LinguaFranKEYS - Dave Hughes

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Unrelated Introduction

The Rosetta Stone is inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts, respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek. The decree has only minor differences across the three versions, making the Rosetta Stone key to deciphering the Egyptian scripts.

Now if you were going to make a spectrum basic game based on the Rosetta stone, just imagine how many user define graphics you would need for the hieroglyphs. Loads! 

Even modern languages can require a suite of UGD to represent all the letter types not found the the UK alphabet.  


The actual game

So this limitation is perhaps why Dave Hughes decided to take a slightly simplified approach with his game LinguaFranKEYS, which has nothing to do with the Rosetta Stone. This is a game where you have to learn the words for up, down, left, right, pause and fire in a number of languages that are common among the ZX Spectrum fanbase.

I can see what Dave is doing here. By mastering this game you will be able to play any spectrum game in any language. Therefore this is both a game and a useful utility. This is not so crap then?

The game is also nicely laid out and uses every possible UDG the spectrum has to offer to lovingly recreate the custom fonts for the game. Languages included are:

  • English
  • Portuguese
  • Spanish
  • Czech
  • Slovak
  • Italian
  • Dutch
  • French
  • German
  • Polish
  • Ukrainian
  • Russian
  • Greek

Impressive list. You can browse them in a nice little menu, with some accompanying sound effects.

The game must be played in 48k mode otherwise some crapness creeps in, and instead of a nice UDG you get the word 'SPECTRUM'. At first I though this was intentional and I was learning the word for Spectrum in 12 languages. But no. I was being thick.

So the game is a nice type-in with educational value for any spectrum fans who want to play non native spectrum games - but is it a fun game?

(I see this and I think Etch-A-Sketch. I must have PTSD)

Well, that may depend on your memory skills and whether or not you are a linguaphile. I found this game very hard and scored 2% on my first go. Everything is just too quick for my slow brain and poor grasp of any language, including English. However, the option to scroll through the languages is a really nice touch and I can see that helping me in the future. 



Warning - This will not help you play text adventures in a non native tounge. 

Final thoughts

A simple game verging on fun, LinguaFranKEYS is also useful in a way. 

If, 2000 years from now, someone is digging in their back garden, and finds a tape cassette containing this game, they may consider it something of a Rosetta Stone of the ZX spectrum (See there was a link after all). Perhaps it will allow scientists of the future to get a rudimentary understanding of European languages. 

Get it here



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