Your Choice 3/Your Choice Software Collection 3.iso/dos/spanish/manual.doc

Text File | 1994-09-26 | 25KB | 465 lines

  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │                                                                          │
  │***************   SPANISH HELPER (TM) Level One v.1.0    **************** │
  │     ****************           BY            *******************         │
  │         BRAD BLANCHARD         AND           SERGIO GONZALEZ             │
  │                                                                          │
  │       Copyright 1993 G.B. Blanchard and S. González, All rights reserved │
  │                                                                          │
  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
            _______
     ____|__     |                (R)     │     MEMBER: ESC
  --|       |    |-------------------     │       (Educational
    |   ____|__  |  Association of        │          Software
    |  |       |_|  Shareware             │            Cooperative)
    |__|   o   |    Professionals         │
  -----|   |   |---------------------     │
       |___|___|    MEMBER                │

 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════


     This document replaces any sort of manual or help system that you might
  expect to find. Spanish Helper has been designed with the computer novice
  in mind, so there is no need for extensive instructions on the use of the
  program. It is also a text based program with low memory requirements,
  and will run on any IBM compatible computer--no matter how old it may
  be--provided it has a hard disk.

      Spanish Helper Level One is the first of a three level program. The
  first level is Shareware which must be registered and is based upon the
  1,000 most common words in the Spanish language. Spanish Helper Level Two
  is not Shareware, but may be purchased for the same price as the regi-
  stration for Level One, and is based on the 2,000 most common words in the
  language. Spanish Helper Level Three meets the above mentioned conditions
  and as you might expect, is based on the 3,000 most common words. So, to
  sum up, with the three levels which you can consider as beginning, inter-
  mediate and advanced, you have a chance to learn and practice the whole
  spectrum of the Spanish language. Each level is completely different in
  content from the others. Just to give you an idea: Level One has special
  sections for Ser y Estar, Level Two  devotes time to commands (the
  imperative), and Level Three lets you practice the subjunctive a lot.

      The one file which you won't find on the Shareware version is
  CHISTES.EXE. It is a free program which  has 101 Spanish jokes, and
  their translations. It's a fun way to take in the language: learn while
  laughing. When you register your program, you will receive a disk with
  the latest version of Spanish Helper (with no registration reminder
  screens), and the great program of jokes. Why wait?

      What is Spanish Helper? Well, first off, let's look at the name. It's
  called Spanish HELPER, and not Spanish TEACHER, right? This is because one
  of the beloved authors of this program has been teaching English and
  Spanish for many years now, and has realized that the only way to really
  learn a second language is to 1) have a good, interactive class, and
  then 2) practice the language you are trying to learn until you are tired
  of it, preferably in a country where it is spoken. Do these two things (and
  if possible, get a native boyfriend or girlfriend to help you conjugate the
 verbs at night), and after much toil you will learn the language. It's that
  simple! Spanish Helper will help you to find that person, and keep you
  company until he/she shows up!

      Meanwhile, there are many other things that you can do which will
  aid you in your struggle. You keep vocabulary lists, try to read books
  and newspapers, write compositions and have them corrected, listen to
  TV and radio, etc. All of these isolated activities are the mortar
  that holds the building up when it is finished. And now you also have
  Spanish Helper to aid you on the way.

   ┌────────────────────────┐
   │ INSTALLING THE PROGRAM │
   └────────────────────────┘

      Spanish Helper comes with its own installation program. Just type
  'install' (without the quotes) and follow the instructions. The install
  program will install the program to your hard disk.

      If for some reason you want to use the program on a floppy disk,
  the write-protection tab must be left OPEN FOR WRITING! (This means that
  on 3 1/2 " disks, you can't see through the hole in the corner, and that
  on 5 1/4 ", the little side slot isn't covered). You'll need about 600 Kb
  of disk space.

