SwipeSpeare app review

SwipeSpeare

Price: Free

For: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later

SwipeSpeare by BookCaps is an app that translates Shakespeare into modern-day language with just a swipe of the finger.

When you have SwipeSpeare, you don’t have to worry about trying to read side-by-side Shakespeare/translation text. Instead, just swipe your finger over the text you want “translated” and the modern language will appear. Read it, then swipe your finger across it again and it will change back to the original version. How cool is that?

With the free download, you get a built-in Shakespeare Dictionary you can search for any word, a biography of Shakespeare, and a swipeable copy of Romeo and Juliet.

In-app purchases of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, Henry V, Hamlet, and Macbeth for just $1.99 each are all available right now. The remainder of Shakespeare’s plays plus study guides and lesson plans will be available in early 2013.

This is a great learning and teaching tool. Don’t let distraction or frustration stop your students from falling in love with Shakespeare!

The app was released mid-December 2012 and is rated for kids 12 and up due to violent scenes and Shakespeare’s bawdy and sometimes crude language. SwipeSpeare is available in English only. It has a total of six ratings with an average of five out of five stars. All of the feedback comments are positive.

I am a huge Shakespeare fan and even I must admit that sometimes there are words in plays with which I am unfamiliar. I am looking forward to buying all my favorites to read in this app. I can see how it would be very popular with English majors as well as high school students and their teachers.