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System Requirements
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Product Features
- The complete language learning solution, taking you from beginner level all the way to advanced
- Lessons covering almost 20,000 French words and phrases – more than any other language learning software on the market
- An easy-to-use Translation Dictionary that quickly provides English equivalents of over 65,000 words
- 30 virtual reality scenarios to give you an immersive flavour of France
- Rapidly build, master and retain a large French vocabulary base
- 5 powerful and flexible learning products in one affordable package
- Quickly develop confident speaking skills
- Learn to read and write in French
- Develop listening comprehension
- Learn in your car, at the gym or even around the house with a complete audio course on CDs
Product details
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Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
5 LEARNING PRODUCTS IN 1!
The Transparent Language Complete Edition is a powerful and flexible language learning solution that gives you three language learning products in one affordable package. It will take you on a journey beginning with the basics and take you as far as you want to go, all at a pace that suits you.
So whether you prefer audio courses, reading, immersion, or conversational practice, The Complete Edition will lead you to language proficiency in no time!
| 1. Start by rapidly building your vocabulary base with the acclaimed Byki Deluxe 4.0, based on a proven flash card method. Experts agree that the most important part of learning a language is rapidly building a foundation of word and phrase knowledge. Byki is the fastest, most direct path to that goal — it “hacks” into your memory and fills it with foreign words and phrases. Whereas traditional learning methods spread their learning out across a multitude of lessons and activities, Byki gets right down to business with a proven three step process:
In just your first session, the Byki 3-step process will teach you 100 critical Quick Start phrases for use in common, real-life situations. |
| How much have you forgotten? Maybe you've studied another language before. If so, do you remember everything you learned? Using Byki ensures that you'll keep everything you learn in your long-term memory, forever. As you use the three step process, Byki will keep track of what you learn and use its Intelligent Refresh system to help you review the items you might forget along the way. Lots of language products provide a means to learn a language. Only Byki makes that knowledge permanent. |
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| Byki knows what you need... Most products take a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching languages. The Complete Edition provides a personalised path to success based on your own strengths and weaknesses. It recognises the material you learn quickly and takes note of those items that give you more trouble. Finally it maximises the time you dedicate to language learning by focusing your efforts on the items that you find more challenging, without wasting your time on those you learn with ease. Record your voice and then play back the conversation (a microphone is required). Then perfect your pronunciation by comparing it to a native speaker. Play games, take quizzes and track your progress; Byki’s a language-learning powerhouse! |
| 2. Take your learning on the road with audio lessons on CD. Take advantage of “lost” time in your car, at the gym, or just around the house to speed up the learning process. English speaking instructors guide you through each of the 35 easy-to-follow lessons. Native speakers provide examples of real-life dialogues that build your speaking and listening skills. You simply listen and repeat. It’s as easy as that. The Complete Edition also comes with dozens of Byki Pod MP3 files. Use these files on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPod nano, or any other MP3 player. Now you can practise your favourite languages wherever you are. |
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| 3. Develop your written and verbal skills with a full course including lesson plans to develop your conversational skills. You can do the lessons in the recommended order, or, if you prefer, jump around to customise your learning experience. Learn thousands of words and phrases including the following topics:
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| Learn how to speak like a native Practise speaking your chosen language by participating in conversational role-plays and realistic dialogues. As you progress you'll be able to call upon the large vocabulary base you've built and your developing conversational skills. Suddenly you’ll find yourself communicating without a script. In other words, you’ll be speaking your new language! |
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| 4. Instantly access over 65,000 words and their English equivalents. As you practise your new language, you may run across an unfamiliar word here and there. The Lexicon Translation Dictionary won't let that slow you down! The Lexicon Translation Dictionary includes all the words you need to communicate in everyday situations as well as technical terms for specific areas including:
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| 5. Explore 30 virtual reality scenarios. Travel around each scene and click on any object to see and hear its name. Click on the people you meet to learn conversational phrases. You can easily travel between different scenes to see how the words and phrases you are learning are used in different contexts. Based on the concept of a talking picture phrasebook, it can be used equally well as an amazingly easy guide for beginners, a powerful learning tool for intermediate students, a useful refresher course for advanced speakers, and a reference for international travellers. |
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Language titles in the Complete Edition range: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
About Transparent Language
Transparent Language is a leading provider of best-practice language learning software for consumers, government agencies, educational institutions, and businesses. Since 1991, Transparent Language has helped millions of individuals learn new languages quickly, easily, and effectively. More than 12,000 schools and universities, as well as top government language schools, use their products. Working with distinguished language acquisition experts and thousands of native speakers around the world, Transparent Language is committed to producing language learning solutions of the highest quality at affordable prices.
