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[FILE: UGUIDE.DOC] LinguaPro/SPANISH Release 2.30a User's Guide ============================================ Schulenberg & Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 1005 Houston, Texas 77251 (713) 440-4444 Compuserve ID: 72650,3160 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW (Mini-Guide) 1.1 Approach and Objectives ...................................... 2 1.2 Supplied Files and Program Installation ...................... 4 1.3 Terminology .................................................. 6 1.4 Command Input ................................................ 10 1.4.1 Typing Commands ........................................ 10 1.4.1 The ESCAPE Key (ESC) ................................... 10 1.4.3 Function Keys .......................................... 10 1.5 Loading Data Files ........................................... 11 1.6 Flashcarding ................................................. 11 1.6.1 Flashcarding of Vocabulary (WORD-Class) Files .......... 12 1.6.2 Flashcarding of UNIT (Sentence-Class) Files ............ 13 1.6.3 Flashcarding of VERB (VERB-Class) Files ................ 13 1.7 On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF) ........................... 14 1.8 VERB Reference Facility (VRF) ................................ 15 1.9 Saving Data Files ............................................ 15 1.10 SOUND ........................................................ 16 1.11 Performance Optimization ..................................... 16 II. LOADING DATA FILES ........................................... 17 2.1 Loading Vocabulary (WORD-Class) Files ........................ 18 2.2 Loading UNIT (SENTENCE-Class) Files .......................... 19 2.3 Loading TVERB (VERB-Class) Files ............................. 23 III. THE FLASHCARD FACILITY FOR VOCABULARY (WORD-CLASS) FILES ..... 27 3.1 Clustering, Command Input, and Screen layout ................. 27 3.2 Signaling Errors, the HONOR System, and the INTENSE modes .... 28 3.3 More on Clustering and the Screen Layout ..................... 30 3.4 FLASHCARD Commands ........................................... 31 3.5 More about the INTENSE Modes ................................. 34 IV. THE FLASHCARD FACILITY FOR UNIT (SENTENCE-CLASS) FILES ....... 37 V. THE FLASHCARD FACILITY FOR VERB (VERB-CLASS) FILES ........... 41 VI. THE ON-LINE DICTIONARY FACILITY .............................. 47 VII. THE VERB REFERENCE FACILITY .................................. 53 VIII. EXITING FROM LINGUAPRO/SPANISH ............................... 56 -2- APPENDIX A -- ADVANCED TOPICS A.1 Working with the KILLED File ................................. 58 A.2 Using EXTERNAL Files ......................................... 59 A.3 Constructing new SENTENCE-Class Files ........................ 61 (Build your own lessons) A.4 Mixed Files and Mixed Loads .................................. 62 APPENDIX B -- OPERATIONAL NOTES & PROBLEM SOLVING ................... 63 APPENDIX C -- SUGGESTED STUDY APPROACHES ............................ 64 APPENDIX D -- THINGS TO TRY ......................................... 65 APPENDIX E -- CONSTRUCTING ENGLISH VOCABULARY (AND GENERAL) FILES E.1 ENGLISH Vocabulary Files ..................................... 66 E.2 General Question and Answer Files ............................ 66 INDEX ............................................................... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW (Mini-Guide) 1.1 Approach and Objectives ----------------------- LinguaPro/SPANISH is a PC-based program designed for the serious language student as well as scholars, translators, and other professionals. As such it is a large program, and one that is developing continually in many different directions. The intention is to provide a program that a user will NEVER out- grow. 1.1.1 The Beginning Student For beginning students the fifteen lesson units (UNIT1.SPA - UNIT15.SPA) supplied cover ALL of the vocabulary, sentence models, and exercises found in the BASIC SPANISH COURSE (Vol. 1) produced by the Foreign Service Institute. Further information on this course, and how to order the manual and tapes directly from the National AudioVisual Center, is supplied later on in this Guide. The remaining 40 lessons of this course (UNIT16 - UNIT55) are provided in LinguaPro/SPANISH Expansion Set #1. Information on how to order Expansion Sets and program upgrades will be mailed to all registered owners of LinguaPro/SPANISH. Also, the beginning student should set out to master the first vocabulary file (LEVEL1.SPA). This supplies over 4,000 fundamental Spanish words. As the student advances, the remaining four vocabulary levels provide another 14,000 words (in decreasing frequency of use). As the student masters these words, the "kill" command (K) may be used to gradually eliminate the very easy words and allow the student to focus on the more difficult ones. -3- Finally, the beginning student has an ideal way to master the complexities of Spanish verb conjugations by using the verb files (TVERB1 - TVERB5). These verb files start with the simpler (more regular) forms and continue through the more irregular forms. The millions of unique sentences generated by this set of files provides the student with the level of exposure needed to truly master Spanish verb forms. Expansion sets will be available in the near future that will provide full coverage of 1,000 Spanish verbs. 1.1.2 The Intermediate Student The intermediate student should drill intensively on verb conjugations, both in Sentence format, and in the so-called "grammatical" mode of presen- tation. The INTENSE modes (discussed later) should be used to insure that the student has a complete grasp of spelling, including accent placement. The VERB Reference Facility (VRF) may then be used to study the conjugation patterns of almost 6000 Spanish verbs. A simple form of flashcarding is provided in the VRF via the F3 function key. The intermediate student should quickly master the first 15 lessons of the BASIC SPANISH COURSE (Units 1-15) and then order Expansion Set #1 to complete Units 16-55. If desired, the student may order the associated manuals (and tapes) directly from the National Audiovisual Center. The intermediate student should attempt to master all five vocabulary files (LEVEL1 - LEVEL5) and thus obtain command of about 18,000 high-frequency Spanish words. In addition, the student should begin to create LEVEL6.SPA to add words NOT found in the provided files. The intermediate student will necessarily be doing a lot of reading. For this the On-line Dictionary Facility (ODF) will be tremendously useful. Words and definitions may be located in a fraction of a second, and new words may be easily added to expand the scope of the dictionary system. Of course, these newly added words are then available for Flashcarding so that the student can fully master this new vocabulary material. Also, the intermediate student may begin to create his/her own lesson files (SENTENCE-Class) to accompany whatever textbook is being used. These students will also want to experiment with the External File capability of the dictionary to be able to access a virtually unlimited amount of material. -4- 1.1.3 The Advanced Student The advanced student will quickly master the supplied 18,000 word vocabulary ("killing" most of the words) and go on to add thousands of additional words. The Flashcarding Facility will still be eminently useful, however, to insure that the student has mastered the spellings of all words, as well as the placement of accent marks. The advanced student will find the VERB Reference Facility informative and useful for reference. The F3 function key may be used to obtain a degree of flashcarding support when reviewing these 6000 Spanish verbs and their conjugations. Finally, the On-line Dictionary Facility (ODF) will be an invaluable tool as the student reads, researches, or translates Spanish text. The ODF provides not only extremely fast access to vocabulary items, but also allows up to 10 External Files to be simultaneously searched. The student may build specialized WORD-Class or SENTENCE-Class files associated with the various texts being read. These files may then be accessed as External Files. By building SENTENCE-Class files, the student may then drill, for example, on vocabulary and syntactic forms encountered in Don Quixote or other literary works. 1.2 Supplied Files and Installation ------------------------------- Release 2.30a of LinguaPro/SPANISH consists of the following files: (Items provided on the Shareware release are marked with an asterisk). Note that the USORT.BIN and SPA.BIN files will be dynamically constructed (c) the first time they are needed. *** SYSTEM FILES *** * LP.EXE The LinguaPro/SPANISH Program executable file * LP.LIB LinguaPro Library File c USORT.BIN LinguaPro System File c SPA.BIN LinguaPro System File (Spanish compression) * SPANISH.VRB Verb Reference File (definitions and conjugations of almost 6000 verbs) *** USER LOADABLE FILES *** * VRBINDEX.SPA Verb Index File of the almost 6000 verbs contained in the VRF (Note: The Shareware version of LinguaPro/SPANISH contains about 200 verbs). -5- * UNIT1.SPA Unit #1 (based on the Foreign Service Institute Basic * UNIT2.SPA Unit #2 Spanish Course) * UNIT3.SPA Unit #3 " " UNIT4.SPA Unit #4 " " ... UNIT15.SPA Unit #15 (Note: Units 16-55 may be ordered separately as LinguaPro/SPANISH Expansion Set #1) * LEVEL1.SPA Vocabulary File (lvl 1) (1000 words in Shareware version) LEVEL2.SPA Vocabulary File (lvl 2) LEVEL3.SPA Vocabulary File (lvl 3) LEVEL4.SPA Vocabulary File (lvl 4) LEVEL5.SPA Vocabulary File (lvl 5) * TVERB1.SPA Spanish Verbs #1 TVERB2.SPA Spanish Verbs #2 TVERB3.SPA Spanish Verbs #3 TVERB4.SPA Spanish Verbs #4 TVERB5.SPA Spanish Verbs #5 Version 2.30a of LinguaPro/SPANISH requires a PC with at least 512K of AVAILABLE memory. It will, however, utilize all available memory within the first 640K. Memory space only becomes a factor of importance for those users who wish to use LinguaPro as a comprehensive on-line dictionary. LinguaPro does not currently attempt to use expanded or extended memory. The program is activated by typing LP at a DOS prompt. Assuming that the entire contents of the release floppies have been transferred to a subdirectory named LPRO, the program is activated by typing: C:\LPRO\LP -6- 1.3 Terminology ----------- 1.3.1 The Major Divisions of LinguaPro/SPANISH a. FLASHCARD FACILITY - the principal feature of LinguaPro/SPANISH that provides users the capability of flashcarding vocabulary (words), sentences (or parts of speech), or verbs (in complete sentences or in a grammatical presentation). This may be done from Spanish to English, from English to Spanish, or in a combination of both with a ratio selectable by the user. From the Flashcard Facility the user may enter the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF), or the VERB Reference Facility (VRF). b. ON-LINE DICTIONARY FACILITY (ODF) - the Dictionary Facility allows the user to access (search for) words or sentences, and their definitions, by typing in just the first few letters of the Spanish or English word. By typing more letters the user will narrow the search. Any of the loaded Internal (Working) files will be searched. In addition, the user may specify up to 10 External Files to participate in the search as well (this may include the special KILLED file). ANY item found in a search of the Internal Files (*** not the External Files) may be modified or deleted by the user. In addition, the ODF is the means by which users can add new words and definitions to existing data files, or to create entirely new ones. The ODF is the key tool to use if you are doing serious reading, reference, or translation work. c. VERB REFERENCE FACILITY (VRF) - the VRF provides rapid access to the definitions, and complete conjugations, of almost 6000 Spanish verbs. It may be accessed both from the ODF (On-Line Dictionary Facility) and the Flashcard Facility by using the V command. The VRF is provided principally for reference purposes. The special file VRBINDEX.SPA is designed to be used in close conjunction with the VRF to allow users to truly master 6000 verbs. 1.3.2 File Terminology a. WORKING FILE - any data file loaded EXPLICITLY through the File Loading Screen (e.g.,, LEVEL1.SPA, UNIT1.SPA, TVERB1.SPA, VRBINDEX.SPA). The KILLED.SPA is "usually" never loaded explicitly (see Appendix A.1 for exceptions). b. INTERNAL FILE - same as WORKING FILE c. VOCABULARY FILE - any data file containg words and definitions. In addition, complete sentences are considered "words" if the user has not specified any internal structure (see SENTENCE-Class File). Examples of VOCABULARY files are LEVEL1.SPA and VRBINDEX.SPA. Users may modify the supplied vocabulary files or create their own. -7- d. WORD-CLASS FILE - same as VOCABULARY FILE e. UNIT FILES - examples are UNIT1.SPA, UNIT2.SPA, etc. These are instances of SENTENCE-Class files that have been used to implement an adaptation of the BASIC SPANISH COURSE of the Foreign Service Institute. f. SENTENCE-CLASS FILE - examples are the UNIT files. SENTENCE-Class files contain sentences (or isolated words and phrases) in which one or more parts of speech have been EXPLICITLY delimited in a special manner to be described later. The user may modify the supplied SENTENCE-CLASS files, or create his/her own. It is, however, more complicated to create SENTENCE-Class files than WORD-Class Files. g. VERB-CLASS FILE - examples are TVERB1.SPA, TVERB2.SPA, etc. These are sophisticated files that support the generation of millions of complete, grammatical sentences for specified verbs, tenses, and persons. It is NOT currently possible for a user to modify, or to create, such files. h. KILLED FILE - the KILLED.SPA file is used to accumulate words that the user has mastered and has subsequently "killed" (via the K command). It is usually never explicitly loaded by the user since it is automatically updated when the user exits via the X command, causing all files (and associated statistics) to be saved. It MAY, however, under certain circumstances be explicitly loaded for review or "pruning" purposes. Appendix A.1 may be consulted for information on this procedure. Under normal circum- stances the KILLED file will eventually grow quite large. Its contents are always accessible for reference by using the External File capability of the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF). i. INDEX FILE - the VRBINDEX.SPA file is the only current example of an index file. It is actually a specialized Vocabulary (WORD-Class) file that contains all of the verbs and definitions described by the Verb Reference Facility. This file is designed to be used in conjunction with the VRF. Users may use the Flashcard facility to review the verbs as vocabulary items, and then access the VRF by using the V command in order to see the complete conjugation. j. EXTERNAL FILE - an External File is any of the aforementioned files (with the exception of VERB-Class files) that are referenced by the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF) as an external file. An External File is thus any file that is NOT loaded via the initial File Loading Screen. The KILLED file is usually referenced in this manner. The ODF currently permits up to 10 such External Files to be automatically searched. Searches of External Files will involve disk I/O and users who desire to make heavy use of this capability should utilize a disk caching program such as SMARTDRV. -8- k. LIBRARY FILE - the Library File is called LP.LIB. It contains all of the data and forms needed by LinguaPro/SPANISH to function properly. You must have the Library File that exactly matches the version of your program file (LP.EXE) since it changes with each release. 1.3.3 Flashcarding Terminology a. KILLING - to "kill" a word (or sentence) is to cause it to be moved to the special archival file called KILLED.SPA. The word is then still reviewable via the Flashcard Facility (see Appendix A.1), as well as accessible for reference purposes by using the External File capability of the On-Line Dictionary Facility. This reduces the size of the various Internal Files (working files) that are actively being used and allows the user to continually add new words that are encountered during reading. Note that "kills" are only supported for WORD-Class and SENTENCE-Class files (like LEVEL1.SPA and UNIT1.SPA). For VERB-Class files they cause the particular verbform to be "suppressed" so that the user will not see it, but the item is not actually moved out to the archive file. Also, remember that the KILLED file is not updated (i.e., nothing happens), until you exit LinguaPro/SPANISH via the X command that causes the data, all updates, and all flashcarding statistics to be saved to disk. Kills may be performed both from the Flashcard Facility and from the On-Line Dictionary Facility. b. PURGING - words or sentences that are "purged" are gone forever just as soon as the user exits via the X command. Purging (the P command) may only be performed within the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF). c. HONOR SYSTEM - the "Honor System" is the most rapid way of mastering new vocabulary, phrases, or sentences. With the Honor System you must explicitly inform LinguaPro that you have missed the item by using the E command (type E or e and then press the ENTER key). This is the method that should be used to gain INITIAL familiarity with vocabulary, verbs, and sentences, and also should be used to gain FINAL mastery of this material. At an in-between stage of learning you should use one of the INTENSE modes (mode 1 or mode 2). d. INTENSE Mode 1 - the behavior of INTENSE mode 1 differs between vocabulary items, verbforms, and sentences. In the case of sentences you will see a complete sentence on the left-hand side with a word or phrase highlighted within it. On the right-hand side you will see the translated sentence with the corresponding word or phrase bracketed and "blanked out". You should guess the missing pieces, press the ENTER key, and then use the "Honor System" by typing an E command if you missed the item. This method is very fast and may be used from English to Spanish or Spanish to English. The details of INTENSE Mode 1 will be discussed in depth later in the various sections dealing with flashcarding. -9- e. INTENSE Mode 2 - in this mode the method of presenting sentences (e.g., as in the various UNIT files) is identical to INTENSE Mode 1 except that you have to TYPE the correct response, including any applicable accent marks. You should be a good typist to use this mode effectively. It will, however, ensure that you have truly mastered the material since the program will generate the error indications automatically (no Honor System here!). f. QUIETING - the Quiet command (Q) is the inverse of the Error command (E). It allows you to "quiet" (silence) an item that has been marked as an error (whether you did it yourself previously with the E command or it was done for you in INTENSE mode 2). A more powerful version of this command (QQ) will "quiet" ALL items in ALL loaded working files! g. GROUPS - when you initially load a large vocabulary or sentence file you may be offered the option to select just segments of these files for the flashcarding process. This is the best way to go about mastering a large file like LEVEL1.SPA which contains over 4,000 vocabulary items. LinguaPro will divide the total loaded set into groups of about 90 to 100 items each. You may select a single group, or a range of groups, or ALL groups (the default). If you have NOT been doing KILLS or PURGES, then group 30, for example, will always contain the SAME 90-100 words. The order of presentation, however, will be RANDOM and will differ each time you enter the program. h. CLUSTERS - whether you have narrowed your scope by using the Group capability or not, the flashcarding facility will always present the material to you in "clusters" of about 30 words or sentences. You will be automatically advanced to the NEXT cluster within your selected material if your error rate is acceptably low. The flashcarding facility, however, allows you to FREEZE (F command) the current cluster, or to force an ADVANCE (A command) to the next cluster. You will use ADVANCEs and FREEZEs more often when you are working with the lesson material contained in the UNIT files. i. SENTENCE - when the term "SENTENCE" is used in conjunction with the SENTENCE-Class files then a very special meaning is intended. If a sentence is just entered by the user as a string of words then it will be treated like a word, that is, an atomic unit without any internal structure. To construct a SENTENCE in the technical sense you need to study Appendix A.3 which describes how to create brackets within the sentence to delimit the parts of speech of interest. -10- 1.4 Command Input ------------- 1.4.1 Typing Commands All input commands may be in either upper- or lower-case. Even searches made within the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF) permit your input to be in either case. You should switch to lower case, however, in the following two instances: (1) you are using INTENSE Mode 2 and are typing in the exact response, including accent marks, and (2) you are adding or modifying words or sentences by using the ODF. Thus, whenever a HELP Screen shows a command like K (the "kill" command), you can also type a lower-case k. 1.4.2 The ESCAPE Key (ESC) The ESCAPE key will generally exit you from the major facility you are in. That is, if you are within the ODF then pressing the ESC key will return you to the Flashcarding Facility. If you are within the VRF then you will return to the ODF, or to the Flashcarding Facility depending on where you were when you entered the V command in the first place. At other times the ESC key will simply exit you from the particular mode that you are in (and a second ESC key will terminate the major function. For example, the ESC key is used to terminate the INTENSE modes within the Flashcarding Facility. If you press ESC a second time then you will leave the Flashcarding Facility. 