA, min. 800x600, 256 colours Microsoft compatible (16 bit) 2x required headphones or speakers MS Video for Win 1.0 & Access 1.0 driver (both included) |
The programme
|
German, French or Spanish Beginner only None no no |
German Intermediate Business no no |
Content
|
yes yes yes yes 12 yes partly Watch & click Drag & drop Vocal recognition Listen & type Multiple choice |
no
yes yes yes 2 chapters, 10 units each no partly Drag & drop Typing Listen & click |
Functional ergonomics
|
yes yes yes yes yes yes
|
yes yes yes yes yes yes |
Multimedial scope
|
yes yes yes no |
yes yes yes no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
This package is the
first in a series of CD-ROMs designed to learn English employing "real"
English videoclips recorded from people met on the streets. The user thus
learns how people talk in an English speaking country (as opposed to the
"Oxford standard English" used in many other CD-Roms). The programme also
points out the most important regional varieties of English that exist
today: The alphabet, for example, is recited by an American, an Irish woman,
a Scottish woman and an Englishman. The difference in pronunciation is
included in the exercises that follow. The exercises are generally very
useful, spelling is efficiently taught by using "drag and drop" exercises
to spell the words in question. A lot of the exercises accept either typed
or spoken answers - which means there are two ways of using that particular
exercise.
In between exercises, the programme also gives grammatical information related to the preceding or following exercise. Sadly, this information is presented in a typical "grammar book"-like way - an indication that this programme is intended to be used by adults. One of the most interesting aspects of this product is voice recognition. It is really great when it works properly (and it does in most cases), however, the program has got difficulties in recognising finer nuances, e.g., "seventeen" and "seventy" were both recognised as "17". Sometimes, it simply does not work: One exercise requires to iterate a man’s phone number shown in the preceding video clip. When I came to "5", it recognised "0", "0" and "1" in three different loud and clear attempts. But that can also be a technical problem, since I only have a very cheap microphone. The "record and compare" function is very useful, after you record the sentence in question, you can listen to the programme version followed by your own attempt. It is an easy way to discover wrong pronunciation and correct it. The major drawback of this product is the fact that it is clearly only the first part of a series: You get to learn, "how are you ?", numbers, asking for the way, the time and the family, but it lacks information on buying something in an English spoken country and the like, making it ill-suited for somebody who would like to learn a little English for a holiday. There is also a lack of basic vocabulary featured in other ordinary language courses (on book or CD). With a price of $65, it is a rather expensive product, because to really get a grip on English, you would have to buy at least half a dozen more of these CDs, but if these forthcoming products are as expensive as the first one, people are probably better off with one of the other products.
|
This programme is
designed to improve English used in the business world. In order to understand
the exercises, the user’s English has to be on an intermediate level and
they have to know about business in general because the exercises stay
very close to this topic. And that is one of the strengths of the product:
People learn what to say in business meetings, how to respond to complaints
on the telephone or how to describe the way a company functions.
