There are few things more frustrating than being in a foreign country and not knowing enough of the language to ask directions to the hotel, the museum or even the bathroom. However, thanks to CD-ROM technology, learning the rudiments can be as easy as popping in the disc and spending 10 or 15 minutes each evening talking back to your computer in any number of foreign tongues.
Not only will language programs give you an ear for the language that you’ll never get from a phrase book, you will learn to speak enough of the language for a native to appreciate the effort and then smile and say those magic words, “It’s OK. I speak English.”
The Learning Co. offers Learn to Speak programs in French, German, Spanish, even Japanese. Each package comes with two CD-ROMs, a clearly documented user’s guide, and a fat text and workbook to supplement your on-screen efforts. Whether you’re trying to brush up or tackle a new tongue for the first time, the Learn to Speak programs are entertaining as well as educational.
How much you’ll learn is up to you. Once you put your mind to it, you can’t help but pick up enough of a language to use it on your next trip.
The self-paced, inter-active program allows you to listen to the word or phrase on video and audio clips with native speakers. You may then record your voice and play it back, and the Windows version will rate your accent and pronunciation from Tourist to Native. The program also provides vocabulary notes that explain grammatical uses. Once you have gone through a lesson, the program will test your skills with fill-in-the-blank and drag-and-match exercises as well as games that will help you sharpen your skills.
The Learn to Speak CD-ROMs are Macintosh and Windows compatible. Macintosh requirements are an LCIII or Performa 450, 4 MB RAM, a double-speed CD-ROM drive, 256 colors , and System 7.1 or higher. Windows users need 386DX/33 MHz with 8 MB RAM or 486DX/33 MHz with 4 MB RAM, a double-speed CD-ROM drive, SVGA, MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 5.0 or higher, Windows 3.1 or higher running in 256 colors and a Windows-compatible sound card.
Microphones are optional but highly recommended.
The Learn to Speak programs retail for $109. In addition to this series, The Learning Co. also offers inter-active vocabulary builders and pronunciation tutors in several languages as well as the Berlitz “Think & Talk” series. English as a Second Language programs are available as well. Call 800-852-2255.
– You can also use CD-ROM technology to capture the life and times of the first men and women who came to the Americas in Explorers of the New World from Future Vision Multimedia Inc. ($39.95). You’ll trace the voyages of more than 50 16th Century mariners as they make their way down the west coast of Africa, across the Atlantic to the Americas or circumnavigate the globe. The program is a treasury of information, and if much of it is cursory, it still surely will fire the imagination of any grade-school student in your family.
If there’s a complaint, it’s that not every mariner gets full treatment. Special attention is given to the expeditions of Christopher Columbus, Hernando Cortez and Ferdinand Magellan, and rightfully so, but some influential figures such as Prince Henry the Navigator and Sir Francis Drake get short shrift.
Each minor explorer has his portrait (when available), a brief description of accomplishments, and a map of his explorations, all of which can be printed to enhance student reports. Attractive, fun and educational. The death of Magellan is particularly amusing, if somewhat macabre.
Explorers of the New World is a dual Mac and Windows disc.
The Macintosh version requires 68030, 25 MHz processor, at least 4 MB RAM although 8 MB is recommended, a double-speed CD-ROM drive and System 7.1 or better. For Windows, you’ll need a 486SX, 25 MHz processor or better, 4 MB of RAM (8 recommended), an SVGA graphics card, a double-speed CD-ROM drive with MSCDEX and Windows 3.1 or better. Call 800-227-5609.
Going Mobile
Jet Express has opened daily non-stop service except Tuesday between Chicago’s Midway Airport and Myrtle Beach, S.C., and will open a route from Midway to Mobile, Ala., on May 24. The fares for both routes range from $79 to $139 each way.
English art
Gallery hopping in Great Britain will be a lot easier if you’re armed with the “1996-97 Calendar of Art Exhibitions” (Lund Humphries Ltd.; $9.95) distributed in the United States by Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd., of Wappingers Falls, N.Y. The 56-page paperback guide lists thousands of galleries in each city and then the special exhibits and the dates they’ll be appearing at that gallery. Call 914-297-0003.
