Welcome to monzo website!!

monzo is an excellent tool for learning foreign languages.
monzo is a very useful learning-aid especially for improving your listening and pronunciation skills.
monzo can be used for learning French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese , English, etc.

A quick reflection on how you, as an infant, learnt your own language would give you at least 3 hints on how to learn a new language.

Hint 1.(Listen to native speakers)
You listened to people around you(your mom, dad, other family members, neighbors, etc,) who were/are all native speakers of your language.

Hint 2.(Listen repeatedly to words, short phrases)
People around you kept talking to you and thus you were repeatedly exposed to spoken words and short phrases/sentences, and as a result, a huge data base of sounds of your own language was built within your brain.

Hint 3.(Echolalia)
After months of listening to short spoken words & phrases, you, as an infant, felt that you had listened enough and started imitating the vocal sounds made by others around you(echolalia). This echolalia process is considered to be a natural and indispensable phase in learning of your language. Remember your language was a new language to you and you acquired it through echolalia!


How to make the most of these hints in your foreign language learning?

Hint 1.
Learning a foreign language by listening to native speakers of the target language would no doubt be the best way.
The second best way would be to listen to recordings by native speakers.
Nowadays, there are tons of such digitized sound data in the mp3 format on CDs, DVDs, or downloadable or streaming from Internet. Why not utilize them?

Hint 2 & 3
This is where monzo can be very useful.
With monzo you can
(a) divide(*) mp3 files(and the corresponding text/script files, if any) into short clips, and play the clips in various manners and modes,
(b) listen to each clip and repeat aloud after it, as if you are doing echolalia! Yes, since you can never be an infant again, the only thing, close to the natural echolalia, that you could do would be to intentionally do vigorous echolalia-like drills with your new language(intentional echolalia or echoing drills),
and
(c) record and compare your utterances with the recordings by the native speakers.

monzo is a good tool to create short clips and do intentional echolalia(echoing drills) with your new language.

Try monzo and see if intentional echolalia works for you with your target language as the natural echolalia was indispensable and did work for you in your learning of your own language.

(*)To be precise, monzo only creates beginning/ending markings for each of the clips and does not cut up the original mp3/txt files. The original mp3/txt files remain intact.

Try out monzo for free.
You can download monzo by clicking the following:

1.monzo (product version)
http://arsis.co.jp/dl.monzo/monzo-setup.exe
You can try out for free all the features and functionalities of monzo for 30 days of installation. After the 30 days, you can continue to use monzo as a free version but with a few functionalities limited or disabled.

2.monzoRecordViewer
http://arsis.co.jp/dl.monzo/monzoRecordViewer-setup.exe
This is a useful tool if you are interested in knowing the amount of "your time with monzo" .
Once installed, every time monzo is started monzoRecordViewer will automatically record how much of your time you spent with monzo. This utility can show weekly, monthly or year-to-date stats.

Once you download, install and start monzo, a 'CONTENTS'　folder is created.
(The default location for the CONTENTS folder is C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\arsis\monzo)

What you need to do is to
1) create a sub-folder(s) in the CONTENTS folder, and
2) place lesson materials ("mp3 files" or "pairs of mp3 files and text files") in the sub-folder(s).
That is all you need to do before you can start using monzo.

An mp3 file and its corresponding text file must be of the same name(except for the extension)
For example if an mp3 file name is abc.mp3, the text file has to be named abc.txt.

OK.
Are the lesson materials placed in the sub-folder(s) within CONTENTS folder?

Start monzo by clicking on 'monzo' in the Start menu, a desktop short-cut icon to monzo, or monzo.exe(in the folder where you've installed monzo).

You'll now see your lesson materials listed in the upper section of "Folder".
(see *Remark 1 & 2 at the bottom of the page)

Click either one of the folders, and individual lesson materials inside the folder will be listed in the lower section of the “Folder”.

Click any one of the lesson material file names in the lower section of "Folder", and the mp3 file will start playing and the corresponding text(if available) will be displayed in the text display area.

You can set monzo to play at any speed between 50% and 200% of the original speed by dragging the slider to the left or right.
Press RST button(on the right of the slide-bar) to get back to the original speed.

Do you want to hide the text and just listen to the recording?
Click the 'text' icon near the top-right corner.
The 'text' icon toggles between the show and hide modes of the text.

You want to play your mp3 file endlessly?
Set the [repeat] value(shown above the [options] button) at '0'.

You can rewind or advance forward by 1 to 99 seconds or jump back to the beginning of the recording.(See REW, FF buttons)

Divide audio/text files into clips.

It It is easy to create clips with monzo.

YouTube video, illustrating the clipping process, can be viewed at the following URL:
http://youtu.be/uj3b7lYWJMM
(As noted above, even when clips are created, the original audio and text files remain unchanged)
“A step by step guide in writing on how to make clips” is given near the bottom of this page.