System Requirements
PC
Windows XP (Service Pack 2) / Vista / Windows 7
1.8 GB processor
4GB Hard Drive Space
1GB RAM
Direct X compatible Video and Sound (onboard or add on)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I've have to say I had high hopes for this package when ordered but they were quickly dashed. My first impression on opening it was that the packaging was very poor, with no instructions in box on how to install or run the software. OK, I know a lot of people have autorun enabled so that when a disc put in the software automatically runs, but there are also many who don't. Like me. So once I had got the setup running I was disappointed to see it only had the option for USA English install only. Now considering this is a language tuition package I would expect it to have UK English included! I was also shocked by how many setup programs were run just to install it. It Runs several rather than one which is just sloppy design and confusing for the amateur.
Once it had finished installing I was left with 3 Icons on the desktop, and several in the start menu, but no indication of which to run first! This again is sloppy and confusing. Especially. as there is no manual in the box, help files are in 4 different folders in different formats (Windows Help, RTF, etc), which again will confuse many I'm sure. The Guided tour uses the Spanish course as it's example, and many users would be confused by this if they had purchased, for example, French.
The actual Transparent Language software serves as both an index to the separate modules and also contains some of the course material. Now I say 'course' but there is very little structuring to the package. The very first lesson throws you straight into flip (or flash) cards using a separate program, Byki Deluxe. Now as this package is aimed at the absolute beginner it would have been very useful to have some sort of introduction explaining what the object of a lesson was, and how it would progress. However, the whole package feels as though it has been thrown together from disparate and non interactive sources. The video quality is very low as well.
The lessons in Byki Deluxe that involve typing are too pedantic. For example when asked to type in the English version of a French word shown on the Flash Cards, the program requires you to use the exact capitalization and punctuation used on the reverse of the flip card. I.E. "how are you?" is reported as a wrong answer where as "How are you?" is reported as correct. Even full stops at the end of words or phrases must be reproduced. The sound quality of the audio played in the Byki software is variable from very poor (and hard to understand the nuances) to very good.
The Ligua Match module is a great idea, effectively allowing you to ask what things are called using a 3D view of the world around you. This is how we learn our main language as children and feels very natural. However it has some bad limits. While you can wander around a Hotel asking what things are called, you can't do the same in a home, so there is no way to ask what a cooker is called, for example. Also there was some graphics corruption during use. There are no tooltips so you have to wade through the poorly designed help file to find out what any of the buttons do as they are all icons which make little sense until you know what they are! Again, the sound quality of the audio played in the Lingua Match software is variable from very poor (and hard to understand the nuances) to very good. Unfortunately there is no way to resize the window and it was way to small on my 1920x1080 display.
There are some confusing translations as well. For example in every French lesson/book/Audio I've listened to a radio is called "Le Radio" yet in this package it is called ""la poste de radio". Now I suspect that this may be a very formal way of putting it much the same as we might say "The radio receiver" but let's be honest that's not what we say, and neither I suspect do most French speakers! However, no explanation is given for the discrepancies.
These is no single Uninstall for the entire package, you must find and uninstall the various programs manually. This yet again may confuse those who are less confident on using Windows.
So, overall I am not that impressed with this package and it left me feeling disappointed. It looks and feels cheap, which it not by any means. I would not recommend this to a complete beginner in French (or any other language) and also not to a computer illiterate person.