1.4.3 Function Keys Function Key 1 (F1) is always used to access a HELP Screen. Some HELP Screens have more than one page and you may scroll up and down by using the PgUp and PgDn keys. Generally, pressing any other key will exit you from the HELP facility. Function Key 2 will produce a blank screen in case you don't want some- one to see what you are working on. Function Key 3 is available only within the ODF (On-Line Dictionary Facility and the VRF (VERB Reference Facility). Within the ODF it will show all of the internal files that are loaded (and their KILL and PURGE summaries). It also shows any External Files that have been assigned by the user to be searched automatically as part of standard searches. Within the VRF, function key 3 causes a verb to be randomly selected and displayed. This provides a useful flashcarding-type feature that will be expanded in the future. -11- 1.5 Loading Data Files ------------------ The Loading Screen is the first LinguaPro screen to be displayed. You will be prompted for the name of a data file. You may press F1 to see a complete list of all of the data files available for loading (with the SPA suffix omitted). You should type one of these file names and press the ENTER key. For example, type LEVEL1 and press ENTER. You do not have to type the ".SPA" suffix. If you are constructing an English Vocabulary file, or a General Question/Answer-type file, however, then you WILL have to type the .ENG or .GEN suffixes (see Appendix E). The files that you are loading at this point are referred to as Internal Files (or Working Files). These files will then be available for Flashcarding. In addition, files of WORD-Class and SENTENCE-Class may be modified or extended by using the ODF (On-Line Dictionary Facility). If you are loading WORD-Class or SENTENCE-Class files then you may load up to 6 such files (assuming you have enough available memory). The combined collection of files will then be flashcarded subject to any narrowing you may impose by selecting fewer than ALL available groups. Only ONE VERB-Class file may be loaded, however. When you have loaded all of the files that you wish, simply press the ENTER key to continue into the appropriate flashcarding facility. 1.6 Flashcarding ------------ All 3 of the flashcarding facilities share a common set of commands and user interface. With all of them it is suggested that the user employ the following study sequence (for English-speaking students). 1. Flashcard from Spanish to English using the HONOR System (use the E command to explicitly signal an error). 2. Flashcard from English to Spanish using the HONOR System. 3. Flashcard from English to Spanish using INTENSE Mode 1 (the I command). 4. Flashcard from English to Spanish using INTENSE Mode 2 (the II command). This is to ensure that you have mastered all spellings and accent mark placement. -12- 5. Revert back to the Honor System. Finally, select a 50-50 mixture so that you are testing yourself from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English simultaneously. 1.6.1 Flashcarding of Vocabulary Files (WORD-Class): e.g., LEVEL1.SPA The supplied WORD-Class files are named LEVEL1.SPA, LEVEL2.SPA, ... LEVEL5.SPA. LEVEL1.SPA contains over 4,000 Spanish words and the total set encompasses about 18,000 words. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: If you have the Shareware version of LinguaPro/SPANISH then you will have an abridged version of LEVEL1.SPA. This vocabulary file contains approximately 1,000 words and was randomly selected from the complete LEVEL1.SPA to provide a cross-section of interesting words. You can easily add your own words, or form additional vocabulary files as described in this user's guide. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The LinguaPro Flashcard Facility provides an efficient way for users to absorb large amounts of Spanish vocabulary. Any of the vocabulary files discussed above, or any combination of them (depending on the usable memory of your PC), can be specified. The Flashcard Facility allows the user to work from Spanish to English or English to Spanish (or to choose a mixture of part English and part Spanish with specified ratios). The Flashcard Facility allows the user to specify entire vocabulary files, or one or more "groups" of about 90-100 words each. No matter how many words are specified for flashcarding, however, LinguaPro will parcel out the chosen words in "clusters" of 30-35 words. Unless overridden by the user, the Flashcard Facility will not advance to the next "cluster" until the user demonstrates a reasonable level of proficiency in the "current" cluster. (See the A and F commands). The Flashcard Facility keeps track of words that the user has missed. LinguaPro will continue to drill the user more intensively on these words even when the user has moved on to a new "cluster" of words. Furthermore, if the user saves the file before exiting (using the X command), then the statistics will be available on the next invocation of LinguaPro and the user will continue to be drilled on the troublesome words. The Flashcard Facility allows the user to KILL words that he/she no longer wishes to be tested upon. Such words are automatically removed from the selected vocabulary file and are archived into a special vocabulary file with the name "KILLED.SPA". The KILLED file can be viewed as just another vocabulary file. If desired, the user can load the KILLED file and use the Flashcard Facility to double-check that the he/she, in fact, fully understands the words (see Appendix A.1). Words can also be moved back into the main vocabulary files if the user determines that they were "killed" prematurely. -13- 1.6.2 Flashcarding of UNIT files (SENTENCE-Class files): e.g., UNIT1.SPA When flashcarding one of the fifteen UNIT files, or a SENTENCE-Class file that you may have constructed yourself, the overall principles will be identical to that described in the previous section devoted to WORD-Class files. However, because SENTENCEs contain many different parts of speech that will be drilled, the user may wish to make more use of the Advance (A) and FREEEZE (F) commands to obtain explicit control over the depth to which the material is drilled before LinguaPro advances to the next cluster. Also, it is recommended that the user avoid doing "kills" within a SENTENCE-Class file so that the archive file (KILLED.SPA) does not fill too rapidly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: If you have the Shareware version of LinguaPro/SPANISH then you will only have the first 3 UNIT files. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6.3 Flashcarding of Verb Files (VERB-Class files): e.g., TVERB1.SPA Five VERB-Class files are provided with LinguaPro/SPANISH version 2.30. Each verb file contains 76 fully conjugated verbs or verb phrases. These verb files are named: TVERB1.SPA TVERB2.SPA ... TVERB5.SPA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: If you have the Shareware version of LinguaPro/SPANISH then you will only have the first file, TVERB1.SPA. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This set of files consists of 380 verbs and all supporting data needed to allow the synthesis of complete grammatical sentences. The order of present- tation is similar to that encountered in most basic Spanish textbooks. In other words, irregular verbs are gradually introduced as the user gains familiarity with the 3 regular conjugation patterns. Also, verbs involving direct and indirect object pronouns are introduced at a later stage, as are reflexive verbs. In this series of VERB files complete sentences are utilized so that the student can learn the verb conjugations in a natural context. These sentences are totally synthesized, and they exercise the selected verbs in the tenses and persons specified. Additional vocabulary is provided within these generated sentences. -14- The Flashcard Facility for Verbs provides a flexible set of screens that allow the specification of the forms to be used. After loading the desired verb file, the user must first select the Tense or Tenses desired (e.g., Present, Preterit, etc.). The user will then select any desired subset of the 76 verbs or verb phrases contained in the verb file. The user can then select the person or persons to be exercised. This gives the student of American Spanish the ability to dispense with the "vosotros" forms (used only in Spain). Finally, several additional options are provided. One of the most important of these is the ability to specify that the user is a female. This will result in the generation of sentences and adjectival genders that reflect a female speaker. Also, once the user is familiar with Spanish verb conjugation patterns and sentence structure, the option is provided here to suppress nonessential subject pronouns. Once the Flashcard Facility for Verb Forms has been configured, operation is similar to that of the Flashcard Facility for vocabulary items. Users may test themselves from English to Spanish or Spanish to English (or use a mixture of forms). The "cluster" concept mentioned above applies here, too. Verb forms are presented in "clusters" of 30-35 forms and the user is not advanced to the next cluster until the hit/miss ratio is acceptable (although users always have the option of forcing an advance to the next cluster, or of staying in the current cluster indefinitely). Verb forms that are totally mastered may be "killed" by the user. Unlike vocabulary items, however, the verb form is not moved out to the archival file but is simply suppressed. (The "killed" verb forms may be reactivated at any time by saving the verb file with the XX option rather than the normal X option. This will also, of course, erase all knowledge contained in the file about which verb forms are giving the user the most trouble.) The Flashcard Facility for Verbs provides two different styles of verb presentation. The default style is to utilize short phrases, or complete sentences, without any specific clues as to Tense, Mood, and Person. In this case the user must decide upon the correct response just as in a speaking or writing situation. In the second style of presentation, however, the user is prompted for a specific person, verb, and tense. Presentation modes may be switched and forth by means of the S command. The normal presentation (sentence format) allows for both INTENSE modes 1 and 2 to be used either from English to Spanish or Spanish to English. The grammatical presentation, on the other hand, only supports INTENSE modes from Spanish to English. 1.7 On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF) ---------------------------------- The On-Line Dictionary Facility utilizes the WORD-Class (or SENTENCE- Class) data files that have been loaded for flashcarding. The ODF will search for words among any of the loaded data files (e.g., LEVEL1.SPA, ...) Remember that the files that are actually loaded are known as Internal files (or Working Files). In addition, the user can request that up to 10 External Files (ones not explicitly loaded) be searched as well. The KILLED file may be included in such searches. In this way the user will start off with a fast on-line dictionary that contains over 18,000 Spanish words. This is an excellent basis for serious reading. -15- Using the ODF the user can quickly look up words either from English to Spanish or Spanish to English simply by typing the first few letters of the word. If the word is not currently in any of the Internal Files, the user may easily add the new word so that it is available for future lookups. Accent marks are quickly added by typing the basic letter (a,e,i,o,u,n) and then holding down the ALT key while pressing the "a" or "A" key. The user can create an unlimited number of new vocabulary files in addition to the supplied files. This will permit the user to build up specialized vocabulary sets (e.g., medical terminology), or to enter the vocabulary presented in a particular textbook on a lesson-by-lesson basis. Thus, if the user is taking a Spanish course, or simply working independently in a textbook, the words and exact definitions can be added to a vocabulary file, and used for memorization and review as the user progresses through the course. All data files constructed or maintained by the ODF are usable for "flashcarding". 1.8 VERB Reference Facility (VRF) ----------------------------- Version 2.30a of LinguaPro/SPANISH supplies a reference capability which gives the complete definitions, and the full conjugation patterns, of almost 6000 Spanish verbs. This VERB Reference Facility may be entered either from the Flashcard Facility, or from the On-Line Dictionary Facility. The access to the VRF is accomplished by means of the V command. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE: If you have the Shareware version of LinguaPro/SPANISH then the SPANISH.VRB file supplied only contains the definitions and conjugations for a random sampling of about 200 verbs. The 6,000 verb file requires over 200,000 bytes of disk space. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.9 Saving Data Files ----------------- The normal exit from LinguaPro/SPANISH is by use of the X command. This command will write the Internal Files back to disk, including any statistical information gathered during the session, that is, knowledge of which words you have missed, which words you have viewed, and so forth. If you exit from LinguaPro by using the ESC key, then none of this information will be saved. If you use the ESC key, LinguaPro will warn you with Caution and Warning Screens to prevent you from losing valuable data by accident. If you want to reset all error and viewing statistics then you may use the XX command which will zero-out all internally-maintained counters. -16- 1.10 SOUND ----- In addition to a 'beep' tone if an error message is generated, LinguaPro/SPANISH utilizes 4 sound patterns to signal the following conditions: a. User has typed the E command to signal that he/she has missed a word (a high-low pair of notes). b. User has typed the K command to signal that the word is to 'killed' (funeral dirge). c. A low-high pair of notes provides an audible signal that the word just presented on the screen is one that has been giving trouble (has a non-zero error count). d. A 6-note flourish indicates that the program has advanced the user to the next cluster of words. NOTE: The sound patterns can be turned off (or on again) by use of the Z command. 1.11 Performance Optimization ------------------------ The tuning of performance really only becomes an issue with the On-Line Dictionary Facility. When doing lookups of specific words out of tens of thousands, it is important that as many of the vocabulary files AS POSSIBLE be loaded as Internal (Working) Files. Lookups are an order magnitude faster on Internal Files than on External Files. Once you have loaded all possible Internal Files (e.g., LEVEL1.SPA and LEVEL2.SPA), you can assign the remain- ing files as External Files (using the EF command in the ODF). Because Internal Files are stored in memory (in the first 640K) it is also beneficial to give LinguaPro the largest possible amount of memory. You may want to exit Windows totally and run LinguaPro as a pure DOS program, rather than putting LinguaPro on the Windows desktop as an icon and dispatching it from there. If you run UNDER Windows then you will have additional memory- resident modules reducing the amount of memory available to LinguaPro. Also, you might want to avoid loading unnecessary TSRs, e.g., you don't need a Mouse driver for LinguaPro. If you are accessing External Files then you will benefit greatly from using a Disk Cache program like SMARTDRV. If you have enough Extended Memory to support a Disk Cache of 512K, or 1 meg or so, then you will eliminate ALL I/O when searching External Files, and Dictionary searches will be very fast. Disk Caching will also substantially speed up the file loading and saving processes. -17- II. LOADING DATA FILES When LinguaPro is activated it will request the name of a Data File as in Figure 1. At this point the user has 4 choices: 1. Specify an existing Data file (WORD-Class) such as LEVEL1.SPA or VRBINDEX.SPA, or a data file previously created by the user. Up to 6 such files can be loaded simultaneously depending on memory availability. 2. Specify one of the supplied lesson files (UNIT1, UNIT2, ...), or a SENTENCE-Class file previously created by the user. Up to 6 such files can be loaded simultaneously depending on memory availability. Thus, you may load the first 6 lessons simultaneously if you want to review the entire material as a group. 3. Specify a VERB-Class file such as TVERB1.SPA. Unlike WORD-Class and SENTENCE-Class files, only one VERB-Class file may be loaded at a time. 4. Specify a nonexistent file name such as MEDICAL.SPA. In the fourth case the user will be informed that the file does not exist and the user will be asked if it should be created. If the user simply presses the ENTER key (or types Y or YES to signal an affirmative response), then LinguaPro will automatically put the user in the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF) and prompt for the new Spanish word and its defininition. In this way the user may construct a new data file from scratch. If you don't know what you want to load you may press Function Key 1 (F1) to obtain a display of all available files. A second page of HELP (use the PgDn key) will give you additional information on the three principal file types. NOTE: The suffix SPA is optional. If you wish to create an English or general purpose file, however, then you must specify the suffixes ENG or GEN, respectively (see Appendix E). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant Copyright (c) 1993, Schulenberg and Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved. What is the name of the Data File? (press F1 for HELP) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 1. File Loading Screen -18- 2.1 Loading Vocabulary (WORD-Class) Files ------------------------------------- If a Vocabulary file is specified, LinguaPro will then accept a total of up to 6 such file names. All files will then be available for flashcard drilling, or for the On-Line Dictionary (ODF). Loaded files will be marked with the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F, respectively. All files loaded in this manner are referred to as WORKING (or Internal) files to distinguish them from various EXTERNAL files (such as KILLED.SPA). If you need help with inputting a vocabulary file name you may press the F1 key to obtain help. The help display will show you all files in your current directory with the suffix .SPA. Figure 2 shows the LinguaPro Loading Screen after the Vocabulary file LEVEL1.SPA has been loaded. Notice that 4,455 mainline entries have been loaded and that a total of 4,497 individual words are defined. LinguaPro vocabulary files generally will place several related words on a single line, e.g., a verb and a derived noun and/or adjective. Version 2.30a limits the user to 10,750 entries of loaded (Internal) files. It can also be seen in Figure 2 (line 3) that the %Full indicators are 41.4% and 69.5%. The first figure means that LinguaPro has utilized 41% of its maximum of 10,750 mainline entries (i.e., 4455 is 41% of 10,750). The second figure means that the TEXT size is 70% of the maximum. Thus, it may not be possible to immediately load the second vocabulary file (LEVEL2.SPA). Instead, the user should employ the Flashcard Facility to drill on LEVEL1. The KILL feature should then be used to remove enough of the simplest words so that LEVEL2 (and then LEVEL3, 4, 5) can be loaded. For reference purposes, the On-Line Dictionary Facility will let you assign the unloaded files as External Files. This will allow them to be automatically searched for you when you are attempting to look up a word. This is described further in Appendix A.2. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: LEVEL1.SPA Loaded: 4455 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (41.4,69.5) Selected: 0 (SPA) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 What is the name of the Data File? (press F1 for HELP) Press ENTER key if you have loaded all desired files FILE LOADING SUMMARY File Name #Entries #Words/Sentences LEVEL1.SPA 4455 4497 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 2. File Loading Screen (1 File Loaded) -19- When all desired vocabulary files have been loaded (one in this case), the user should then simply press the ENTER key. This will cause LinguaPro to advance to the Group Selection Screen shown in Figure 3. The purpose of this screen is to constrain the number of words that will be tested in the Flashcard Facility. If the user presses ENTER (or types 'ALL' and presses ENTER), all 4455 word entries will be utilized. This is still subject, however, to the clustering logic which will present the words to the user in clusters of 30-35 words. Alternatively, the user may select group 1 (as an example). This will select about 99 words out of the total set of 4155. The words will be chosen at random from the full set, and will be presented in a random order. However, every time that the user selects group 1, the same set of 99 word entries will be used. This permits the user to select group 1 for practice on Monday, select group 2 for practice on Tuesday, select groups 1 and 2 for reinforcement practice on Wednesday, and so forth. In this way the entire contents of LEVEL1.SPA may be learned in a short time, and as words are learned (and KILLed), the size of the LEVEL1.SPA file will decrease (as the size of the KILLED.SPA file increases). This will ultimately permit the higher-level files (LEVEL2, 3, 4, and 5) to be loaded simultaneously. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: LEVEL1.SPA Loaded: 4455 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (41.4,69.5) Selected: 0 (SPA) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 4455 Word/Sentence items have been loaded. This will be divided into 45 groups of about 99 items each. Specify Range of Groups Desired (press F1 for HELP): You may use the Group Selection capability to limit the amount of material that will be presented to you. Thus, for lesson-type files like UNIT1.SPA the selection of group 1 will position you to the beginning of the lesson. Similarly, specifying group 2 will move you down about 90-100 sentences. If you press the ENTER key (which is the ALL option), you will start at the beginning and will be led through the entire lesson a bit at a time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 3. Group Selection Screen 2.2 Loading UNIT (SENTENCE-Class) Files ----------------------------------- If a UNIT file (SENTENCE-Class) is specified, LinguaPro will then accept a total of up to 6 such file names. All files will then be available for flashcard drilling or for the On-Line Dictionary (ODF). Loaded files will be marked with the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F, respectively. All files loaded in this manner are referred to as WORKING (or Internal) files to distinguish them from various EXTERNAL files (such as KILLED.SPA). You would normally load and drill UNIT1 first. Then you would load UNIT2, then UNIT3, etc. If you have sufficient memory, however, you can load all of the first 6 UNIT files simultaneously. This would allow a review of the total set in a single session. -20- The standard registered version of LinguaPro/SPANISH contains 15 UNIT files (all of SENTENCE-Class). The remaining 40 UNITS are available separately as LinguaPro/SPANISH Expansion Set #1. Information about the availability of upgrades and expansion sets will be mailed to all registered owners of LinguaPro/SPANISH. The UNIT files represent a computerized adaption of the BASIC SPANISH COURSE developed by the Foreign Service Institute. This course is an excellent one. It was designed to be taught to groups of no more than 6 persons under the tutelage of a single instructor. The Foreign Service Institute course is subdivided as follows: Volume 1 (Units 1 - 15) 1961 Robert P. Stockwell 15 audiocassettes J. Donald Bowen Title # LK004101 tapes only Ismael Silva-Fuenzalida Title # LK010147 Text + tapes Volume 2 (Units 16 - 30) 1961 (same authors) 21 audiocassettes Title # LK004103 tapes only Title # LK008909 Text + tapes Volume 3 (Units 31 - 45) 1959 Robert P. Stockwell 16 audiocassettes J. Donald Bowen Title # LK004105 tapes only Guillermo Segreda Title # LK008115 Text + tapes Hugo Montero U. Ismael Silva-Fuenzalida Volume 4 (Units 46 - 55) 1962 B. David Trease 18 audiocassettes Jack L. Ulsh Title # LK004107 tapes only Title # LK008416 Text + tapes Note: all audiocassettes use a Latin-American pronunciation (rather than Castilian). These course materials may be ordered directly from the National Audiovisual Center, which is the official distribution organization for language materials developed by the Foreign Service Institute and the Defense Language Institute, both U.S. governmental organizations. The address and toll-free telephone number of the National AudioVisual Center are: The National AudioVisual Center 1-800-638-1300 (Orders only) 8700 Edgeworth Drive MC and VISA Capitol Heights, MD 20743-3701 The first few volumes of this course are also repackaged and sold by several commercial publishers (although usually with fewer audiotapes). These are often sold in bookstores. Look for any course mentioning any of the following: 1) Foreign Service Institute, 2) the "diplomatic course", 3) Department of State language course, or 4) "speak like a diplomat". -21- The LinguaPro approach to implementing this course helps make up for the lack of an instructor. The Foreign Service Institute course is not in itself ideal for independent study. However, the interactive flashcarding approach utilized by LinguaPro helps keep the student's motivational level high, and insures an effective degree of repetition and drill. Figure 4 shows the screen after UNIT1.SPA has been loaded. This Screen will ALWAYS appear if you have loaded one or more SENTENCE-Class files. It gives you the ability to refine your drills with Spanish sentences down to one or more specific parts of speech. For working with the Basic Spanish Course, however, you should just press the ENTER key to select ALL parts of speech. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: UNIT3.SPA Loaded: 354 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: ( 3.3,12.8) Selected: 0 (SPA) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Specify Range of Choices to Enable/Disable (press F1 for HELP): *1 -> verbs *2 -> adverbs *3 -> nouns *4 -> pronouns *5 -> adjectives *6 -> prepositions *7 -> conjunctions *8 -> interjections You should generally select ALL parts of speech (the default) if you have loaded a lesson-type Sentence file like UNIT1.SPA. Press the ENTER key. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 4. Parts of Speech Selection Menu Figure 5 shows the next screen to be displayed. This screen, however, ONLY appears if you have selected ALL parts of speech. Since lessons will generally follow a sequential approach: (1) introducing several words and then the sentences using them; (2) presenting a question followed by the desired response, etc., it is recommended that users ALWAYS answer "yes" to this question. Since this is the default, you just have to press the ENTER key. Once you have drilled on a UNIT long enough to know the general flow, then you may select NO. In this case the order of presentation will be totally randomized. Remember that even the ordered presentation will switch to a random mode once the entire material has been displayed one complete time. The ordering option, therefore, is only for the initial introduction of the material. -22- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: UNIT3.SPA Loaded: 354 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: ( 3.3,12.8) Selected: 0 (SPA) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Do you wish the Sentences to be introduced in ORDER? (Y,N): (press F1 for HELP) You should select an ordered presentation of lesson material (the default) when gaining initial familiarity with a lesson. This is due to the fact that sentences often come in dialog form involving a question and a response. Press the ENTER key to continue (this is equivalent to typing a "Y"). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 5. Sequential Presentation Selection Screen If you have loaded more than one UNIT, or if you have loaded a large unit, then you will get a Group Selection Menu as shown in Figure 6. You must have loaded at least 180 words or sentences in order to get this screen. If you press the ENTER key and accept the default, which is ALL groups, then the Flashcard Facility will start displaying the selected lesson at the very beginning. Ultimately the entire lesson will be covered (one Cluster at a time). You may, however, select group 2 (if you know that you have mastered the initial 90-100 words and sentences) and jump around the familiar material. This allows you to use a learning approach similar to that recommended earlier for learning the vocabulary contained in the LEVEL1.SPA file. In other words, just select group 1 initially. Drill on this group for a day. The next day select group 2. The following day select both groups 1 and 2 together. The next day select group 3. Then groups 1 through 3, etc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: UNIT3.SPA Loaded: 354 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: ( 3.3,12.8) Selected: 0 (SPA) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 354 Word/Sentence items have been loaded. This will be divided into 4 groups of about 90 items each. Specify Range of Groups Desired (press F1 for HELP): You may use the Group Selection capability to limit the amount of material that will be presented to you. Thus, for lesson-type files like UNIT1.SPA the selection of group 1 will position you to the beginning of the lesson. Similarly, specifying group 2 will move you down about 90-100 sentences. If you press the ENTER key (which is the ALL option), you will start at the beginning and will be led through the entire lesson a bit at a time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 6. Group Selection Screen -23- Once you pass this screen you will enter the Flashcard Facility for UNIT (SENTENCE-Class) files. See Section IV to learn how to utilize the flashcard machinery to absorb a lesson in a short amount of time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE 1: It is possible to load a MIXTURE of WORD-Class and SENTENCE-Class files. This is an Advanced Topic and it is covered in Appendix A.4 NOTE 2: The SENTENCE-Class machinery provided by LinguaPro/SPANISH can be used to construct new lesson-type files that match any given textbook that the student may be using. The procedure for creating SENTENCE-Class files is documented in Appendix A.3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 Loading VERB (VERB-Class) Files ------------------------------- If a Verb file is specified, then the user is limited to exactly one file. When VERB files have been loaded, the user only has access to the Flashcard Facility and to the Verb Reference Facility (the ODF is not accessible if verb files are loaded). If a verb file is loaded into LinguaPro, the user will be presented with a different set of selection screens that will define the precise verb forms to be exercised. In the following example the user has loaded the file TVERB1.SPA. Figure 7 shows the VERB Tense Selection Screen that first appears. If this is the first time that the user has loaded this particular verb file then the Present Tense menu entry will be prefixed by an asterisk (*). This means that if the user simply accepts this screen then only the the Present Tense will be exercised. The user can alter the selections in two different ways. In the first place, pressing the ESC key once will reset all asterisks to blanks (pressing the ESC key a second time will take the user back to the File Loading Screen). Once the screen has been cleared, the user may select particular tenses by typing a number and pressing ENTER, e.g., 4 ENTER, or specifying a range of tenses, e.g., 1-4 ENTER. HELP is available at any point during these prologue screens by means of the F1 key. If a menu item is selected that already has an asterisk, then the asterisk is cleared. In other words, the VERB Tense Selection Screen "toggles" the selected items. Thus, rather than press the ESC key to clear the menu totally, the user could have typed 1 ENTER to clear the Present Tense line. LinguaPro saves the user's desired VERB configuration in a file with a SPC suffix (for Spanish). In this case the file name will be TVERB1.SPC. On subsequent reloads of this same verb file, LinguaPro will initially default to the same tense selection that the user previously chose for this set of verbs. -24- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: TVERB1.SPA Loaded: 3850 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (35.8,25.3) Selected: 0 (SPA) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Specify Range of Tenses to Enable/Disable (press F1 for HELP): 0 -> Participles (Presente/Pasado Participio) * 1 -> Present (Presente de Indicativo) 2 -> Imperfect (Imperfecto de Indicativo) 3 -> Preterite (PretÇrito) 4 -> Future (Futuro) 5 -> Conditional (Potencial Simple) 6 -> Present Subjunctive (Presente de Subjuntivo) 7 -> Past Subjunctive (Imperfecto de Subjuntivo) 8 -> Imperative (Imperativo) 9 -> Present Perfect (Perfecto de Indicativo) 10 -> Past Perfect/Pluperfect (Pluscuamperfecto de Indicativo) 11 -> Preterit Perfect (PretÇrito Anterior) <<formal writing>> 12 -> Future Perfect (Futuro Perfecto) 13 -> Conditional Perfect (Potencial Compuesto) 14 -> Present Perfect Subj. (Perfecto de Subjuntivo) 15 -> Past Perfect Subj. (Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 7. VERB Tense Selection Screen Once the user has completed the VERB Tense selection process by pressing just the ENTER key, the VERB Selection Screen (Figure 8) will appear. LinguaPro Release 2.30a limits the maximum size of a verb file to 76 fully conjugated verbs. The verbs contained within the selected verb file (in this case, TVERB1.SPA) will be shown in four columns of 19 verbs each. Again, since this is the first time that this verb file has been loaded, all verbs will be marked with an asterisk to indicate that they have been selected. The same options exist for modifying the VERB Selection Screen that were available on the VERB Tense Selection Screen. The user can press the ESC key once to clear all asterisks and then type explicit item numbers (or ranges of numbers) to "turn on" desired verbs. Note that pressing the ESC key a second time (when all items are already cleared) will cause control to be transferred back to the Verb Tense Selection Screen. Alternatively, the "toggling" feature can be used by typing in the number of undesired verbs to turn them off! Once the desired slate of verbs has been established, the user should press the ENTER key a final time to advance to the next selection screen, the Person Selection Screen. -25- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: TVERB1.SPA Loaded: 3850 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (35.8,25.3) Selected: 0 (SPA) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Specify Range of Verbs to Enable/Disable (press F1 for HELP): * 1 acompa§ar *20 decir (1) *39 hablar *58 saludar * 2 aprender *21 decir (2) *40 invitar (1) *59 ser (1) * 3 arreglar (1) *22 decir (3) *41 invitar (2) *60 ser (2) * 4 arreglar (2) *23 decir (4) *42 ir (1) *61 ser (3) * 5 ayudar (1) *24 desear *43 ir (2) *62 tener (1) * 6 ayudar (2) *25 doler (1) *44 ir (3) *63 tener (2) * 7 bailar *26 doler (2) *45 llamar *64 tener (3) * 8 buscar *27 empezar *46 llegar *65 tener (4) * 9 cantar *28 ense§ar (1) *47 llevar (1) *66 terminar *10 cenar *29 ense§ar (2) *48 llevar (2) *67 tocar *11 cerrar (1) *30 ense§ar (3) *49 llevar (3) *68 tomar (1) *12 cerrar (2) *31 entrar *50 mirar (1) *69 tomar (2) *13 comer *32 escribir *51 mirar (2) *70 tomar (3) *14 comprar *33 escuchar (1) *52 necesitar *71 trabajar *15 conocer *34 escuchar (2) *53 poder *72 traer *16 creer *35 estar (1) *54 preparar *73 vender *17 cuidar (1) *36 estar (2) *55 querer *74 ver *18 cuidar (2) *37 estudiar *56 repasar *75 vivir *19 dar *38 gustar *57 saber *76 volver -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 8. VERB Selection Screen The Person Selection Screen works analogously to the preceding two screens. Again, whatever options are selected by the user will be saved in a file named TVERB1.SPC and will be used to set the initial defaults for the next LinguaPro session. For Spanish students, turning off item 2 will disable the 't£' forms of verbs. Similarly, turning off item 5 will disable the 'vosotros' forms (used mainly in Spain). Items 3 and 6, of course, will generate the formal 'usted' and 'ustedes' forms in addition to the usual 3rd person forms. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: TVERB1.SPA Loaded: 3850 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (35.8,25.3) Selected: 0 (SPA) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Specify Range of Persons to Enable/Disable (press F1 for HELP): *1 -> yo *2 -> t£ *3 -> Çl/ella/usted *4 -> nosotros/nosotras 5 -> vosotros/vosotras (SPAIN) *6 -> ellos/ellas/ustedes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 9. Person Selection Screen -26- After completing the Person Selection Screen the user will be confronted with the Option Selection Screen shown in Figure 10. Option 1, if set, will indicate that the user is a female. This will result in the generation of adjectives with the proper gender as well as permitting the occurrence of occasional 'nosotras' subject pronouns. The second option suppresses the generation of non-pronoun subjects like 'el hombre', 'Paula y yo', etc. The third option causes the suppression of unnecessary subject pronouns. Since the subject of a Spanish verb (at least in the 1st and 2nd persons) is quite clear from the ending of the verb, it is normal for these pronouns to be omitted in normal conversation. Exceptions are the Usted and Ustedes pronouns which are generally always utilized. Option 3 will suppress the normal subject pronouns but retain the Usted and Ustedes forms and any other 3rd person pronouns needed for clarity. Option 4 allows the user to select a desired form for the Past Subjunctive (the 'ara' form is used as the default). Finally, option 5 causes LinguaPro to generate the 'le' form for a direct object pronoun if the recipient is a male human being. This practice (Le°smo) is quite common in Spain, but not encountered in Latin America where the 'lo' form is standard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: TVERB1.SPA Loaded: 3850 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (35.8,25.3) Selected: 0 (SPA) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Specify Range of Options to Enable/Disable (press F1 for HELP): 1 -> Female Speaker (yo) 2 -> Suppress non-pronoun subjects (e.g., JosÇ y yo) 3 -> Suppress optional subject personal pronouns 4 -> -se (Imperfect Subjunctive: -ase/-iese) 5 -> le (Male Direct Object Pronoun) (SPAIN) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 10. Option Selection Screen When the user has finished setting any desired options, a final ENTER key will cause LinguaPro to enter the Flashcard Facility for Verbs. Unlike the Vocabulary Flashcard facility, the VERB Flashcard Facility does not currently permit entry to the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF). It does allow access, however, to the Verb Reference Facility by use of the V command. -27- III. THE FLASHCARD FACILITY FOR VOCABULARY (WORD-CLASS) FILES 3.1 Clustering, Command Input, and Screen layout -------------------------------------------- In Figure 11 we can see an example of the Flashcard Facility (for Vocabulary). In this case all words were selected from LEVEL1.SPA so it can be seen at the top of the screen that 4,455 entries have been loaded, and that 4,455 entries have been selected. The VIEW counters keep track of how many words have been viewed in English and in Spanish. In this case the words are 100% Spanish to English so that all words appearing on the left are Spanish words. The Batting Average statistics keep track of the number of words guessed correctly, divided by the total number of words viewed (in that language). Another feature that is evident in Figure 11 is the Clustering Logic. It can be seen that we are in Cluster 1 (which contains 33 distinct word entries), that the cluster is 78% complete (because 27 words have been displayed thus far), and that the user has up to now missed 2 of the words (2 Cluster Errors). LinguaPro will not advance to Cluster #2 (the next 33 word entry) until the number of cluster errors is about 5 or less (unless the user types the A command to force an Advance). The advance to the next cluster is accompanied by a 6-note melody. This may be suppressed by means of the Z command. Notice that the words are being presented in a totally random order. This would also be the case if the user had specified only one, or several groups on the Group Selection Screen. The Flashcard Facility is designed around use of the ENTER key and a set of one or two letter commands. The ENTER key will cause the display of the definition for the word currently on the left-hand side. If the user has correctly guessed the definition then the ENTER key may be pressed again to bring up the next word. If the user has missed the word, however, then the E (error) command should be used to mark the word as a problem word. This is known as the "HONOR System". INTENSE Mode 1 (the I command) also continues to employ the Honor System. In Figure 11 you can see that the two words missed thus far in this cluster are marked with the symbol "e>>" on the left-hand side of the screen. In the INTENSE Mode 2 of the Flashcard Facility, however, the user must actually TYPE the correct word including accent marks. In this case errors are flagged automatically by LinguaPro. -28- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: LEVEL1.SPA Loaded: 4455 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (41.4,69.5) Selected: 4455 (SPA) Viewed: 27 Errors: 2 BatAvg: .926 Clust#: 1; 33 items; %Shown: 78%; #Clust Errs: 2; Stage#: 1; Sel Mode: 1 la interpretaci¢n the interpretation el universo the universe lavar to wash la memoria the memory;the recollection;the memoir/record el banco the bench(to sit on);the bank(Bus.) angustioso/a agonizing/distressing ayer yesterday doloroso/a painful/distressing el hombro the shoulder por la ma§ana in the morning e>> sacar un boleto to buy a ticket el momento the moment/instant;the momentum la influencia the influence por cierto indeed/certainly mayor greater;greatest;larger/bigger;older/elder;eldest/senior la buj°a the candle la lechuga the lettuce e>> el polvo the dust;the powder a pie on foot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 11. Flashcard Facility (Vocabulary) -- Spanish to English Figure 12 shows the Flashcard Facility in an English to Spanish mode. In order to get English on the left-hand side you should use the "<<" command. 3.2 Signaling Errors, the HONOR System, and the INTENSE modes --------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro utilizes the HONOR system in evaluating the user's proficiency with vocabulary. This method permits great speed and is ideal both for gaining initial familiarity with new material, as well as polishing the user's recognition in the final stages of mastery. For in-between stages the two INTENSE modes are provided. With the HONOR system, if a user feels that he/she has "missed" the word, then an E (or e) command can be typed. The E (Error) command signifies that the user has missed the word, or some aspect of the word. LinguaPro will then flag the word on the screen with an "e>>" symbol, sound a 2-note acknowledgement (unless suppressed via the Z command), update the Cluster Error counter and the Batting Averages, and maintain associated statistics that will permanently record that the user has had trouble with that word. -29- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% English->Spanish File: LEVEL1.SPA Loaded: 4455 (ENG) Viewed: 61 Errors: 2 BatAvg: .967 %Full: (41.4,69.5) Selected: 4455 (SPA) Viewed: 27 Errors: 2 BatAvg: .926 Clust#: 3; 33 items; %Shown: 57%; #Clust Errs: 2; Stage#: 1; Sel Mode: 1 the square(in a city);the marketplace;the fortified place;the seat/post la plaza to search/seek/look for buscar to comb oneself peinarse vain;idle vano/a e>> augmented/increased aumentado/a moderate moderado/a the concert;the contract/agreement;the concerto el concierto to invite;to treat(to drinks...) invitar finally finalmente vacant/empty/available vacante the uniform el uniforme the fine arts las bellas artes one month ago hace un mes the meat;the flesh;the pulp(of fruit) la carne the computer(in Spain);the auditor/controller el ordenador e>> the road/highway la carretera the sigh el suspiro -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 12. Flashcard Facility (Vocabulary) -- English to Spanish Once the user has attained an intermediate level of proficiency with the vocabulary, however, then the INTENSE modes should be used to lead to the final mastery of definitions and spellings. In INTENSE Mode 1 the HONOR system is retained. This mode merely focuses the user's attention on a smaller amount of detail. In INTENSE Mode 2, however, the HONOR system is not used. In this mode the user must TYPE the required word or phrase and LinguaPro will automatically generate error messages if the text typed by the user does not match the Spanish word (or verb form). -30- 3.3 More on Clustering and the Screen Layout ---------------------------------------- When six or more words have been marked as "errors", LinguaPro will lock-in the current cluster until the user has either gotten the words correctly on a sufficient number of subsequent tries, or until the user explicitly advances to the next cluster with the A (Advance) command. In general, if a user has gotten a word wrong once, then he/she will have to get it right on four or five subsequent attempts for the error counters to drop back to zero (for that word). The Q command (Quiet), however, may be used to silence a word that has become annoying. This command will instantly cause the error counter for the word to be reset to zero so that it will cease to be flagged as troublesome. This is helpful if the user pressed the E (error) key by mistake, or, in INTENSE Mode 2, just made a typing error. A more powerful version of this command (the QQ command) will reset ALL error counters for ALL working files! The first few screen columns in the Flashcard Screens are set aside for several purposes. In the first place, words flagged by the users as "incorrect" are marked with the symbol "e>>" in these columns. Also, words that have been "killed" by the user are marked with the symbol "k>>" in these initial columns. The Q command (Quiet) causes words to be marked with "q>>". The standard use for these columns, however, is to show the user how many times he/she has seen that word previously, and to provide an estimation of how "troublesome" that word has been. Column 1 of the Flashcard Screen is reserved for a Dictionary ID. This is a letter (A, B, C...) that is assigned sequentially as the data files are loaded. The ID assignments can be seen by pressing the F1 key to access HELP. If you have only loaded one data file then its ID is 'A'. In this special case no letter is shown. You will only see file IDs if you have loaded two or more data files. The next few columns of the Flashcard Screen will either show blanks or an integer value. If the field is blank it signifies that, as far as LinguaPro knows, the user has never seen this word in this or any previous session. An integer value of 1, 2, etc., signifies that the user has been exposed to this word that many times previously. These statistics are only maintained, however, if the user exits from LinguaPro with the X command. If the user simply escapes (ESC), or uses the UNLOAD (U) command, then these statistics are not updated for the current session. Furthermore, if the user exits with the XX command, then all of the statistical information is reset. -31- To the right of the VIEWED PREVIOUSLY statistics a field is set aside to show the user approximately how many times the word has been guessed incorrectly. As mentioned previously, the user signifies that he/she has missed a word by typing the E command, or, implicitly, by misspelling the desired word while in the INTENSE Mode 2 of Flashcarding. As the screen scrolls the offending word off the top of the screen, LinguaPro will begin to redisplay that word (plus other troublesome words) at a frequency sufficient to permit the user to master the definition. When the word is redisplayed, it will generally show a single asterisk (*) in the ERROR columns. If the word has been missed repeatedly, however, then LinguaPro will employ the following succession of symbols to remind the user of the relative difficulty of the word: * ** *** # ## ### These symbols will build up (to the maximum value of ###) as the user continues to miss the word, and will then count down (ultimately to a blank) as the user gets the word correctly on subsequent tries. Note that the Q command (Quiet) can be used to instantly reset a word's error counter to zero. This eliminates the frustration factor of being bombarded with pesty words that the user KNOWS he/she has mastered. 3.4 FLASHCARD Commands ------------------ The following is a complete description of ALL commands available within the Flashcard Facility for Vocabulary. An abbreviated listing is available on the screen if you use the F1 key to access HELP. All commands can be typed in either upper or lower case, and all commands must be followed by the ENTER key. 1. "A" command. The A (ADVANCE) command causes an immediate advance to the next word cluster regardless of how many errors the user has made during the current cluster. However, the clustering logic is always interrupted by the injection of previous "troublesome" words. The troublesome words of all previous clusters will continue to pop up randomly (but at a reduced frequency) during the new cluster. 2. "F" command. The F (FREEZE) command is the inverse of the A command. It causes a freeze of the current cluster so that the user can drill exhaustively on the current set of 30-35 words without an automatic progression to the next cluster. Once an F command has been entered, however, a subsequent A command must be used to cause resumption of normal program sequencing. When a cluster is in a FROZEN state this is indicated by the word FROZEN (in red) in the upper right section of the screen. 3. "D" command. The D (DICTIONARY) command causes an immediate switch from the Flashcard Facility to the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF). When the Dictionary Facility is exited, the user will be put back in the Flashcard Facility, and in the same cluster. -32- 4. "E" command. The E (ERROR) command is used to signal an error. As mentioned earlier, the honor system is employed to detect words guessed incorrectly by the user (except in INTENSE Mode 2). Note: The E command may be used "retroactively" to mark an error on a previous word even if a new word has appeared -- provided that the definition for the new word has not yet been shown. The K (KILL) command, and the Q (QUIET) command, also work in this retroactive way. Words flagged as "errors" will be marked with the symbol "e>>". 5. "I" command. The I (INTENSE Mode 1) command is used to assist the user in achieving final mastery of Spanish vocabulary. When INTENSE Mode 1 is entered, this is indicated by the word INTENSE 1 (in blue) in the upper right section of the screen. Note that the user must have previously utilized the << command to cause English definitions to appear on the left-hand side of the screen. In this mode the HONOR System is still used to indicate which words the user has missed, but the English definition on the left-hand side will now generally be reduced to only one of the possible "sub-definitions" for that word. This ensures that the student has mastered ALL of the various meanings associated with a Spanish word. INTENSE Mode 1 is exited by using the ESC key, or by using the II command to enter INTENSE Mode 2. 6. "II" command. The II (INTENSE Mode 2) command is the next step in mastery. In INTENSE Mode 2 users must actually TYPE the correct Spanish word (including accent marks which may be supplied with the ALT A key). INTENSE Mode 2 is exited by using the ESC key, or by using the I command to enter INTENSE Mode 1. 7. "K" command. The K (KILL) command is used to KILL a word. It should be used whenever the user feels that the word being displayed has been totally mastered. The K command causes the specified word to be removed from the active working vocabulary file and moved into the KILLED.SPA file. Thus, words are never totally lost, but rather moved to archival storage where they can be subsequently reviewed or interrogated. As in the case of the E command, the K command can be used retroactively for a word provided that the definition has not yet been displayed for the subsequent word. Words that have been "killed" will be marked with the symbol "k>>". 8. "L" command. The L (LOAD) command is used to LOAD an additional vocabulary file. It causes LinguaPro to return control to the File Loading Screen where an additional file or files may be loaded (provided program limits are not exceeded). 9. "Q" command. The Q (QUIET) command causes LinguaPro to instantly reset a words's error count to zero. Thus the Q command will UNDO an E command that the user typed in error, or will stop the word from becoming a nuisance if the user feels that he/she has mastered the word before LinguaPro has made that decision. As in the case of the E and K commands, the Q command can be used retroactively for a word provided that the definition has not yet been displayed for the subsequent word. Word that have been "quieted" will be marked with the symbol "q>>". -33- 10. "QQ" command. The QQ (SUPERQUIET) command causes LinguaPro to reset to zero the error counters of ALL words in ALL loaded files. This command should be used with discretion because it restores the file to its original state and all knowledge of troublesome words will be lost. Note, however, that you can always exit from LinguaPro with the ESC key, or by use use of the Unload (U) command and avoid making any permanent alterations to your disk files. 11. "R" command. The R (RECYCLE) command causes LinguaPro to recycle back to the Group Selection Screen whereupon the user can select a different group or groups to be used in the Flashcard Facility. 12. "U" command. The U (UNLOAD) command causes all current vocabulary files to be dropped, and control to be returned to the File Loading Screen. If the user has marked one or more words as "errors" (E command), or has altered the vocabulary files via the On-Line Dictionary Facility, then the user will be requested to explicitly OK the loss of this information. If the U command is used then all changes made to all active vocabulary files, plus all statistical information gathered via the E command, will be lost. Only the X command (save and exit) causes all statistics and vocabulary file changes to be permanently recorded. 13. "V" command. The V (VRF) command causes an immediate transfer to the VERB Reference Facility (described in a later section). If the current line contains a Spanish verb, then the VERB Reference Facility will position to that verb automatically so that the conjugation pattern is automatically displayed. 14. "X" and "XX" commands. The X (EXIT) command is the normal way for a user to exit from LinguaPro. It causes all information acquired during the session to be permanently updated in the various vocabulary files. Statistics on words missed, as well as any file changes resulting from kills (K command) or Dictionary operations (Purge, Modify, New word, etc.) are saved. The XX command is like the X command in that all substantive dictionary changes are saved. However, the XX command causes a "resetting" of all view and error statistics so that LinguaPro will have no future knowledge of which words the user has previously seen and which words have been causing errors. 