Tell Me More (任我说). 3 CDs: Installation, Beginner, Advanced. Tempe, AZ: Auralog Inc. (www.auraloginc.com). November 2000. ISBN 2-84635-016-7 $149.95. System requirements (recommended): PC or compatible-Pentium 166 MHz, Window 95/98/NT4/2000, 32 MB RAM, 110 MB available on hard disk, 12X CD-Rom drive, 16-bit Windows-compatible sound card, SVGA video card, microphone and speakers.
ContentsTell Me More is a set of Chinese learning CDs developed by Auralog, a company based in France, in collaboration with INALCO (National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations). It is said to be "the first language learning software based on speech recognition that can analyze the four tones of the Chinese language perfectly." It employs a "complete and interactive method" to allow users to "have a free-flowing, interactive conversation with (the) computer and perfect (their) pronunciation." The program comes with over 200 hours of learning, including a 3,000-word glossary, 800 simplified characters, 30 grammar rules, and 1,000 plus exercises. It includes two levels adapted to both absolute beginners and those who already have some knowledge of Chinese. Specifically, the target users are: 1) beginners who want to discover or review the basics and make themselves understood in everyday situations and 2) more advanced learners who desire to communicate more fluently.
The beginning level has six lessons which are: 1) pinyin, 2) common phrases, 3) number, 4) description, 5) description of things, 6) activities. There is also, on the first CD, a review lesson, which offers a composite of various elements from the previous lessons. The advanced level also has six lessons which deal with 1) introduction, 2) daily life, 3) family, 4) time and weather, 5) in town, and 6) accommodations. Each lesson consists of three learning modules: pronunciation, dialogue, and exercises. The "pronunciation" part is further divided into a sentence index and a word index; the "dialogue" part is a collection of various short exchanges relevant to the theme of the lesson; the "exercise" part includes ten types of practice-1) picture/word association, 2) association between Chinese and pinyin, 3) association between Chinese and English, 4) association between Chinese and Chinese, 5) the right word, 6) fill in the blank, 7) mystery phrase, 8) word order, 9) dictation, 10) crossword puzzle. Each type of exercise has at least 2 or 3 items for practice.
In addition to the lessons, the program provides learners with useful administrative, learning, and supporting tools such as "reference works," "options," "translation," "lesson report," and "help." The reference works include grammar explication, which, when the "translation" mode is enabled, can be displayed in either Chinese or English. It also contains a vocal dictionary of the glossary, which lists characters, pinyin, English translation and occasionally part of speech. The "options" tool allows one to change the setting for audio and speech recognition, i.e., one can set the volume of the audio, adjust sound effects, slow down speech, test background noise, activate a beep before a student speaks into the microphone, and display pronunciation in wave form, pitch curve or both. It also allows one to control the setting for a number of exercises, e.g., to adjust the number of words (2, 3, 4) in the picture/word association, to set the puzzle size, to provide translation/recording of the word for crossword puzzles, or to enable the display of pinyin transcription.
Strengths
As one can readily tell from the above description, one major strength of this program lies in its use of speech recognition technology to enable the practice of pronunciation of words, phrases, or sentences. When one is in the "pronunciation" module of a lesson, she can choose a practice item from either the glossary list of words or phrases/sentences. The computer says the item and displays its wave form and pitch curve (the default audio display setting). Next, the user is prompted to speak the item until the computer can recognize or "understand" her speech. During the learning process, the computer displays the learner's speech in wave form and pitch curve below that of the model speech. The learner can then use the two wave forms and pitch curves as visual feedback for her pronunciation and intonation practices. As well, the learner can listen to her own speech and compare it to the model speech by clicking on the loud speaker icon. One can practice as many times as necessary and the success of each attempt is immediately scored and graphed onto a colored bar chart with pink (below average) and blue (above average). Within an individual sentence/phrase, the software can pinpoint and highlight mispronounced words in red using its Spoken Error Tracking System (S.E.T.S.) technology. The learner can then use the mouse pointer to highlight and listen to the specific part which is shown to be mispronounced within the wave form of the sentence/phrase, and compare it to that of the model speech.
With each practice of the Dialog section, the learner is given a picture, a cue/question, and three responses. The software starts by saying the cue/question and then waits for the learner to answer with one of the three written responses, which are all appropriate to the cue, the starter of a two-turn conversation (A-B) drill. For example, when the screen shows the sentence “你的汉语真不错,” one can read any one of the following responses: 1) 哪里，你过奖了, 2) 我会说一点儿, 3) 我学了一年中文. If the learner's speech is judged to be correct, the computer highlights it and then moves on to the next dialogue. At the advanced level, in some dialogues the computer even follows up with another response after one has spoken correctly (A-B-A). This enhances the sense of having a "simulated conversation."
In addition to the unique feature of speech recognition, the exercise module of the program is obviously an area of excellence in comparison with other Chinese language learning programs so far developed. The variety of exercise types and the sheer number of items for practice makes it a great tool for drill and practice. The various options and accommodations this program affords are also worthy of complement. For learners with various proficiency levels and needs, it is a definite plus to be able to slow down the sample speech. The help menu, an important aid, is context-sensitive and complete.