Once it had finished installing I was left with 3 Icons on the desktop, and several in the start menu, but no indication of which to run first! This again is sloppy and confusing. Especially. as there is no manual in the box, help files are in 4 different folders in different formats (Windows Help, RTF, etc), which again will confuse many I'm sure. The Guided tour uses the Spanish course as it's example, and many users would be confused by this if they had purchased, for example, French.
The actual Transparent Language software serves as both an index to the separate modules and also contains some of the course material. Now I say 'course' but there is very little structuring to the package. The very first lesson throws you straight into flip (or flash) cards using a separate program, Byki Deluxe. Now as this package is aimed at the absolute beginner it would have been very useful to have some sort of introduction explaining what the object of a lesson was, and how it would progress. However, the whole package feels as though it has been thrown together from disparate and non interactive sources. The video quality is very low as well.
The lessons in Byki Deluxe that involve typing are too pedantic. For example when asked to type in the English version of a French word shown on the Flash Cards, the program requires you to use the exact capitalization and punctuation used on the reverse of the flip card. I.E. "how are you?" is reported as a wrong answer where as "How are you?" is reported as correct. Even full stops at the end of words or phrases must be reproduced. The sound quality of the audio played in the Byki software is variable from very poor (and hard to understand the nuances) to very good.
The Ligua Match module is a great idea, effectively allowing you to ask what things are called using a 3D view of the world around you. This is how we learn our main language as children and feels very natural. However it has some bad limits. While you can wander around a Hotel asking what things are called, you can't do the same in a home, so there is no way to ask what a cooker is called, for example. Also there was some graphics corruption during use. There are no tooltips so you have to wade through the poorly designed help file to find out what any of the buttons do as they are all icons which make little sense until you know what they are! Again, the sound quality of the audio played in the Lingua Match software is variable from very poor (and hard to understand the nuances) to very good. Unfortunately there is no way to resize the window and it was way to small on my 1920x1080 display.
There are some confusing translations as well. For example in every French lesson/book/Audio I've listened to a radio is called "Le Radio" yet in this package it is called ""la poste de radio". Now I suspect that this may be a very formal way of putting it much the same as we might say "The radio receiver" but let's be honest that's not what we say, and neither I suspect do most French speakers! However, no explanation is given for the discrepancies.
These is no single Uninstall for the entire package, you must find and uninstall the various programs manually. This yet again may confuse those who are less confident on using Windows.
So, overall I am not that impressed with this package and it left me feeling disappointed. It looks and feels cheap, which it not by any means. I would not recommend this to a complete beginner in French (or any other language) and also not to a computer illiterate person.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I love learning languages, and love language programmes. When it comes to minority languages - there are large gaps in the market, so customers will make big efforts to learn from anything available. With languages such as French, there is plenty on offer, so to really succeed, the programme has to be extra special. And this isn't.
The programme is good - it is a structured way to learn, with plenty of activities and games. But the keyboard is difficult, and unlike the smaller versions, this is PC only.
The big advantage of scaling up to the complete version is the ability to write your own flashcards, to enable linking learning with the classroom, or other sources. But this advantage is hampered by the issues with the keyboard. There is a shortcut to disable the onscreen keyboard, and go back to your computers, but this doesn't work for all activities, so I found myself getting more and more irritated, which began to put me off the programme altogether.
So I'm afraid, in a crowded market of French language programmes, I'm not sure I could recommend spending the money on this one, when there are other systems of equal use and value - without the irritating bugs.
The programme is good - it is a structured way to learn, with plenty of activities and games. But the keyboard is difficult, and unlike the smaller versions, this is PC only.
The big advantage of scaling up to the complete version is the ability to write your own flashcards, to enable linking learning with the classroom, or other sources. But this advantage is hampered by the issues with the keyboard. There is a shortcut to disable the onscreen keyboard, and go back to your computers, but this doesn't work for all activities, so I found myself getting more and more irritated, which began to put me off the programme altogether.