15. "Z" command. The Z (SOUND) command will turn off the sound effects if they are on, or turn them on if they are off. 16. Mixture commands (< , <<, >, >>). The mixture commands are used to change from Spanish to English or English to Spanish (or a percentage mixture of both). Initially, LinguaPro defaults to all Spanish on the left-hand side. This is based on the presumption that it is natural for English-speaking persons to learn words initially from Spanish to English before attempting the reverse direction. Note that English definitions must be on the left-hand side before the INTENSE modes (I and II commands) may be utilized! -34- Use of the < command tells LinguaPro to use LESS Spanish on the left-hand side. Several usages of the < command will result in a 50-50 mixture (half of the time the word on the left will be Spanish and the rest of the time it will be English). Even more usages of the < command will cause NO Spanish on the left, that is, all words on the left-hand side will be English words. The << command, however, causes an immediate switch to 100% English to Spanish. In a similar manner, the > command tells LinguaPro to use MORE Spanish on the left-hand side. Again, this command may be repeated to achieve several intermediate mixtures. Similarly, the >> command causes an immediate switch to 100% Spanish to English. The current Mixture setting is shown in the upper right-hand corner of the LinguaPro Screen (see Figure 12). It should also be noticed that the HELP screen (F1 key) shows the vocabulary files currently loaded (marked as A, B, C, D, E, and F) and indicates the number of "kills" and "purges" that have taken place for that particular file (Purges are discussed in the Section VI since they can be performed only within the On-Line Dictionary Facility). 3.5 More about the INTENSE Modes ---------------------------- The INTENSE modes of the LinguaPro FLASHCARD System are designed for the English-speaking learner who desires "total" mastery of Spanish vocabulary and verbs -- both meanings and spellings! Normally, an English-Speaking learner will master vocabulary items using the following procedure: 1. Work the vocabulary of a given level (e.g., LEVEL1) from Spanish to English until a good recognition level is achieved. The Flashcard system will use the HONOR system (users are responsible for typing the E command if they miss a word). 2. Work the same vocabulary from English to Spanish until a good recognition level is achieved. The << command should be used to cause English vocabulary to appear on the left-hand side of the screen. Again, the Flashcard system will use the HONOR system (users are responsible for typing the E command if they miss a word). 3. Then, use the I command to enter INTENSE Mode 1 (the ESC key is used to exit from the INTENSE modes). In INTENSE Mode 1 users will still be under the HONOR System to indicated missed words by using the E command. In INTENSE Mode 1, however, the right-hand side entries will -35- now display a bracketed area that the user must MENTALLY fill in with the missing word or words. For short words the bracketed section will be totally blank so as to provide no clues. For longer words, under- scores may be present that indicate at least the number of letters that are involved. In more difficult cases the user will also be shown either an initial letter, or a sprinkling of internal letters. The user should guess the correct response and then press the ENTER key. The correct answer will then be displayed and the user should employ the HONOR System as before by typing an E command if he/she has missed the word. 4. Next, use the II command to enter INTENSE Mode 2 (the ESC key is used to exit from the INTENSE modes). In INTENSE Mode 2 the left-hand side behavior is now different from INTENSE mode 1: >>>The English definition usually has more than one shade of meaning, that is, a single Spanish word may have more than one possible meaning in English. The English subdefinitions are normally supplied with demarcating semicolons (;). Normally, if English is being displayed on the left-hand side, then ALL subdefinitions are shown at one time prior to the subsequent display of the Spanish word. In INTENSE mode 2, however, ONE of the particular subdefinitions is Randomly selected and shown, while the remaining subdefinitions are obliterated by hyphens (-). This ensures that the user actually masters ALL the shades of meaning of the Spanish word and does not just key off of the primary meaning. AFTER the user has been shown the requested Spanish word, then the REMAINDER of the English definition is filled in to the hyphenated areas with the subdefinition shown originally relegated back to its normal order in the sequence.<<< The right-hand side behavior changes as well in INTENSE mode 2. The bracketed area is still present, but the user must now TYPE the correct response. Also, the HONOR System is now dispensed with since LinguaPro is able to detect user errors by itself: >>>Users must TYPE the correct Spanish vocabulary item or verb form. Correct genders must be supplied for nouns and correct accent marks must be supplied for all vocabulary items requiring them. The user is prompted with either the first letter of each required word, or with several of the internal letters of each word. Missing letters are indicated by underscore characters (_). See Section VI for more information on using the editing keys (CTRL HOME, CTRL END, the cursor keys, the DEL key, and the ALT A). Accent marks are supplied by the user by typing the basic letter and then pressing ALT A when the cursor is just to the RIGHT of the letter needing the accent. Repeated use of the ALT A key will cycle through all available choices. The user should press the ENTER key when he/she is done typing the word (or the user may just press the ENTER key at the beginning if he/she does do not have any idea of the correct response). If the response is incorrect, LinguaPro will supply the E command AUTOMATICALLY.<<< Figure 13 shows an example of the use of INTENSE Mode 1. INTENSE Mode 2 will "look" identical. The only difference is that the user actually has to do the typing in the bracketed section. Notice that the word INTENSE 1 is displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. -36- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% English->Spanish File: LEVEL1.SPA Loaded: 4455 (ENG) Viewed: 120 Errors: 2 BatAvg: .983 %Full: (41.4,69.5) Selected: 4455 (SPA) Viewed: 27 Errors: 2 BatAvg: .926 Clust#: 5; 33 items; %Shown: 27%; #Clust Errs: 0; Stage#: 1 INTENSE 1 the end;the final(thing) [el final] the explanation [la explicaci¢n] no one/nobody [nadie] the pilot [el/la aviador/a] to marry [casar] the employee;the clerk;the attendant [el/la empleado/a] to concentrate [concentrar] the avalanche [la avalancha] the enchantment;the incantation [el encantamiento] the mole [el topo] the drugstore [la farmacia] the instinct [el instinto] weak/feeble [dÇbil] the search/hunt [la busca] to venture/hazard [aventurar] OK? [®Vale?] the driver's license [el carnet de conducir] the tear(in the eye);the drop(fig.) [la l†grima] to snow;to cover in snow [n____] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 13. INTENSE Mode 1 It can be further seen that English is being displayed on the left. This is an essential prerequisite for the INTENSE modes since it is designed to force the user to TYPE the correct Spanish word (in INTENSE Mode 2). Use the < and << commands to force English on the left-hand side. Then, the INTENSE modes may be entered by use of the I and II commands. Note in Figure 13 that the user is shown a "skeletonized" Spanish word that must be filled in correctly. In the Figure, the last skeleton is "n____" and the user should guess the correct word (INTENSE Mode 1), or TYPE the the correct word to make it [nevar] (in INTENSE Mode 2). In many cases the user will only be prompted with the first letter of the word. In all cases noun genders are suppressed and must be supplied by the user. Accent marks are supplied by typing the base letter (a,e,i,o,u,n) and then holding down the ALT key while pressing the a or A key WHILE the cursor is positioned just to the right of the base letter! See Section VI for more information on the ALT A key and the other editing commands and conventions employed by LinguaPro. -37- IV. THE FLASHCARD FACILITY FOR UNIT (SENTENCE-CLASS) FILES When a SENTENCE-Class file such as UNIT3.SPA has been loaded, the flash- card system will initially be in a state in which each "sentence" is treated like a single word. In other words, the flashcard system will behave in a manner identical to that used for vocabulary (WORD-Class) files. In this state the user can drill on complete sentences just as though they were simple vocab- ulary items. The HONOR System (E command) must be used in this situation. Section III should be consulted to obtain an understanding of all of the basic flashcarding commands. In this section, only those commands will be described that have a different shade of meaning than in the case in which pure vocabulary is being flashcarded. The real benefit of a SENTENCE-Class file can be seen when the user activates INTENSE Mode 1 or INTENSE Mode 2. This is done with the I and II commands, respectively. As before, the ESC key will deactivate the INTENSE mode and return the flashcarding system to its normal vocabulary-level state. In the case of pure vocabulary files like LEVEL1.SPA, LEVEL2.SPA, etc., the INTENSE modes are supported ONLY for the English to Spanish direction. This is because LinguaPro/SPANISH is PRIMARILY oriented to English-speaking persons who desire to master the Spanish language. Only the pure vocabulary files, however, show this lack of symmetry. The user can quickly perceive that single Spanish words are described by using all of their shades of meaning in English. If LinguaPro were truly bilingual then the opposite situation would exist: a single English word would be described by using all of its shades of meaning in Spanish. The SENTENCE-Class files, on the other hand, are truly bilingual (as is the VERB conjugation facility built around the VERB-Class files). The UNIT files, which implement the adaptation of the Basic Spanish Course of the Foreign Service Institute, are excellent examples of bilingual SENTENCE-Class files. They may be used to advantage both by English-speaking, and by Spanish-speaking students. In addition, the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF) provides the capability needed for students to create their own SENTENCE-Class files and thus implement the sentences and drills contained in various text- books. This is discussed in Appendix A.3. Figure 14 shows INTENSE Mode 2, from Spanish to English, with the UNIT3 file loaded. In this mode the Spanish sentence (sometimes a single word) is shown on the left-hand side. In addition, some segment of the sentence will be highlighted. This may be a single word or a phrase. When the user presses the ENTER key then the correspondng English sentence will be shown on the right-hand side of the screen (sometimes on the next line). The corresponding English word/phrase will be delimited with square brackets ([]) and will be either blank (for short words), or will contain underscores indicating charac- ters that must be TYPED by the student. For short fields the bracketed section will be totally blank and will be LONGER than the word or phrase the student is expected to type. This is done to prevent the student "cheating" by guessing, for example, that the necessary verb form is "es" rather than "est†" simply by counting spaces. Also, the extra filler inserted to keep the student honest is always randomized so that there is NO way to guess which word is desired by looking at the width of the field. -38- In INTENSE Mode 2 the user is expected to TYPE the missing word within the bracketed area. When this is completed, the student should press the ENTER key. At this point LinguaPro will insert the correct text and will generate an automatic error signal (an E command) if the student had mis- typed the entry. In addition, the entry will be flagged with the standard "e>>" symbol. Of course, if the student has no idea of what to type, then just pressing the ENTER key will cause the correct text to be displayed and the error message to be generated. Everything is the same, of course, with INTENSE Mode 1 "except" that the user is NOT expected to type the missing word or phrase, and, in fact, cannot. Instead, the HONOR System is utilized and the student must explicitly type an E command (error) if he/she has missed the word. INTENSE Mode 1 is very useful in the intermediate learning stages because it requires the user to drill on all parts of speech within a sentence without the slowdown entailed in having to type in the word with its accent marks. INTENSE Mode 2, however, if strongly recommended in the later stages of learning. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: UNIT3.SPA Loaded: 354 (ENG) Viewed: 0 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: ( 3.3,12.8) Selected: 354 (SPA) Viewed: 183 Errors: 12 BatAvg: .934 Clust#: 7; 30 items; %Shown: 0%; #Clust Errs: 0; Stage#: 1 INTENSE 2 ®tiene una pluma? (do) YOU have [a pen ]? no, tengo un l†piz no, [I have] a pencil ®le gusta el centro? (do) [YOU like] the downtown? (is the downtown pleasing to YOU?) s°, me gusta mucho yes, [I like] (it) a lot ®est† la se§ora aqu°? is [the lady] here? s°, s° est† aqu° yes, yes (she) is [here ] ®hay una mesa ah°? is there a table [there ]? s°, s° hay yes, [yes ] there is eso es una moneda that is [a coin] no, esto no es un billete [no ], this is not a bill la se§orita est† en la Embajada the young lady is [at ] the Embassy ®quiere una silla? (do) [YOU want] a chair? ®tiene el cheque o no? (do) YOU have [the check] or not? e>> la caja est† a la izquierda the teller's window [is ] to the left e>> la Embajada no est† lejos de aqu° the Embassy is not far from [here ] quiero presentarle a una se§orita [_ ____] to present to YOU a young lady -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 14. INTENSE Mode 2 -- Spanish to English -39- Figure 15 shows the behavior of INTENSE Mode 2 for the English to Spanish direction. Program behavior is identical to that for the Spanish to English direction. The default, as mentioned earlier, is for Spanish material to initially appear on the left-hand side of the screen. The "<<" command, or several "<" commands, will switch the English to the left-hand side. Note in Figure 15 that the upper right-hand corner of the screen shows "100% English->Spanish". Remember, too, that in the final stages of drilling you might want to select an "intermediate" mixture, e.g., 50-50 so that about half of the time English will appear on the left-hand side, and the other half of the time Spanish will appear on the left-hand side. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% English->Spanish File: UNIT3.SPA Loaded: 354 (ENG) Viewed: 87 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: ( 3.3,12.8) Selected: 354 (SPA) Viewed: 184 Errors: 14 BatAvg: .924 Clust#: 9; 30 items; %Shown: 76%; #Clust Errs: 0; Stage#: 1 INTENSE 2 (do) YOU like the room? ®le gusta [el cuarto]? (do) YOU like the book? ®le gusta [el libro]? (do) YOU like the hotel? ®[le gusta] el hotel? (do) YOU like the Embassy? ®[le gusta] la Embajada? (do) YOU like the avenue? ®le gusta [la avenida]? (do) YOU like Spanish? ®[le gusta] el espa§ol? (do) YOU like English? ®[le gusta] el inglÇs? (do) YOU like Miss Molina? ®le gusta [la se§orita Molina]? no, (it) is far no, [est† ] lejos no, (it) is near no, est† [cerca ] no, (it) is to the right no, [est† ] a la derecha no, (it) is to the left [no ], est† a la izquierda no, (it) is up ahead [no ], est† adelante yes, (it) is at the entrance s°, est† [a ] la entrada yes, (it) is here s°, est† [aqu° ] yes, (it) is there s°, [est† ] ah° must one take a taxi? ®hay que tomar [un taxi]? must one take a room? ®[hay que] tomar un cuarto? must one take the elevator? ®hay que [tomar ] el ascensor? must one take anything else? ®hay que tomar [algo ] m†s? must one say that? ®[___ ___] decir eso? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 15. INTENSE Mode 2 -- English to Spanish As discussed in Section 2.2, with SENTENCE-Class files the student has the option of specifying an INITIAL presentation of the material in its natural order. This option, which is the default, is recommeded for the UNIT files since the course lessons are designed to be introduced in a sequential manner. Again, once the user has completed the first pass through the material, LinguaPro will switch to a purely random mode of presentation with an inter- spersal of "previously missed" sentences. Once the student is confident of the material then NO may be specified and the entire presentation will be randomized. -40- Again, up to 6 UNIT files may be loaded simultaneously if the user's PC has sufficient RAM memory available. Thus the student may eventually wish to load UNIT1, UNIT2, ... UNIT6 simultaneously, select the randomized presen- tation, select a 50-50 mixture (half Spanish on the left and half English on the left), select INTENSE Mode 2, and thus TOTALLY review 6 lessons at once! All standard flashcarding commands are supported within the Flashcard Facility for SENTENCE-Class files. Thus, for example, the student may use the D command to access the On-Line Dictionary Facility and see how the "sentences" of the UNIT files have been created. If you enter the ODF and do a search for a particular word (or part of word), you will see ALL sentences incorporating that particular word. You will also see the special delimiter brackets that make a SENTENCE-Class file what it is: v[], aj[], av[], etc. Please consult Appendix A.3 for more information on creating SENTENCE-Class files of your own -- OR modifying one of the supplied UNIT files. The V command is also available, allowing the student to access the VERB Reference Facility (VRF) to check on a verb definition or conjugation. When flashcarding a SENTENCE-Class file in INTENSE Mode 2, the student will occasionally make typing errors and get an undeserved "e>>" error signal. When this happens, the Q command (QUIET) may be used retroactively to clear the error indicator. The retroactive capability is lost, however, as soon as the NEXT entry is complete, that is, as soon as the next entry is displaying BOTH left-hand and right-hand sides. Also, the QQ command (SUPERQUIET) may be used to clear ALL error signals if the student so desires. Sometimes a student will not want to be bothered by a particular word, either because it is too basic, or because the student has totally mastered the word and doesn't wish to type it in (in INTENSE Mode 2). In this case, simply press the ENTER key, receive the "e>>" error signal, and then promptly cancel it out by using a Q command. A "sentence" will generally have 3 or more internal delimiters which demarcate different parts of speech to be drilled. In other words, an average "sentence" may contain 3 (and possibly 6 or more) separate drillable items. When the flashcarding facility displays a particular sentence, it adopts the following strategy. First, if the user has missed one of its parts of speech previously, then THAT delimited word or phrase will be again selected for testing. If, however, the sentence has no errors flagged against it, then a delimited section will be RANDOMLY selected. For this reason, it takes more testing cycles to exhaust the material in a SENTENCE-Class file than it does in a WORD-Class file. As a result the student may wish to utilize the F command to FREEZE the current cluster of sentences until he/she feels that the useful material has been exhausted. At this point an A command (ADVANCE) should be typed to cause LinguaPro to advance to the next cluster. -41- A significant point to notice is the particular convention utilized by LinguaPro/SPANISH to enrich the natural set of English pronouns so as to provide a 1-to-1 correspondence with the Spanish set. This is needed so that an English sentence will unambiguously suggest the Spanish pronouns that are to be used. Bear in mind also that if you are drilling in INTENSE Mode 2 from Spanish to English than you will actually have to type forms like those described next. LinguaPro employs the following convention for Spanish pronouns. The English word "you" is used to represent the Spanish familiar pronoun "t£". The expression "you(pl)" is used to represent the Spanish pronoun "vosotros". The complete table is: you t£ you(pl) vosotros YOU usted YOU(pl) ustedes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: If you are in INTENSE Mode 2 wherein you are expected to TYPE in the required word or phrase, remember that you MAY NOT enter any of the standard commands at the point LinguaPro is expecting you to type a word. You must wait until the NEXT left-hand side item is displayed. You may then enter one or more commands at this point. Otherwise, your command will not only be ignored, but it will be treated as though you had mistyped the item and you will receive an error signal (e>>). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V. THE FLASHCARD FACILITY FOR VERB (VERB-CLASS) FILES The VERB Flashcard Facility is very similar to the Vocabulary and SENTENCE flashcarding facilities. In particular, the "clustering" logic ensures that the user is never confronted by more than about 30-35 verb forms at a time (taken from the selected set). The default is for Spanish to English and for the NORMAL mode of presentation in which verb forms are presented in a format representing of reading, writing, and speaking (phrases and sentences). The sentence presentation mode fully supports INTENSE modes 1 and 2 both from English to Spanish and Spanish to English. You may use the I and II commands at any time to activate these modes. Figure 16 shows a typical screen when flashcarding a VERB-Class file in NORMAL mode (phrases and sentences) and in the Spanish to English direction. -42- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: TVERB1.SPA Loaded: 3850 (ENG) Viewed: 12 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (35.8,19.5) Selected: 2939 (SPA) Viewed: 39 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Clust#: 2; 35 items; %Complete: 42%; #Clust Errs: 0; Stage#: 1; Mode: 1 t£ las trajiste a la fiesta you(m.) brought them(f.) to the party yo tengo que completar los proyectos esta ma§ana I have to complete the projects this morning yo ense§Ç alem†n en la universidad I taught German in the university vosotras no estabais seguras de que yo hubiera saludado a Pablo you(f.pl) weren't sure that I had greeted Pablo les dol°an los pulgares a ellas their(f.) thumbs used to hurt vosotros tomabais el almuerzo en casa you(m.pl) used to have lunch at home Carmen habr† hablado alem†n llanamente Carmen will have spoken German plainly nosotros queremos que ellas estudien alem†n we(m.) want them(f.) to study German Uds. le han cerrado la cortina a Mar°a YOU(m.pl) have closed the curtain for Mar°a Çl se alegra de que Roberta y Laura hayan vendido las llantas he is glad that Roberta and Laura have sold the tires t£ cuidabas a Carolina al amanecer you(m.) were taking care of Carolina at dawn a ella le gust¢ el cisne she liked the swan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 16. VERB Flashcard Screen (NORMAL mode)(Spanish to English) LinguaPro employs the following convention for Spanish pronouns. The English word "you" is used to represent the Spanish familiar pronoun "t£". The expression "you(pl)" is used to represent the Spanish pronoun "vosotros". The complete table is: you t£ you(pl) vosotros YOU usted YOU(pl) ustedes Due to the poverty of English personal pronouns, use of this convention makes it unambiguous which specific Spanish pronoun is desired. Also, the word HAD, as in HAD gotten, is used to signify the Spanish Preterit Perfect rather than the standard Past Perfect or Pluperfect (which would be expressed as "had gotten"). It should be noted that the Preterit Perfect is rarely used in spoken Spanish, but has been included for the sake of completeness. This tense selection should generally be turned off. -43- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% English->Spanish File: TVERB1.SPA Loaded: 3850 (ENG) Viewed: 17 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (35.8,12.2) Selected: 3383 (SPA) Viewed: 1 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Clust#: 1; 28 items; %Shown: 60%; #Clust Errs: 0; Stage#: 1 INTENSE 1 you(m.pl) will have wanted the oven today vosotros [habrÇis querido] el horno hoy you(m.pl) take us(m.) to the movie vosotros nos [llev†is] al cine we(m.) have taken care of the bird for her nosotros le [hemos cuidado] el p†jaro a ella you(f.) and InÇs will have reviewed your(f.pl) homework tonight t£ y InÇs [habrÇis repasado] vuestros deberes esta noche YOU(f.) carried them(f.) to the baptism Ud. las [llev¢] al bautismo you(m.pl): don't sell the tires today! ≠[no vend†is] hoy las llantas! YOU(f.) hope that we(m.) are studying well there Ud. espera que nosotros [estudiemos] bien all° you(f.pl) desired the truck yesterday evening vosotras [deseabais] el cami¢n ayer por la noche she has sung today ella [ha cantado] hoy you(m.pl) eat cheese frequently vosotros [comÇis] con frecuencia queso YOU(f.pl): live in the village! ≠[vivan] en la aldea! you(f.) had been able to build the house t£ [______ ______] construir la casa -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 17. VERB INTENSE Mode 1 (NORMAL Mode) (English to Spanish) Figure 17 shows the Flashcard system when it has been directed to display English on the left-hand side, and with INTENSE mode 1 engaged. In this mode the Honor System is still employed (you must use the E command to flag your errors), but the highlighting of key words and phrases on the left-hand side, coupled with the bracketed blanked-out section on the right-hand side, helps you focus your attention on specific parts of sentences. Let us now review all of the Flashcard commands giving emphasis to those commands that are unique to the VERB flashcard system: 1. "A" command. Advance to the next "cluster". 2. "F" command. Freeze the current "cluster". 3. "C" command. This command will show the complete CONJUGATION of the verb form being displayed as soon as the line is complete, that is, as soon as the Spanish or English translation has been presented. The conjugation will show all 6 persons for the Tense in question. NOTE: If the user signals an "error" for the verb form (using the E command, then LinguaPro will pretend that the user has also typed the C command and will display the full conjugation for the verb in that tense. The "CC" command will enable a continuous conjugation of all displayed verb forms. It can only be turned off by typing a subsequent "CC" command. This allows the user to quickly review ALL persons of a given verb form once the particular form being tested has been completed. -44- 4. "D" command. This command will be ignored by the VERB Flashcard Facility. 5. "E" command. This command is used to signal that the user has "missed" the verb form just displayed. (Note: As mentioned above, a full conjugation for that verb in the current tense will be displayed as though the user had also typed a C command). 6. "I" command. This command causes the Flashcard Facility for verbs to enter INTENSE Mode 1. Note that in the Grammatical Mode (after the S command), the INTENSE modes are only supported if English is on the left- hand side. All INTENSE modes are exited by using the ESC key. 7. "II" command. This command causes the Flashcard Facility for verbs to enter INTENSE Mode 2 in which the student must TYPE the correct verb form. The same rules apply for entry as for the I command. Note that you may switch back and forth between the two INTENSE modes by alternating the I and II commands. 8. "K" command. This command will SUPPRESS the verb form just displayed. The verb form will, however, not be removed from the verb file and it will reappear if the user ever resets the statistics for the verb file by exiting with the XX command. 9. "L" command. The LOAD command will be ignored by the VERB Flashcard Facility. 10. "Q" command. This command will QUIET a verb form by zeroing its error count. The verb form will be tagged with the symbol "q>>" and LinguaPro will cease flashing it to the user as a troublesome word (unless the user subsequently misses the verb form again). Note that like the E and K commands, the Q command can be used retroactively provided that the subsequent flashcard entry has not yet been completed (both left and right- hand sides). 11. "QQ" command. This command will QUIET ALL verb forms by zeroing all error counters. Use this command with discretion. 12. "R" command. The RECYCLE command will return control to the VERB Tense Selection Screen. This will allow the user to alter the selected slate of verb forms without exiting from LinguaPro. 13. "S" command. The SWITCH command will cause the presentation style of the VERB Flashcard Facility to switch to the GRAMMATICAL mode, or from the GRAMMATICAL mode back to the NORMAL mode. The GRAMMATICAL mode is especially useful for a student in the beginning stages of mastering a new verb tense. In GRAMMATICAL mode the user likewise has the choice of a Spanish to English or an English to Spanish drill. Additionally, the Mixture control commands (<,<<,>,>>) can be used to select an intermediate mixture. Note that the INTENSE modes of Flashcarding are ONLY supported during a Grammatical presen- tation if English is on the left-hand side. -45- 14. "U" command. The UNLOAD command will cause the current verb file to be dropped. Control will then pass back to the File Loading Screen. If, however, the user has flagged one or more verb forms as "missed" by using the E (error) command, then the CAUTION Screen (Figure 24) will appear and the user can press F10 to throw away the statistical information if desired. 15. "V" command. The VERB command will cause control to be passed to the VERB Reference Facility (VRF) and the screen will be positioned at the current verb. 16. "X" and "XX" commands. The X (EXIT) command is recommended as the best way to exit from a LinguaPro session since it "saves" all changes and statistics. If the user employs the XX command then all statistics will be reset. 17. "Z" command. The Z command will disable (or re-enable) the use of sound effects. 18. "<,<<,>,>>" commands. The Mixture Control commands work identically in the VERB Flashcard Facility. The command ">>" will cause the left-hand side to be entirely Spanish. The "<<" command will cause the left-hand side to be entirely English. Use of the "<" and ">" commands will result in LESS Spanish and MORE Spanish, respectively, on the left-hand side. Figure 18 shows the screen format when the operational mode has been SWITCHed (S command) from the NORMAL mode to the GRAMMATICAL mode. Also, the left-hand side has been set to English via the "<<" command. In this mode of operation the user is told the required tense, English pronoun, English verb, and desired Spanish verb. When the user presses the ENTER key, the required Spanish equivalent is displayed. -46- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% English->Spanish File: TVERB1.SPA Loaded: 3850 (ENG) Viewed: 43 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 %Full: (35.8,19.5) Selected: 2939 (SPA) Viewed: 39 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Clust#: 3; 35 items; %Complete: 31%; #Clust Errs: 0; Stage#: 1; Mode: 1 Present: we(m.) /tell (decir) nosotros decimos Preter.: you(f.pl) /accompany (acompa§ar) vosotras acompa§asteis Pres Perf: we(m.) /know (saber) nosotros hemos sabido Pres Perf: I /speak (hablar) yo he hablado Future: he /accompany (acompa§ar) Çl acompa§ar† Imperf.: you(f.) /teach (ense§ar) t£ ense§abas Past Subj: he /learn (aprender) que Çl aprendiera Past Subj: you(f.pl) /bring (traer) que vosotras trajerais Present: we(m.) /call (llamar) nosotros llamamos Command: you(f.) /prepare (preparar) ≠prepara;no prepares! PrPerfSub: you(f.pl) /learn (aprender) que vosotras hay†is aprendido PrPerfSub: I /review (repasar) que yo haya repasado Imperf.: they(f.) /go (ir) ellas iban Future: you(f.pl) /be (ser) vosotras serÇis Preter.: he /help (ayudar) Çl ayud¢ PrPerfSub: it /like (gustar) que hayan gustado PrPerfSub: we(m.) /review (repasar) que nosotros hayamos repasado Pres Perf: they(m.) /listen to (escuchar) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 18. VERB Flashcard Screen (GRAMMATICAL Mode) Figure 19 shows the behavior of INTENSE Mode 2 when flashcarding verbforms. Notice that the 3 key steps have been followed to enter this mode. Step 1. Switch to English on the left-hand side (<< command) Step 2. Switch to the Grammatical mode of presentation (S command) Step 3. Specify INTENSE Mode 2 (II command) -- or the I command In this case the user is expected to type the EXACT verb form required, including accent marks. The user will be provided with a "skeleton" form enclosed in square brackets and with underscores (_) used to indicate the missing letters. Accent marks may be supplied with the ALT A key (see Section VI). If the user types in the verb form incorrectly, then an error command (E) will be generated automatically! INTENSE Mode 1 (I command) works identically except that the user is not expected to TYPE anything and the HONOR System (E command) must be used to signal errors. -47- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% English->Spanish File: TVERB1.SPA Loaded: 3850 (ENG) Viewed: 56 Errors: 3 BatAvg: .946 %Full: (35.8,19.5) Selected: 2939 (SPA) Viewed: 39 Errors: 0 BatAvg:1.000 Clust#: 3; 35 items; %Complete: 68%; #Clust Errs: 3; Stage#: 1 INTENSE Future: we(m.) /watch (mirar) nosotros [miraremos] Past Subj: you(m.) /go shopping (ir) que t£ [fueras] Pres Perf: I /say (decir) yo [he dicho] Pres Subj: they(m.) /play (tocar) que ellos [toquen] Command: you(f.pl) /teach (ense§ar) ≠[ense§ad]! e>> Preter.: it /ache (doler) [dolieron] - - - - doli¢ dolieron Preter.: YOU(m.pl) /learn (aprender) Uds. [aprendieron] e>> Past Perf: she /return (volver) ella [hab°a vuelto] yo hab°a vuelto noso. hab°amos vuelto t£ hab°as vuelto voso. hab°ais vuelto Çl hab°a vuelto ellos hab°an vuelto Preter.: he /tell (decir) Çl [dijo] e>> Pres Subj: you(f.) /want (querer) que t£ [quieras] que yo quiera que noso. queramos que t£ quieras que voso. quer†is que Çl quiera que ellos quieran Past Perf: you(f.pl) /accompany (acompa§ar) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 19. VERB Flashcard Screen (INTENSE Mode 2) The INTENSE modes for VERB items work in an identical manner to the corresponding INTENSE modes for WORD-Class and SENTENCE-Class files. VI. THE ON-LINE DICTIONARY FACILITY (ODF) The On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF) is NOT accessible if a VERB file has been loaded. The On-Line Dictionary Facility is accessed from the Flashcard Facility by using the "D" command. The Dictionary Facility is exited by using the ESC key. This will cause control to be transferred back into the Flashcard Facility at the point it was exited (in the same cluster and with the same cluster statistics). -48- The Dictionary Facility works with the files already loaded (Internal files), and with whatever External Files the user chooses to assign. The assigned files are searched automatically when you type at least three initial characters of a desired word and then press the ENTER key. By typing more letters, of course, the number of "hits" will be reduced, and the resultant list will be shorter. If too many "hits" result, the screen will show "... (Press ENTER for More)" at the bottom which indicates that the list of words is incomplete. By successively pressing the ENTER key the user will be able to see ALL words that have met the search criteria. The default for LinguaPro/SPANISH is for a Spanish word lookup. In Figure 19 the search string entered was "pare" and LinguaPro displayed all words in LEVEL1.SPA and LEVEL2.SPA which START with the letters p-a-r-e (Since BOTH of these WORD-Class files had been previously loaded as Internal Files). LinguaPro ignores all accent marks and capital letters when making its searches. This makes it easier for the user to enter the search string, and the desired word is sure to be found even if it is stored with an initial capital letter (or an unexpected accent mark). To narrow the search farther, the user may terminate the search string with the dollar ($) sign. This tells LinguaPro to ignore any words that contain LETTERs following the search string. In other words, if the user types "para", the displayed list will be of all words that START with the letters "para" (parado, paraguas, parasol, etc.). If the user types "para$", however, then only occurrences of the word "para" will be located. In order to search for English words, the user must PREFIX the word with a pound sign (#). The same rules apply as in the case of Spanish lookups. The dollar sign ($) terminator may again be used. Thus if the user types "#man" the resultant list will be very long, and will include such words as many, manner, manager, etc. If the user types "#man$", however, then only words or phrases containing "man " will be located. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English File: 2 Word Files Knn (Kill) Mnn (Modify) Pnn (Purge) TnnX (Transfer) %Full: (76.1,95.2) nn (Select) <Please indicate which was the desired word> N (New) "string" (Search) <ESC> (Exit) F1 (HELP) F2 (BLANK) F3 (FILES) Command? A 1 apparently \ al parecer A 2 to seem/appear/look like \ parecer A 3 the wall(of a room) \ la pared A 4 the pair;the couple \ la pareja B 5 the opinion/view;the look \ el parecer B 6 to resemble,to look like \ parecerse a B 7 good looking,well-favored \ bien parecido/a B 8 like/similar \ parecido/a Lookup String: pare INSERT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 20. The On-Line Dictionary Screen -49- In Figure 20, the first 4 dictionary items are flagged with an A in column 1. This signals that the words were all found in data file A (LEVEL1.SPA). The last 4 items are flagged with a B in column 1 and shows that they came from file B (LEVEL2.SPA). Since up to 6 WORD-Class, or SENTENCE-Class files may be loaded simultaneously as Internal files, the letters A thru F may appear. If External Files have been assigned (See Appendix A.2) then their file IDs will start at K or L and will be shown in RED. The Dictionary Facility has its own two-page HELP Screen which is accessed by pressing F1 (Function Key 1). The second page of HELP provides a thumbnail summary of the rules for creating SENTENCE-Class files. This is discussed in full detail in Appendix A.3. As in the Flashcarding Facility, and in the VERB Reference Facility, the F2 key may be used to obtain a blank screen. Finally, the F3 key will show ALL current file assignments: the Internal Files as well as any External Files that the user has specified via the EF command. Consult Appendix A.2 for information about assigning External Files. The Dictionary Facility has its own set of commands. Each command (except for the ESC key to exit) requires that the command be followed by the ENTER key. The Dictionary commands are as follows: 1. "ESC" key. The ESC key causes LinguaPro to exit back to the Flashcard Facility. The user will be back in the same "cluster" as when the Flashcard Facility was exited, and the cluster statistics will be as before. 