Interspersed between the exercises, there are revisions on English grammar, always with examples relevant to the business world. In addition to the exercises mentioned in the survey above, there are writing exercises that obviously can not be corrected by the program, such as "Read the advertisement above and try to write one of your own." Correction is handled in a strange way: The programme never shows the user what exactly went wrong with the answers (which can be especially frustrating with typing exercises where you have to retype whole sentences (...to the letter)), it only gives the number of mistakes at the end. The only way to check what went wrong is by enabling all correct answers to be shown at the same time. All of the programme’s colours can be configured via a menu, which is very convenient. But there is also a flaw in the functionality: button descriptions do not appear when the pointer is ABOVE the button, but only when the button is clicked on (and the feature therefore activated). This can be very annoying for users new to the programme. The multimedia is used well, however, sparingly: you can not listen to spoken versions of every exercise item or sentence - you only get to hear selected ones. But these examples include non-native speakers from around the world, one unit, for example, features a telephone conversation with a Chinese manager, whose English has of course a Chinese accent. There are several external tools that come with the program. The tape recorder allows you to record your own voice and it shows a graphic representation of it. The spelling teacher limits the user to press a certain key, voiced by the computer, as fast as possible. Not a very efficient tool. The browser enables you to search all the units for certain grammatical topics, which is very convenient. Then there is a tool that shows and reads all the irregular verbs. It only serves as listening exercise, though because there is no exercise to learn the irregular verbs. The price is a bit high for only one CD, but I guess people from the business world can spare the money, and if they do, they will find a valuable tool to improve their business English. |
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2
| Programme
|
Tense Buster | The Report Writer |
| Target language | English | English |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Clarity Language Consultants Ltd
PO Box 163 Sai Kung, Hong Kong Tel.: +85227911787 Fax: +85227916484 andrew@clarity.com.hk http://www.clarity.com.hk |
Clarity Language Consultants Ltd
PO Box 163 Sai Kung, Hong Kong Tel.: +85227911787 Fax: +85227916484 andrew@clarity.com.hk http://www.clarity.com.hk |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
# of CDs: 1
Manual # of vocabs: not given Price: ? |
# of CDs: 1
No Manual Price: ? |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Windows 3.1., 95/98, NT 386 ? ? required required 2x not required headphone / speakers |
Windows 3.1., 95/98,
NT
386 ? ? required not required 2x not required |
The programme
|
English Elementary, 3x Intermediate, Advanced Grammar only yes yes |
English Advanced none no no |
Content
|
yes yes yes yes about 8 per Level yes no Drag & drop Type in the gaps Click on exercise Writing |
N/A N/A N/A yes 7 types of letters no N/A None |
Functional ergonomics
|
yes yes no yes yes yes
|
yes yes yes yes yes yes |
Multimedial scope
|
no no no no |
no no no no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
This programme is
not designed to learn English from scratch, but focuses on grammar exercises
only. It can serve as a good additional programme for people using another
CD-Rom for learning English, because it sums up all the important points
of English grammar and provides exercises to practise them. However, the
exercises can get a bit monotonous at times, and the colours of the programme
are awful: yellow text on dark green background.
The manual is useful, especially in creating your own exercises (this option makes the product very interesting for teachers). There are some spoken samples of selected vocabulary in Oxford-style English. More of these would make the product even better. The grammar problems are explained well and there are good examples that illustrate the correct usage. It is probably good value for money (I couldn’t find the price anywhere - not even on their website), you get five different levels (Elementary, Lower Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate and Advanced) all on one CD. |
This programme helps
users writing letters, faxes and emails. It requires a good command of
the English language, and can thus only be recommended to users of an advanced
or at least intermediate level of English.
The programme does not have exercises of any kind, but instead gives advice on how to write a letter, dealing with grammar as well as style or layout questions. Grammar is presented as a brief revision of relevant topics (i.e. using the present perfect in a letter). Common errors are pointed out, so that they can be avoided. A handy schedule can be used to arrange the stages of letter writing from plan to revision by allocating time to them. As with all Clarity products, the price is kept a closely guarded secret.
|
| Programme
|
Author Plus | |
| Target language | English | |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Clarity Language Consultants Ltd
PO Box 163 Sai Kung, Hong Kong Tel.: +85227911787 Fax: +85227916484 andrew@clarity.com.hk http://www.clarity.com.hk |
|
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
# of CDs: 1
Manual Price: ? |
|
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Windows 3.1., 95/98, NT 386 ? ? required required 2x not required none |
|
The programme
|
English N/A Teachers no yes |
yes no yes no |
Content
|
N/A N/A N/A yes N/A N/A N/A Build your own, choose from: Fill in the gaps Allocate words Spot mistakes |
yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no partly |
Functional ergonomics
|
yes no yes yes yes yes
|
yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no |
Multimedial scope
|
no no no no |
yes no yes no yes no yes no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
This is a tool to
create exercises for use in schools or universities. That makes it interesting
only to teachers who may find this product to be quite handy.
