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What happened to Transparent Language? | ||
Tags: Language Program | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4911 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 1 of 6 20 June 2011 at 1:20am | IP Logged |
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In the early 90's I begain to learn German, and discovered Transparent Language. I loved it because I could read loads of texts and click on words to get the translation. They soon added audio, and then video, but the basic function remained the same. With audio, it was a computerized version of L-R. The best thing about it was that there was a large variety of add-on texts that you could buy, although each text had to be paid for separately and it could get pricey. The text I used the most was the overview of German grammar, written in German. It was great to learn about German in German, if you know what I mean.
Presumably in the attempt to follow trends and keep up with the claims of other software, they were increasingly leaving the core function of TL behind, and eventually repacked it as the Language Now software. However, the latest version has restored Transparent as the title. Initially I thought it was just a fancier version, but now that I want to use it to study French, I have discovered that they have dropped the idea of add-on titles, and added a whole load of what looks like fluff. Reviews on Amazon are generally poor, but I think it's because most people don't get that it's still basically L-R (+ videos). Anyone want to share their thoughts on Transparent Language in any of its incarnations? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6013 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 2 of 6 20 June 2011 at 2:21pm | IP Logged |
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I only ever tried the 101 Languages of the World, and although it is a reduced version of the various languages, it's exactly as you say: a very limited amount of text (many grammar points are only included in one example) and a few bits of "fluff" (games etc) tagged on for good measure.
I didn't know they had started out with add-on packs, but that was common practice on the PC in those days, so I suppose it makes sense. I wonder if they're thinking about bringing it back, because "downloadable content" is quite popular at the moment, and if they ported the software to the iPhone, they could sell a heck of a lot of add-on texts.... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Hendrek Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4884 days ago 152 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Persian | Message 3 of 6 12 November 2011 at 6:21pm | IP Logged |
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The U.S. Air Force has a current site license with them (the reason I searched for it here... to see if it's worth the bother of signing up). However, prior to this the Air Force used Rosetta Stone, so they aren't known for the ability to find quality language products (they've since all but dropped Rosetta Stone).
I may still give it a shot (since it's free) despite the bad reviews here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6013 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 4 of 6 12 November 2011 at 8:40pm | IP Logged |
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Well, I don't think it'll really teach you a language, but it's passable as extra practice if you're learning with something else anyway.
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| hobbitofny Senior Member United States Joined 6235 days ago 280 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 6 13 November 2011 at 12:21am | IP Logged |
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The flash card program has been very helpful for me. If you can you use it for free, I would say go for it.
I enjoyed the videos for the Russian, but it was made in Soviet times. I have not used the main software package much. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5264 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 6 of 6 13 November 2011 at 1:48am | IP Logged |
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Their blog sites are quite helpful as a supplement. I regularly visit the Portuguese blog site: Transparent Language Portuguese Blog The content is free and they have blog sites for 23 languages for English speakers. The languages include all the big European and Asian languages plus a lot of lesser studied ones. It's worth a look.
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