So I'm afraid, in a crowded market of French language programmes, I'm not sure I could recommend spending the money on this one, when there are other systems of equal use and value - without the irritating bugs.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
One feature that I really liked and that helps with understanding exactly what is being said and how to pronounce it is the "Slow Sounds" option. This takes any word and slows the speech so you can hear every syllable and pronounce them correctly. Mind you when you hear regional accents and the speed most French people speak it's still very difficult to understand some people. Imagine a language package teaching the `Queen's English' then ending up in the middle of Runcorn or Newcastle.
The company has a large FAQ on their website, email support and a lot of in program help such as tutorials, a user manual and helpful hints throughout the program. You shouldn't need any additional help but if you do, they also provide phone support for direct contact and help.
This package allows you to build your vocabulary with flashcards, interactive games and even record your voice for each new word. Getting this feature to work with my Microphone socket was a non-starter but worked fine with my USB headset. The program lets you know when words and phrases you've learned have not been accessed for a while and will give you the option to refresh your memory on them. The only problem is that you will only be able to track your vocabulary with this feature.
One of the best features that shows how up to date the package is, is the ability to take your learning with you anywhere. With the audio disks and mobile device capability there is plenty of scope for the car, train or flights to keep learning. There is also a good link to the company website for further media, training and testing.
There are several different ways of learning. Many of the features use picture-word association and word recognition activities to improve your French. This edition also makes good use of video to help you see and experience French conversations and accents in context which is really useful.
There is also a speech recognition system that gives extensive feedback on different parts of your voice so that you know exactly what to work on. Unfortunately, the speech recognition didn't seem quite as accurate in evaluating voices as some of the other programs that I have reviewed.
The company has a large FAQ on their website, email support and a lot of in program help such as tutorials, a user manual and helpful hints throughout the program. You shouldn't need any additional help but if you do, they also provide phone support for direct contact and help.
This package allows you to build your vocabulary with flashcards, interactive games and even record your voice for each new word. Getting this feature to work with my Microphone socket was a non-starter but worked fine with my USB headset. The program lets you know when words and phrases you've learned have not been accessed for a while and will give you the option to refresh your memory on them. The only problem is that you will only be able to track your vocabulary with this feature.
One of the best features that shows how up to date the package is, is the ability to take your learning with you anywhere. With the audio disks and mobile device capability there is plenty of scope for the car, train or flights to keep learning. There is also a good link to the company website for further media, training and testing.
There are several different ways of learning. Many of the features use picture-word association and word recognition activities to improve your French. This edition also makes good use of video to help you see and experience French conversations and accents in context which is really useful.
There is also a speech recognition system that gives extensive feedback on different parts of your voice so that you know exactly what to work on. Unfortunately, the speech recognition didn't seem quite as accurate in evaluating voices as some of the other programs that I have reviewed.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A complete sytem that works holistically
I've had this product for quite a while and not tried it out. So the other day I decided to put one of the 6 audio cds into my car and play it from there. Read more
Published 2 months ago by stephen Luff
EXASPERATING
There are obviously students of French who like this particular format for teaching themselves the language, but they must be people whom the Lord in His infinite wisdom has... Read more
Published 20 months ago by DAVID BRYSON
Simple -Non!
The concept of a software approach to languages is not new, competition is severe. Any new or pioneering product in this space would need to be taking a new angle or simplifying... Read more
Published 22 months ago by M. de-layen Vian
Enjoyable and informative
Nice langauge tool. Has the usual features will a nice interface. This edition covers a lot of the lanaguage so you can get past the beginner phrases and more onto the lanaguages... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Holy Smoke
Complete French
The packaging for this is somewhat awkward with discs falling out of it and no detailed instructions for installing it or describing the installation. Read more
Published 23 months ago by D Deacon
3 in one package offers value, but little else
If you check out the Transparent French website you will see that this "complete" package is in fact 3 of their software titles bundled together. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2010 by A.M.Boughey
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