      That said, you can use Spanish Helper on a floppy, but just like any
  other computer program, it will be oh so much faster on the hard disk.
  And besides, if you start making your own personal lists, the floppy will
  eventually become full and refuse to work properly. Copy it to your hard
  disk, por favor.


     In either case, from the prompt type 'span' or 'go' (without the quotes)
  and you will get to answer two questions about your computer, after which
  you will see a menu. From this point on, it's simply a point of following
  the menus and choosing what you want to do. You can press ESC any time you
  want to quit.

      If you do not have ' ñ ' on your keyboard (poor you!) and you answered
  'no' to the second question that pops up at the beginning, Spanish Helper
  is kind enough to take pity on the underprivileged and supply them with
  one. If you don't have the ' ñ ', chances are that it's difficult to put
  accents on the vowels too, so your function keys (the ones usually at the
  top of the keyboard) take on the following roles: F4 = á  F5 = é  F6 = í
  F7 = ó F8 = ú, and F9 will give you the poor mistreated ' ñ ' (you'll see
  them  listed on the screen). Also, 'ü'--though sometimes forgotten
  about--is also one of the Spanish letters in a few words (like 'bilingüe')
  so you will be able to type this letter in using F10. If you like to type
  using capital letters, and you use these keys, the letters will be printed
  in small case on screen but your answer will be considered correct.

  ┌────────┐
  │ MENUS  │
  └────────┘
      The exercise options in the Main Menu should be self-explanatory.
  However, some of the other options may need some additional explanation:

      Use Personal Lists (Main Menu, option J)
      ────────────────────────────────────────

      This is where you can practice the vocabulary that you have entered
  yourself from the Create New Personal List option in the Information,
  Setup and Personal List menu (see below). When you create the list, you
  must enter a minimum of 25 questions for the program to work. You will
  be reminded of this fact on screen if you try to use an option with less.

      The Personal Lists are one of the best features of the Spanish
  Helper programs. Use your imagination in creating them. For example, if
  you are a student, make a list of vocabulary for next week's exam. If you
  are a doctor who gets Spanish-speaking patients, make a list with the
  vocabulary you'll most often need to use, and so on.

      Information, Setup and Personal Lists (Main Menu, option K)
      ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

      The first option <<Create Personal List>> is the starting point for
  making your own lists. Position the bar over one of the options (1 to 6)
  and press Enter. You will be asked if you want to make a list for Multiple
  Choice type questions or Fill-in questions. Then you give your list a name.
  Call it anything you want, but it's a good idea to include an 'F' or a
  'MC' somewhere in the name so that in the future you will know what kind
  of exercise you will be doing. For example, if you are making a personal
  list of new verbs for Fill-in questions, call it 'Nverbs_F', or if it is
  to be a Multiple Choice list call it 'Nverbs_MC'. After that you will be
  taken to a new screen where you make the list. A word of caution about
  writing your Fill-in questions: if your question spills over into the
  second line, the word will NOT be separated or hyphenated on the screen
  until you FINISH the question. You'll be able to live with this after doing
  it a couple of times.  And here's a trick for Fill-in questions with more
  than one option: suppose you are entering a word in your personal list and
  you know there is more than one correct answer, but you just can't think of
  it at the time. Well, enter a blank space and you can go back later and
  fill it in with the modify option (read on).  Remember, YOU MUST ADD AT
  LEAST 25 QUESTIONS FOR THE PROGRAM TO WORK. If you don't, you will see a
  beautiful screen reminding you of this fact and also that you should read
  this manual when you try to use it.  You don't have to do all 25 at once
  though. Write ten now, and then go back using the following option
  described immediately below:

      The second option <<Add to Personal List>> does just what it says, and
  lets you add more questions. The operations of the editing screen are
  identical to those described above in the Create Personal List section.
  You can enter a total of 1,500 questions in your personal lists. If you
  enter more, they will be ignored, but are you really going to more than
  a total of 9,000 questions in the six Personal list options?