The exercise creation is difficult at first, but should be easier after a thorough study of the manual. There are no sample exercises to change or rearrange, which would make it easier to create your own ones (e.g. by copying an existing exercise and just change the words). Price is again not discernable. |
| Programme
|
The Multimedia English Course
4: upper intermediate (1998) |
Tell me more
(1998) |
| Target language | English (BE) | English (BE) |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Max Hueber Verlag
Max-Hueber-Str. 4 D-85737 Ismaning Tel.: (089)9602-353 Fax: (089)9602-271 E-mail: support@hueber.de home: www.hueber-vfd.de |
Cornelsen Software GmbH&Co
Mecklenburgische Str. 53 14197 Berlin www.cornelsen.de Tel.: 030/897 85-522 Fax: 030/897 85-589 |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
1 installation CD
2 content CDs teacher handbook price: 98,-DM (50,11 Euro) |
1 installation CD
1 content CD microphone and headphones handbook price: |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Windows 95 /98 100 MHz 32 MB 160 MB yes yes 8x yes |
Windows 95 Pentium 486 / 100 MHz 8 MB 30 MB yes yes 2x yes |
The programme
|
German upper intermediate for everyone yes yes |
German, English, French, Spanish, Italian or Japanese beginner for everyone no no |
Content
|
yes yes yes yes 20 yes yes fill-in-tasks, writing texts, matching of words/sentences, find right word order, online (chatrooms and games)
|
yes yes yes yes 6 yes yes listening comprehension, multiple choice, dictation, matching, crossword, hangman, fill-in-tasks, word-order |
Functional ergonomics
|
yes yes no yes yes yes
|
yes yes yes yes yes yes |
Multimedial scope
|
yes yes no yes |
yes yes yes no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
The Multimedia English
Course is ideal to learn and improve the English language and is absolutely
worth its price. The number and variety of the exercises is enormous and
very motivating - even online-learning is possible. Using the internet
you can contact a personal teacher and send him mails or play games with
other students.
The videos on the CD-ROM are interesting and if you do not understand what is said they can be subtitled. The speech modulation and recognition is very good. It might take some time but if you read the very useful handbook you will soon be familiar with the control of the programme. A great disadvantage of the product is the choice of the colours. Green letters on a blue background are not very relaxing for your eyes. Another minus is the fact that letters to teachers can only be written online which will cause high phonebills. Further there is no wordlist and in the exercises the spelling of words is only learned passively by drag and drop tasks. Using this product could be much more fun if there weren't so many breakdowns of the system when choosing a unit. |
The layout of Tell
Me More is very creative and motivating. The screen is made up interestingly
and working with the product is a lot of fun and will remain interesting
for a long time. The good videos on British culture and listening exercises
make this product interesting, especially for those who already speak the
language and want to improve their pronunciation and their listening comprehension.
The programme is not for absolute beginners, only to refresh and improve
your skills.
Tell Me More does not have a word list. |
| Programme
|
The Multimedia English Course
4: upper intermediate (1998) |
Tell me more
(1998) |
| Target language | English (BE) | English (BE) |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Max Hueber Verlag
Max-Hueber-Str. 4 D-85737 Ismaning Tel.: (089)9602-353 Fax: (089)9602-271 E-mail: support@hueber.de home: www.hueber-vfd.de |
Cornelsen Software GmbH&Co
Mecklenburgische Str. 53 14197 Berlin www.cornelsen.de Tel.: 030/897 85-522 Fax: 030/897 85-589 |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
1 installation CD
2 content CDs teacher handbook price: 98,-DM (50,11 Euro) |
1 installation CD
1 content CD microphone and headphones handbook price: |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Windows 95 /98 100 MHz 32 MB 160 MB yes yes 8x yes |
Windows 95 Pentium 486 / 100 MHz 8 MB 30 MB yes yes 2x yes |
The programme
|
German upper intermediate for everyone yes yes |
German, English, French, Spanish, Italian or Japanese beginner for everyone no no |
Content
|
yes yes yes yes 20 yes yes fill-in-tasks, writing texts, matching of words/sentences, find right word order, online (chatrooms and games)
|
yes yes yes yes 6 yes yes listening comprehension, multiple choice, dictation, matching, crossword, hangman, fill-in-tasks, word-order |
Functional ergonomics
|
yes yes no yes yes yes
|
yes yes yes yes yes yes |
Multimedial scope
|
yes yes no yes |
yes yes yes no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
The Multimedia English
Course is ideal to learn and improve the English language and is absolutely
worth its price. The number and variety of the exercises is enormous and
very motivating - even online-learning is possible. Using the internet
you can contact a personal teacher and send him mails or play games with
other students.
