Training Presentation script
Background
 6 languages available through same page – same look & feel, functionality.
 ‘Top-end’ dictionaries. More functionality, examples including idiomatic and
colloquial language, grammar, pronunciation, lookup tools etc. Top names –
Hachette.
 Updates every 6 months
 Oxford Language Web – “offers an easy way to learn key vocabulary quickly
and to explore the relationships between different languages”.
Home page
1. Change language with one button, or language & direction via drop-down.
2. Search and Browse
3. Tools and Resources – (life & culture, grammar & vocabulary, writing & word
games, teaching & learning)
4. Keyboard palette – including Chinese & Russian (show)
5. (Word of the Day)
6. Recent examples – credit crunch, mileurista, écopastille (Fr), Komasaufen,
gouwukuang (Chinese)
7. Oxford Language Web – E, F, G, It, Sp, Russ, Ch, Port, Pol, Jap, Kor, Thai,
Arabic. 7,500 words. English word at centre, but browse by any language in
left column. Search ‘blog’ (loan words) email, milk
8. Spanish to English ‘fuero’ for note at the bottom & link to Guernica.
‘membrillo’ for link to quince & OR. French ‘loup blanc’ – doesn’t work in main
search, or headword search in more options. Need to use Key Fields.
Search
1. French, ‘café’ - character palette to add final é
2. Show search results. Select café from top of list.
3. Translations such as dark brown, coffee are presented in bold black. Other
information to help the user choose the correct translation (e.g. adj inv,
couleur) are in grey italic. Example phrases (such as café vert/torrifié =
unroasted/roasted coffee) are in grey bold and a slightly smaller font size.
Idioms are shown in a separate category at the end of the entry under the
heading Idioms (or its foreign language equivalent).
4. Demonstrate mouseover features. A) Hover over adj inv (at A) and nm (at B)
5. Hover over circle at the end of the idiom …that’s a bit steep for explanation
6. Spoken & written pronunciation (including full pron chart)
7. Outline/Full view (top-left) & on individual entries
8. Print, email, cite. Click on link to alter the URL in the address bar, which can
then be pasted into another web browser to access the same entry.
9. Language Web display
10. Tools & Resources via top-right or ‘more on this word’.
11. Left column - “Found café in 81 entries”. This shows where else your search
term has been found in case you have opened the wrong entry. Click on the
first result, pause-café to open up this entry.
12. Demonstrate the direct lookup feature by double-clicking on break (from
coffee break) and selecting Look up in English. This switches the dictionary to
English-French and presents a list of results. Select break and open entry.
Last update 24/03/2016
13. ‘Estate car’ on the break list. ORO link available from within every English
language entry on OLDO. Click on Find this word in ORO in the More on this
word box to the right of the screen. A new window will open.
14. Sp e.g.– ‘pesado’ – change to Browse, start to type in ‘chorizo’ – verb chorar.
Browsing the dictionary with the Word Wheel
1. Back in the entry for break, click on the Browse tab next to the Search tab to
the left of the screen. This presents the A-Z headword list of the dictionary in
the left-hand navigation panel that we call the Word Wheel.
2. Click on more to scroll upwards as if you were browsing through a printed
dictionary. Note that the compounds, such as breadbin, breadboard,
breadbox, breadwinner, are all indented.
3. Now switch to the other side of the dictionary by clicking on the “Switch
Language Direction” button with two arrows to the right of the box that says
English to French. You are now in the French-English dictionary again.
4. Demonstrate the realtime scrolling feature of the Word Wheel. Type in
Cannes quite slowly and watch the Word Wheel scroll automatically.
Tools and Resources
1. Life & Culture – phrasebook
2. Grammar & vocabulary – verb tables
3. Writing & word games – sample letters, quizzes & puzzles
4. Teaching and Learning – Dictionary Skills Resource Pack/lecture slides
(download takes time – open before!), Teaching Resources – lesson packs
Advanced Searching
English - Spanish
1. Searching for idiomatic expressions is easier using an online dictionary than a
printed one. “It’s the pot calling the kettle black”. In a print dictionary you
would not be sure whether to look up pot, kettle, or black. Type in pot kettle
black into the search box, Search in: Key Fields or Full Text. There’s only one
entry that matches and you are taken straight there with the relevant phrase
highlighted in yellow. Or “it was nothing to write home about”. In a print
dictionary you would not be sure whether to look up nothing, write, or home.
Type “nothing to write home about” into the search box in quotes and you are
taken straight to the correct entry with relevant phrase highlighted in yellow.
2. Show how the search filters can refine your search. You may need to click
“more search options” to display these filter boxes. Start with a blank search
box, select Full Text and part of speech: interjeccion, familiar, españa
French - English
1) Demonstrate the difference between the three types of search. Search for
fromage in Headwords (select Search In:Headwords). This shows all 12 entries
where fromage occurs in a headword including things like fromage maigre. Now
widen the search to Key Fields. This will show more entries (47) that include the
search term in a wider context, not just the headword, as you can see towards
the bottom of the page. Now search in Full Text. This will give you an even larger
number of entries (91), but now switch the language direction to English-French
and you will see all the English entries where fromage occurs as a translation.
2) See all the words in French that end in –ing and have been borrowed from
English. Type *ing into search box. – ‘relooking’
Last update 24/03/2016