Listen & Speak

Listen & Speak

English | Русский
  • Are you learning a foreign language and have difficulties understanding the native speakers?
  • Don’t have enough time to practice with a teacher?
  • Do you find that the language classes you take are too much about grammar and very little about actual speaking the language?
Our software will transform your mobile device into a perfect foreign language teacher.
  • ✓ You can learn practically ANY language, even SEVERAL at the same time
  • ✓ You can PRACTICE whenever you have some time for it, even on the GO!
  • ✓ You can easily manage the themes (set of patterns): download and install NEW ones, CREATE them by yourself, or SHARE them with others

Reviews

«Listen & Speak is very handy to practice your listening and pronunciation skills so that you can impress anyone around you and make international work a lot easier.»

«The best part is that Listen & Speak is a free Android app. With Listen & Speak installed on your Android phone or tablet, you can use its full service as often as you like, at any time you want.»

«Listen & Speak can prove to be an apt companion for all such users who’re often required to work in multilingual environments, or want to perfect the art of listening and speaking to thrive in a dynamic work structure.»

Learning

The learning process is quite simple - all built around a learning theme. Theme here is a set of sentences expressing the methodical line of learning. The theme can be a set of typical questions, or sentences with words from a specific area, or just words to remember, or lines from a song, a poem, or an article.

Start applicaion, then on the tab «Learning» you will see the name of the current theme. Under the theme is displayed a current sentence. You can navigate both the themes and the sentences to choose where to start. A translation of the current sentence is shown below, if this function is on in the app «Settings».

There are two big buttons to control a learning process.

The button with the picture «Listen» is intended just for listening to the current sentence any time as you wish.

The button with the picture «Speak» runs a learning process with next steps:
1. You are listening to the current sentence
2. You hear the special sounds, indicating that started voice recording from the microphone. You have to repeat the sentence. It is better not to read from the screen but to say from memory. You will hear a special sound when recording is ended automatically.
3. You are listening to the current sentence again, and immediately your speech will be played to analyze equivalence.
4. The app then, if you are connected to the Internet and if this function is on in the app «Settings», will try to recognize your speech and to compare to the current sentence.

5. Next, you will be asked to move to the next sentence, or to repeat the current.

Themes

You can control the topics available for study on the tab «Themes». Several pre-made themes you have installed with the application so you can try out capabilities of the app. Additional themes can be freely installed (or updated) having internet connection - just use menu item «Install».

It is possible also to import learning themes from the special files in the device memory - use menu «Import» («Exchange->Import» in the PRO-version) for that. Such files can be sent to you from others if they use menu «Exchange->Export» or «Exchange->Share» (only PRO-version).

You can keep in the application more themes than you need to study at the moment. Just make «Deactivate» («Activation->Deactivate» in the PRO-version) for the themes which you are not going to learn yet. Use «Activate» («Activation->Activate» in the PRO-version) to make the theme accessible to learn it again.

Also you can create your own themes (see section Creating your own themes) and even create your own repositories of themes (see section Repositories of themes).

Translations

Set option «Native language» in the app settings. Use option «Enable translation service» in app settings to enable translation of learning sentences in this language.

If the learning sentence is provided with translation in your native language (an "embedded" translation) then it will be shown immediately. Otherwise, if you are connected to the Internet, the app will attempt to request an online service. Online service can provide a better quality translation over time and therefore should be requested frequently. However, to minimize the internet traffic, the app for some time uses a last received translation instead of requesting an online service. Use the option «Keep translations» in the app settings to control this time - increase it to reduce internet-traffic, or decrease it to receive latest translation.

Note that in the PRO-version you can easily convert an online translation in embedded translation. Tap the icon of a quick correction in the left of translation text. Next, finish the opened dialog with the button OK to save the translation as embedded.

Learning on the go

Turn on the setting «Earpiece output» to use earpiece instead of speaker to listen to audio. Then other sounds will less disturb you, and for others it will look as if you just talk on the phone. In this case also useful to set «Waiting for the next sentence» option in the app settings to change current learning sentence automatically after seconds you have set.

A speech on Android devices

Typically, your device is able to read a text aloud in several languages (as usual these - English, Spanish, French, German, Italian). Look at system settings «Voice input and output->Text-to-speech settings» to find out which language engines are installed and which languages are supported.

If there is no the language which you need or you do not like a quality of the pronunciation, you can try to find a language engine with the good quality from a third party (as SVOX, Loquendo, IVONA, for example). Most likely it will be paid, but generally good quality of speech that is important to practice pronunciation.

Creating your own themes

PRO-version

You can easily create your own themes in the PRO-version.

Choose menu «Create» on the tab «Themes» and then enter theme name and language. Other fields are optional. Next, click «Sentences» to fill content of theme. Sentences can be added individually or imported from the clipboard or plain-text files in the device memory. For each sentence you can define translations for a number of languages. However the translations are not necessary because then will be used an online translation service.

Any version

This method is universal but more complex.

Follow the next steps:
1. You should create an XML file using a special application, or do it in a text editor like Notepad or Notepad+ for Windows, or Jota Text Editor for Android. Hold on the following format.
2. Transfer (or copy) the file in any suitable folder in your device memory.
3. Import the file in app using menu «Import» («Exchange->Import» in the PRO-version) on the tab «Themes».

Repositories of themes

One of the unique features of the application is an ability to supplement a list of repositories of themes with your own ones.

You can create your own repository with a minimal effort:
1. Create files with themes (as described in the section Creating your own themes) and place them on the WEB site or on the FTP server with a permission to read it using URL.
2. Create an XML file which is a descriptor of your repository relying on this format. Place it on the server with permission to read using URL as well.
3. Publish URL of the descriptor and inform your users that they can use it to add new repository record in the app settings «Repositories of themes».
4. Once it's done, your themes can be installed or updated in the app with menu item «Install» on the tab «Themes».