[comp.edu] Wanted: FRENCH Tutor for PC Compatible

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.