Dyslexia and Non–English Language Learning

1. Introduction;
2. Products that can already be useful;
   1. in any language;
   2. if you are learning or using English;
   3. if you are learning or using languages other than English;
3. What is a good language learning program for a dyslexic student?
   1. Resources for English as a Second Language;
   2. Resources for Modern Foreign Languages (mainly for English speakers);
4. Can you help get products translated into your own language?

Introduction

There are a lot of resources available for language learning, some much more suitable for dyslexic students than others. But there seem to be some substantial gaps in tools which are very popular in English, but seem to have no equivalent in other languages, or translations, as yet.

Some of our products are available in other languages.

Text-to-Speech

1. Kurzweil 3000 for PC can now read in a number of languages other than English (French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian). It also comes with a variety of dictionaries to translate between English and these languages. In some languages there is even a choice of small and large dictionaries.
2. textHELP Read & Write, which offers writing support tools as well as speech feedback, will allow you to install other language SAPI engines, if you can find one that allows itself to work with textHELP!. (SAPI is Microsoft’s Speech Application Programming Interface which is theoretically an open standard which allows swapping different "voices" from different publishers. Your can download additional engines free from Microsoft’s web site.
3. ClaroRead, ClaroRead Plus and WordRead are all text-to-speech applications that can be shipped with additional speech engines in most Western European languages.
4. Penfriend XL provides word prediction, an on-screen keyboard and speech output in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, Dutch and Swedish.

Scanning text in other languages

If you have a suitable Text-to-Speech engine you can hear this text read out to you. Abbyy FineReader can scan in a wide range of languages.

Speech Recognition

Dragon NaturallySpeaking have been available in French, German, Italian, Dutch and Spanish in the past. These versions also included an English speech recognition engine allowing you to dictate in either language. At the moment we are waiting for updated versinos to be released. Please contact us for the current details.

Writing, Planning and structuring written work

Many people using graphical organisers, concept or mind mapping applications find them to be great tools for planning writing. There are numerous applications available and, because they are useful to everyone, they tend to be affordable. Inspiration, the most popular package, is only available in English, US Spanish and French. Mind mapping programs that have been developed for business, such as MindGenius (English) and Mind Manager (English & German), tend to be more complicated to use and have many more functions including linking into MS Office applications. Most mind mapping programs have demo versions available to try out the programs. It is worth using the opportunity to compare them yourself to find out which application suits your working style.

Tools for Away from the Computer

1. Franklin electronic dictionaries and spell checkers help with spelling and translation in the major European languages. But they can only speak (which can be helpful if you cannot recognise the word shown) in English and Spanish. Franklin offer advice for teachers of English as a Second Language on the web.
2. A voice recorder for recording notes and instructions, for helping with short term memory, and for learning and revising vocabulary.
3. The Quicklink Pen Elite allows you to Scan and Store up to 1,000 pages of text in English Additional scanning languages - German, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French are supplied on CD ROM for optional installation. It will also read back English language notes.
4. and you should also bear in mind whether the student may have relevant visual problems.

If you are learning or using English:

1. Kurzweil 3000 comes with a variety of dictionaries to translate between English and French, Spanish, German, Dutch, or Italian. In some languages there is even a choice of small and large dictionaries. Kurzweil 3000 is probably now the best tool for helping dyslexic learners (and others) learn English.
2. textHELP! Read & Write is designed for people who have difficulty reading or writing English. The text-to-speech will help with learning vocabulary and spelling. It will also help with pronunciation, although the occasional pronunciation mistakes will probably matter more to somebody who is learning English than to the native English speaker who already knows how the word should be pronounced (even if they cannot write it properly). The talking spelling checker and dictionary can help any learner of English, but particularly one who is dyslexic.
3. The Reading Pen will help to take the pain out of decoding unfamiliar words. You scan over the word, the Pen shows it, reads it out loud (giving you the pronunciation of the English word) and shows the meaning. Using a scanning pen is a lot quicker, particularly for a dyslexic person with sequencing, copying and spelling difficulties, than looking a word up in a paper dictionary.

Resources for English as a Second Language:

There is an ESL software review for Technology & Learning Magazine. Some is for K-12 (schools), but it includes applications for University level. It has quite a bit of detail on specific packages.

There is an article for CAELL Journal called A Place to Start in Selecting Software which lists more resources, but with less information about them.

The University of Hull has a major CTI (Computers in Teaching Initiative) site for Modern Languages, has a software database which contains details of over 1100 language-related software applications and lists reviews of them.

Linguanet hosted by the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research (CILT) lists a lot of resources, including a lot of software which is available for review at their London centre. Alas there’s no qualitative comment and no web links to the publishers.

Can you help get products translated into your own language?

From time to time people contact us to say that they would like to translate one of the products that we sell into their own language. Before you do so you should bear in mind that this is an expensive process costing tens of thousands of dollars in research, programming, documentation, testing and packaging. The mostly small organisations who produce this specialist software are usually at full stretch producing, updating and maintaining products for the English speaking markets, which account for a very high proportion of the world market for computer based products. They have to do this to keep competitive. Even if you offer them large amounts of definite money, they may not be immediately keen. It is sometimes possible to get another company to do the translation, but it is difficult for teaching products, as these do not just need translating, but often need partially redesigning to meet the different language needs and customs of a different culture. But even if the work is contracted out, it will inevitably need quite a lot of supervision from senior people in the development team, who have other priorities.

In addition, the tools which the developers need - text to speech engines, dictionaries, word lists, spell checkers, thesauruses - may not be nearly as easy to find in languages other than English.

But if you can help them solve these problems, above all by guaranteeing sales, the developers are always looking for new markets. We hope that it will not be too long before other nationals can enjoy the tools which English speaking people with dyslexia now benefit from.

Written by Ian Litterick and Abi James, September 2001. Updated August 2006.