Should you consider voice recognition software when you consider what program to use in learning to speak Spanish?
Here’s how it works: The program says a word in Spanish. You have a microphone hooked into your computer and you say the same word. The computer then gives you feedback on how good your pronunciation is.
Fluenz Spanish, Rosetta Stone Spanish, and Tell Me More Spanish all offer voice recognition as part of their multi-media approach to learning to speak Spanish.
I haven’t yet tried this feature of these three programs but if it works even reasonably well, it could be an excellent reason to choose one of them for learning to speak Spanish. There are a couple of IFs here:
- If you prefer this approach to simply repeating what your hear, like while you might be listening to an mp3 file on your ipod or similar device.
- If your computer has a sound card that works with the software — this is more likely with a relatively new computer — and you have a microphone.
Research indicates that we don’t always hear our pronunciation mistakes in learning a new language. I’ve noticed that with my own improving Spanish. I will suddenly become aware of subtle ways I have been using my American way of pronouncing a word.
For example, we Americans draw out the “o” in the word “no” longer than the Mexicans do.
So back to the question we started with: Do you NEED voice recognition software to learn to speak Spanish? I would have to say “no”(however I pronounced it). It is not an essential to getting started with beginner’s Spanish. But it could help.
If you use this feature of Fluenz, Rosetta Stone, Tell Me More, or whatever, please do post a comment on your experience!
Filed under: Voice recognition software
