Anyone who speeds along the Information Highway might notice most of the road signs are in English. But thanks to the University of Colorado Anderson Language Technology Center (ALTEC), students can use computers to learn a foreign language more quickly and retain it longer.

Established in 1990 through a donation from the Garfield O. Anderson/Roubos family, ALTEC provides an interactive, high tech approach to learning foriegn languages. The facility operates an audio/visual lab in Hellems, Room 152, where an extensive library of foreign language audio and video tapes, foreign films on video, foreign books, magazines and newsletters are kept. In Hellems, Room 159, ALTEC supports an interactive videolab where students practice their foreign language skills on the computers.

For university faculty, ALTEC also offers use of a Macintosh classroom in Hellems, Room 145. Here faculty can conduct classes with the use of a whiteboard and LCD panel that projects the computer image on a large screen at the front of the room. An ALTEC recording studio in Hellems, Room 148, is also available for faculty to subtitle videos, tape programs such as SCOLA international news via satellite, and create original foreign language audio and video recordings.

"ALTEC is unique because there is a combination of both students first learning a foreign language and foreign students speaking in their native languages in the lab," said Rebecca Landwehr, ALTEC lab assistant. "When you walk into the labs you'll hear all different languages: Spanish, French, Russian. Students just can't get that same atmosphere by watching a film at Academic Media Services."

ALTEC is not just for those taking foreign language classes. Any fee-paying student can use ALTEC, whether they are learning a language for the first time or brushing up on languages they once were taught in high school. Boulder community residents can also use ALTEC by purchasing a $20 pass for a semester or $2 for a week. Senior citizens can use ALTEC for free.

With at least 400 students using ALTEC six days a week, the facility's main goal is to be accessible to all students learning any foreign language. Up until recently, the ALTEC interactive foreign language computer software supported only romance languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, and others. If students wished to type a paper in Russian or practice Chinese, they would have to go elsewhere.

"We honestly need to adopt software that supports all foreign languages if we want to call ourselves a language center," said Robin McClanahan, ALTEC office manager. The search is on for a foreign language software program that will favor all foreign languages, including Asian and Slavic tongues. The number one contender is a software package called NISUS. The software allows any language to be processed and printed. However, if NISUS is installed into the system, ALTEC could close its doors to students not taking foreign language classes.

"There are just not enough computers for everyone to use if we change software," McClanahan said. "Right now 5,000 students taking French and other languages are using the 25 computers we have available. That use will surely double once students studying Eastern languages are able to practice skills on the system." Other software ALTEC is experimenting with includes LIBRA, an authoring software where faculty can custom design foreign language programs for their classes. Both the Spanish and German departments are operating programs created through LIBRA in classes.

Aside from software, ALTEC also incorporates the Internet into the learning atmosphere. MINITEL, the national French computer system, can be accessed for a fee by students studying French. Most French citizens use MINITEL for e-mail, banking, and making traveling reservations. Another branch of Internet called TELFEAC connects students in history or business classes with students in different countries, promoting an international perspective on discussion topics.

Though multimedia software such as Mosaic has yet to be embedded into the ALTEC learning atmosphere, Internet use is still encouraged. "The desk where I sit has Mosaic and Netscape on the computer," Landwehr said. "The staff always encourages the employees to make themselves familiar with the technology and experiment with it." The ALTEC staff insists, however, no matter what a student's skill level is with cyberspace technology, one does not need to be a computer guru to practice languages in ALTEC labs. "You can show up and in five minutes be using the equipment," Landwehr said.

"The trouble with learning a foreign language is that most audio tapes and workbooks are boring and not very effective," McClanahan said. "It's been proven again and again that students simply learn better through multimedia instruction and retain the knowledge longer. And ALTEC is here to help by supporting all languages."