If you’ve ever thought of learning a new language but have been put off by high tuition fees or bad experiences with self-teach methods, Auralog’s latest Tell me More series could be just what you’re after.

Available in English, Spanish, German, Italian and French, Tell Me More gives you the option of following a set learning path (beginner, intermediate and advanced are available), or selecting the individual parts you want to learn. Most impressively, it can evaluate your grasp of the language and adjust your activities accordingly.

The biggest draw of Tell Me More is the speech-recognition component. Using the provided headset, you’ll be asked to read out sentences and join in with conversations.

Your pronunciation is graphically displayed in wave form to show you just how close, or far, you are from perfecting the language. It really is the next best thing to having a one-to-one session with a private tutor.

In total, there are 250 hours of exercises contained within the package. These are split into 37 types of activities within six workshops – lesson, cultural, vocabulary, grammar, oral and written. Should you come unstuck at any point, tutors on the Club Auralog website are on hand to steer you in the right direction.

A small but useful feature is the ability to create your own audio CDs using any of the data stored within the program – perfect for learning while commuting.

It’s rare we come across a program as in-depth, well-designed, productive and thoroughly enjoyable to use as Tell Me More. When you take into account how much professional tuition costs, the £49 asking price seems very reasonable indeed.

If you’re just after a basic understanding of a language, the cheaper and less comprehensive Talk To Me series is also worth checking out.

System requirements:
Celeron 333MHz or higher
128MB Ram
80MB hard disk
Windows 95/98/ME/XP