Product Review - MindSnacks French for iPhone

Bonjour folks :) I'm back today with a little review of the MindSnacks French app for the iPhone (or iPod Touch). MindSnacks as a company were recommended to me by Natalie, a student I exchanged a few emails with a while back, but when I first downloaded the 'free' app (more on that later), I wasn't overly keen.

It cannot be denied that the loading screen is ridiculously cute - the little 'bean' character appears on all of the language apps in seemingly traditional dress (my favourite is the Spanish bean). As a loading screen goes, this is by far my favourite - so many language apps are stuffed full of advertisements or the loading screens don't work properly. I'm pleased to report that this one, thankfully, works. 


The next screen you'll see is this screen (I think, it's a while since mine was new). To begin with, you only have one or two games, but you can unlock more as your language skills progress and improve. Basically, the more words learnt, the more games unlocked.

I love the fact that this app actually uses games. So many apps claim to use games when, in actual fact, they're just not, so it's great that MindSnacks have created genuine mini games to help you learn the vocab. In fact, speaking of the vocab... The review screen allows you to, well, review the vocab. Oddly, it took me a while to find this. I'd perhaps have preferred this screen to come before the games screen, but it's no big deal. Here, you can also see how far you have progressed with each word, if the purple bar reaches the star, it goes yellow and you've learned the word (in terms of the game app, of course). 

The games themselves are (so far, I've only played three [Fish Tank, Word Birds, Mystery Crate]) varied and each holds a different purpose. Fish Tank is a game in which you're given a piece of vocabulary and two options, you have to choose the correct option as quickly as possible before the time runs out. This helps with recognition skills, and the fact that the more words you complete, the less time you have, helps develop this even further.

Word Birds (pictured to the left) helps with writing/spelling skills.  You are given the letters and have to make the French translation of the English vocab given. So, in this example, the correct word to type would be 'amusant'. 


Finally, Mystery Crate is a game where you have to tap the 'crates' with incorrect spellings written on them. I suppose this one also helps with spelling and writing skills, as well as recognition skills as this game also speeds up with more words the further into it you get.


In terms of actually learning the words, I think Word Birds is my favourite. My main language strength is writing, so I think I'm used to learning in this way a lot. Plus, here you actually have to think about what you're learning rather than just recognising the correct word.

The game also provides you with an overview of your progress so far, a list of completed and/or outstanding challenges that the app itself will set you throughout your learning, and a community screen that contains features such as ''More MindSnacks Apps''. I love the fact that this is contained within one screen/tab on the app - again, over-promotion of other products is all too common with apps, and when its function is educational it really annoys me.  


The app is initially free to download (I told you I'd get back to this...), however only comes with a numbers level. If you want more levels, you can download them from within the app for £2.99. I was initially very reluctant to pay this, and the fact that the app only gave me numbers to begin with did put me off. I just thought that out of all of the categories, there were many that were much more interesting than numbers. However, I decided to give the app a proper try and I'm glad to say that I've really been enjoying using it. If I have a spare moment, I have found myself opening it up and playing a game - to me, that speaks volumes about how good it is, not just as a language app but also as an app that can be lightly enjoyed.


In addition to French, the app is also available in German, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, English (presumably American, as the US flag appears behind it), and SAT Vocab. If your desired language is currently unavailable, you can also 'cast your vote' for which subject should be built next (http://www.mindsnacks.com/vote/). Apparently, Japanese is currently being built. I'd be very interested to try the Russian (161 votes to go) app, I've never found an app that works for me with languages that don't have Latin alphabets. 


Anyway, I think I've rambled enough. In short: great concept, variety of learning techniques within the games, although the paying/downloading system is a little annoying, you can see that the money is spent developing a well thought out application.


What do you think to the MindSnacks apps? Have you ever tried them? Leave a comment below :)

Merci beaucoup for reading! :)

Svenska - Making it work

You may recall a while ago me mentioning email correspondance with a student called Natalie about language software, programs etc. Well, I told her in an email that I'd ''soon be doing a post about learning Swedish''. I then started college again, and then my laptop broke on me. So AGES later, here we are. Tonight's post is fuelled by RIX FM and boredom. Du ar valkommen.