2. "nn" Command. This command simply consists of typing the number of one of the displayed words and pressing the ENTER key. For example, if the user types 4 ENTER, he/she is signifying that the fourth line (see Figure 20), containing the word "pareja", was the desired word or words. LinguaPro will mark this line with an asterisk (*) in column 1. LinguaPro will regard this as an Error, similar to the use of the E command in the Flashcard Facility. When the user returns to the Flashcard Facility, the word "parejo" will be more intensively drilled because the user has admitted having trouble with it. This again is an example of the HONOR System employed by LinguaPro. Words that have to be looked up in the course of reading a book are treated as though they had been guessed incorrectly during a Flashcard session. If the user employs the X command to exit from LinguaPro, then these statistics will be kept for the next session as well. 3. "string". By typing a string of characters and pressing the ENTER key, the user is requesting LinguaPro to find all Spanish words in the loaded data files that START with that character sequence. The string may be terminated with a dollar sign ($), as discussed above, to limit the search further. -50- 4. "#string". By typing a pound sign (#) followed by a string of characters and pressing the ENTER key, the user is requesting LinguaPro to find all English words in the loaded data files that START with that character sequence. The string may be terminated with a dollar sign ($), as discussed above, to limit the search further. 5. "EF". The EF command (External File) is used to control which, if any, External Files will participate in Search operations. Appendix A.2 contains complete information about use of this command. 6. "Knn". By typing a K followed by an item number, LinguaPro will KILL all words on that line. All words will be moved to the KILLED.SPA file and taken out of the working data file. Remember, however, that no changes are permanently effective until the user employs the X command (or XX) to exit from LinguaPro. If the user exits via an ESC (escape), or by use of the U command, then all such changes are discarded. 7. "Mnn". The MODIFY command is used to modify or correct an existing data file entry (or to add an additional word and its definition to a line entry). It operates like the N (NEW) command except that the Spanish and English sections are already filled in with the current text. 8. "N, NA, NB". The NEW command is the means whereby the user can add wholly new words to new or existing LinguaPro data files. If only a single data file is loaded, then the N command may be used by itself. If more than one data file has been loaded, however, then the letter A, B, C, etc. must be affixed to indicate the data file which is to contain the new word. If the user omits the data file ID, the word will automatically go into the last data file loaded, that is, the file with the highest letter. Figure 21 shows the LinguaPro Dictionary Screen after the N command has been entered. The user is first prompted for the Spanish entry (a word, words, or a complete sentence). The user may then type up to 125 characters of text to define the Spanish entry. The ENTER key will then result in a prompt to enter the English word (or phrase or sentence). A final ENTER key will cause the new entry to go into the indicated data file, and onto the screen as a new line item. NOTE: NEW or Modified line items will be moved to the bottom of the screen. Use of the ESC (escape) key will back LinguaPro up so that if the user is in the process of entering the English definition and sees that an error has been made in the initial Spanish word, the ESC key will return control to the Spanish section. Alternatively, the user may simply continue, knowing that LinguaPro will provide a final opportunity to get the entries correct before they are committed. -51- All languages, particulary Spanish, require accent marks. Within LinguaPro, accent marks are entered by first typing the parent letter (a, e, i, o, u, n) and then pressing the ALT A key one or more times to cycle through the available choices (hold down the ALT key and press the A key at the same time). Thus the user may type the letter n (or N), and immediately press the ALT A key to get the §. Note that this same convention is used in the INTENSE modes of the Flashcard system when the user is prompted to type in a Spanish word! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter the SPANISH word(s) to be added: A 1 apparently \ al parecer A 2 to seem/appear/look like \ parecer A 3 the wall(of a room) \ la pared A 4 the pair;the couple \ la pareja B 5 the opinion/view;the look \ el parecer B 6 to resemble,to look like \ parecerse a B 7 good looking,well-favored \ bien parecido/a B 8 like/similar \ parecido/a -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 21. The NEW Command 9. "Pnn". The PURGE command is like the KILL command except that ALL words on the line are totally removed and discarded. The words are not archived into the KILLED.SPA file. Be careful with this command! 10. "Tnn". The TRANSFER command permits an entry (often more than one word) to be moved from one of the loaded data files to another. For example, if the user had loaded both LEVEL1.SPA and LEVEL2.SPA, then the letter A would be assigned to LEVEL1 and the letter B would be assigned to LEVEL2 (this can be checked by using F3 to bring up the FILE Assignment Screen as discussed in Appendix A.2.). The user can then shuttle words back and forth between the two data files. If only a single data file is loaded then the Transfer command is illegal. If exactly two data files have been loaded, the Transfer command will simply move the word(s) to the OTHER data file. If three or more data files have been loaded, however, then the user must specify the TARGET data file. Thus the syntax for transferring, say, line #3 to another data file would be: T3 or T3B or T3C .... -52- The first example is only valid for two data files. The second example would transfer the words INTO data file B, and the third example would transfer the third entry into data file C. Note that a word cannot be transferred within the same data file. The TRANSFER command is especially useful for users who would like to isolate specialized vocabulary items. For example, LEVEL1.SPA can be loaded. MEDICAL.SPA and BUSINESS.SPA can then be "loaded" as NEW (empty) vocabulary files (these will be marked as B and C, respectively). The user can then use the TRANSFER command to remove medical terminology from LEVEL1.SPA and insert it into MEDICAL.SPA. Similarly, business terminology can be transferred into BUSINESS.SPA. Note again, however, that NO change is permanently effective until the user employs the X command to terminate LinguaPro. ================================== NOTES ON INPUTTING/MODIFYING WORDS ================================== a. When inputting or modifying Spanish or English text, it has already been pointed out that the ALT-A key must be used to install the proper accent mark. Type the base letter (a, e, i, o, u, n) and immediately press ALT A. If the text already exists, position the cursor to the FOLLOWING letter and use the ALT A sequence. Nothing will happen if the cursor is on the letter itself. b. The HOME key will take the cursor to the beginning of the item. The END key will take the cursor to the end of the item. The left and right cursor keys (<- and ->) will move the cursor left and right within the line. c. The CTRL END combination (hold down the CTRL key and press the END key) will delete the current character through the end of the line. The CTRL HOME combination will delete the entire line. d. The INSERT (INS) key will toggle LinguaPro back and forth between INSERT mode and TYPEOVER mode. The bottom of the On-Line Dictionary Screen will display the word INSERT or the word TYPEOVER. e. LinguaPro utilizes a convention that preserves memory space by combining several related words and their definitions within a single line entry (remember that the program has a limit of 10,750 line entries). Individual words or phrases are set off by semicolons. Users are encouraged to follow this convention. For example, in Figure 20 lines 7 and 8 could equally well have been set up as a single composite line as follows: similar/alike/resembling;good looking \ parecido/a;bien parcido/a According to the convention employed by LinguaPro, "similar/alike/resembling" matches up with "parecido/a", and "good looking" matches up with "bien parecido/a". Notice also that slashes (/) are used to delimit closely related synonyms, that the word "to" is always prefixed to English verbs, that the word "the" always precedes English nouns, and that Spanish adjectival endings are usually shown as "o/a" to indicate the masculine and feminine endings. This method allows for more vocabulary information to be packed into memory, and also for ease of maintenance since closely related words are kept together. -53- 11. "V". The V command (VERB) is used to access the Verb Reference Facility. It is identical to the V command within the Flashcard Facility. The last search argument used in the Dictionary Facility is used to establish a starting point in the Verb Reference Facility. In other words, if the user had last typed "para", the Verb Reference Facility would position the user at the first verb that begins with the letters "para" (this might be the verb "parabolizar"). When the user exits the Verb Reference Facility by using the ESC key, control will be returned to the Dictionary Facility. The External File feature of the On-Line Dictionary Facility is very powerful. Appendix A.2 provides a full discussion of the F3 key (the FILE assignment screen) and the use of the EF command to allocate External Files. Remember that you can construct your own SENTENCE-Class files like UNIT1, UNIT2, etc. Please consult Appendix A.3 to find out how to accomplish this. VII. THE VERB REFERENCE FACILITY The VERB Reference Facility (VRF) is accessed by typing a V command in either the Flashcard or Dictionary Facilities. The initial position in the VRF depends on which Facility the user entered from. If the user entered from the Dictionary Facility, then the last inputted search string is used to pre- position to a verb. If the user entered from the Flashcard Facility, LinguaPro attempts to find a legitimate Spanish verb on the last displayed line and will position to that. If no verb can be identified, the VRF will position to the first verb in the database. In Figure 22, the VRF is positioned at the verb "suspender". Notice that the verb "suspender" is verb number 5343 out of the total of 5,781 verbs currently documented in the VRF. The conjugation information for this verb actually takes up 5 Screens (Page # 1 of 5). Notice that the conjugation shown on the Main Screen is a thumbnail sketch of the entire conjugation: Gerund, Past Participle, Present, Imperfect, Preterit, Future, Conditional, Present Subjunctive, Past Subjunctive, and Imperative. -54- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English What is the Spanish Verb? VERB: suspender Pattern: std VERB#: 5343 of 5781 PAGE#: 1 of 5 suspender: to suspend,to hang,to flunk suspendiendo suspendido suspend- -o -es -e -emos -Çis -en suspend- -°a -°as -°a -°amos -°ais -°an suspend- -° -iste -i¢ -imos -isteis -ieron suspender- -Ç -†s -† -emos -Çis -†n suspender- -°a -°as -°a -°amos -°ais -°an suspend- -a -as -a -amos -†is -an suspend- -iera/-iese -ieras/-ieses -iera/-iese -iÇramos/-iÇsemos -ierais/-ieseis -ieran/-iesen suspend- -- -e;no/-as -a -amos -ed;no/-†is -an -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 22. VERB Reference Facility (screen 1) Users can position to a different verb in one of two ways. If the user types in the first few letters (the more the better) of the desired verb and presses the ENTER key, LinguaPro will position to the first verb that begins with those characters. If no verb exists within the database that begins with those letters, then a beep will be sounded and the screen will not change. Alternatively, the user may utilize the left and right cursor control keys to step sequentially through the available verbs. If the left arrow (<-) is used, LinguaPro will go to the preceding verb. If the right arrow (->) is used, LinguaPro will go to the succeeding verb. The ENTER key alone will also step to the next verb in sequence. To go to the first verb in the VRF, the user could type the letter "a" and press the ENTER key. Similarly, to access the last verb in the VRF, the user could type the sequence "zz". NOTE: Unlike the Online Dictionary Facility (ODF) where text searches ignore accent marks, accents MUST be included when positioning to a verb. Accents can be entered in the usual manner (see the ODF section) by typing the letter and then pressing the ALT A key (several times if necessary to cycle through the available accent marks). You may type an a,e,i,o,u, or n and then hold down the ALT key while pressing the a (or A) key. Thus, to position to the verb "ta§er" you should at least enter the three characters "ta§". Similarly, to position to the verb "fre°r", you should specify at least "fre°". To see the expanded details of the conjugation, the user can employ the up and down arrow keys. The down arrow will cause the display of screens 2, 3, 4, and 5, successively. Pressing the down arrow again will cause the redisplay of screen 1. Similarly, pressing the up arrow key will cause the display of screen 5, and then 4, 3, 2, and 1. -55- HELP is available within the VRF by pressing the F1 key. Also, the F2 key will produce a blank screen. The F3 key may be used to achieve a "flashcarding" effect within the VRF. It will cause a verb to be randomly selected and displayed (and will preserve the screen page setting). This is an additional way of drilling on specific tenses for a very large number of verb forms. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English What is the Spanish Verb? VERB: suspender Pattern: std VERB#: 5343 of 5781 PAGE#: 2 of 5 suspender: to suspend,to hang,to flunk PRESENT suspend- -o -es -e -emos -Çis -en yo suspendo t£ suspendes Çl suspende nosotros suspendemos vosotros suspendÇis ellos suspenden IMPERFECT suspend- -°a -°as -°a -°amos -°ais -°an yo suspend°a t£ suspend°as Çl suspend°a nosotros suspend°amos vosotros suspend°ais ellos suspend°an -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 23. VERB Reference Facility (screen 2) The Pattern field displayed at the top of the VRF Screen shows the conjugation pattern that LinguaPro employs for that verb. A pattern of "std" indicates that the conjugation is totally regular except for possible ORTHO- GRAPHIC changes. The file VRBINDEX.SPA is designed to work in conjunction with the VRF. This special vocabulary file contains the same verbs and definitions that are documented within the VRF database. You can learn the verbs and definitions in the same way that you would use for any other vocabulary file. However, if you use the V command you are guaranteed to automatically enter the VRF and see the complete conjugation of the verb. -56- VIII. EXITING FROM LINGUAPRO/SPANISH If the user has not made any real changes to the loaded vocabulary files, then the ESC key (or possibly a repeated use of the ESC key) is sufficient to exit from LinguaPro. If changes have been made, however, then either a Caution or a Warning screen will appear to protect the user from the loss of data. The objective is to get the user to employ the X command to preserve all statistics and data changes. If the only changes made to the data files has been to flag some missed words in the Flashcard Facility (E command), then the yellow CAUTION screen (Figure 24) will show up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English C A U T I O N You have altered the statistics of the loaded vocabulary files by marking words that you have missed (E command). If you wish this information to be recorded, press ENTER and then use the X command. A LEVEL1.SPA #Entries: 4449 #Words: 7264 #Kills: 0 #Purges: 0 Press F10 Key to SKIP Updates (or any other key to CONTINUE) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 24. CAUTION Screen This screen will appear if the user has marked words as "incorrect" and has then tried to exit either by use of the ESC key or by use of the U command (UNLOAD). If the user really wishes to terminate the session and NOT preserve the error statistics, then the F10 key should be pressed. If the user wishes to save the statistical information then any key may be pressed to return to the Flashcard Facility and then the X command may be used to exit properly. If, however, the user has made more major changes to the working vocabulary files, then a red WARNING Screen will appear (Figure 25). This will happen if the user has performed KILLs (K command) within the Flashcard Facility, or performed KILLs (K), PURGEs (P), MODIFYs (M), TRANSFERs (T), or added NEW words (N) while within the Dictionary Facility. If the user does NOT wish to commit to the changes, then the F10 key should be pressed. If the user wishes to make the changes permanent, however, then any key should be pressed to return to the Flashcard Facility and then the X command should be used to exit properly. -57- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English !!! W A R N I N G !!! You have made substantial changes to the loaded vocabulary files by killing (K), purging (P), adding (N), or modifying (M) words. If you wish these changes to be recorded, press ENTER and then use the X command. A LEVEL1.SPA #Entries: 4449 #Words: 7263 #Kills: 1 #Purges: 0 Press F10 Key to SKIP Updates (or any other key to CONTINUE) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 25. WARNING Screen -58- APPENDIX A -- ADVANCED TOPICS A.1 Working with the KILLED File ---------------------------- The KILLED.SPA file will accumulate any items that you have "killed" in WORD-Class or SENTENCE-Class files. Thus, with time, it may become very large. It is a good idea to load the KILLED file as an Internal File from time to time for two reasons: 1. To ensure that the file is not getting so big that it will soon become unloadable as an Internal File. 2. To review the words that you have "killed" to make sure that they have been truly mastered. That is, use the flashcarding facility to drill on the words just as you would any ordinary vocabulary file. Remember that the KILLED file can always be referenced as an External File from the ODF no matter how big it is (see Appendix A.2). But there are advantages in never letting a file get so big that it is not potentially loadable. For one thing, only loaded files can be manipulated with the ODF. In case 1 there are two potential solutions: Solution 1: Load the KILLED file explicitly and "kill" any of its words that are too trivial for the student's stage of mastery. Solution 2: Use the DOS (or Windows) RENAME command to rename the KILLED file to something else, e.g., ARCHIVE1.SPA. In this case LinguaPro will start a brand-new KILLED file the next time a "kill" is performed. By continuing this process the user will always preserve all possible options. All words ever drilled upon will be accessible as External Files through the ODF. It is strongly recommended that students periodically drill on the KILLED file and use the standard flashcarding features to do so - the HONOR system and the INTENSE Modes. However, do not do a "kill" when the KILLED file is loaded because LinguaPro will automatically turn it into a "purge" (P command). Save the KILLED file in the normal way with the X command so that it can be reviewed later with its accumulating knowledge of your weaker words. Finally, periodically rename the KILLED file to form a series of archival files, e.g., ARCHIVE1, ARCHIVE2, etc. As discussed in the next section, these files can be automatically referenced as part of standard searches so that you will not have lost any information. -59- A.2 Using EXTERNAL Files -------------------- The material in this section relates exclusively to the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF). This section describes the use of the F3 key, the use of the EF command for assigning External Files, and the way in which External Files participate in searches. Remember that External File searches require disk I/O and that it is highly recommended that you set up a disk cache program before making heavy use of this capability. The EF (External File Command) has 3 basic modes: Mode 1: EF Mode 2: EF/ Mode 3: EF/3-5,KILLED,ARCHIVE1 Mode 1 simply involves typing an EF without anything further. This command drops ALL External Files. From that point onward, all ODF searches will be made with Internal Files only. Mode 2 RECALLS the previous non-blank EF command string so that you can EDIT (modify) your previous selection of External Files. The last non-blank command string is always saved in the system file LP.LIB for you. Once you have typed EF/ you may see an expanded line like: EF/3-5,KILLED,MEDICAL,QUIXOTE You may edit this string just like you would any word or sentence and press the ENTER key to commit the change. At this point, this new non-blank string will be stored in LP.LIB for use the next time you type EF/. Mode 3 simply specifies an entire External File string in one operation. Generally, users will find it more convenient to type EF/ first and simply edit the specification used previously. The syntax of the EF string is as follows: 1. All External File names are separated by commas and follow the EF/ header symbol. 