The videos on the CD-ROM are interesting and if you do not understand what is said they can be subtitled. The speech modulation and recognition is very good. It might take some time but if you read the very useful handbook you will soon be familiar with the control of the programme. A great disadvantage of the product is the choice of the colours. Green letters on a blue background are not very relaxing for your eyes. Another minus is the fact that letters to teachers can only be written online which will cause high phonebills. Further there is no wordlist and in the exercises the spelling of words is only learned passively by drag and drop tasks. Using this product could be much more fun if there weren't so many breakdowns of the system when choosing a unit. |
The layout of Tell
Me More is very creative and motivating. The screen is made up interestingly
and working with the product is a lot of fun and will remain interesting
for a long time. The good videos on British culture and listening exercises
make this product interesting, especially for those who already speak the
language and want to improve their pronunciation and their listening comprehension.
The programme is not for absolute beginners, only to refresh and improve
your skills.
Tell Me More does not have a word list. |
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6
| Programme
Langenscheidts Vokabeltrainer (1999) |
|||
| Target language | English BE | English (BE) [French, Spanish, Italian] | |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Fairfield Language Technologies
(USA)
165 South Main Str. Harrisonburg, VA 22801 USA Tel.: 001(540) 432-6166 E-mail: info@trstone.com home: www.trstone.com |
Langenscheidt KG
Berlin + München www.langenscheidt.de |
|
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
1 installation CD
1 content CD manual price: 69,-DM / 35,28 Euro (22 units out of 92 in "Professional Stufe 1") |
1 CD
manual price: 29,80 DM / 14,83 Euro è 1362 English words |
|
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Windows 3.1/95/NT 486 DX 8 MB/16 MB/32 MB 4 MB yes yes 2x yes |
Windows 3.1/3.11/95/98/NT 486 (75 MHz) 6 MB 10 MB yes yes 2x yes |
|
The programme
|
German beginner for everyone no no |
German beginner for everyone no no |
|
Content
|
yes no yes yes 22 (out of 92 in Professional Stufe 1) yes no matching of text tone and pictures
|
yes yes yes yes 1362 words and phrases yes appropriate for vocabulary training listening, reading, writing, translating |
|
Functional ergonomics
|
yes (1 breakdown of the system) yes yes yes yes yes
|
yes yes (except for the options-menu) yes yes yes yes |
|
Multimedial scope
|
yes yes no no |
yes yes no no |
|
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
The manual of this
programme is very good.
The programme itself is boring and not worth its price. It does not have a wordlist. The number of the hotline is in the United States of America è expensive |
This
programme is very useful to learn vocabulary. You can learn directly with
the programme but also print vocabulary lists or cards and learn words
the way you're used to. If you wish to get some information about the use
of a word the computer will put it into a sentence for you.
Although we considered this product to be useful it has got some weaknesses. The speech recognition is very bad and the way in which certain words are translated is strange (ride - fahren). The programme is boring and the organisation could be a bit better. |
|
| Programme
|
Langenscheidt Expresskurs
Business English |
Englisch Sprachkurs 2 |
| Target language | English (BE) | English (AE) |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Langenscheidt KG
Berlin + München www.langenscheidt.de Tel. (technical help): 0190-874424 (3,60 DM per minute (1,84 Euro)) Tel. (general questions): 0180-5232357 |
Digital Publishing
Tumblinger Str. 32 80337 München Tel.: 0049(0)89747482-33 Fax: 0049(0)89747923-08 www.digitalpublishing.de |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
1 CD
manual price: |
1 CD
manual price: 98,- DM (50,11 Euro) |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Windows 3.1/ 3.11/ 95 486 (66MHz) 8 MB 12 MB yes yes 2x yes |
Windows 95/98 oder
NT 4.0
Pentium 32 MB ? yes yes ? yes |
The programme
|
German not for beginners business no no |
German intermediate for everyone no no |
Content
|
yes yes yes yes 20 units and 4 videos yes yes multiple choice, fill-in-tasks, dictation, cross-words, listening comprehension
|
yes yes yes yes 10 yes partly fill-in-tasks, word order, listening comprehension |
Functional ergonomics
|
yes yes yes yes yes yes
|
yes partly yes yes yes yes |
Multimedial scope
|
yes yes yes no |
yes yes yes no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
Langenscheidt's express
course in business English is a great programme.
