British English pronounciation
COLLINS Italian <-> English Talking Dictionary
Practice and perfect your pronunciation with the help of professionals.
This software will be helpful for anyone who needs to use a foreign language - students from beginner to advanced level, as well as professional and business users who need it at work. Now you can have the highest quality bilingual dictionary always to hand. The dictionary comes with a set of tools for speedy and accurate translation of any text on your computer. The Talking Dictionaries include electronic versions of Collins bilingual dictionaries and digital sound bases for all headwords. The dictionary has over 80,000 words and phrases and more than 120,000 translations.
The electronic versions of the dictionaries have the same content as their paper counterparts, but are much easier to use. All short forms and abbreviations used in the dictionary are explained in full in the pop-up prompts when the cursor is positioned on them. All the headwords in the dictionary are spoken by professional native speakers. This enables you not only to see the meaning of a word but also to listen to all the correct pronunciations of the word and even to practice your own pronunciation with the help of the AudioPad. The dictionaries are fully cross-referenced, i.e. by clicking on any word in the translation section you can see the definition or back translation of this word and then easily revert to the original translation section. It also includes a quick search facility. To find a particular word you only need to start typing the word in the quick search field. As each new letter is entered the program automatically looks for the first most likely word and this will appear in the dictionary area. This allows you to find the required word quickly from the first few letters without having to enter the whole word.
The dictionaries can be used for the translation of individual words or of texts of any size. The program enables you to copy data via the Clipboard as well as by a drag-and-drop operation. If the text contains only one word it will be placed in the quick search field. If the text contains more than one word all the words will be placed in a special text window (the TextPad) which opens automatically. To move within the text, you can use the scroll bar and choose the required word by clicking on it or by pressing a key. The selected word is placed in the quick search field which enables you to edit the word and search for its different forms. You can search for the word in either section of the dictionary, which is especially useful when you have texts containing different languages.
Additional facilities are provided by the MemoPad, in which you can enter any word from the dictionaries and use it as a bookmark to quickly switch to a required word. Also any chosen set of words can be transferred to the Shooting Gallery directly from the dictionary in order to practice the spelling or it can be saved as a separate file for further use in the dictionary or Shooting Gallery.
Features:
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Vocabulary Exercises
The Shooting Gallery and Crosswords are a unique system of exercises to help you learn new words using the Talking Dictionaries as a database. You must guess the words from the dictionary you have selected using the translations as clues. Words are chosen from the dictionary at random, and the sets of words in the Shooting Gallery and crosswords are never repeated. You can gradually build up your vocabulary using sets of 500 / 1,000 / 1,500 / 2,000 / 2,500 / 3,000 most common words. In addition you can use the MemoPads you have set up in the dictionaries and learn only those words which are most important for you. By doing these exercises you can use the AudioPad to practise your pronunciation of new foreign words.
A dynamic exercise, the Shooting Gallery teaches you how to spell words quickly and correctly. In this exercise the aim is not only to recognize a word from the various translations displayed on the Shooting Gallery blackboard, but also to type it whilst the target is moving across the screen. This exercise develops spelling skills and the ability to find the appropriate word in any situation. In addition this exercise will teach you how to use the keyboard efficiently.
The entertaining crosswords help you to learn an enormous number of new words along with all their different meanings. There are several levels of difficulty, which make the exercises interesting and effective for both beginners and more advanced language users. The competition mode allows the same set of words to be generated for an exercise on any number of computers and records who guesses the most words in the shortest period of time. A personal record is kept for each student which shows all words used, and the results are displayed in the form of colored block graphs.
You can do these exercises in a group of students (a group can consist of 1 to 12 people). The list of students is sorted numerically by score. Opposite each name on the list there is a pictogram with a face whose expression indicates the current position of the student. Thus the learning process becomes a competition in which every student tries to get as high a score as possible to come top of the list.
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AudioPad
This module is designed to teach correct pronunciation. With the help of the AudioPad you can listen to original speech spoken by a professional native speaker and also record and listen to your own speech. In addition, each sound fragment is graphically displayed which makes practicing more vivid. A unique feature of the AudioPad is that it has two modes: Mixed Playback and Full Duplex Recording.
The Mixed (synchronous) Playback mode enables you to listen to your own recorded speech at the same time as the speech of the native speaker. This enables you to hear where your pronunciation differs from the original. The Full Duplex (synchronous) Recording mode allows you to record your own speech at the same time as the native speaker pronunciation is being played back. This enables you to imitate all the nuances of the pronunciation with the utmost precision.
