cobra@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Roland Dudley) (10/11/89)
What I'm look for is a beginning tutorial for the French language that provides drills in vocabulary, phrases and verb conjugations. It must run on an XT compatible with a monochrome monitor (my system has Hercules graphics if that matters). This program will be used by my daughter who is a high school freshman. It would be nice (but not mandatory) if it had provisions for changing the level of difficulty so that it could be used as she becomes more proficient. A feature that is a must: a mode that allows the user to select (or input?) the material to be drilled so that it include material currently under study in class. An additional desirable feature would be the ability to select between current material and all material to-date. If anyone is using or has used a program with the above or similar features, I would like to hear about your experience and get your opinions. I'd also be interested in recommendations for programs which have other useful features. And almost as important, where you got them. None of the computer or software stores in my area seem to carry any foreign languages teaching software. For others interested in this type of software (for any language), let me give a brief review of what I've found so far. Obviously I'm not too happy with what I have or I wouldn't bother posting this, but it may spare someone form getting software that they don't want or let someone else know that precisely what they are looking for is available. So far I have only obtained two ShareWare programs. LANGUAGE TEACHER (PC-SIG disk #612): this program comes with several language files in archived form. It's written in BASIC which means it's a bit sluggish on my ancient non-turbo XT clone; and the user interface is a bit crude with no fancy windows or softkey selectable functions. This would all be tolerable but the material for drilling is randomly selected from the provided language files with no provision to allow the user to select or even add their own study material. The multiple choice drill mode selects several responses at random from it's file of phrases. Since these selections (except for the correct answer) tend to be totally unrelated to the drill phrase, even someone relatively ignorant of french can usually select the correct response without much difficulty. The mode that requires the user to type in a correct response is more useful. Some minor complaints- the drills have a time-out feature. It would be nice if the user could change the time without altering the BASIC code. It would also be nice if the drill could be set in an automatic mode so that the next phrase or word in the drill is supplied without the user having to press return. The menu of selected functions does not have one that allows exiting the program when done. This isn't very user friendly for someone not familiar with BASIC. This program is probably okay for someone doing self-study or just brushing-up on one of the included language (French, Spanish, Italian, German, Hebrew- on separate disk). Registration fee $10. FRENCH VERB CONJUGATOR 2.02 (don't have PC-SIG's disk # handy): this program is written in Turbo Pascal and is much more sophisticated than LANGUAGE TEACHER. It has the standard fast pop-up menus with sound effects. As a reference it's probably okay but it has no provisions for drilling the student. By using the arrow keys and PgUp and PgDn one can scroll through or search for different french verbs and observe their conjugations in all the tenses. This s really just a piece of a larger program that can be obtained from MicroTac located in San Diego for a $39.95 registration fee. Unfortunately, the documentation that comes with this ShareWare version doesn't give much information about the registered version which is called FRENCH ASSISTANT. Basically this program is a commercial for FRENCH ASSISTANT. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone familiar with the registered version. I found a listing (not PC-SIG) for another ShareWare program called FRENCH I but not much of a description. I'd also like opinions on this program. Advance thanks to anyone who can help me out. I'll post a summary if there is sufficient interest. Roland cobra@hpcilzb.HP.COM
taylor@ncrcam.Cambridge.NCR.COM (John Taylor) (10/12/89)
My wife has used a game on our PC that involves finding your cousin in Paris by making your way to various places, asking questions, and answering questions all in French. The game does require CGA graphics screen. It also gives the player information about Paris and Franch customs. Ticket To Paris comes from Blue Lion S/W, POBox 650 Belmont, Mass 02178 (617) 489-2477 and lists for $39.95 (we got our copy for $18 at a discount S/W shop.) Blue Lion also makes simular games for other languages. It may not be an educational package, but it is a fun way to apply your reading ability of French and learn at the same time.