Answers
Aug 05, 2014 - 10:12 AM
@takemetoparis - We appreciate the feedback. We don't have any plans to add a voice recognition software to the program. We don't believe the technology available is at a sophisticated enough level to always give accurate feedback, and when speaking any language there is so much to be considered such as the pitch, the tone, the speed of what is being said, if the speaker has an accent, which syllables or words to stress etc.
We want to avoid telling a user through our course that something is being said correctly or not after being analyzed by the program, when they would likely be understood speaking on the street.
I hope this answers your question. Merci et bonne journée!
We want to avoid telling a user through our course that something is being said correctly or not after being analyzed by the program, when they would likely be understood speaking on the street.
I hope this answers your question. Merci et bonne journée!
Aug 05, 2014 - 01:56 PM
I agree. I'm french and studying spanish, and I don't have the "expected" accent that the "other" program wanted me to use, even though my American accent is not bad. It was extremely frustrating. My mexican friends correct my pronounciation when it's off the chart, but usually they have no problem understanding me. There a is a video of an fluenz user on youtube who learned french, and her french accent is not too good, but she can totally be understood. I think once you reach level 5 you can then spend more time perfecting your accent, otherwise you put too much effort on vocab, grammar and accent at the same time, it's a bit too much!
Aug 06, 2014 - 06:41 PM
Makes sense, I did not think of it that way... thank you so much for both of your responses :)
Aug 06, 2014 - 06:58 PM
I completely agree with the Andy G and Fabrice. Before trying Fluenz Spanish, I tried the program in the yellow box and I found the voice recognition was simply wasting my time. I actually hope Fluenz does not add that feature, for the reasons already mentioned.
Aug 07, 2014 - 02:06 PM
I've found a simple way to check my pronunciation of Italian…..if you have an iPad or iPhone at least. Add in a keyboard for your language, then use the dictation feature with that keyboard selected. I've done this in Italian, and it is fascinating when I say something in Italian and the dictation software understands me. Sometimes there are errors (hey, that happens in English too!), but I think this is an easy way to get some feedback on your pronunciation. And, it encourages you to speak!