We live in a world where our customers can speak a variety of different languages. To communicate with these people, we need to know their language. One software entrepreneur is on top of it.
Paul Patruno is the owner of moreVocabulary, a business that sells a software that helps people learn how to speak and write in three different languages: English/Spanish, French/English, and Spanish/French. His software promises to give you “a new way to think about vocabulary!”
We recently had the opportunity to ask Paul a few questions about the software and his inspiration.
Tell us a little bit about moreVocabulary.
The key to learning a new language is vocabulary – and that’s one of the toughest skills to master. Language experts have found:
– In a typical high school or college course, most students forget 90% of what they’ve learned after only a few days.
– Knowing a limited number of foreign words takes you a little way, but you really need to know a lot of words to truly communicate with people in another country.
– Trying to learn words in statements, such as a sentence or phrase, is tedious and won’t help you much.
– Learning new words one by one, and testing your new knowledge frequently inside and outside class, is the most effective way to build your vocabulary – and still remember those words weeks later.
Many studies exist to support these facts. At moreVocabulary, we have applied our own experience in learning languages and have assembled ideas and proven techniques from teachers and linguists around the world to make LanguageTutor available to you.
What inspired it?
We at moreVocabulary have learned several languages and now want to share some of our own experience and help others with the LanguageTutor software we have designed.
How many language options do you currently have?
Three language combinations: English-Spanish, French-English, Spanish-French.
Each package on sale has two databases and learners can practice theme translation (productive learning) or version translation (receptive learning).
Any plans to add more soon?
We are considering adding German and Portuguese from customer’s requests.
We are planning to build an English-Chinese (single database only) for the Chinese school market.
How much does it cost? Where can we buy it?
LanguageTutor is available at $29.99 for a limited time and works on an Internet-connected computer using Windows, Mac OS, or Linux. LanguageTutor is available for download from the moreVocabulary website and from more than 40 download websites in Europe and in the United States.
It comes as a single installation by license and it requires an internet connection at launch. You need to install Adobe Air installer, in most computers, before the package installs. It comes with Adobe updater for pushed updates after the installation and during all the life of the software version you buy.
Note: » You have a laptop and you want to work on the road
» You want to use up to three laptops and desktops alternatively
» Running the installer is problematicConsider our premium package that will give you three installations per license, with no further connections required after the license is validated and streamlined initial installation from the Adobe website, $39.99.
What separates you from the competition?
The application concentrates on real-life vocabulary organized in more than 50 lessons and focuses on difficult words until the student is familiar with them.
LanguageTutor is available in three combinations (English/Spanish, French/English and Spanish/French) and provides nearly 10,000 words and short expressions in multiple contexts. The interactive program utilizes spaced repetition, a learning technique that takes advantage of the brain’s ability to remember facts better when they are repeatedly presented in intervals.
Other special features that distinguish LanguageTutor include:– Up to four correct synonyms for each question
– Two levels of difficulty per lesson
– Support for up to three users
– Visual and audio aids to track progress
– Integrated feedback, FAQ and help resources
– A simple and efficient user interface
Do you have any goals that you hope to accomplish in the next year or so?
We want to position our LanguageTutor software also as a tool of choice for teachers at universities, colleges and schools by providing custom databases and teacher’s certification, all incorporated in our very powerful learning technique software.
We will prepare added versions for computing tablets and other new OS.
We will offer a version 2.0 with more language features embedded in the product, like a reference dictionary and a speech synthesis to listen to the pronunciation of the words by native voices in the language you learn.
Maybe a web-based version will be added as well.
What are some lessons that your business has taught you?
Do not sweat the small stuff, be patient and focus on quality first.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Learning vocabulary is frequently neglected or hidden behind the basics of the language, but sooner or later it is what will make you feel good the first time you will put together and say or write a full well-crafted sentence on your own, with the right word you have chosen. Then, you will realize that you have actually learned those words for good.
Language Tutor provides:
A new way to think about “vocabulary”
Une nouvelle façon de penser “vocabulaire”
Una nueva forma de pensar en “vocabulario”