Clipping tab

Clips created with monzo get automatically listed under Clipping tab.
Click on the Clipping tab and you will see a list of folders of lesson materials in the upper section of the left side-bar.
Click on any of the folders and all the clips inside the selected folder will be listed in the lower section of the left side-bar.
Click on a clip name, and the clip will start playing.
Right-click on any of the folders, and a sub-menu will appear, from which you can choose to
-play clips sequentially or in an random order(*),
-play each clip repeatedly as many times as specified in "repeat",
-play in a shadowing/dictation mode,
-set an interval(or silence) between repetitions,
-or if you have created new clips you can renumber all the clips in the order of [fm here] times by right-clicking on the folder and selecting ‘Renumbering’.
(*)or you can click on SEQ or RND button to play clips in a folder sequentially or randomly.

YouTube video demonstrating how monzo can be set to play clips in various modes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWtuc_iQtIo
(A brief explanation in English is found in the Comment to the video)

PlayList tab

Click on the PlayList tab and then on the [NEW] button at the bottom, and you can pick any items in the Contents/Clipping folders and create a PlayList of your choice.
You can insert silence between items by pressing [ADD pause item]. Press this button once, a 1sec silence is inserted, press twice, two 1-sec silences(ie, 2 sec silence) are inserted.
You can re-arrange the items in any order you like. Select an item in the PlayList and press UP or DN button to move the item up or downwards in the list or REMOVE to remove the item from the PlayList.

Voice Recording

You can record your voice by clicking on the tiny red disc(wait till the disc starts blinking, signalling it is ready to record) and start talking into the microphone.
(Click on the microphone icon on the left of the red disc to enable or disable the microphone.)
Once the recording is done, click on the red disc once again to stop recording.

You can listen to the recording by clicking the tiny play button on the right side of the red disc.
You can save the recording, as a .moz file, by right-clicking on the tiny red disc.

Repeat after the reader(Intentional echolalia or echoing drills)

Select a clip and press Stop button.
Press the red disc and, as soon as it starts blinking, press the main Play button, wait till the clip finishes playing, then you repeat aloud into microphone. When you finish your reading, press the blinking red disc again to stop recording.
Press the tiny Play button and you will be able to listen to the reader's(native speaker’s) reading followed by your own reading!!
Compare your reading against the reader's(native speaker’s) reading.
Remember you, as an infant, listened to and repeated after your mom, day in, day out, for months.
We believe extensive echolalia drills will provide a solid and fertile foundation for developing practical language skills.

As mentioned above, you can right click on the red disc and save your recording in .moz format.
moz file can be re-played as many times as you like at any time you like by double-clicking on the file or dragging the .moz file onto "Folder" section of monzo.
.moz files, so saved, can be emailed, uploaded to servers for home-work assignment/assessment, distance education, etc.

A YouTube video showing test recording is available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1l22pbN8Bc

Text Editor Area

monzo comes with the Text Editor Area.
In this area you can type notes or paste texts (and images in some formats) which have been copied somewhere else and are stored in the clip-board of the computer.

Place audio files(mp3 files), text files(.txt files) and image files in sub-folder(s) inside CONTENTS folder, and monzo will become a collection of fascinating picture books or story books with pictures!
(See also ‘mingle’ section near the bottom of this page)

options

Click the 'options' button, and you can change font sizes.
Several other options and information are also available.

monzo as a language teaching aid:

As you have seen above, monzo can clip audio/text lesson materials into short segments and play them in various modes
In a classroom where or when a native speaker of the language being taught is not available, monzo can fill in for her or him for reading purpose.
For some examples, see YouTube video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l57v1sS_egI

monzo as a Transcription Tool:

monzo can also be used as a Transcription Tool.
Give your dictation, recorded in mp3 format, to your secretary. She/he will copy or move the mp3 file to the sub-folder(like MyBossDictation) within CONTENTS folder and play back the file for typing in the text editor area of monzo.
The mp3 dictation file can be played back at a slower/faster speed(depending on her/his typing speed), and/or played back in chunks for effortless transcription.

monzo as a KARAOKE BOX

Place mp3 music files(and the lyrics in .txt format if available) in the sub-folder(for example: MyKaraoke) within CONTENTS folder and you are ready to enjoy your KARAOKE sessions.
Suggestions: Create audio clips by dividing the audio file(music) into several segments(clips)(for example, one clip/line).

You can create lesson materials for the learners of your language:

Anyone can create language lesson materials.
How?
Record your narration, conversation, reading etc. in .mp3 format.
Place the mp3 file in a sub-folder(like MyRecordings) within CONTENTS folder.
Play it (in segments if the recording is a long one. Use ‘fm here’-’to here’ buttons to segment or clip).
Right-click in the text display area and click "Editing text", and the text editor will appear. Type the script of the mp3 file.
When finished typing, save by pressing Ctrl+S keys, and close the text editor.
Play the same mp3 file again.
This time, you'll see the script displayed in the text display area.