It offers a fantastic variety of exercises for vocabulary, grammar and also culture. The presentation of this software is also superb (colours, pictures, number of buttons). The videos can be watched with subtitles. This programme is very good to improve and refresh your English especially for business people but does not make sense for absolute beginners. There is no wordlist.
|
The Englisch Sprachkurs
2 shows you the explanation of a grammar directly under the exercises which
can be a good help.
The programme supports the user with a lot of information about the American culture and way of life. The voice pilot is not very good because in many cases it does not understand the orders given by the learner and so it is easier to use the mouse. The variety of exercises is limited and there is no wordlist. |
| Programme
|
Spanisch ohne Mühe heute
(1984) |
Langenscheidt – Sag’s auf Türkisch
Sofware für zu Hause, Sprachführer für unterwegs |
| Target language | Spanish | Turkish |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Assimil
B.P. 25 F-94431 Chennevieres-sur-Marne Cedex France |
Langenscheidt KG
Berlin + München Tel.: (technical help) 0150 / 874424 (3,60 DM per minute) Tel.: 0180/5232357 www.langenscheidt.de |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
1 CD
1 Workbook (450 pages) price: 198,- DM (101,24 Euro) |
1 CD
manual 1 language guide price: 59,- DM (30,17 Euro) |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Windows 95/98/NT 486/66 MHz 8 MB 10 MB yes yes ? yes not for Windows 3.1 or Apple Computer |
Windows 3.x , Windows
95
486 8 MB no installation necessary yes yes 2x yes |
The programme
|
German beginner for everyone no no |
40 Languages (also Romanian) beginner tourists no no |
Content
|
yes yes yes yes 109 yes yes fill-in-tasks and translations
|
yes yes yes yes 9 yes yes word training, multiple choice |
Functional ergonomics
|
yes yes no yes yes yes
|
yes yes yes yes yes yes |
Multimedial scope
|
yes yes no no |
yes yes no no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
The first thing you
should do when the programme is successfully installed, is to start the
fantastic written and oral introduction which will help you a lot when
you are learning. Spanisch ohne Mühe heute is not only interesting
for absolute beginners but also for those who want to refresh and improve
their Spanish.
The product is interesting and motivating although the variety of the exercises is only limited to fill-in-tasks and translations. The whole product is based on an included workbook which contains the same exercises as the CD-ROM. Additional audio CDs and cassettes are also available. Neither can the programme evaluate your pronunciation nor does it offer a wordlist. |
This product is especially
made for tourists.
A book with useful words and phrases is included and does for example show what to say when you go shopping. The exercises are funny. Multiple choice tasks are presented by a gambler. The programme does only teach the pronunciation but there are no writing exercises. |
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9
| Programme
|
Langenscheidt Wörterbücher
für Profis
test version for 30 days |
Heimtrainer Wirtschaftsenglisch |
| Target language | English è German | English (BE / AE) |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Langenscheidt KG
Berlin + München Tel.: (technical help) 0150 / 87 4424 (3,60 DM per minute) Tel.: 0180/ 52323 57 www.langenscheidt.de |
Assimil
Tel.: (49)(0)2426 94 0022 E-mail: kontakt@asimil.com |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
1 CD
5,- DM ( 2,56 Euro) |
1 CD |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Windows 95 / 97 / 98 / NT(ab 4.0) ? 8 MB 20 MB yes no 2x no |
Windows 95 / 98 (not
for Windows 3.1 / NT or Apple Computer)
486 8 MB 8 MB yes yes 2x yes |
The programme
|
German - for everyone - - |
German intermediate business yes yes |
Content
|
It's only a programme for direct translation from English to German. There are no exercises.
|
yes yes but only for business yes yes no 4 yes partly fill-in-tasks, dictation, translation |
Functional ergonomics
|
yes yes yes (Colours can be chosen) yes - -
|
yes no yes yes yes yes but the places for the buttons are variable (not good) |
Multimedial scope
|
- - - - |
yes yes no no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
Good product for translating single words within a few seconds without having to search in a classic dictionary. You cannot learn the English language with it. | This badly organised
product is not very challenging. It is pure learning by heart.
