Like Transparent Language, Linguaphone, and other programmes in the field, Talk to Me French comes with voice-recognition software that will monitor your pronunciation. At the lower level, you participate in an interactive dialogue and select your response from three options. As things progress, you move to rearranging words in sentence order when they are thrown at you all jumbled up. The vocabulary becomes progressively more complex, but simply pointing the cursor at a French word provides the English translation.

This is a highly competent software package. One of the best things about it is its sense of humour. In one dialogue you have the option of replying in French "I'm a machine, I have no name." This sort of wit is quite unusual in language packages and it really sets Talk to Me apart from its competitors. --Toby Green