Category: accessible Devices
When I was in elementary school, my braille teacher got me a Franklin Language Master. It was a combined dictionary, thesaurus, grammar guide, and for me, spell checker. Plus, it had ten games, classmates (a list of words related to the one you were looking up), confusables (words that sound or are spelled like the one you're looking up) and the ability to jot down single words or very short messages through the word and message lists. This little machine was my computer before the computer entered my life, and, often times, my best friend. I'd spend hours playing with it, learning grammar, words and typing. Many years afterword, my high school teachers and college professors all wondered at my diction, my spelling and my typing speed. Soon after high school, I stopped using my Language Master. Yet I found it's ease of use, particularly when trying to find the spelling of words etc, to be lacking and I really missed having it at my side when I worked. So I finally put some new batteries in it today and had a blast playing games and reliving many fond memories. It's so strange to be able to look up certain technical words like cd rom, DOS and BASIC but not others like internet, windows and other general things that were created after 1989. It has online, but The only thing it says for it is "controlled directly by a computer. Example, online equipment." I laughed when, after finding the word videodisk, I looked up dvd and got "correcting" and a list of possible alternatives. Also, it has U.S.S.R. as a country which still exists. Seriously, though, I've heard that they just updated it last year so there's a new Language Master out there. Has anyone tried it? If not, did/do you own an older one and how did/do you like it? If you still have it, do you still use it?
hi.
i used to have this, it was really awsome. i took it with me on the aeroplane, in the car, to the amusement park.... i loved it so much.
1 thing i really liked about it was the size, you could take it anywhere as it was so small. i also liked the fact that it was so easy to use, and that the dictionary was so big you could never get bored of it.
game wise, i enjoyed the memory game and the typing one.
Yeah, I love it's size too. It's actually my standard when looking at palmtops. I wouldn't want anything smaller but it's a good starting point.
yeah, i'm not sure if you found this as well, but for me, the keys were easy to identify. as for the classmates, had endless fun going through those.
I've got one; I think I got it in 1994. I haven't used it in ages, but when I was in high school, my friends and I used to have a blast playing the games. I think the two we played the most were Anagrams and Word Train.
I also have got a language master somewhere.
But i did the mistake and i left it in the car one day during the summer and the first layer of the screen got distroyed by the sun but fortunately there is another one below which is fine. I don'[t know if the screen works because of that but everything else works fine.
It was very usefull and now that you reminded me of it i will have to find it and use it again. I would like to try the updated version but the price must be high.
Bravo re Niko. Yes, it's $449.95
http://www.franklin.com/estore/dictionary/LM-6000SEV/
They don't really go into the updates, but it appears to contain a huge amount of new words. The description I've found on another site for mine says something like 120,000 words. This one says over 300,000. Too bad they dont have a voice sample so that we could see if the synth is the same.
I have one of those somewhere, and I loved the games on there. I also used to just look up a word and then hit forward a bunch of times, going through the alphabet. That never got old, and I probably learned a lot of new words in the process. I did use it about a year ago or so, and the voice actually irritated me a bit after not being used to it for so long. Lol, yeah, it was very fun.
lol I forgot about that trick. I used to do it too. I'll have to try it again. *smile* I actually want to find the name of that voice chip, since it's the basis of the KeyNote synths I'm seeking.
I have one and use to play games all the time. I also like the punctuation feature. I would like to still get a newer one, I didn't they had made one.
I think it still as a place in our lives. Just My thoughts
I got mine out yesterday just to see if the batteries that I put in it a few months ago still worked. I used to type random letters to see what it can find. I played word train and keyboard wizard a lot. Then I would go through the flash cards just to see what it came up with. It wasn't until the summer of my junior year that I got one of my own. Fun times!
Hm never seen one but ... without the ability to update its firmware? Sounds primitive but OK ... I was in college when the USSR ceased to be ...
