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TRAVELLER
VIEWPOINTS
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WORDS ALEX PELL. WE REGRET ALEX CANNOT ANSWER QUESTIONS INDIVIDUALLY AND NO CORRESPONDENCE WILL BE ENTERED INTO
TOTALe
COMPANION
¤320 A YEAR;
IOS, ANDROID
Unlike most
language apps, this
one from Rosetta
Stone is part of a
comprehensive
programme that
has broader
ambitions than
just imparting
a few words or
phrases, and is
designed for the
truly committed.
The one-year
subscription
includes any-time
access to your
online profile so you
can study anywhere.
EUROTALK
UTALK
¤9; IOS, ANDROID
For sheer diversity,
uTalk is hard to
shout down. It
offers over 110
languages, from
Afrikaans to Zulu,
each with its own
app. The emphasis
of these courses is
to engage the pupil
rather than rely on
repetition, using a
variety of means,
including quizzes
and images. The
company claims its
method “hardwires”
the new vocabulary
into your brain like a
first language.
GOOGLE
TRANSLATE
FREE; IOS, ANDROID
Why bother
learning a new
tongue at all when
this app translates
text between 64
languages, even
transmogrifying
spoken words
into 17 of them. It
might feel a tad
spartan compared
to some of the
glitzier apps, such
as iTranslate (
see
right
): the words
must be said clearly,
and even then the
results aren’t always
perfect. Then again,
it
is
free.
ITRANSLATE
VOICE
¤0.99; IOS
If your primary
purpose is to
make yourself
understood in a
foreign hotel lobby
or bakery, then the
iTranslate Voice
app is the answer.
This employs the
same technology
as Siri, Apple’s
much-vaunted
digital assistant, to
instantly convert
whatever is spoken
into the phone to
one of 31 languages
either as an audio
clip or as text that
can be shared.
MOSALINGUA
¤3; IOS, ANDROID
The good folks at
MosaLingua believe
the way to pick up
a language is to
break it down into
bite-size chunks. Its
apps are sold in four
languages – Spanish,
French, Italian and
English – each
based on around
2,700 digital flash
cards containing
words or phrases
in 14 categories,
as well as audio
pronunciations from
native speakers. All
in, it’s a structured
yet highly accessible
way to learn.
Q
Dear Doc,
I’m quite happy with my
two-year-old, ultra-portable
laptop, which runs Windows 7,
but I would like it to be more
responsive and for the battery
to last longer. Any ideas?
Christine Pascal, Toulouse
+
GADGET DOCTOR
Technology expert Alex Pell solves your travel-techwoes
CONNECTED
learning the lingo
Enhance your life on themove
BEST APPS FOR...
A
There is a balance to be struck between battery life and
responsiveness. Most laptops will dim the display or switch
the hard drive to idle after a modest period of inactivity, so try
tweaking the Windows power-management settings (see the
guide at
bit.ly/P5Rp6L
) to find a plan that suits you better.
Newer laptops, known as UltraBooks, use a solid-state drive
(SSD), as opposed to a traditional hard drive, to provide the
best of both worlds. If you balk at buying a new laptop, why
not add an SSD to your current one? The 240GB Kingston
HyperX 3K drive (
¤200; kingston.com
) is blazingly fast.