Selecting a unit is difficult. |
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| Programme
|
The Rosetta Stone Latin Explorer |
| Target language | Latin |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Fairfield Language Technologies,
1993.
Technical support: Tel.: 001 540 432 6166, Fax: 001 540 432 0953, e-mail: help@trstone.com. Information: info@trstone.com http://www.trstone.com |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
1 Exercise CD-ROM
1 Aplication CD-ROM 1 Handbook. |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
mouse, microphone,
double speed CD-ROM drive
Mac: Mac 0S 7.0, 68040 CPU, 8 MB RAM 256 colors. Win: 486 DX CPU, 8 MB RAM, 256 color CD-ROM |
The programme
|
English. Beginner. No. No. No. |
Content
|
Yes. Yes. Yse. No. 2 Yes. No. Pair matching taks and voice recording.
|
Functional ergonomics
|
Yes. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes.
|
Multimedial scope
|
Yes. Yes. Yes. No. No. |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strenghts/ ...) |
The Rosetta Stone
Language Library Latin Explorer contains the first twenty two subunits
of an overall amount of ninety two units, which form the so called "Professional
1" programme.
The programme, implemented in 1993, is one of the oldest among those tested and its design is rather oldfashoned and surely not as noisy and colourful. But this is not necessaryly disadvantageous. For Windows useres it may be hard to get used to the lerning software`s ergnomic indiviualism: Buttons are located at uncommon places, icons and menu naviagation varies from nowadays standard software. But once having accustomed to these specific variations the programme becomes very handy. In the first eleven units the pupil is introduced to simple vocabulary, later on larger phrases and whole sentences are formed. The spectrum of exercises is regrettably narrow: In most exercise the student has to select one out of four cards displayed on the screen which matches to a shown text, a read out word or a photograph. Additionaly there are spelling tests. Wrong matching causes later repetitions of the questinon answered wrongly and minus points in the rating system. A single subunit contains about 40 questin-answer pairs which form the basis of the different types of exercises amnongst the student may chosse his favorite exercise style. Older matching pairs reoccure in later subunits. Vocabulary is not introduced on a seperate vocabulary list, but only by means of the matching tasks. The only language used is the target language. Besides matching and spelling exercise there is an optional voice recording facility the student may use to listen to his own voice in order to compare it to the pronounciation on the CD-ROM. Constant repetition exercises make the Latin Explorer a useful tool for vacabulary training. But since no grammar rules are explained the student has to figure out the language`s regularities by learning a couple of senteces by hart. To learn the grammar he or she has to recognise the difficult declension rules by him or her self. The Latin Exploerer is probably best used in addtion to a text book, though no such advice is made explicit by the publisher. Buying the complete Latin software might turn out very expensive. |
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| Programme
|
Tense Buster
(1997) Demo CD |
|
| Target language | English | |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Clarity Language Consultants Ltd
PO Box 163 Sai Kung Hong Kong Tel.: 00852 2791 1787 Fax: 00852 2791 6484 E-mail: andrew@clarity.com.hk www.clarity.com.hk |
|
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
1 CD | |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
Windows 3.1/95 ? ? ? yes yes ? no |
|
The programme
|
English/Danish/French/Swedish beginner no no no |
|
Content
|
yes yes yes yes only 1 on the demo yes yes fill-in-tasks, multiple choice, correcting mistakes in texts
|
|
Functional ergonomics
|
yes yes yes yes yes yes
|
|
Multimedial scope
|
yes (only vocabulary) yes no no |
|
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
The demoversion of
the Tense Buster looks very good.
The good feedback and explanation of mistakes makes the programme very interesting and useful for improving one’s knowledge of the English tenses. An additional programme can be used by teachers to create new exercises. The hotline is in Hong Kong which makes a call very expensive. The demo only shows a few exercises. |
| Programme
|
Sag`s auf Japanisch | Sag`s auf Arabisch
(equivalent to Sag`s auf Japanisch) |
| Target language | Japanese | Arabic |
| Publisher (address, mail, home,
tel., date of publication, etc)
|
Langenscheidt, 1998.
