German was one of my school subjects but that was more years ago than I care to remember. However, a German family has recently moved in next door and this has inspired me to review the recently released German Phrase Book from Soar Valley Software.

The tape loaded first time and, after pressing RUN, I was presented with the title of the program in large letters.

Pressing any key took me to a menu of typical situations where I could meet language problems or need a basic knowledge of relevant words - i.e. hotels, restaurants, airports, garages, etc.

Each selection gave a number of pertinent sentences or phrases and underneath each was a phonetic equivalent to aid pronunciation. Used in conjunction with the notes supplied with the tape this gave good intelligible German. However, Phrase Book must be considered a fun tape rather than a practical one owing to the limited number of phrases and the need to take the computer around to the airport or wherever.

Despite some good ideas, money would be better spent on a "real" phrase book.

I would, however, be interested to see a new version with more in it and the ability to interact with the computer - e.g. a text yourself section. This would really use the computer's power more and I am sure would make for an attractive piece of software.

Garfield Harvey