EZ Language: Russian

EZ Language: Russian is one of a series of language teaching programs aimed at teaching Americans basic phrases in preparation for foreign travel.

All the titles in the series follow the same format. The language tutor opens up with a main menu on which there are eight language lessons Basic Phrases; Arrival; Eating Out; Shopping; Sightseeing; Hotel; Public Services and Sports. Unlike some other titles in the series there are no more lessons tucked away on a second menu screen. Each lesson consists of;* Word Drill: There are six tiles on the screen with a picture in each, the word in the foreign language is in a caption strip across the top of the tile while the word in American is in a similar strip across the bottom of the tile. Clicking on a tile triggers a voice-clip of the word being spoken in the foreign language. There are usually two screens/twelve tiles to the Word Drill

• Phrase Drill: As the name suggests this teaches useful phrases with the foreign language phrase on top and the American equivalent beneath. No pictures this time just caption strips and clicking on the foreign language strip triggers a sound clip of the phrase being spoken

The Word Drill and Phrase Drill sections are repeated up to four times. In between the sections is a picture or a nugget of information such as "The Ukraine region was the cradle of Christianity in the Russian empire. It was in 988 that the first Christians were baptized in the Dnieper"

During these sections the player can, if appropriately equipped, record and play back their attempt to pronounce the word/phrase they've been taught.

When the lesson is over there are the tests, these start with.

• Noun Test: A word in the foreign language is in a caption box at the top of the screen while the remainder of the screen holds six picture tiles along with their appropriate American word and the player has to select the tile that matches the supplied word.
• Phrase Test: Here the caption at the top of the screen is a foreign phrase and beneath it are four American phrases from which the player must select the one which translates as the supplied phrase.

In all tests clicking on the foreign word/phrase triggers a sound clip of it being spoken. If the player answers/guesses correctly they are rewarded with the ding of a bell, incorrect answers get a hooter. The game keeps score and at the end of the round gives a message along the lines of "Seven correct, that's not bad" or "Almost made it. You only missed two."

In all lessons the player has the option of just going through the Nouns and Phrases, i.e. Skipping the tests; Nouns Only; Phrases only; or Tests Only