Teach and Learn:

Are you learning French, Chinese or German? Your contact in France, China or Germany can create lesson materials for you. And, you can mutually teach and learn each other’s language.

A short examples of Japanese language lessons I’ve casually made with monzo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rffHjHvSTTQ

Go ahead and have fun creating with monzo your version of teaching/learning materials for the people around the world who are learning your language.

Free Trial:

monzo is available for free-trial from:
http://monzo-cube.com/download/default.html
You can use all the features of monzo for 30days for free.

Purchase monzo only when you are satisfied because your payment, once made, is not refundable.

Pricing

Regular(personal) price:Japanese Yen(JPY)2100.- per license
Click here to purchase and pay with PayPal

Academic(personal) price:Japanese Yen(JPY)980.- per license
Please contact us: info@monzo-cube.com

For bulk(multiple) license purchases by schools, corporations, other organizations/institutes, please inquire here. info@monzo-cube.com

Requirements:

OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP
Windows Media Player Ver.11 must be in your computer.

‘mingle’ for Publishers

‘mingle’ is another application of monzo technologies for creating new generation language learning CDs.
a sample CD image of ‘mingle’ can be downloaded from this URL:
http://monzo-cube.com/forpublisher/default.html
Download, extract the zip file and burn the image file and see for yourself the potential of ‘mingle’ technologies.
To publishers of language lesson materials:
Please inquire for more information at the email address below.

Questions/inquiries with regard to monzo and mingle are welcome at:

info@monzo-cube.com

arsis inc.
Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan
Webpage in Japanese:
http://monzo-cube.com/

***
A step by step guide on how to make clips:
To create clips, you will have to select a target section which you want to divide into clips.
Suppose you want to divide Lesson One into clips.
Simplest way is to select the entire Lesson One.
How do you do that?
1.Select Lesson One in the lower section of Folder, and monzo will start playing Lesson One and the corresponding text will appear in the text display area.
2.Click Pause or Stop button.
3.Select the entire text.
4.Click ‘Clip’ button, and “clip” window appears with the selected text automatically pasted for you.
Now you are ready to start making clips out of Lesson One in this “clip” window.

5. Press PLAY button and listen and press the same button(now ‘pause’ button) again to mark the end of the first clip.
6. Select the portion of the text that corresponds to the first clip of audio.
7. Press New button. clip -#1 window appears with the selected portion of the text pasted.
8. Press PLAY button and if necessary make adjustments to ‘from’ or ‘ to’ time and when you are satisfied press ‘Save’ button. Your first clip has been created and saved! and clip -#1 window disappears and you are back to “clip” window but this time around the text is showing only the remaining portion(with the first clip text deleted)
From now on you will repeat step 5 - 8 to create 2nd, 3rd, ...clips.
***
Need one more example?:In order to make your second clip.
9. Press PLAY button in the “clip” window and listen and press the same button(now ‘pause’ button) again to mark the end of the second clip.
10.Select the portion of the text that corresponds to the second clip of audio.
11. Press New button. clip -#2 window appears with the selected portion of the text pasted.
12. Press PLAY button and if necessary make adjustments to ‘from’ or ‘ to’ time, and when you are satisfied press ‘Save’ button. Your second clip has been created and saved! and clip -#2 window disappears and you are back to “clip” window
***

Remarks:
(a) If you need to make fine adjustments to ‘from’ or ‘ to’ time by 1/10th of a second, first click on the 1/10th digit and then click on the up or down arrow.
(b) When you come to the last clip, you don’t need to select the text. Just press ‘Save’ button, or
(c) When you want to stop creating clips half way through Lesson One, please make sure to press ‘Save’ button before closing ‘clip’ window. This way, the remainder of Lesson One is saved as a clip, which, like any other clips, can later be divided into shorter clips under ‘Clipping’ tab.(Yes, you can divide existing clips into yet shorter clips if you like.)
By the way, you can not only divide a clip but also merge two adjacent clips if they are not more than 1 second apart. To merge, while pressing Shift key, select two adjacent clips, and right click and select ‘merge’).

[RST] button in the [fm here] section will set [fm here] time to 00:00:00.0(the very beginning of the audio file).
[RST] button in the [to here] section will reset the [to here] time to the very end of the audio file.

(*Remark 1)
If you are learning two or more foreign languages, you can throw the audio/text lesson materials of various languages into sub-folders within CONTENTS folder as long as they are in mp3/txt formats.
By clicking one file name after another, you can hop, for example, from the lesson of the French to the Chinese, then to whatever other language(s) you are learning.
(*Remark 2)
monzo can be used with lesson materials of various levels.
You can create “for Kids” and “for Mom and Dad” sub-folders within CONTENTS folder and place mp3/txt files in such sub-folders, and monzo can be used as a good language learning tool for the entire family.