The fact that it can't be updated sucks, but at the same time, it's not like we're talking Shakespear's English versus modern. It has a hell of alot of words and is still a hugely valuable resource, not only as a dictionary, but as a grammar guide and so on.
Robozork, I agree with you. It was primitive. But damn was it fun! When I was a kid I used to think it was so sophisticated because the word train game actually made the sound of a train, lol! Of course I know better now, but just thinking of how I really thought that at the time is making me laugh.
Hm a generational thing I guess then ... since we had none of those things and my parents wouldn't have been able to afford it if there were ... gotta have the games
I didn't get it from my family. I got it from the New Jersey Commission for The Blind.
You're right on, it really is primitive. But at the same time, it was fun. Or for me, the games were anyway. I didn't really use the other features much at all.
That Keyboard Wizard game kicked my ass the first time I played it.
I can actually play it on speed 10 and get a perfect 30 out of 30.
Hi Tiffany. That certainly is a great little machine. I am fortunate enough to be in possession of one.
hmm, i made a word list, and the game where you get the blanks and it fills in the letters and you have to guess the word before it finishes, well, i was a pokemon fan, so there's all pokemon names in there, it hated me for that because you put in like pikachu, and it can't pronounce it, it just gives you the letters. but, it's still fun, i think i took that game to 100 or higher,
the other, was the anagrams, or word builder, my old highschool teacher wanted us to find how many words we could get out of winter vacation, i pulled that out and it gave me 100 entries. he just looked at me, and everyone else said i was cheating. i'd love to get one of the newer ones... but, it through highschool was the best thing since sliced bread, well, after jaws verson 3.7, with internet access, lol
I got one of those in 6th grade. It lasted a good long time, even after being dropped on hard-ass concrete from 4 or 5 feet up it still worked. But when I moved to the Bay Area it just stopped working. Always wondered if being jerked around during the flight up here had something to do with it dying.
I had so much fun with that thing though. Never got tired of forwarding through entries and learning words like "groszy," or writing and making it say all sorts of ridiculous messages. It sure served me well during scrabble games. Talk about a blast from the past!
R.I.P... lol
I miss mine. It lasted ten years, but wouldn't even work after a battery change, so I knew the thing was toast. Apparently, there's a new version out with a different voice on it. any idea where I can find this?
I miss mine. It lasted ten years, but wouldn't even work after a battery change, so I knew the thing was toast. Apparently, there's a new version out with a different voice on it. any idea where I can find this?
Here you go.
http://www.franklin.com/estore/dictionary/LM-6000SEV/
They also make other speaking products, but I'm not sure if it just speaks when reading or if everything in them is accessible. I was unaware that they used a different voice for the new one. Now I'm really curious.
When I was getting my GED in 1999, I had a Franklin Language Master and really loved it too.
I think I am going to look into getting another one. I really had a lot of fun with the Franklin Language Master.
The one I had was a borrowed one.
man this is taking me back to middle and high school...I had one until about 3 years ago and then the batteries rotted in it from just sitting there and it wouldn't work after that...bsides, the screen was completely gone
I'm curious. When they say that keyboards on 7 or 6 inch netbooks are small, do they mean as small as the keys on the Language Master? How small are these keys when compared to normal ones, like 90% smaller than regular ones or something?
I have one and I got as graduation present in 1993. However, I did check on the newer one and no, it wasn't updated last year, but about 3 years ago and yes I spoke directly to Franklin company that makes it. They now have two versions, one like we use that fully speaks everything, all letters, functions and all, and another where the letters don't speak when you type, but the words/definitions do and it has extra large print screne. I want to get a newer one even though mine still works and yes, I do use it quite a bit to double check a spelling or find a similar word to something I've been using. They come in handy when you do a lot of writing.
Please be aware that if you want either of the newer versions. The full speaking one will cost you around US $450 to $500 and the half speaking one between $400 to $450 depending on where you manage to find one to buy, though directly from Franklyn will be the cheaper price.
Did they tell you about any advantages of the newer verses the older ones?