Getting by in English is one thing, speaking Shakespeare's language with a good accent is another.
Thanks to its learning method based on orality, i.e. listening and repetition, the Pronounce headset promises you real progress.
Sold for 199 euros, it is effective but we regret that it is a little restrained and cannot be updated to evolve and enrich its offer.
English spoken?
You have learned English, but lack practice to be
"fluent"
?
Launched by Polyglot SA, a Luxembourg company specializing in auditory neurosensory stimulation, the Pronounce audio headset offers you a solution to improve your accent.
Its promise: with a little daily learning of about fifteen minutes, significant progress to help you speak English fluently and naturally.
In several sessions,
20 Minutes
wanted to see what exactly this method consisted of and if it was indeed possible to improve.
Beginners refrain
This is the problem of many French people.
Many manage in English.
But most have a sharp accent, which can make them lose their means in meetings and limits their exchanges during their travels abroad.
The Pronounce headset does not claim to help those who get stuck at the
"Where is Brian?"
in 6th
grade, first need to develop their vocabulary and grammar.
It is aimed at those who, having already learned the language of Shakespeare, need to improve their accent and gain spontaneity.
Listen and repeat
For this, this helmet which has a removable microphone, embeds pre-recorded English lessons.
On board and accessible according to two levels, a program lasting 45 hours which should be spread over approximately 90 days, through sessions of 15 to 30 minutes.
Here, the idea is to listen to verbal exchanges, dialogues, resulting from a whole bunch of everyday situations, then to repeat them.
Examples:
“Do you want to have coffee later this week?
» ;
“I just had another hard day at the the restaurant”
, etc.
By trying to copy the model listened to, by repeating the sentences through the microphone, but above all by listening to the sound of their own voice, the user can quickly self-correct and progress.
At the heart of the proposed method, there is "concatenation", or the fact of cutting a sentence into several pieces in order to better assimilate them separately before reconstituting the dialogue.
Thus, after having repeated them one by one, the elements will gradually be associated, as in one of the sentences cited as an example above:
“Do you want”;
“to have coffee”;
“later this week”
.
Who will form
“Do you want to have coffee later this week?
»
.
This method, called the Tomatis method, would reduce the time it takes to learn a foreign language by half.
Immersive experience
Technically, the Pronounce headphones use a dynamic filter which emphasizes the frequencies of the English language.
This would promote the intonation and rhythms of spoken English.
Even if it means confusing a little: we sometimes have the impression that the sentences listened to in the headphones have a very digital rendering.
Self-listening, through the loudspeakers associated with a bone conduction system, makes the experience more immersive.
Our tests over several sessions seemed to us to be quite convincing in their approach.
The oral situations encountered through on-board recordings reflect many scenes from daily life, both personal and professional.
We can imagine that applied daily, the method advocated by the Pronounce helmet is gradually effective and allows not only to improve one's accent, but also to gain in self-confidence.
Still, the Pronounce headset, announced at 249 euros, but sold for 199 euros on its manufacturer's website, cannot benefit from an update.
Admittedly, its purchase price is final.
There are no expenses to be expected to acquire learning hours, for example.
This is one of its strengths, but also one of its weaknesses.
We would have liked to be able to possibly buy modules more or less adapted to such and such a use or profession (reception, catering, travel…), or even modules for other languages… in short, to make the headset evolve over time.
Once it's learned, the device may look a bit outdated in its current state.
Unless you give it a second life by using it as a simple Bluetooth headset.
Politics
National Education: Pap Ndiaye wants to strengthen the English level of college students
Series
“Squid Game”, “Emily in Paris”, “Game of Thrones”… How do series boost language learning?
high tech
Learning
English
England
Telework
20 minute video