Thursday, January 23, 2003
Outloud! v2.01 Complete English-Spanish Phrasebook Review
Posted by Sanjay Srikonda in "SOFTWARE" @ 12:00 PM
"Hello, where is the bathroom?"
"Que?"
"The bathroom??!!"
"Que?"
"BATHROOOM!!!!"
"QUE???"
How many of us have ended up in a foreign country not being prepared to speak the local language enough to even ask for the bathroom? Well, using OutLoud Spanish Phrasebook for Travellers, you might just be able to get around where you couldn't before.
Ever end up in a country, or a place where you didn't know the language? You went and bought a great phrasebook, you took lessons, you read up on the local culture, you have a map. Everything a tourist is meant to do, you did. However, you forgot one important thing, your pronunciation of native words is like a someone from Venus trying to understand Swahili. What do you do? You need to find the bathroom. You need to order dinner. You need, well, you needed to learn the basics. Instead, you're hungry, about to pee on yourself, and not sure how to ask directions to your hotel or order a meal. Well, thank goodness, you decided to download to your PocketPC, a copy of OutLoud! English-Spanish Phrasebook for Travelers.
Donde esta la bano?
Even the main screen makes you feel warm and fuzzy all over. I downloaded the Spanish version, for no other particular reason than I did. I am going to start taking a refresher course in French soon, but for now, Spanish is just fine. The first (main) screen in this program is not cluttered, it does exactly what it says it does, and doesn't pretend to do any more than that.
Using the Application
You can download and purchase the full version (or, if you prefer, you can use the 5% phrase-included trial version as well) of the software is easy, you can find it on Handago, or directly from the manufacturer as well. There's no setup of the application after installation, to start the application, just click the icon once it's installed and the main screen is displayed. I'll address the menu items along the bottom of the screen first:
Figure 1: OutLoud! Screen with phrases displayed
Besides the price, and the lack of a bigger vocabulary, the program doesn't have a lot of glitches. Nothing crashed, it didn't confuse me with trying to get me to learn Spanish while trying to show me how well I did on my pronunciation. I needed to say, "Where is the bathroom" and the program gave me the choice of saying "Donde esta la bano" or saying it for me. I wish it would have given me the choice of saying more than the basics for $29.95, but if the price doesn't bother you, then this is a great program.
Where To Buy
You can purchase the product from Handago, or directly from MobiLearn. One thing, through, if you buy the program before the end of January, you also get a 20% off the 500-word add-in module which is deducted from your total price when you check out.
Conclusions
I liked it. I've said my ifs, ands, and buts, but overall, OutLoud! said it would get me through a few typical situations and after using it for a few days, it did just that. I found my way around town, I found the bathroom, the bus, the taxi, and in each instance, I did it with the correct pronunciation.
"Que?"
"The bathroom??!!"
"Que?"
"BATHROOOM!!!!"
"QUE???"
How many of us have ended up in a foreign country not being prepared to speak the local language enough to even ask for the bathroom? Well, using OutLoud Spanish Phrasebook for Travellers, you might just be able to get around where you couldn't before.
Ever end up in a country, or a place where you didn't know the language? You went and bought a great phrasebook, you took lessons, you read up on the local culture, you have a map. Everything a tourist is meant to do, you did. However, you forgot one important thing, your pronunciation of native words is like a someone from Venus trying to understand Swahili. What do you do? You need to find the bathroom. You need to order dinner. You need, well, you needed to learn the basics. Instead, you're hungry, about to pee on yourself, and not sure how to ask directions to your hotel or order a meal. Well, thank goodness, you decided to download to your PocketPC, a copy of OutLoud! English-Spanish Phrasebook for Travelers.
Donde esta la bano?
Even the main screen makes you feel warm and fuzzy all over. I downloaded the Spanish version, for no other particular reason than I did. I am going to start taking a refresher course in French soon, but for now, Spanish is just fine. The first (main) screen in this program is not cluttered, it does exactly what it says it does, and doesn't pretend to do any more than that.
Using the Application
You can download and purchase the full version (or, if you prefer, you can use the 5% phrase-included trial version as well) of the software is easy, you can find it on Handago, or directly from the manufacturer as well. There's no setup of the application after installation, to start the application, just click the icon once it's installed and the main screen is displayed. I'll address the menu items along the bottom of the screen first:
Figure 1: OutLoud! Screen with phrases displayed
- File: Lets you view the usual things about a program:
- About: The program (the legal stuff)
- Intro (duction): Go to the introduction (the only help you really get and need)
- Home: in case you go to one of the sub-sections and you want to get back to the starting screen
- Eng --> Spa: This changes the "direction" of the translation. Because this is a Spanish phrase program, the default is English to Spanish
- Sort: Lets you sort the phrases in alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order
- Find: Lets you find a phrase by entering in a word in English or Spanish which brings up the word or phrase in English or Spanish (I like this bit best, if you know a part of a phrase, or what you're trying to say, entering a keyword like "bathroom" brings up the phrases associated with finding a bathroom)
- Rep: Choosing this lets you set how many times you want the phrase repeated. This kind of threw me, unless you're really really trying to get your point across or the company is trying to also teach people how to speak Spanish, I didn't understand the use of this
Besides the price, and the lack of a bigger vocabulary, the program doesn't have a lot of glitches. Nothing crashed, it didn't confuse me with trying to get me to learn Spanish while trying to show me how well I did on my pronunciation. I needed to say, "Where is the bathroom" and the program gave me the choice of saying "Donde esta la bano" or saying it for me. I wish it would have given me the choice of saying more than the basics for $29.95, but if the price doesn't bother you, then this is a great program.
Where To Buy
You can purchase the product from Handago, or directly from MobiLearn. One thing, through, if you buy the program before the end of January, you also get a 20% off the 500-word add-in module which is deducted from your total price when you check out.
Conclusions
I liked it. I've said my ifs, ands, and buts, but overall, OutLoud! said it would get me through a few typical situations and after using it for a few days, it did just that. I found my way around town, I found the bathroom, the bus, the taxi, and in each instance, I did it with the correct pronunciation.
