The Learning Company, which bought out HyperGlot Software Company, produces the Think & Talk series in French, Spanish, Italian, and German editions. The disc includes the Windows, Windows 95, and Macintosh versions and uses the Berlitz method of language instruction in which the student learns by doing. In other words, a student learns French by speaking French, not by speaking about French in English.
The Windows version of Think & Talk requires a 486DX33 CPU or better, Windows 95 with 8 MB RAM or Windows 3.1 with 4 MB RAM, a hard disk, a double speed CD‐ROM drive, 256‐color SVGA monitor, MS‐DOS 5.0 or later, Windows compatible audio card, MCI sound, and optional microphone. The Macintosh version requires a 68040/25 MHZ or better computer with 4 MB RAM, a hard disk, a double speed CD‐ROM drive, 256‐color monitor (at least 13”), System 7.1 or later, MacRecorder or microphone optional but highly recommended.
Version 2.0 now contains the whole course of 50 lessons on a single CD whereas version 1.0 had one CD‐ROM with the computer programs and seven audio CDS for the tutorials. The new version converted all the CD audio into waveform audio which means that students no longer have to swap discs after each group of lessons; but it also means that they can no longer listen to the lessons on any audio CD player.
A lesson begins with Listen and Understand that displays some pictures illustrating the scene to help one understand the script. The lesson presents variations of intonation and sentence melody and rhythms of voices. Spelling and grammar don’t matter at this stage.
The next stage involves listening to the scene another time and repeating systematically, during the pauses, everything one hears, assuming that the easiest way of saying anything in a foreign language is to repeat what one just heard. This teaches proper pronunciation and inflection as the student imitates what he or she hears. Version 2.0 includes voice recognition software (for the Windows edition only) that rates the student’s pronunciation and displays improvement on a meter that goes from “tourist” to “native.”
After understanding the verbal portion of the lesson, the student has the opportunity to read the script of the scene. This option plays the scene again and displays the script on the screen. The text scrolls automatically and highlights the words and phrases as they are read. Seeing the script in print adds a new dimension to the target language. It adds sight to sound, spelling to pronunciation.
After becoming familiar with the written text, the student can practice writing the text after hearing it. This option pronounces a word or sentence from the scene which the student listens to and types it in. This requires correct characters, punctuation, and article for a correct answer. An appendix in the manual explains how to type international characters. A student can also choose to see the correct response or to hide the answer to challenge him or herself further.
The Think and Talk option lets the student practice his or her oral skills by practicing speaking the words and sentences without being prompted by sound or pictures. An incomplete sentence from the scene appears on the screen. The student must fill in the missing word and recording the complete sentence (Windows only).
Every scene has at least one corresponding exercise to enhance study. These exercises can consist of fill‐in‐the‐blanks or multiple choice questions. Students can click on the Check Answers button to display the correct answer. They can also choose to show or hide the correct answers or to see the grammar related to the scene. These options are new with version 2.0 which also sports a new interface that is less juvenile than that of version 1.0.
The disc also includes a dictionary of more than 10,000 words and their translations. Students can move back and forth between the scene and the dictionary with a couple of mouse clicks. They can search by typing a word or a word fragment or by selecting the first letter of the word to scroll down the list. They can use the dictionary either in their native language or in the target language.
The dictionary was designed for practical needs and avoids unnecessary linguistic information. Each main‐entry word is followed by the part of speech whenever applicable. When an entry word may be used as more than one part of speech, the dictionary groups the translations together after the respective part of speech.
Every screen has a help button that explains how to work with the screen displayed. A navigation button lets students jump to various sections of the program or to return to the Table of Contents to change scene.
Version 1.0 had a Print Scene option to print the text of any scene so the student could work with the scene when he or she was away from the computer or in conjunction with an audio CD player. Version 2.0 eliminated this option.
Think and Talk comes with a thorough User’s Guide that applies to all the language modules. It is clear and well‐written with instructions for operation on either a Macintosh or Windows computer. The program overview explains the underlying philosophy of the Berlitz method, hardware and software requirements, and installation procedures. The manual provides adequate information to understand the various steps and how the program works. Several appendices cover response signal, typing international characters, troubleshooting for both Windows and Macintosh platforms, as well as technical support and warranty information. Technical support information provides e‐mail addresses to HyperGlot Software Company; but every attempt to send messages to the Internet address or the CompuServe address failed.
Think and Talk takes quite a while to load and to navigate from one section to another. The program requires 7.5 MB of hard disk space; and the speech recognition software demands another 3.5 MB. Think and Talk also wants to modify audio settings which can cause problems with some system configurations.
The software is textbook independent; but the end of scene 50 refers to a book to continue the study of verbs and grammar. When used in schools, it is meant to supplement the teaching materials rather than to serve as the primary teaching vehicle.
Think and Talk does not allow teachers to test or grade students or to capture their activities on disk because the producers believe that the most attractive promise of computer‐aided instruction lies in the fact that the computer can present a tireless and totally non‐judgmental teacher. Students can work privately without worrying about making errors. They can profit from the errors they make with no anxiety about looking foolish. The program provides a context which does not punish a student for trying but rewards him or her for learning.
Think and Talk offers an excellent program at the beginner level Version 2.0 has a new user interface that includes voice recognition software and different exercises than version 1.0. The program now comes on one CD instead of eight. Owners of version 1.0 will generally not have enough incentive to purchase the new version. However, new buyers will find that Think and Talk incorporates sound pedagogical principles and offers great value for the price.
