Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech app review: learn from a pro
Introduction
If there is one person in history who is known for being able to move people through words it's Martin Luther King Jr. With that said, how would you like the opportunity to brush up on your own English speaking skills with Martin Luther King Jr's help? Confused? Well, don't be: all you have to do is download the Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech app for your iPod touch, iPad, and iPhone so that you can get started. The app will help you improve your listening skills, which will also help your speech in the long-run.
An Educational Experience
This app is meant to provide an educational experience that is unique, engaging, and useful. It's meant to be used by non-English natives who now live in the U.S. and need some help with the English language. You will be able to listen to five minutes of English speeches complete with English subtitles. This can help you with your studies or just everyday conversations and communication.
The speeches have been divided into sections, all of which are short so you can tackle them one at a time. You can pause at any point during the speech. You will be using both your reading and listening skills so even if you're already strong at one of those you can focus on the other as well.
Unfortunately despite the developer's good intentions it seems the app is missing the mark with users who give it a fairly low customer rating. Let’s take a close look to see why that may be.
Using the App
When you launch the app you are given a menu of short clips from Martin Luther King Jr. As you scroll through the menu you will notice the shortest ones are at the top with the longest clip being at the bottom of the list. When you decide which one you want to listen to you need to download the clip first then you can listen to the speech. I find the sound quality to be very crisp and clear, making the listening experience easy and pleasant. You can fast forward and rewind as well as pause. The subtitles in the main viewing screen can be shown or hidden. You can also adjust the volume from within this viewing screen.
For me I feel that the app deserves a higher customer rating than its getting. It’s very basic with no bells and whistles but I think it has been done well and is worth a look.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Very user-friendly
- Listen to a selection of short clips from Martin Luther King Jr. speeches
- The ability to pause, rewind, and fast forward
- Show or hide English subtitles that follow along with speech
- Good quality sound
Cons
- There aren’t a lot of clips to listen to
- There are no added features or tools
Final Thoughts
The Martin Luther King Jr.’s Speech app for your iPod touch, iPad, and iPhone gives you the ability to listen and read English in an engaging manner that may help you with learning the language.