      The third option, <<Modify Personal List>> will let you edit the
  information in the lists you have already made, eliminate typos, change
  an answer, etc. Remember, here you CANNOT add another NEW option to your
  Fill-in questions; you can only modify the information you have already
  entered. If you want to add or delete a correct answer option, you'll
  have to erase the entire question with F1, and then later use option
  number 2 (Add to Personal List) to rewrite the question correctly. All
  of the other keyboard options are explained on the screen.

      The fourth option, <<Setup>>, is fun, interesting and useful.
  Its functions are the following: In the first two options you can either
  set permanently or change whether you have a color or monochrome screen
  and whether you have 'ñ' and accents on your keyboard or not. In 3 and 4
  you can set the time that you would like for both multiple choice and
  fill-in questions (anywhere between 5 and 55 seconds--we know some of you
  would like 3 minutes on each question, but we aren't going to let you get
  away with it!). With number 5, you can turn off the sound if you want to.
  Number 6 will let you choose a different background screen color if you
  aren't satisfied with the beautiful blue that Spanish Helper provides.
  (The monochromers out there will be able to choose between black and grey!)
  You change the color by pressing the arrow keys <- or -> . If you make a
  mistake anywhere in the process, answer 'No' to 'Is everything correct'
  and you can start over. Remember that you can change any part of this
  configuration at any time.

      The fifth option, <<Read Manual>>, is what you are probably
  using to read this document. That's what it does.

      The sixth option, <<Print Manual>>, will print this document for you.
  It will print out 7 or 8 pages.

      The seventh will allow you to read the order.doc on the screen.

      The eighth will <<Print the order.doc>> so that you can order hundreds
  of copies of Spanish Helper for all your friends and family.

       Number nine does just what it says, it returns you to the main menu.

      You are given 25 questions each time you decide to do some exercises,
  whether you use your own lists or those provided with Spanish Helper. If
  you only enter 25 questions in your own lists, you will obviously see the
  same questions every time in spite of the fact that the questions are
  randomly selected. In the lists that come with Spanish Helper, there are
  over 1,000 different questions in many sections, you can do the same
  section several times, and although you may see some questions repeated,
  it will be a different exercise every time. Remember, you can enter up to
  1,500 questions in your personal lists.


   ┌────────────────────────────────┐
   │ BUT WHAT AM I GOING TO LEARN?? │
   └────────────────────────────────┘

      Did you know that in North America the machine that people ride in to
  go between different floors of tall buildings is called an 'elevator',
  while in the British Isles they insist on calling the same machine a
  'lift'? And  in lots of Spanish speaking countries the four-wheeled
  machine with a motor we drive around in is called a 'coche', but in
  Mexico they usually call it a 'carro'?

      Point to be inferred: a program like this cannot take every national
  and regional difference into account. What it does do is to try to take an
  international point of view. If there is more than one international form
  of a given word, the Spanish (meaning 'from Spain') form is given, although
  once again, an attempt to avoid regionalisms has been made. If your
  teacher who comes from, for example, Mexico tells you, " NO, the word pen
  is not a 'bolígrafo', it is a 'pluma', please don't lose faith in your dear
  old faithful Spanish Helper (or in your teacher)--the pen really is called
  a 'bolígrafo' in lots of places. If you do run into this situation, the
  best thing to do is to take note of the different names for the same thing
  and thereby expand your vocabulary.

      The program includes practice of the 'vosotros' form, which is
  generally only used in Spain. We have decided to include it because anyone
  who really wants to become fluent in Spanish will eventually need to know
  it. We realize that some Spanish textbooks in North America unfortunately
  don't even include the form. This is their deficiency which we do not
  wish to repeat.

