|
Friday, 18 July 2008 |
www.byki.com
Before You Know It is a different
way to learn a language. This
interactive site uses ordinary people
instead of trained professionals as
native speakers. The software
monitors the student’s responses,
and adjusts to focus on challenging
words and phrases.
There are free downloads for
Windows and Mac which teach the
basics of 64 languages, from
Albanian to Zulu [but not Basque –
Ed]. It is curiously addictive –
perhaps because of the way it goes
about teaching people words and phrases with a method it calls ‘Perfect Recall’, which is largely
memorisation by flashcards. Experts agree that words and small phrases are the building blocks
of language. Before You Know It lets users see and hear these key words of the foreign language
with native speaker pronunciation, and then helps the learner to memorise them.
The originality of this proprietary learning process is that it monitors the user’s responses
and constantly adjusts to focus on the unique words and phrases that each user finds more
challenging. The result is a fairly rapid learning curve, at least of the basic vocabulary. While
the level is not very high, this is a good way to pick up the basics. The free BYKI software
downloads include more than a dozen lists of words and phrases, images for many cards, and
native speaker sound for all of them. They are not time- or session limited and can be used
forever. There is also, of course, a $50 deluxe version of the software, with 75 more lists of
language content drawn from everyday words and common conversational situations, as well as
the facility to customise or create your own lists of words and phrases that you need to practise.
|