2. You are not allowed to use file suffixes in the EF line. LinguaPro already knows that the suffixes will be .SPA (or .ENG or .GEN). 3. Internal files are always searched first. Then, External Files are searched in the order specified in the EF/ string. The one exception is that the KILLED file, if it is specified, is always searched first no matter what order was used to specify it! -60- 4. The abbreviation K may be used for the KILLED file. Similarly, the integers 1, 2, 3, ... 9 are interpreted to mean the files LEVEL1, LEVEL2, LEVEL3, ... LEVEL9. Also, you may denote a range of levels by using a syntax like: 3-5 (which means LEVEL3, LEVEL4, and LEVEL5). 5. You may not duplicate any file names. If a file is already loaded as an Internal File you may not also load it as an External File. Nor may the same External File be referenced twice. 6. File IDs are assigned as follows. First, if the KILLED file has been specified (by K or KILLED) then it will be assigned File ID K. Otherwise, all File IDs are assigned the letters L, M, N, etc. 7. Version 2.30 of LinguaPro/SPANISH supports up to 10 (TEN) External Files in an EF/ specification. If an External File specification is active (non-blank EF string), then line 3 of the screen will always show the EF string being utilized. Also, the F3 key may be used to see the file allocations explicitly. Students who wish to utilize LinguaPro as a large on-line dictionary for reading purposes should do the following. First, load as many of the files as possible as Internal Files, e.g., load LEVEL1 and LEVEL2. Then, assign the remaining levels as External Files by using the EF/ command in the ODF. Make sure to include the KILLED file (K) if it contains words that you wish searched. Finally, optimize system performance by using a disk caching program if possible. Assuming that LEVEL1 and LEVEL2 have been loaded, then a typical EF command would be: EF/K,3-5 When searches are made in the ODF, the file IDs will appear in Column 1 as shown, for example, in Figure 20. The Internal Files will have IDs of A, B, C, D, E, and F (if six files are loaded), and External Files will have IDs of K, L, M, N, O, .... Again, the K symbol will only appear if the KILLED file is loaded. The student may examine the current file allocations by using the F3 key in the ODF. This will bring up a screen as in Figure 26. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English INTERNAL FILES A LEVEL1.SPA #Entries: 4455 #Words/Sents: 4497 #Kills: 0 #Purges: 0 B LEVEL2.SPA #Entries: 3726 #Words/Sents: 3747 #Kills: 0 #Purges: 0 EXTERNAL FILES K KILLED.SPA #Entries: 15 #Words/Sents: 15 Last Modified: 9/23/93 L LEVEL3.SPA #Entries: 4048 #Words/Sents: 4061 Last Modified: 9/21/93 M LEVEL4.SPA #Entries: 3373 #Words/Sents: 3388 Last Modified: 9/21/93 N LEVEL5.SPA #Entries: 2173 #Words/Sents: 2178 Last Modified: 9/21/93 Press any key to EXIT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 26. FILE ALLOCATION SCREEN -61- A.3 Constructing new SENTENCE-Class Files (Build your own lessons) -------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 27 shows the second HELP page available within the ODF by pressing first the HELP key (F1), and then the PgDn key. In order to create a valid SENTENCE, at least one part-of-speech bracket must be created. A good example, drawn from the file UNIT3.SPA is the following: ®av[cu†nto] v[cuesta] n[un taxi] av[a la Embajada Americana]? av[how much] (does) n[a taxi] av[to the American Embassy] v[cost]? Notice that both the Spanish and the English sentences contain exactly the same 4 brackets (although in a different order) in accordance with the rules listed in the HELP Screen of Figure 27. For example, there are no more than 2 brackets of a single type, and that in the case of the doubled adverbial brackets (av[]), the relative ordering is preserved. If you use the ODF to create, or modify, a sentence form, you will be notified if you violate one of the rules. The next example shows that a "sentence" may consist of just a word - as long as it exhibits bracketing behavior. The word "the avenue" is technically part of a "sentence" because of the existence of the noun bracket (n[]). n[la avenida] n[the avenue] -62- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LinguaPro(TM) V2.30a - The Professional Language Assistant 100% Spanish->English All SENTENCES must contain at least 1 Bracket Type as follows: v[ ] verb NOTES: av[ ] adverb 1. If you have a long sentence that doesn't n[ ] noun quite fit the 125 character limit you may pn[ ] pronoun omit spaces after the closing brackets "]" aj[ ] adjective as well as after special characters like pp[ ] preposition ",", ".",")", etc. c[ ] conjunction 2. You may use brackets to delimit single words, i[ ] interjection or complete phrases, e.g., a noun phrase. RULES: 1. The number of brackets of each type must match EXACTLY between the Spanish and English components, e.g., if the Spanish component has 2 noun brackets then the English component must have 2 noun brackets. 2. The Spanish or English components of the SENTENCE must contain no more than 2 brackets of the same type, e.g., at most 2 verb brackets. 3. If two brackets of the same type occur in both the Spanish and the English components of the SENTENCE then the RELATIVE ORDERING must be the same, e.g., the first noun must correspond to the first noun. Press PgUP for General HELP Screen -- or any OTHER key to EXIT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Figure 27. HELP Screen for Sentence Construction It is important that WORD-Class files contain ONLY words, or ONLY sentences without the foregoing delimiter brackets. It is also important that SENTENCE-Class files contain ONLY sentences, or words with delimiter brackets. Such files are "pure" files because they contain only a single type of entity. All data files distributed with LinguaPro/SPANISH are "pure" files of one of the three principal types: WORD-Class, SENTENCE-Class, and VERB-Class. You may, however, deliberately create files of MIXED-Class as described in the next section, or load a mixture of WORD-Class and SENTENCE-Class files thus creating what is known as a Mixed Load. This is also discussed in the next section. A.4 Mixed Files and Mixed Loads --------------------------- LinguaPro/SPANISH will allow a data file to be of MIXED-Class, that is containing both WORD-Class and SENTENCE-Class elements. The flashcarding machinery will make appropriate choices on an item-by-item level. The only significant difference is that if you load a MIXED-Class data file, or if you create a Mixed Load by loading both pure WORD-Class and pure SENTENCE- Class files, then the File Loading Screens will treat the file (or files) as though everything was of WORD-Class. In other words, you will not see the initial screen allowing you to select particular parts of speech (Figure 4), nor the subsequent screen allowing you to select a sequential presentation order. The main benefit of mixed files is that they allow increased flexi- bility, when, for example, a translator might want to enter all interesting vocabulary and sentence examples from a specific literary work into a single data file that will be used for reference at some later date (e.g., as an External File). -63- APPENDIX B -- OPERATIONAL NOTES & PROBLEM SOLVING a. If you are making frequent changes to vocabulary files by performing KILLs, adding words, or modifying words, it is strongly recommended that you copy the various *.SPA (or *.ENG, *.GEN) files to a backup medium on a regular basis. Remember that when you save a file (the X command), the previous file is being overwritten. If you run out of disk space during the store operation, or if you suffer a power transient, then your file may be corrupted. b. If you are using LinguaPro in an environment in which you may be interrupted occasionally by people curious about what you are doing, remember that the F2 key will instantly give you a blank screen. Also, the Z command will shut off the musical sounds employed by the program. You will still get beeps, of course, if you type something incorrectly. c. If you inadvertently HOLD the ENTER key down for more than a few seconds while you are in the Flashcard System, your PC may hang. This problem has been observed occasionally on a few systems and can be prevented either by proper use of the ENTER key, or by disabling the sound effects with the Z command. d. If searches of External Files are taking too long, see about setting up a disk caching program like SMARTDRV (See Section 1.11). If you are already using a disk cache program, then see if you can increase the amount of cache space. -64- APPENDIX C -- SUGGESTED STUDY APPROACHES - When learning Vocabulary Items (and the UNIT lessons): a. Load a data file, e.g., LEVEL1.SPA or VRBINDEX.SPA (for vocabulary building) or UNIT3 (for sentence drill) and select group 1 only! When this group has been mastered, use the R command to RECYCLE and pick group 2 only! When this group has been mastered, use the R command again and pick groups 1-2 for review. Then do group 3, groups 1-3, group 4, etc. b. If you are an English-speaking person then first learn the various groups in the Spanish to English mode before attempting the reverse direction. Use the HONOR System (E command) in the initial learning stages to build up a rapid recognition capability. c. After you have a good comprehension of the words in the English to Spanish direction, activate the INTENSE modes (the I and II commands) to finalize your knowledge of the exact spelling (especially the genders and accent marks) and shades of meaning of the vocabulary items. d. Revert back to the HONOR System for achieving final mastery. Also, consider selecting a 50-50 mixture so that you are drilling all words in a bilingual fashion. - When learning Verb Items: a. Load TVERB1.SPA, select the Present Tense only, pick a single verb, turn off the 'vosotros' forms (unless you are immediately taking a trip to Spain), and be sure to indicate if you are a female speaker. Be sure to leave all subject pronouns enabled until you have thoroughly mastered them. b. Use the S command (SWITCH) to enter GRAMMATICAL mode. Set the mixture controls to display Spanish on the left. You should use grammatical mode until you are comfortable with the verb conjugation in that selected tense before switching back to NORMAL mode wherein the verb forms are presented in sentence form. c. Be sure to utilize the INTENSE modes to ensure that you have truly mastered the exact spellings (including accent marks) of the various conjugated forms!!! -65- APPENDIX D -- THINGS TO TRY - The verb capabilities of LinguaPro are quite extensive. Be sure that you load the file TVERB1.SPA (for example) and try the following: a. Use the << and >> mixture commands to select Spanish on the left or English on the left. b. Try the autoconjugating command (CC) to get the complete conjugations of the verb form interspersed with the generated sentences. c. Try the S command to SWITCH presentation modes to the GRAMMATICAL mode of presentation (while in this mode, also try the << and >> mixture control commands). d. Try the INTENSE modes (I and II commands) for reaching the final stage of mastery over Spanish verb forms. Remember that if you are using the Switched (Grammatical) mode, then you have to have English on the left-hand side before the I and II commands will be effective. e. Try the V command to get to the Verb Reference Facility (VRF). While in the VRF, try typing 'a ENTER', 'b ENTER', ... to position to the first verb beginning with the letter 'a', 'b', etc. Try the cursor control keys to select previous/successor verbs or to step up and down through the complete conjugation of the verb. - Load the file VRBINDEX.SPA and drill on the verbs as vocabulary items. Whenever a conjugation is in doubt, use the V command to enter the VRF. The complete conjugation of the selected verb will be immediately displayed. -66- APPENDIX E -- CONSTRUCTING ENGLISH VOCABULARY (AND GENERAL) FILES LinguaPro release 2.30a permits the user to utilize the power of the Flashcard and Dictionary facilities for English, and General categories. E.1 ENGLISH Vocabulary Files English vocabulary files are constructed simply by the user specifying the suffix ENG when entering a file name at the File Loading Screen. The English "words" take the part of the Spanish words in a SPA file. The definitions of the English words act in a similar manner to the English equivalents of Spanish words. This can be summarized as follows: English Vocabulary Item <-----> Spanish Vocabulary Item English Definition <-----> English equivalent of Spanish word Within the On-Line Dictionary Facility (ODF), English vocabulary words can be found by simply typing the first few letters of the word. The '#' sign prefix is then used to find desired keywords within the definitions of the English words. Similarly, when entering new English vocabulary words the ODF will first request the English vocabulary word and then its definition. E.2 General Question and Answer Files In addition to the SPA and ENG categories, LinguaPro supports a General category. General category files are marked by a suffix of GEN. These may be created by typing a file name such as HISTORY.GEN at the File Loading Screen. In this case the counterpart to a Spanish vocabulary item is a QUESTION, and the counterpart to the English definition is the ANSWER (to the question). Within the On-Line Dictionary Facility, QUESTIONs may be located by typing in the first few letters of any word forming part of the question. Locating ANSWERs is then performed by using the # sign prefix. The General Category item file provides a convenient way for users to build up lists of things to be memorized such as Medical terminology, court cases (Law), historical events, and so forth. INDEX <,<< Command (Less Spanish on the left) 28,32-34,36,39,44-46,65 >,>> Command (More Spanish on the left) 33-34,44-45,65 "nn" Command (Dictionary menu) 49 A command (Advance) 9,12-14,27,30-31,40,43 accent marks, applying see ALT A accent marks, ignored (Dictionary searches) 48 ALT A 32,35-36,46,51,54 Batting Average Statistics 27-28 .BIN files 4 Backups 63 Blank Screen use F2 (function key 2) C command (Conjugate) CC command (Continuous Conjugation) 43-44 Caution Screen 45,56 Clusters, Clustering Logic, Cluster Errors 9,12-14,16,19,27,30-31,40-41,43 Commands See Individual Commands Creating new vocabulary files See New Vocabulary Files Cursor Keys See Editing Operations D command (Dictionary) 31,40,44,47 Dictionary Facility See ODF (On-line Dictionary Facility) Disk Cache, using for External File Searches 7,16,59-60,63 E command (Error) 8-9,11,16,27-28,30-35,37-38,41,43,45-46,49,56,64 e>> See E command 27-28,30,32,38,40,41 Editing operations, typing in character data See ALT A key 35,36,52,59 EF Command 16,49-50,53,59,60 English vocabulary files 11,17,Appendix E.1 Error Counters See Q and QQ commands 28,30-31,33,43 Errors, signaling see E command see INTENSE mode ESC key See INTENSE mode 10,15,23,32-35,37,44,47,49-50,53,56 Expansion Sets 2-3,5,20 External Files (also see KILLED file) 2-4,6-8,10,16,18-19,48-50,53,58-60,63 Exiting See ESC key See X and XX commands F1 key (HELP) 10-11,17-18,23,30-31,34,49,55,61 F2 key (blank screen) 49,55,63 F3 key 3-4,49,51,53,55,59-60 F10 key 45,56 F command (Freeze) 9,12,31,40,43 Female Speaker 14,26,64 File Assignment Screen (via F3) 49,51,53 File IDs (Letters) 30,49-50,60 File Suffix (.SPA, .ENG., .GEN) 11,17-18,23,59,66 Flashcard (Sentences) 6,8,9-11,13-15,19,22-23,37-41,62 Flashcard (Verbs) 6,8-11,13-14,26,41-47 Flashcard (Vocabulary) 6-12,14-15,18-19,27-36,62 Foreign Service Institute, Basic Spanish Course 2,5,20,37 FROZEN mode See Cluster, A command, F command General (Question/Answer) Flashcard files 11,66 Grammatical Verb Presentation 3,6,14,41,44-47,64-65 Groups, Group Selection Screen 9,11-12,19,22,27,33,64 HELP see F1 key (function key 1) HONOR System 8-9,11-12,27-29,32,34-35,37-38,46,49,64 Hyphenated Definitions (INTENSE mode) 35 I and II commands (INTENSE) 27,32-36,41,44,46,65 INTENSE modes 3,8-11,14,27-41,44,46-47,58,64-65 Internal Files See Working Files K command (KILL) 2,7-10,12-14,16-19,30,32-34,44,50,56,58 k>> See K command KILL Feature See K command KILLED file See K command 6-8,12-14,18-19,32,50-51,58-59 L command (Load) 32,44 LEVEL1.SPA,... 2-3,5-6,8-9,11-12,14,16-19,27,34,37,48-49,51-52,60,64 Loading files 11,16-19,23,32-33,45,62,66 Lockup (computer) 63 LP.EXE 4,8 LP.LIB (Library file) 4,8,59 M command (Modify) 33,50,56 Memory Size 5,11-12,16-17,20,40 Mixed Files 62 Mixed Loads 62 Mixture Commands See <,<< and >,>> N command (New) 50-51 National Audiovisual Center See Foreign Service Institute New vocabulary files 17 On-Line Dictionary (ODF) 3-7,10-11,14-19,26,31,33-34,37,40,47-53,60,66 P command (Purge) 8-10,33-34,51,56,58 Part of Speech Selection Screen 21 Past Subjunctive See Subjunctive, Past Preterit Perfect 42 Pronoun Suppression (Subject) 14,26 Q and QQ commands (Quiet) 9,30-33,40,44 q>> See Q command R command (Recycle) 33,44,64 Retroactive Commands See E, K, and Q commands S command (Switch) 14,41,44-47,64-65 Searches (Dictionary) 6-7,10,14,16,18,40,48-50,53-54,58-60,63 SEMTEMCE-Class files, definition and use 3,7-9,11,13,17,19-21,23,37-41,47,58,62 SENTENCE-Class files, creating and modifying 3,4,49,53,61-62 Sequential order of presentation 21-22,39,62 SHAREWARE Version 4-5,12-13,15 Sounds Also see Z command (enabling/disabling) 16,28,33,45,63 .SPC files 23,25 SPA.BIN See .BIN files SPANISH.VRB File 4,15 Statistics See X and XX commands See Batting Averages See View Counters 7-8,12,15,27-28,30-31,33,44-45,47,49,56 Study methods 11,64 Subdefinitions 35 Subjunctive, Past 26 Suffices, file See File Suffix T command (Transfer) 51-52,56 Terminology 6-9 TVERB1,... 3,5-7,13,17,23-25,64-65 U command (Unload) 30,33,445,50,56 UNIT files 2-3,5-9,13,17,19-23,37-41,53,61,64 USORT.BIN See .BIN files Ustedes See YOU, Forms of V command (VRF -- go to Verb Reference) 6-7,10,15,26,40,53,55,65 VERB-Class files Verb Reference Facility (VRF) 3-4,6-7,10,15,33,40,45,53-55,65 View Counters 15,27 Vocabulary Files 3,5-7,11-12,15-16,18,34,37,66 Vosotros/as Forms 14,25,41-42,64 VRBINDEX.SPA 4,6-7,17,55,64-65 Warning Screen 15,56-57 WORD-Class files See Vocabulary Files Working Files See Internal Files 6,8-9,11,14 X and XX commands (Exit) 7-8,12,15,30,33,44,45,49,50,52,56,58,63 YOU, forms of 41,42 Z command (Sound on/off) 16,28,33,45,63