Weaknesses
Given the size and ambition of this program, there are inevitable glitches and areas of concern. First, the technological strength of the program ironically is also its weakness. After a few trials, one quickly notices that although the program can recognize and assess the pronunciation of single words with great success, the recognition of "phrase" level pronunciation is not very satisfactory. As a native-speaker of Mandarin, I tried to pronounce the simple phrase "duibuqi" 10 times, but couldn't get the computer to understand me. It was later discovered that how fast and when one pronounces a phrase critically affects the success rate. This nuance must be difficult for many learners to grasp and may result in frustration, particularly for those who tend to speak slowly.
The second drawback of the program lies in its interface design. It lacks a direct means of viewing the Choice of Lessons, i.e. table of contents. Instead, the program starts with a "Film Set," a less than transparent interface, in which there is a person holding that kind of clapper-board used in movie making to access the Dialogue screen, a microphone (Pronunciation), a notebook and pen (Exercise), a book (Reference Works), a sound mixer (Options), a trophy (Lesson Report), a globe (Online Service), a door (Quit), and a clothes rack (Choice of Lessons) in the background. Given so many features presented all at once, it takes a while to figure out how to get around. This navigation problem results from collapsing the top layer of the program, the Choice of Lessons, with the middle layer, the learning modules of each lesson (Pronunciation, Dialogue and Exercise), and with the bottom layer, the "accessory aids" (Report, Reference Works, Options, etc.). As it is arranged now, one has to always go through the "Film Set" screen to access the Choices of Lesson menu to be able to switch lessons. If the program had used the Choice of Lessons screen as the main menu, it would have been more straightforward and less confusing. A simple organizational chart or structure map would also have helped reduce the sense of disorientation at the initial use of the program.
Third, the uses of graphics in the program sometimes are problematic. Although the program is colorful with its 300 photos and many illustrations, the visuals at times do not seem to serve a purpose. For example, the grammar section of the "reference works" half of the screen (one whole page of a book image) is filled with a stock illustration that has little to do with the grammar explanation. Also in the very first pinyin lesson, the "dialogue" part contains some pictures that seem to be irrelevant. For example, when the pinyin "zhou2" is displayed, the accompanying picture is a ruler; when the pinyin "cai2" shows up, the associated picture is an arm. In the picture/word association exercise, a light bulb is placed at the upper right hand corner of the page to represent "solution." However, a click on the icon generates no "solution" at all. In fact, there is no need of any "solution" because the correct answer is always marked in green and the incorrect one in red. In a dialogue on Beihai Park, one is presented with a photo of Tiananmen Square. At the lesson report page, the screen is filled with 13 test tubes (10 for exercises, 2 for pronunciation and 1 for dialogue) containing deep and light blue liquid, representing the scores of completed attempts and of correct trials. It looks futuristic but seems a bit vague and counter-intuitive.
Fourth, the organization of the curriculum/contents could be further clarified. For example, in the "pronunciation" part of lesson 2 "common phrases," it's hard to understand why zao "Good morning!" is listed in the sentence index, but biekeqi "You're welcome" is listed in the word index. Also, in the word index of the same lesson on "common phrases," one finds terms like "France," "U.S." "Japan" or even "South Africa", but "Zhongguo," the subject of the study, is missing. In addition, while one can tell that the word index is alphabetically arranged, it's difficult to comprehend on what basis the expressions in the sentence index are organized. It's not in alphabetical order, nor do the sentences appear to have semantic connections. As a result, learners may find it difficult to locate any specific item in the long list of phrases.
Sometimes confusion results not from the lack of apparent organization scheme, but from wrong descriptors or missing directions/objectives of the activity. For example, to practice "pronunciation" in the pinyin lesson, one is told to "select the sentence you wish to practice." Yet, there are no sentences at all, only a list of various initials and finals. To practice "dialogue" in the pinyin lesson, one is given a cue like "cai2," with an associated picture of an arm, and three choices to read: "fei3," "zao4," "hou1." One wonders the purpose of having a cue here if there is no obvious connection between the cue and these three choices. Also, what is the goal of this activity: to practice initials, finals, or tones? Certainly there is no "dialogue."
Fifth, although the program is very innovative in its use of advanced technology, its pedagogical approach, particularly the method used in the "pronunciation" and "dialogue" parts looks conventional. Both sections practice one's pronunciation through imitation (in the pronunciation part) and reading of sentence in pinyin or characters (in the dialogue part). Because the dialogues are mostly two-turn exchanges and the responses all pre-conditioned, one cannot truly have "a free-flowing" conversation with the computer, although this program is comparatively more interactive than most. Dialogues in each lesson, though provided with visual clues, are not contextualized to the extent that one can make meaningful transitions from one dialogue to the next. Thus, at times one may feel as if she were studying a phrase book.
Summary
Despite the aforementioned problems, this program is truly impressive in its technological sophistication and its comprehensive scope in dealing with pronunciation, comprehension, written expression, grammar and vocabulary all in one package. It can be very useful for those who want to study Chinese by themselves but can't find a tutor to monitor their output. It can also be helpful in providing students with more and varied supplemental exercises and motivating them to better their pronunciation. In fact, this program has been used at West Point and many other places around the world. Further reports from the classroom will be a testimony to its usability and effectiveness. In this age of online accessibility and e-learning, one only wishes that more language learning software like Tell Me More will arrive and break new ground.
Jennifer Li-chia Liu
Indiana University, BloomingtonPublished in: Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 38.3:123-127.
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