   ┌───────────────┐
   │ NO SEXISM !!  │
   └───────────────┘

      Before we get into the mechanical details and hints, we want you to
  realize that for purely practical reasons, the masculine singular form of
  adjectives is considered to be the 'root' form. From this root form, the
  feminine and plural forms are derived. This means that if your fill-in
  question asks you to translate 'pretty', 'bonita', 'bonitos' and 'bonitas'
  will not be considered correct because Spanish Helper is looking for the
  root form. We stated that this is a historical fact of the Spanish language
  for purely practical purposes. For example, if dictionaries had to include
  all four forms for the adjectives, they would weigh hundreds of pounds and
  no one would buy them! Look in any Spanish-English dictionary. None will
  include bonito, bonita, bonitos, bonitas. Spanish Helper merely respects
  this practical tradition.




   ┌──────────────────────┐
   │ SOME PRACTICAL NOTES │
   └──────────────────────┘

      Since you have to type in a number to answer the multiple choice
  questions, people have found that the most comfortable way, and the best
  way to avoid making typing mistakes, is to do one of the two following
  things: if you are an accountant and love the numeric keyboard, you should
  probably use it. If you do not feel comfortable with the numeric keyboard,
  one of the best systems is to keep your four fingers poised over the
  1,2,3,4 keys and answer accordingly. You can go a lot faster, and you avoid
  typos this way.

      Depending on your level of knowledge, you may or may not find the
  multiple choice questions easy. If you think you are a whiz because you
  get them all right, just wait until you get to the fill-in questions. It's
  a different story there. A good general study plan is to go over the
  multiple choice section until you feel fairly confident, and then move on
  to the corresponding fill-in section.

      In the fill-in questions: yes, it is possible that you type in an
  answer that is correct and Spanish Helper insists that it is wrong. Keep
  in mind that great care has been taken in the correction to include as many
  correct choices as possible, but your Spanish Helper is only human--and can
  make an error by omission. It is extremely difficult to foresee all
  possible translations of a word or phrase in all possible contexts.
  However, this paragraph applies only to an occasional exception. If you
  are really trying to learn Spanish, assume that you are being corrected
  correctly and investigate to find out the error of your ways. That's the
  only way you are going to learn.

   ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
   │ Spanish Helper---LEVELS 1, 2, 3. │
   └──────────────────────────────────┘

       In LEVEL ONE, the 1,000 most common words in the language are used, in
  LEVEL TWO, the 2,000 most common words, and as you may expect, LEVEL THREE
  uses the 3,000 most common words. This is not bad considering that
  linguistic studies indicate that the majority of native speakers of any
  language only use 700 or 800 words most of the time.

      In LEVEL ONE, the verb practice consists of practice in simple present,
  the preterite (simple past), the 'ir a + infinitive' future combined with
  the present progressive, and the present perfect. You also have on Level
  One a section to practice the mystical differences between SER and ESTAR,
  as well as everyone's favorite, the prepositions. When you register, you
  also receive for free the program CHISTES.EXE, a great collection of 101
  Spanish jokes with their translations.

      In LEVEL TWO, the verbs tenses include in addition to the tenses listed
  for Level One, the imperfect, the future and the conditional. Notice too,
  that  the verbs in Level Two are new; with few exceptions of common verbs,
  they were not presented in Level One. You get a chance to practice the new
  verbs in the present, preterite, 'ir + a' future and the present progressive
  as you do in Level One, as well as in the new tenses. Also in Level Two, in
  addition to the standard verb practice, there is a section devoted
  exclusively to commands (the imperative). When you buy Level Two, you also
  receive for free CHISTES2.EXE , a collection of another 102 Spanish jokes
  with their translations.

      LEVEL THREE has a general review of all tenses (once again using almost
  all new verbs) but its big point as far as verbs are concerned is here you
  get a lot of practice in the subjunctive, both present and past forms. The
  verbs used for the subjunctive are a cross-section of all the verbs
  presented in levels One, Two and Three. You also get a section of common
  fixed expressions and sayings. When you buy Level Three, you also
  receive for free CHISTES3.EXE , a collection of another 103 Spanish jokes
  with their translations. If you learn all 306 jokes in the three levels,
  you'll know so much Spanish that you'll never have to study again!