Hotline 0190 / 874424 |
Langenscheidt, 1998.
Hotline 0190 / 874424 |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...)
|
1 CD-ROM, holiday vade-mecum for Japanese, 60 DM | 1 CD-ROM, holiday vade-mecum for Arabic, 60 DM |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone
|
mouse, CD-ROM drive
(double speed), microphone, printer.
Mac: MacOS 7.0, 68030 Processor, 8 MB RAM. Win 3.x, Win95, Win98, i 486er processor, 8 MB RAM, VGA: 256 colours, SoundBlaster compatible sound card. |
mouse, CD-ROM drive
(double speed), microphone, printer.
Mac: MacOS 7.0, 68030 Processor, 8 MB RAM. Win 3.x, Win95, Win98, i 486er processor, 8 MB RAM, VGA: 256 colours, SoundBlaster compatible sound card. |
The programme
|
French, German, Spanish or English. Beginner. For Holiday purposes no no |
French, German, Spanish or English. Beginner. For Holiday purposes no no |
Content
|
yes yes yes yes 8 yes partly naming tasks, games, voice recording |
yes yes yes yes 8 yes partly naming tasks, games, voice recording |
Functional ergonomics
|
yes yes yes yes yes no
|
yes yes yes yes yes no
|
Multimedial scope
|
yes yes yes no |
yes yes yes no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products/ weaknesses/ strengths/ ...) |
Sag`s auf Japanisch
(respectively Sag`s auf Arabisch) is part of Langenscheidt`s series of
language software for beginners. It aims at teaching a very limited amount
of basic vocabulary and phrases omitting grammar exercises completely.
In each of nine small units vocabulary of a special domain is introduced
by combined depiction and reading-out. Printing out a vocabulary list may
be very helpful. The units` topics are: First Words, Phrases, Colours,
Countries, Shopping, Food, Body, Numbers and Time. The pupil's progress
is tested in vocabulary games. The learner's objective is to acquire a
certain overall total of points for all exercises, where the number of
points achieved corresponds to the amount of vocabulary learned. He or
she may choose the units` order freely. The programme is very simple and
therefore intuitively controllable.
Langenscheidt`s Sag`s auf Japanisch is easy to use software and an adequate vocabulary and phrase trainer for preparing a short holiday trip to Japan. Since the programme is designed for this purpose we regret the lack of any cultural information about Japan. It is easier to learn vocabulary and pronunciation with this programme than by using a text book only. |
|
| Programme
|
Langenscheidt-Fit in Englisch
Text-Training für perfektes Englisch |
Libra - Multimedia
Demo Disc |
| Target language | English | German Spanish, French, English (Travel talk: Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish) |
| Publisher
(address, mail, home, tel., date of publication, etc)
|
-Langenscheidt
- Hotline: 0190\874424 (3,60 DM per min., only within Germany) - Email: http://www.langenscheidt.de |
Libra Sales and Marketing:
5 Riverway, Barry Avenue, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 5JA UK Tel/Fax: 44 1753864547 libra@online.rednet.co.uk http://www.libra.co.uk |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...) |
- One CD
- brief manual - 69,00 DM - 2000 vocabs |
- One CD |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone - other |
- Microsoft - Pentium - 16 MB RAM - 12 MB free disk space - required - required - 2X - not required - Headphones/Speakers |
-Microsoft
-Windows(TM) 3+ / 95
|
| The programme
-prerequired language -levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) -special target group (e.g. business) -team or pair learning possible -teacher advised learning possible |
- English
- Intermediate - pupils yes no |
- German, Spanish, French, English - beginner, intermediate and advanced level - Business, travel, small talk no no |
| Content
-exercises are easy to understand -exercises are useful -exercises are well structured -contents are up-to-date -number of units -selftests possible -what kind of exercises (fill-in tasks) exercises are interesting |
yes
yes no no ----- yes text-related yes |
yes
yes yes yes ------- no fill-in tasks, listening exercises, speaking practice yes |
| Functional ergonomics
-easy and fast installation -is the product well organised -good presentation of programme (e.g. colours) -good font, typeface, line spacing, ... -important information permanently shown -important buttons permanently shown |
yes
yes yes yes yes yes |
yes yes yes yes yes yes |
| Multimedial scope
- listening exercises - voice recording - video clips - online learning possible |
no
no no no |
yes
yes no no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products ...)