OK. So, here's my approach to teaching myself Swedish. Firstly, I should begin by admitting that I haven't done anything on it since August, except listen to RIX FM which, if nothing else, contributes to listening skills a little. Half term is approaching, though, and I WILL pick it back up again.

Step one to self-teaching Swedish, for me, was to establish how I wanted to be taught the language. Software, textbooks, apps? Well, none of them. Not on their own, anyway. The only way I've ever successfully learnt another language has been through the conventional school-taught method. So that's what I'm doing - pens, paper, worksheets, dates and objectives.

With this in mind, I went out and bought myself a folder - blue, to match the Swedish flag. I also used letter stickers to spell out Swedish words all over the front, but they don't show up well in the picture. In here, I place my work at the front, and any additional sheets I have in the back. When I finally start building it all up properly, I'll probably purchase some file dividers and organise it a little like my Spanish folder (which may be a post in itself, actually).

Another big thing for me is that the date, lesson title, any other titles and all instructions are all written in the language I'm studying - so in this case, in Swedish. I make a point of always writing the date in Swedish - this means that, hopefully, I won't need to spend much time learning days or months - the more you use them, the more naturally they come to you. Plus, it's always useful to know the date. I may actually start writing out the numbers too, just so I memorise those quicker as well.

This is typically how I set out the page. If it's a totally new subject, the ordforrad (vocabulary) goes under the title, followed by 3 or 4 activites on the vocab given.

When writing out the vocab, I always write the Swedish in blue, and the English in black. As with the folder colour, the blue helps to associate the word with the language, plus it creates a visual difference between the two languages. I don't do this throughout the whole lesson, but it's not uncommon for it to spread into the activities I set myself.

This is typically the sort of activity I would set myself to begin with. Again, all of the instructions are written in Swedish (and English, until I have the translation covered and memorised), and I also make the language I'm translating from/to clear by either writing SV till EN (short for Svenska till Engelska) or EN till SV (Engelska till Svenska). I mark all of the work simply by referring back to the vocab.

I also think it is really important to take note of the resources used during the lesson, so I always write a lesson reference box on the bottom of the paper once the lesson is over. This includes software, websites, translators, apps, phrasebooks, dictionaries etc. I typically use the BYKI Deluxe Swedish software I have, and each lesson is centered around one vocabulary list from there. In the example to the right, I was using the first vocabulary list on Meeting and Greeting - there are usually a few on the same subject, so they make up several lessons. I occasionally add to the vocabulary by looking up other words or phrases that aren't listed, but I think tie in with what I'm learning that day.

A few other pictures of the resources I use etc...

I hope all of that made sense. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions :)


Kyssar,
Rachel

Thursday Randoms

1) Welcome to my slightly new layout/house style :) I already prefer this so much more to the previous thing I had going on. The spacing/paragraphing issue doesn't stand out as much anymore either, so the OCD side of me isn't as angry at Blogger, haha. I've also added some pages that are currently very much work in progress but they'll get better with time, I promise.

2) After talking about languages with James from my Spanish class yesterday, I downloaded Byki Portuguese and have already learnt a few little phrases. I love how similar it is to Spanish and how I can understand verbs already because they're similar to the Spanish (i.e. estoy = I am in Spanish, estou = I am in Portuguese). I've also been carrying on with the Swedish a little bit and it's going fine. For some reason I feel really inspired to learn languages at the moment, but I can feel myself holding back until my Psychology exam is over with.

3) Tonight has carried a tiny, tiny reminder of what my life was like this time last year. The emotions I've managed to repress for quite a while kind of randomly and suddenly came out while talking to Aiden earlier/well, we're still talking now. It's nice to catch up with people that you used to know inside-out. He was always the person that I could pretty much tell everything to and he'd listen, so I kind of missed having someone that would do that (other than Fern). 

4) I've been totally addicted to MZW by Måns Zelmerlöw this week, I heard Hope and Glory on Rix FM on something like Monday and then I've just been listening to the whole album on repeat all week - plus Mohombi - Coconut Tree and Martin Stenmarck - Tonight's the Night. Swedish people are significantly better than us Brits at pop music ;) 

Besos ♥
Rachel