Learn a Foreign Language With ProVoc
April 28, 2007 – 17:12 pm
I am proud to say in middle school (we called it junior high school back then), I successfully completed two years of Spanish. However, the extent of my fluency now is counting to twenty and saying, “Mi casa es azul.” The funny thing is I have never lived in a blue house. I always wanted to be able to speak a foreign language but I am still trying to learn English and I am rapidly running out of time. Fortunately, I am a Mac user so help is on the way.
I realize that you may be asking yourself what being a Mac user has to do with my inability to learn Spanish (or English for that matter). Here’s the deal. As my co-workers, friends and readers know, I encourage everyone to switch to a Mac for several reasons. One of the real joys of using a Mac is the cool software that is available, oftentimes at little or no cost. ProVoc is one of those little gems.
ProVoc is a freeware program that is designed to help you learn a foreign language. Right now, it has five libraries of languages including Dutch, Chinese, English, French, and Spanish. You can also enter vocabulary words of your own into flashcard sets to make studying them is even easier.
All you do is select a set of flashcards to study then ProVoc offers the you three different study options. The first is “First Contact,†and it is actually a full screen slide show that displays the words (Spanish then English). Next, there is a brief multiple choice exam to test you on the words. You get immediate feedback and the overall results are shown afterwards with the ability to flag or categorize incorrect words.
ProVoc automatically adjusts the “difficulty†of the words based on your performance. You can also sort the words according to difficulty, flags, or categories. The same smart filters are available when you study the words.
In the “written test†mode, users are prompted in one language and must type the matching response in a text box below. The theory here is that the repetition of the typing the word will aid in memorization. Finally, there is a “Quick Test,†option which is a quick round of questions that can be used as a last minute confidence builder to make sure you are ready the big exam.
In addition, you can print out flashcards on 8.5×11″ paper in a format that makes them easy to cut out. You can also print lists of the words or put interactive “flashcards†in the Notes section of any iPod with the ability to read .txt files.
You can track your progress through the “History†tab, which produces a bar chart of your results by day, test, week, or month. ProVoc lets users take their flashcards anywhere with convenient print and iPod modes. By the way, I aced the numbers from 1 to 20. I still have it!
This would be really great software if you had to buy it but its even better since its free. I may just go back and pick up where I left off with my Spanish studies. If you don’t have a Mac, get one – because this software not available for Windows.
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2 Responses to “Learn a Foreign Language With ProVoc”
But Rich, will this program teach people who speak “Suthen” how to speak English or any other language?
By Charlotte Robinson on May 5, 2007
If you can spell it and then come up with an “English” translation, we can make it work. The trouble is spelling those southern words. Is it “you all” or “y’all”?
By Rich Schumaker on May 5, 2007