|
The programme is definitely not meant for people who have no previous skills and want to acquire the English language. Intermediate English skills are required if you want to work with "Langenscheidt’s Fit in English - Textraining". As the title states, the programme focuses on the work with texts, that is on different types of texts like stories, letters, articles and others. The advantage is that it does that fairly well. Every single story is taped so you can play it and listen to a native speaker. The disadvantage, however, is that working with this programme becomes boring after a short while. The texts are not up-to-date. And the exercises consist basically of questions referring to the previous text which is quite monotonous. | This "Libra - Multimedia programme"
is designed as a demonstration CD. It gives a very good introduction and
overview on the following topics: telephone talk, small talk, travel talk,
and business talk. Each section contains interesting and varied exercises.
I would not recommend this particular CD if one wants to acquire English. The programmes that are introduced on this CD, however, are probably highly recommendable. |
| Programme | English for Business-
Demonstration CD |
Focus on Grammar-
DEMO |
| Target language | English | English |
| Publisher
(address, mail, home, tel., date of publication, etc)
|
University of Wolverhampton school of languages and European Studies |
Exceller Software Corporation
2 Graham Road West Ithaca, NY 14850 phone: (607) 257-5634 fax: (607) 257-1665 exceller@lightlink.com http://www.exceller.com |
| Package
(number of CDs, manual, microphone, price, amount of vocabs, ...) |
- One CD |
- One CD
- manual on the disc |
| System requirements
- platform - processor - RAM - free disk space - video card - sound card - CD-ROM speed - microphone - other |
- Windows 3.1 or higher
- 486DX/66 MHz or higher - 8 MB RAM - 5 MB free disk space - required - required - double-speed CD-ROM drive - speakers |
- Windows 3.1 or later
- 386SX/25MHz or better - 8 MB RAM - ------------- - required - required - MPC-compatible CD-ROM drive - speakers/headphones |
| The programme
-prerequired language -levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) -special target group (e.g. business) -team or pair learning possible -teacher advised learning possible |
- English
- Intermediate to advanced - business - no - no |
- English
- Intermediate to advanced - students - no - no |
| Content
-exercises are easy to understand -exercises are useful -exercises are well structured -contents are up-to-date -number of units -selftests possible -what kind of exercises (fill-in tasks) exercises are interesting |
- yes
- yes - no - yes - ---------- - no - fill-in tasks, listening exercises - yes |
- yes
- yes - yes - yes - ---------- - yes Fill-in tasks, unscramble, multiple choice, edit the sentence, edit the paragraph - yes |
| Functional ergonomics
-easy and fast installation -is the product well organised -good presentation of programme (e.g. colours) -good font, typeface, line spacing, ... -important information permanently shown -important buttons permanently shown |
- no
- no - yes - yes - no - yes |
- yes - yes - yes - yes - yes - yes |
| Multimedial scope
- listening exercises - voice recording - video clips - online learning possible |
- yes
- no - yes - no |
- yes
- no - no - no |
| Comment
(can someone learn a language with this programme/ is the manual useful/ is the product worth its price/ are the exercises interesting/ problems with installation/ comparison with other products ...)
|
This programme was designed as
a demonstration CD.
It contains a brief summary of the real programme. Six short video clips show different situations that could occur in the business world. I believe if one wants to improve his or her business English skills or learn business English as a beginner this programme would be advisable. I did have some problems installing the CD though. My system crashed at first but I could easily restart it. |
This programme is also designed
as a demonstration CD.
It offers rather brief insights into the intermediate programme and the advanced one. Each section contains only two accessible units out of 59! It would have been helpful to see a bit more of the programme for the evaluation. The units themselves are very specified and detailed though. There’s a great variety of different exercises. And at any given time one can retrieve equivalent grammar notes. The grammar explanations in this programme are very impressive. They are easy to understand yet nicely detailed. This demonstration CD focuses very much on the topic - in this case grammar. I don’t think that one could acquire the English language from the start with a programme like this. |