Friederike in Persia Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Dd is halfway through the level 1 CD-Rom and started the speaking sections. The problem is, that she (or any of the rest of the family) can't budge this lever, that shows how well you pronounced it. It's not broken, cause dh can get "dog" to go into the yellow, but that's it. Have any of you had that problem? Did you keep going and eventually your pronounciation got better? We're doing Russian, which isn't that easy to pronounce, but also not that though.:rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Just keep trying. I use the Spanish, and I had trouble at first. Over time, though, I realized that I have to sound *exactly* like the person doing the demo. I even have to match the little quirky things they do with inflection and accent. It helps me to try to visualize what the pronouncer *looks* like when they're saying the word/phrase, then try to make my face look lik them. If they sound like they're smiling, I smile. If they sound serious, I try to sound serious. It's a crazy game. Don't take it too seriously. Just make a game out of trying to imitate the native speaker. You'll discover little nuances in their voice, inflection, and accent that you didn't notice before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lorna Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Don't take it too seriously. Just make a game out of trying to imitate the native speaker. You'll discover little nuances in their voice, inflection, and accent that you didn't notice before. I would agree with this. The technology is just not quite there to really assess you on a good natural accent. It just isn't intelligent enough. We did only a little of this and used the Michel Thomas method to practice speaking (this is available in Spanish, German and Italian). It isn't speech recognition software, it is simply a cd set that gets you really conversing straight away. For French, I practised my accent with a course called Fluent French Audio. This was more a matter of developing an 'ear' for the language by lots of listening and repeat of French native speakers conducting interviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 LOL!!! We tried to get it to move for the English edition and couldn't get it to budge!! I know we are pronouncing those words correctly!! ;) We stopped using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LN in WI Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 We were contemplating upgrading, but I guess not! Ellen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanna Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Just keep trying. I use the Spanish, and I had trouble at first. Over time, though, I realized that I have to sound *exactly* like the person doing the demo... Don't take it too seriously. Just make a game out of trying to imitate the native speaker. You'll discover little nuances in their voice, inflection, and accent that you didn't notice before. This has definitely been our experience and we've gone about it the same way:D. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 I'm a native Spanish speaker, and my children pronounce Spanish decently. We were never very successful with the speech function, so we didn't pay attention to it. If I was in listening range, I would correct my children when necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in VA Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 We've had the same problem. I thought maybe our sound card just wasn't good enough, but from the answers you got, I feel like it's just the software itself. I do like the audio function idea, and I will say we get more practice speaking b/c we are trying so hard to make the lever move! Thanks for posting this question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friederike in Persia Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 thanks for confirming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielle Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Try being a little louder or moving closer to the mic--both helped us. I can get the French into the green range pretty easily, but I was hopeless when I tried Dutch. Danielle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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