Talking Phrasebook - 7 Languages review

Beats learning languages in school any day

Review written by
Matt Clewley

January 15th, 2015

Applications are normally things I tend to avoid on the eShop, even if they are dirt cheap. I had an application on my DSi a few years back calculating how long I slept when I had trouble resting my head to dream about unicorns crashing through mountains of candy. There was another one called Rytmik that is a music software application, a brilliant one at that, where you can make your own songs and synth sounds. Even with all the Mario themed digital clocks and now the theme shop making an appearance on my 3DS, I suppose I will have a rummage through these applications. Talking Phrasebook - 7 Languages is the first app I will review, because y'know, the opportunity was there.

Talking Phrasebook aims to teach the user seven different languages. These languages are all Europeon, the countries being England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland and Portugal. Now I do have to admit, I never expect much from an application, nor do I spend money on them. £4.49 to me seems expensive for something that looks so simple and I wanted to go through this app for a justification on the price. I clicked on the French flag to have a closer look of what this can offer me. With my French GCSE qualification armed and ready, I was out to test myself to see if this is any good.

Even though there are seven countries you can learn the languages for, only six flags are available on the menu. You have to go into the game settings to swap one of the languages for another by choosing the language that you can understand. Sentences have different categories, from simple greetings to finding out where the nearest hostel is. You've also got sections on emergencies, dining, sightseeing, all the fundamental things to keep yourself going on a holiday. You have 780 basic phrases in 53 different categories, I do add emphasis on the word basic. If you plan on staying in France for a week, then this nifty little application will be your tour guide through the French language. If you plan on living in France then this is a step up from being stuck in a rut. In my opinion, this is a far more useful product than reading from a book or trying to remember what you said, wrote or heard in French lessons a good five years ago.

What I like about this is how you can get the spelling and the phrases spot on quite easily. You have a speaker button on the application that if you click you will hear the phrase in an automated voice. The automated voice is hit and miss to me, if I wanted to learn French to live there I would prefer a spoken voice. It's a little tricky to listen to sentences that are over a few words as the automated voice just rolls with it. It's not at all a terrible thing as most of the time you can clearly hear it, it's not like you're hearing Stephen Hawking on a satnav. You just have to keep your ears peeled that's all.

Talking Phrasebook - 7 Languages may not be a winner of 30 something awards for game of the year, but it's a cute little application that is ideal for adventures overseas. I hope more phrasebooks will come out and involve countries like Japan (I enjoyed learning it in college). For £4.49, it should keep you company whether it's for a new step in life or for the curiosity to learn more things. Expect my next article to be in German... maybe.