1. Why create a subscription?

What is Chuala subscription?

Chuala Subscription is an online language laboratory service. You can record pronunciation examples for your students or clients and they can practice pronunciation anywhere there is Internet access.

Why should I use Chuala Subscription?

The short story is that a subscription allows you to serve more students in a more efficient way. Learners need lots of examples and lots of practice. With Chuala Subscription you record pronunciation examples once and your users can use them as much as they want.

What are the big advantages of Chuala Subscription?

Cost, unlimited numbers of users, support for 7,589 languages and the ability to add translations.

Who creates the pronunciation exercises?

A native language speaker with the appropriate accent creates the pronunciation exercises. This could be a teacher, a speech language pathologist or someone hired to record content. Who are the intended users?

The end users are language teachers or speech language pathologists and their clients or students. A subscription could belong to either an individual or an organization such as a school.

What skills can be developed using Chuala Subscription?

Chuala Subscription is a tool to help improve pronunciation and understanding skills.

How does Chuala Subscription help a learner?

Language learners can practice their skills anytime and anywhere. This is much better than traditional expensive language laboratory software.

Can Chuala Subscription teach me how to speak a language?

No. Chuala Subscription is designed to help language teachers and speech language pathologists. It is a tool and not a teacher.

What does Chuala mean?

Chuala is a Gaelic word meaning heard as in "I heard a noise".

How is Chuala pronounced?

Click on the speaker icon beside the Chuala logo on the welcome page.

Is this a good example of how Chuala is really pronounced?

Not really. In fact, it is our version and doesn't sound like real Gaelic. Mind you, we're told that pronunciation varies widely.

What is the relationship between Chuala and Chuala Subscription?

They share technology but are hosted on separate servers. Chuala Subscriptions was developed to meet the needs of language professionals.

2. Some terminology

What is an exercise?

An exercise consists of a term (a word, phrase or sentence) and a recording of the term. Any number of translations can also be added.

What are the exercises for?

Exercises are used to help develop pronunciation and understanding skills.

What are lessons?

A lesson is a group of exercises. You can group them any way you want. Two common ways to group exercises are by sound, e.g. "th" sounds or by topic, e.g. fishing.

What is the compare function?

The compare function plays the model sound file and then the learner's recording. This helps the learner hear the differences between what their pronunciation and the model.

What is the loop function for?

The loop function is used to continuously play a pronunciation example. It helps learners distinguish new sounds and rhythms.

Can I loop the compare function?

Yes. Many learners find the loop function very useful when used with compare.

What is continuous play for?

The continuous play feature plays the exercises in a lesson either sequentially or randomly. This is useful when learning a new sound. For example, a teacher can create a lesson with words sharing the same sound to help the learner. A lesson could be created with the words ending with "th" (teeth, myth, path, with, etc.). Listening to these words is in a sense an accelerated and focused version of the listening that babies do when they listen to people speak around them.

What is the hide term function?

The hide term function hides the term. Most people use this when in continuous play mode to add a layer of difficulty.

What is a studylist?

A studylist is a group of exercises created by the learner for review purposes. These lists are private, for the learner only.

3. Using Chuala Subscription for learning

What are the problems I can help solve with Chuala?

Pronunciation and understanding skills are developed by first hearing and then practices the new sounds and rhythms in the language you are studying. As a rule of thumb, a learner has to hear a new sound 50-100 times before they can distinguish it. As an example, a Francophone can't hear the difference between "t" and "th", e.g. tin-thin or thin-tin. A teacher can diagnose the sounds and rhythms the student has to practice and then point the student to the appropriate pre-recorded content.

How can a learner tell if their pronunciation is correct?

Learners will learn to hear the differences between their pronunciation and the model by first listening to examples and then using the compare function. The teacher can help fine-tune their accent.

How do I improve pronunciation of the sounds that don't exist in my language?

The first step is to learn how to distinguish the sounds. You can't pronounce until you can hear it. This means that you have to listen to different examples of words with those sounds. Some research suggests that you have to listen to the sound between 50-100 times before you can really hear it. The loop function is useful for this. Once you hear it you can practice your pronunciation. Listen to a word, record it and then use the compare function.

How do I improve the rhythm?

Every language has a different rhythm made up of stress, intonation and pauses. Start by listening to short sentences and then record them.

Why would I add translations to an exercise?

Some people learn better when they know what a word means. It's up to the teacher or school to decide if it's appropriate

4. Creating content

What do I need to create exercises?

You need your favourite web browser, and the Flash media player plug-in. You have to enable the Javascript execution and the Cookies support in your browser, too.

Which web browsers and operating systems are supported?

Chuala is tested on Microsoft Windows (Internet Explorer 6 or above, Firefox 2 or above), Linux (Firefox 2 or above), and Mac (Firefox 2 or above and Safari). Chuala should work on any system where you have a Javascript (DOM support)/Cookies capable web browser and Flash media player plug-in.

Can I delete an exercise?

Not at this time. We will be adding this feature later.

Then how can I correct a wrong exercise?

If you think an exercise is wrong (i.e. there is a typo or the sound has bad quality), you can mark the exercise as "wrong". (This feature will be implemented soon.) However, consider, that a wrong exercise can be useful, when you learn a language.

Is there a better way to do this?

We think there are some better ways to do this but we are waiting for feedback from our users before we make a decision.

Can I delete a lesson?

Not at this time. This feature will be added later.

Then how can I change lesson with an error?

You can't. You have to record it again. This is high on our to do list!

When I create an exercise, the language selection menu doesn't contain the language I want to use. What can I do?

Click on the language settings link and change your default record and translate languages.

What is the "subject area" field?

The subject area is useful for adding information about translations. For example, the term "chair" is translated by the French word "chaise" when the subject area is "furniture". The translation "président (e) de comité" is appropiate when the subject area is "committees".

Is there a limitation for the length of the recorded sound?

Yes, the recorded sound can't be longer than 30 seconds. If you try to record a longer sound, the system will cut the end of it.

5. Getting good sound quality

How do I get good sound quality?

Sound quality is the result of several factors. These include the microphone, the microphone placement, the sound card and background noise. Any one of these factors can result in poor sound. We will discuss each item separately.

What type of microphone should I use?

You can get acceptable quality with many different microphones. Recording speech isn't as demanding as recording singing so you should be able to use a less expensive microphone. We have had good results with a variety of microphones.

Try before you buy. Should I speak close to the microphone?

Again, you have to experiment. Many microphones will produce better sound if you speak a bit from the side. Expensive microphones are designed for specific uses. Check with the dealer to find out the ideal placement.

How much money should I spend on the microphone?

You have to match the hardware with your needs. Expensive microphones sometimes need power supplies or special sound cards. Make sure you test before you buy an expensive microphone.

What other factors are important?

Some computers have loud fans while others have internal noise. Again, you have to test.

How can I be sure the sound will be loud enough on another computer?

Test the recordings on your machine and then have someone else listen to them on another computer. For example, setting both recording and playback volume high may give acceptable results on your machine but won't be loud enough on someone else's computer. You probably have an external volume control that you have to check also.

Sometimes the first part of my recording is dropped. What do I do?

Recording doesn't start until you start speaking. The first part of your speech will be cut off if the recording level is set too low. Raise the level and try again.