      Each level is larger than the previous level because of the inclusion
  of new verb tenses, and at the same you can practice the new  verbs using
  the tenses offered in the previous level.

      And I suppose it goes without saying that the vocabulary in each level
  is different from the previous level, so you won't be doing the same thing
  over and over. The overall thrust of the three levels is to give you the
  most common vocabulary at the beginning and move on to more refined lexical
  structures as the level increases.

   ┌────────────────────────┐
   │ OTHER SPANISH PROGRAMS │
   └────────────────────────┘

     At this very moment, slowly stewing on the back burner are the
  technical language programs where those of you with special interests
  (e.g., Law, Medicine, Business, etc.) will be able to perfect your
  knowledge. We decided to leave these programs for last because your
  Spanish should be fairly good before you try to sit down and study this
  kind of topic. So there, you can perfect your Spanish with the Spanish
  Helper while you are waiting for these to become available. We'll be happy
  to answer any inquiries about these programs, or receive  suggestions
  about other programs you would like to see.

   ┌───────────────────────┐
   │ ORDERS, PRICES, ETC.  │
   └───────────────────────┘

     Please use the options from within Spanish Helper to either print out
  or read the ORDER.DOC for a complete price list and ordering information.
  This information is also available if you answer 'Yes' (Y) to the question
  at the end of the program asking if you would like to read the licensing
  information, or use option 7 from the Information, Configuration, Personal
  Lists menu from within Spanish Helper.






  ┌──────────────┐
  │ Registering  │
  └──────────────┘

    Contact one of the registration sites listed at the end of this document.
  They will ask you you your personal information and method of payment (if
  you register by phone) and then will send you a copy of the latest version
  of Spanish Helper, a copy of the manual for the registered version, and
  also the free jokes program. Remember, you can order all three levels if
  you wish. Your new registered copy will first ask you to enter your name
  and the registration number which the agent has given you, there will be
  a slight pause, and then your copy will be registered and the messages
  telling you to register your copy, and the last screen  with the "You have
  used this program XX times", etc. will disappear forever. You will also
  then be able to see the instructive jokes in CHISTES.EXE.









   To register your copy or place orders in the US, please contact:

              ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
              │       Pik A Program                             │
              │       13 Saint Marks Place                      │
              │       New York, New York  10003                 │
              │                                                 │
              │       TOLL FREE (ORDERS ONLY):  1-800-445-3346  │
              │       Telephone :  [phone]               │
              │       FAX       :  [phone]               │
              │       Compuserve:  73730,2117                   │
              │       Internet  :  [e-mail]    │
              │                                                 │
              └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                  * See order.doc for current prices!







   To register your copy or place orders in Europe, please contact:

              ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
              │       Survey Design Associates Ltd. (SDA)       │
              │       5A Waldegrave Gardens                     │
              │       Twickenhan, Middx.                        │
              │       TW1 4PQ       United Kingdom              │
              │                                                 │
              │       TEL       : [phone]                  │
              │       FAX       : [phone]                  │
              │       Compuserve: 71333,3122                    │
              │       Internet  : 71333,[e-mail]     │
              │                                                 │
              └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                  * See order.doc for current prices!







   For any other question, comment or suggestion please contact:

              ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
              │        G.B. Blanchard                                │
              │        Aptdo. de Correos 555                         │
              │        29680 Estepona, Malaga                        │
              │                        Spain                         │
              │                                                      │
              │        FAX       : [phone] (Spain) (24 hours)  │
              │        Compuserve: 100256,3110                       │
              │        Internet  : [e-mail]        │
              │        FidoNet   : 2:345/207.29                      │
              │                                                      │
              └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

                     ¡Hasta luego, y buena suerte!


                 ******************FIN***********************
          *********************************************************