1. Introduction
2. Typing Arabic into the application
5.
Searching for an Arabic word by its given form
6. Searching for an English word
8. Modifying the keyboard mapping
10. Donations
11. Version info
12. Frequently asked questions
This
document describes how to use the Effel Arabic Dictionary.
First, let me give you some background information. I started developing the
dictionary to speed up the process of reading Arabic texts. I find it quite
difficult to remember the meanings of even some common Arabic words. I guess I
need a lot more practice. Anyway, I have searched the web for useful
dictionaries, but I couldn't find anything that I really liked. There are a lot
of on-line translation services available, but most of them have one or more
shortcomings: they lack structure, they aren't voweled,
they use tiny fonts, and of course, they can only be accessed on-line.
So I
decided to build my own dictionary. I hope you find it useful. If you have any
questions after reading this help file, please feel free to contact me be
sending an e-mail to: ead@welokee.nl
2. Typing Arabic into the application
In order to
use the dictionary, you must know which keys to press to get the desired Arabic
character. The keyboard layout can be inspected by pressing F8 on the main
screen. At the left are the Arabic characters, on the right the equivalent
keyboard key is listed. I tried to make the mapping as intuitive as possible.
For example, the letter waa
is under the 'w' key, the letter faa is under the 'f' key, etc. But for some letters, there is no
obvious solution, like for the letter ayn (I chose the 'x' key for that one). Anyway, if you are
not satisfied with the choices I have made, you may change the keyboard mapping
by modifying the "alphabet.ini" file. Be careful not to use the same
input character twice. If you do that, the application will issue a warning at start-up,
and terminate immediately.
Most people
familiar with the Arabic language know that dictionaries are often ordered by
the root or stem of the words. For instance, the words maktab
(office) and kitaab (book) may both be found under
the root entry of kataba (to write). This dictionary
application also works that way (although a word may also be found by its
elongated form, but more about that later).
Each stem
consists of one or more entries, which are the actual words and their meanings.
An entry is
of a certain type, like a verb, a noun, or an adjective. The word type of an entry
is indicated by a colored circle between the Arab
word and its meaning. The coding is:
Blue : nouns
Red : verbs
White : adjectives
Yellow : prepositions
Dark green : sayings (combinations of words,
small sentences, etc)
Light green : other words
The entries
of a stem are ordered by word length, the shortest word appearing at the top of
the list. Exceptions are 'sayings', which always are at the bottom.
To find a
word by its stem, type the letters that make up the stem in the edit box on the
main screen (above, left). For example, to find the meaning of the word maktab, type 'ktb' in the edit.
As you type, the dictionary searches, giving you the results in the scrolling
area in the middle of the screen. If the system finds a stem beginning with the
letters you typed in the edit, the stem label is colored
black. If not, it will turn grey. I find this search mode very convenient, as
you can find the desired word quickly, by typing only a few letters. For
instance, if you are looking for the meaning of the word 'istiqlaal',
just type its stem 'ql' into the edit box and there
it is. Of course, this only works if you are familiar with the stem system and
if you know the stem of the word you are looking for, which for me certainly
isn't always the case.
5. Searching for an Arabic word by its given form
If you
don't know the stem of the word you're looking for, press F7 from the main
screen, and the Query screen will appear. Type the word as you found it into
the edit box and while you type, the system will search for matching entries.
To speed up the process, the system will start searching only after you have
typed at least two letters into the edit. Furthermore, the results aren't
displayed until you've narrowed your search down to less than 30 matching
entries. Press F7 again to toggle between English and Arabic search mode.
6. Searching for an English word
This is
also done in the Query mode. From the main screen, press F7. On
the Query screen, click on the 'English' radio button. Or press F7
again, which toggles between English and Arabic search mode. Then, type the English
word into the edit and watch the results appear. Like when searching for Arabic
words, the results aren't displayed until you've narrowed your search down to
less than 30 matching entries.
Pressing F1
from the main screen launches the Info screen. On the top left of this screen,
you can see how many words are currently in the dictionary. The Arabic language
has a large vocabulary, and each time I read an Arabic text, I come about words
that aren't yet in the dictionary. I am constantly adding words and I will try
to regularly upload a new version of the dictionary to my website.
8. Modifying the keyboard mapping
The
keyboard mapping defines which key you have to press to get certain Arabic
letters. These settings are defined in the alphabet.ini
file. If you are not satisfied with the default keyboard mapping, you can
define your own, by modifying this file in a text editor like Notepad. Be
careful not to use the same input character twice. If you do that, the
application will issue a warning at start-up, and terminate immediately.
Found any
bugs? Strange error messages? I'm constantly trying to
improve the application, so I'm interested in any remarks you may have about
it. Send it all to: ead@welokee.nl
I built the
dictionary because I needed such a tool for my own study of the Arabic language.
I’m offering it for anyone to use freely, because I believe in free software
and also because I encourage anyone to study the beautiful Arabic language. By
making a donation you can thank me for developing the dictionary and help me
improve it further. If you would like to donate, please go to the “Downloads”
page and click the ‘Make a donation’ button. Thank you!
3.28:
Fixed
font-specific bug on grammar pages; Added 'Numbers'
page on grammar (not quite finished with it yet).
3.30:
Added preliminary version of Verb conjugator.
Implemented pageup/down scroll of LetterInfo. More work done on conjugator.
4.0:
Miscellaneous minor improvements.
12. Frequently asked questions
Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions.
Q: Why do you use keyboard functions instead of
menu's and buttons on the screens?
A: First of all, I tried to use as few windows widgets as possible on the main screen. That way, I can use the screen space to display the dictionary content, which is what the program is all about. Furthermore, I think this application can do without menu functions, because it is a very simple application; just use it for a few minutes and you will have learned all the keyboard functions by heart.
Q: The key F8 brings a
screen showing the correspondence between English and Arabic characters. Is
there any way to print the contents of this screen?
A: There is no direct way to print the contents of this screen. However, what you can do is print the alphabet.ini file, which is a plain text file. This file contains the actual settings (which even may be modified, if you would like to do so). The file is located in the directory '\EAD'.
Q: Why isn't there an
'Add word' button, so I can add my own words to the dictionary?
A: Of
course I could add the possibility to add words to the dictionary, but I have
decided not to. Of course, I use an extended version of the program which does
allow me to add words. The interface is however not very user-friendly
(keyboard-only commands), so I’m reluctant to let anyone else use it.
Furthermore, if you add your own words to the dictionary, you would no longer
be able to profit from new versions of the dictionary, because if you download
a new version, you overwrite the existing one on your hard disk.
Q: Can I put the
application on my own website?
A: Yes you can. However, I would strongly recommend putting
up a link to my own website instead of copying the download file. When you use
a link, users will always have access to the latest version of the application
and the dictionary. If you have a website that has anything to do with the
arabic language, or the arabic culture in general, please let me know. I would be happy to put a link to it
on my own site.
Q: How can I express my gratitude?
A: By
making a donation! All help is welcome. If you would like to make a small
financial contribution, please go to the Downloads page and click the ‘Make a
donation’ button.
Frits Broekhuis
…