iStart Spanish

Are you looking to learn another language… Spanish to be precise? In my case it would actually be  re-learning the language as I like many took Spanish in high school but have forgotten nearly all of it. There’s no doubt that in modern day US, knowing a little of the Spanish language could be very advantageus. Expecially if you live in the South West. Not to mention a large portion of the world in general speaks Spanish and it could be very useful if you enjoy traveling to other countries. Given the potential need for Spanish the real question is what method do you take to learn it. Of course you can choose to take a class which is the classic more conventional way. With todays advanced internet and mobile technologies however there are now many programs and websites available which allow you to learn Spanish and other languages at cheaper costs, and on your own time and schedule. One great option available to all iPhone and iPod touch users is the new Spanish teaching app, iStart Spanish. Developed by Mirai Language Systems, iStart Spanish is a comprehensive app that successfully teaches you to speak Spanish conversationally, all wrapped up in 1 fun, easy and accessible package.

iStart Spanish Features:

1. The Application comes with full audio tutoring in the form of a dialog between a native speaker of English and two native Spanish speakers (from Spain and Colombia), clear explanations on basic Spanish grammar, vocabulary training with examples and native pronunciation, and short and enjoyable interactive quizzes for every lesson. It includes 50 full lessons for learners of Spanish with no previous knowledge of the language.
2. The interface of the program provides you with a innovative, fresh, and enjoyable user experience. While you are listening to the audio of the dialog, the speech bubbles automatically move in synch with the audio! iStart Spanish boasts over 5,000 sound files to make your language learning experience so much more real and enjoyable.
3. This App includes “funware” to motivate you to make progress with the lessons – badges are awarded for completing the lesson quizzes. You can share your progress with others on Facebook, which is integrated right into the app.

After close to 2 weeks of using iStart Spanish I have become MUCH more proficient in speaking Spanish. Though I’m still pretty far from being able to speak conversationally with a fluent spanish speaker, I certainly can see the improvement thus far. In this timeframe I have completed 8 out of the 50 lessons, while doing this randomly during spare time. It truly is like having your own personal Spanish tutors in your pocket, at a fraction of the cost it’s noteworthy to say. Everything is explained in a simple and comprehensive way, so that you have complete confidence in your understanding of what you have learned from the very beginning. The program is structured so that your knowledge of the language builds up gradually, and you will gain good pronunciation habits from the outset with the help of the native Spanish speaking guides. Hearing and seeing the the words at the same time also really helps to soak in the knowledge quicker. The quizzes at the end of each lesson do provide good guidelines on how well you have retained each levels information. One important thing I would recomend users do and something that would be a nice feature in the future would be to set goals and timelines so that you push yourself. Otherwise it’s easy to get sidetracked on other things. Implementing more social features which would enable you to join in classes with others and setup VOIP conversations etc.. would all be great features in the future as well. Once I complete all 50 levels I’ll jump back in with an update, but in the mean time, just from the somewhat brief time I’ve had with iStart Spanish I can comfortable say it’s a nice app and is worth the price tag.

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Posted by Rich DeBell
on 05 21, 2010
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