ViDICTO+ Mytrip: “Learn” a new language through pictures, voice, words, and phrases.

David — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:09:20 +0000

Available In: App Store

Price: $1.99

“Pronto? Buongiorno. Arrivederci!” This was a typical conversation between my wife and me during the weeks leading up to our honeymoon trip to Italy. Neither of us had any experience speaking Italian, so we downloaded a few podcasts and began practicing as much as we could. I also downloaded a free app that used Google’s translation dictionary to fill in during emergencies. What I really wish we had had was something more visual, something that could help us with pronunciation, and something that could be quicker and less cumbersome than a big dictionary.

Enter ViDICTO+ mytrip (formerly iLingua), whose tagline is “see hear read link.” Indeed, one of the first things you notice about this language helper app is how pretty it looks. My promo copy was for Japanese, but the setup is the same for all languages. On the main menu, you can select “Categories” which will give you various everyday scenarios where you will most likely need language assistance. These included “at the airport”, “hotel lobby”, “dinner”, and “shopping”. A “Trainer” option allows you to select words and phrases from the categories interface to keep together and quiz yourself in future sittings. The app also allows you to create three additional short lists to view at a quick glance or study from.

As mentioned above, the layout and interface of ViDICTO+ is outstanding, perhaps, the best I’ve seen and experienced in any application on the iPhone. The menus are animated, colorful, and very smooth. Once the application has loaded (12-15 seconds), there are no hiccups or pauses at any point of operation. Navigating through the app is intuitive, though there is an excellent help guide included within the application. Tapping once on the picture or wordwill give you a pronunciation from an authentic speaker. Double tapping will give you options to add to your trainer or list, as well as access Wikipedia, a Thesaurus, and some common phrases for you to study.

Where ViDICTO+ falls short is its ability to teach. Although I have heard of some language programs that teach you by using important vocabulary words and phrases in situations (the podcasts we downloaded used this method), ViDICTO+ is not organized to do this, nor (to its credit) does it market itself as such. Instead, the application is designed to be a review mechanism for a language learner, or as a visual aid to use when a traveler finds herself in a situation similar to the ones included in the application. If I’m at the hotel, and I’d like to request a cab, I can pull out ViDICTO+ and either point to the cab picture or use the included phrase. Pump up the volume and I can even have the iPhone say the phrase that I want.

Some suggestions I would have for the developers include: a better system of drilling. I think ViDICTO+ could eventually market itself as a teaching app if it organized its situations into lessons and setup a module system. I’d like to see additional phrases, pictures, and situations included in updates, and possibly a translating dictionary within the app. This last suggestion could really combine a few apps into one and give ViDICTO+ a bit of an advantage over other apps. All in all, though, for $1.99, I find it very easy to recommend this application. Simply to award the developers for putting together a beautiful application that may just teach you a thing or two about a new language. ViDicto+ is also available in Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, and soon in French. There is also a free lite version for Spanish in case you want to check it out before buying.

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Dictionary – Translation Dictionary

Brooke — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:09:56 +0000

Available In: Cydia

Price: 3 Day Trial then ?

Judging by the title of the application, I figured this application would be a dictionary for your iPhone or iPod Touch. You know, look up words and find their definitions. Well, upon installing and reviewing the app…I found that it is actually a translation dictionary.

Dictionary will come with a few translation dictionaries already installed. If you select the settings icon in the lower left corner, you can delete those dictionaries and choose the ones that suit you best. In the Settings you can choose the size of the font, edit the list of dictionaries that are installed and download new dictionaries. The dictionaries that are available for download are in categories based on the language you would like to translate from. The languages include; Danish, English, Bulgarian, French, German, Hungarian and Russian. Once you choose the language you would like to translated from (say English) you will then get a list of of languages to translate to. For Example, English to Latin or English to Spanish or English to French…etc.

To search for a word, just start typing the word into the search bar on the main page. It will bring up a list of relevant words. Once you have found the word you are looking for, select it. You will get a list of that word translated into all the languages that you down-loaded.

This application come with a free three day trial and then you have to resister it. I would tell you how much it is but, when you try to register it…you get a page saying the account has been suspended.

Overall, a pretty basic application with a pretty basic design and user interface. However, it would be a useful app for those times when you need to quickly translate a word! I would like to see the dictionaries have a little better titles once installed. You can get Dictionary via the iSpazio source.

Apple iPhone School » Translate

ViDICTO+ Mytrip: “Learn” a new language through pictures, voice, words, and phrases.

ScreenShots

Dictionary – Translation Dictionary

ScreenShots