Sprechen Sie (Insert Language Here)-MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks Reviewed [Archive]

Kevin Remhof

08-06-2004, 05:30 PM

<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/remhof-jul04-mobilearn-0.gif" /> Product Category: Software Manufacturer: <a href="http://www.mobilearn.net/">MobiLearn, Inc.</a> Where to Buy: <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=22358">Handango</a> (affiliate link) Price: $34.99 USD, a demo is available. System Requirements: Pocket PC 2002 or Windows Mobile 2003, at least 15 MB of RAM. Pros:<li>Easy to use; <li>Great sound.Cons:<li>Quizzes are too easy; <li>Large program, especially with multiple languages. Summary: MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks are great tools to help you learn a new language. If you're on your way to a foreign land and want an easy way to look up phrases, check out this software now. Read on for the full review!<!> <PAGEBREAK> Basics MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks let you quickly and easily translate phrases. If you've ever been to a foreign country, you know how difficult it can be to get around. When I was in high school, I took 3 years of German and then spent a month in Germany as an exchange student. Being totally immersed in German was quite an experience. Luckily, I remembered to pack an English-German dictionary and a phrasebook. I used the dictionary to occasionally look up specific words, but the phrasebook was the one that I took everywhere. For this review, I took a look at the MobiLearn English-German, English-German 500 Nouns add-on, English-French, and English-French Cuisine Phrasebooks. Wow, that's a lot of foreign languages on my Pocket PC. The MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks range in size from about 4.5 to 15 MB. Installing all of them took a LONG time. I installed them all to an SD card on my iPAQ 1945. It took over an hour to install all four. Very painful. I don't consider this a gotcha because it's the device, not the software, that is the bottleneck. It would be great if I could just install to a storage card via a card reader. Basic Translation The best thing about the MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks is that they are incredibly simple to use. All you have to do is run the program, select a category, and find the phrase you want to translate. It doesn't get any easier than that. It's refreshing to see such a simple interface. Finding the appropriate phrase is always just a few clicks away. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/remhof-jul04-mobilearn-1.gif" /> Figure 1: Choosing a category. Once you pick your category, you'll see a list of common phrases that you might want to use. If you have one of the add-ons (such as the German 500 Nouns or French cuisine) that content will be integrated with your regular phrasebook. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/remhof-jul04-mobilearn-2.gif" /> Figure 2: Hmmm... which phrase this time? After selecting your phrase, you'll see the text translation in the bottom portion of the screen. This is handy if you need to see something spelled out for you. If you're in Munich and trying to find a hospital, you might want to know how to spell Krankenhaus. But since this is a talking phrasebook, you can also hear the translation. All of the voice-work for these phrasebooks is excellent. The samples are clear and easy to understand. MobiLearn uses native-speakers for these. Nice touch. <PAGEBREAK> Quizzes Since I haven't traveled outside of North America for a few years, I haven't tried to speak German in years. The MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks also come with a Quiz mode. It gave me a chance to see how my long-term memory has kept up. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/remhof-jul04-mobilearn-3.gif" /> Figure 3: Pick an answer, any answer. I had a lot of fun with the Quizzes. The phrasebooks keep track of your score and you can see how you are doing over time. But I quickly learned that some of the multiple choice answers make the correct answer stand out too easily. This is not a deal-breaker by any means. I'm not sure how this could be handled better either. Since you can choose multiple categories for a quiz, sometimes you do need contextual hints. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/remhof-jul04-mobilearn-4.gif" /> Figure 4: An easy choice. My only other complaint with the Quizzes is the sound choices. The phrasebooks have great samples for each and every phrase but, nothing special for Quizzes. If you get a question right, you hear the default Pocket PC "ding" sound. Get one wrong and you get another stock sound. Very boring. Other Features So, you're in a foreign city and are trying to find some lunch. What do you do? If you have a MobiLearn Talking Phrasebook, just fire up the Find feature and you're on your way. With Find you can search for phrases in your native language. You can search using a foreign language as well. The search is fast and easy to use. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/remhof-jul04-mobilearn-5.gif" /> Figure 5: Finding food. Once you've found your favorite phrases, you can bookmark them. This makes it easy to pull up a quick list of phrases you think you'll need. Also, when you are in the regular phrasebook, you'll see an icon next to your bookmarked items. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/remhof-jul04-mobilearn-6.gif" /> Figure 6: My list of favorite phrases. The Find and Bookmark features, like everything else in the phrasebooks, are easy to use. The interface for these applications really stands out. I spent most of my time using the English-German version since I know some German. I tried the English-French version out as well and found it to be just as user friendly. Conclusions The MobiLearn Talking Phrasebooks are great additions for a traveler's Pocket PC. They are very simple to use and make learning a new language fun. Although the quizzes can be a bit too easy they help enhance an already great product. Add in the find and bookmark features and you've got a winning combination.