Collins English/French Talking Dictionary

The audio quality of the native speaker's pronunciation is very good and includes singular and plural pronunciations. The audio files take about 500 Mb and are normally left on the CD-ROM. It can take from one to five to access them. The IPA phonetics is the first entry for the word. The audio is also very helpful for learning to pronounce IPA sounds.

The user interface is easy enough to learn with the teaching demo. Highlighting a word and dropping it on the "Trap" icon instantly opens the dictionary to the correct word. Right clicking on the word copies it to a word list for later review. I love this feature. The crossword and shooting games also key off of this list.

This is a great product and a great learning tool. The latest update can be downloaded from Intense Learning Office's web site, so one does not have to worry about buying the latest version.

The word at the top of the list--whether selected by typing or by scrolling--is always bolded in red, the parts of speech in yellow, various phrases in dark blue, pronunciations in green, purple for associated French words, and the list of words (except the one selected) in royal blue. Right clicking on any word--whether in the definition or elsewhere--acts as a hyperlink, taking you to its definition. Right clicking on the speaker icon calls up "Audio Pad": a small window opens that allows you to record your own voice next to the one provided by the dictionary to perfect your pronunciations.

To get a sample of the quality of definitions before you buy, you can access the Collins French-English dictionary online at ....., identical to the software in terms of content. The online version does not, however, offer the audio pronunciations, though it is more aesthetically pleasing, a nice white background with real hyperlinks and most letters in black for high contrast readability, unlike the drab gray program that looks like something developed between DOS and Windows 3.0.

Whatever a person may think of its appearance, purchasing this software is invaluable primarily because of its many sound files (taking the relative quality of its definitions as a given). I would recommend it to the struggling student, though it might not be the best tool to use as a "stand-alone" to learn the language: it should be supplemented by other learning resources. (At the very least, one should also make use of Laura K. Lawless's French website at ...... it has a number of lessons and audio files to aid anyone from beginner to expert, though if you don't have pop-up blocking software, you might want to download the free Google toolbar first ......as About.com sites are notorious for their annoying ads.) As an aside, the Collin's French-English Talking Dictionary also comes with a "shooting gallery" and a crossword puzzle feature, both of which will help one learn even if they are not quite on a par with the appeal 3D animation and stunning effects hold for those entranced by the gaming industry. :)

In conclusion, it may not be the best software ever developed, but for the price it is reliable and useful and the content itself is of quality. The main thing is that it is just a bit ugly. Whatever the case, it could very well mean the difference between that A or B in the class: if I were you and I were wavering between buying or not, I would go ahead and take the plunge. Even if it isn't everything you thought it might be, it certainly isn't going to hurt you any and in the end it just might help. Go ahead. Jump in. :)