Fun and Effective, With One Major Flaw – Esperanto Talk Review

As a beginner in learning Esperanto, I love the format of this app. In each stage, words and phrases in both English and Esperanto are mixed together. You must tap the matches in each language, concentration-style, to clear the pair. You earn stars as you clear each stage: one star for just completing the stage, two stars if you don't make any errors, and a third star if you're fast enough. You must earn two stars in any stage in order to unlock the next stage. At first it's just a guessing game, but as you attempt to reach three stars in every phase, you find that you begin to retain the definitions. Each time you retry a phase, all of the words and phrases are randomized and run together in the same text block. This extra challenge forces you to look for patterns that help with retention. Unfortunately, none of the Esperanto words have any accent marks, and these are necessary for correct spelling and pronunciation. For example, in phase two, "adiau" is supposed to have a breve over the "u", and in phase three, "gis" needs a circumflex over the "g". This may not be a big deal for the experienced Esperanto speaker, but as a beginner, it's important for me to learn how to spell and pronounce each word correctly. If the accent marks were included, I would give this app a higher rating. I really do believe this is a great way to learn Esperanto, and I'm already retaining several words. Unfortunately, without the accent marks, it's too easy for beginners to learn words the wrong way.
Review by Bapples and Bananas on Esperanto Talk.