Talk Now! Learn Malayalam – Beginning Level

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Comprehensive interactive language learning; ideal for beginners
Easy and hard quizzes, plus a challenging memory game
Compare yourself with native speakers; monitor progress
Topics include phrases, food, shopping, telling time, and more
On-screen help available in over 75 languages; printable dictionary

Product Description
Talk Now! is the world’s best selling language learning CD-ROM series for beginners, used by more than three million people to date. Designed for newcomers to the language, Talk Now! is the perfect method to access a wealth of comprehensive fundamental vocabulary and accurate pronunciation in one user-friendly plan packed with useful words, a picture dictionary, and quizzes. Anyone over 10 years of age will find the program indispensable for improving listening, und… More >>
Price: $25.99
Rating: 3.0 (3 reviews)
Talk Now! Learn Malayalam – Beginning Level

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Caroline C. Schaefer

August 31st, 2010 at 04:46

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Malayalam is not a language for which you can have a huge choice of learning tools. If you are a relative “gringo” with little experience in Indian languages, this may be a good program to get you started with the basics of talking.
Lucky for English speakers – Malayalam is influenced the most by English after Sanskrit and Tamil. Unlucky for English speakers – there’s a whole pile of linguistically different sounds involved in the other two parts of the language before English is ever even thought about. Get out your marbles and listen up – if you’ve got an open mind and a little bit of assistance, you might just end up knowing some Malayalam.

The format is wonderful, with sections for basics, food, time, body parts, phrases and more. Each level allows you to go through and hear of all the pertinent vocabulary (this can set to play in a continous loop – a nice way of learning and practicing away from the constraints of the computer). There are games for each section in two different levels of difficulty, and keys that allow you to build memory clues. With each game you accumulate points, and the points are tallied towards a final goal at which you recieve special recognition. You recieve nice encouragement for all correct answers – if you learn anything at all from this, if will definitely be the words for “Yes” and “No”!

The overall theme is suprisingly entertaining, without being condescending or childlike. It’s very nicely designed, compared to many other language CD-Roms, and doesn’t give you the idea that it’s the same general template used for 35 different languages (except in one aspect, see below!) This was definitely designed with adult learners in mind, and for what – $19.99? – it has some really nice multimedia functions that keep you focused, including printable vocab lists.

I originally had a problem loading TalkNow Malayalam to my computer, but the technical assistance people were helpful, via email, and the problem was easily solved. That was great.

I did not give this a five star rating because of the following:

The pronounciations are very fast, and there is no way to slow them down. The given vocabulary and phrases are only written in Malayalam, so unless you know to read the script, you are left alone to dissect the more subtle sounds, to which your ear may not be accustomed. Find a native speaker for guidance.

Also, if you are a native speaker of Malayalam looking for a refresher, or someone wishing to read and write Malayalam, this is probably not a good scheme for you. It’s more along the line of “learn some words and phrases before you travel there” knowledge. A good CD-ROM for more Malayalam intensive language study is available at http://www.vidyarambham.com

And finally, the biggest suprise: Talk Now Malayalam is lead by your virtual guides, an extremely white, northern European couple whose images are always present at the bottom of the screen during the vocabulary recitations. (I imagine they’re the standard TalkNow Language folks, but in this case it’s very wierd!!) Their lips move to make you believe that these honkeys are speaking perfectly pronounced Malayalam, in voices that would only come out of their slight frames had they been posessed. Perhaps this was a bit of subliminal encouragement for all the WASPs who decided to take a stab at learning Malayalam to impress the cute programmer down the hall. Mind you, this is not a detraction from the lessons at hand, but overall the effect is hillarious. Hopefully it would just add to the fun of learning a new language. “If they could do it… darnit, I can to”

While this program will not make you a candidate for retiring to Kottayam and ferrying a houseboat along some Kerala backwaters, you’ll at least entertain native speakers, and at best win yourself some allies by any honest efforts made.

Tie on a lungi and give it a whirl. Best of luck!
Rating: 4 / 5

Ronnie Pitman

August 31st, 2010 at 06:33

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First, I must acknowledge that I’m grateful that EuroTalk has produced this title, and I hope they do more. As the reviewer above stated, there aren’t a lot of materials available for learning Malayalam. I also agree with the previous reviewer that the format of this program is clear, and navigation is straightforward.

I do have some criticisms, however. First, the program always freezes on my computer after ten minutes or so. I have the latest version of Mac OS X (10.5.6), two gigs of ram, and almost 9 gigs of free disk space. When the program freezes, I force quit and start over. When I run this program, I first quit every other application I have, including Time Machine.

Second, I would emphasize the above reviewer’s point that the content of this program is written in the Malayalam alphabet, and it does not teach you the alphabet. This isn’t a problem for me, but since the program is for beginners, I would have thought they would teach the alphabet, particularly since Malayalam has multiple n sounds, multiple d sounds, t sounds, etc. A visual of the position of the mouth and tongue would also help in teaching the sounds.

Third, the program will sometimes display one word, but pronounce a different word. For example, in the First Words section, the first entry is for ‘yes.’ What you hear is ‘ate,’ Malayalam for ‘yes,’ but what is written is ‘undu,’ a different word. There are also occasional typographical errors (the character ‘pa’ for ‘va,’ for example) which show this program was not closely proofed.

Finally, Malayalam will frequently combine two consonants into a new character called a ligature. This program does not display these ligatures, but instead shows the constituent consonants, along with the chandrakkala. This is unnatural and can only further confuse those who are struggling to learn the alphabet.

The word and phrase pronunciation in this program is good. As the above reviewer noted, the words are said rapidly–this is the way the language is spoken. Unless you know the alphabet, it may be quite hard to understand what you are hearing.
Rating: 3 / 5

J. Lucas

August 31st, 2010 at 06:46

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There are very few resources available for learning Malayalam. That said, this CD-ROM does not fill this gap very well, particularly if you’re an English speaker. I was hoping the CD-ROM would at least spell words phonetically using the English alphabet. Even the 30-year-old book “Learn Malayalam in 30 Days”, the only other source I’ve found for learning Malayalam, at least offers phonetic spellings in English for those of us unfamiliar with Malayalam’s alphabet. The lack of English phonetic spellings is particularly problematic because the CD-ROM does not teach the Malayalam alphabet anyway! All you get is a quick sound-byte of the phrase being pronounced by a male and female, along with the word or phrase written in Malayalam on the screen. The phrases are spoken so quickly that it’s difficult to differentiate sounds. Very frustrating!

If you’re desperate to learn Malayalam and can’t afford a trip to Kerala, this may be your best shot (provided you also have the aforementioned book as a companion), given that there’s not much else available. That said, this English speaker still didn’t find it to be very helpful.
Rating: 2 / 5

Common Grammar Mistakes

Talk Now! Learn Malayalam – Beginning Level

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