For absolute beginners, the "Talk Now!" series is for people who want to learn a language quickly with an emphasis on learning essential vocabulary.

The "word practice" section consists of a list of words in a given topic which are pronounced one by one while displaying a picture and the written word or phrase in both the target language and the pre-selected help language. Each phrase or word can then be practised by recording your own voice, playing it back and comparing your pronunciation with the native speakers on the CD-Rom.

The topics covered are: First words; Food; Colours; Phrases; The Body; Numbers; Time; Shopping and Countries. Each topic can also be printed out in the form of a picture dictionary for reference.

To consolidate the language learnt and to test your knowledge there are games, graded into two levels, plus a challenging memory game. Progress can be monitored by checking the total score and awards can be printed when a high score is achieved.

Minimum system requirements: For PC users - Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP/System 10; VGA display (256 colours); soundcard; 486 processor; 16MB free RAM memory; 64MB RAM; 4x CD-Rom drive or DVD-Rom drive; microphone (recommended). For MAC users - System 7.5.5 or above; G3 or G4 processor (e.g. DVD iMac); Quicktime 4.1 or above; 256 colour display; 16MB free memory (virtual memory off); 4x CD-Rom drive or DVD-Rom drive; Mac compatible microphone (recommended).