Archive
Arabic character input tools in the LRC: MS-Maren and Fontboard-Arabic
“Lack of access to an Arabic keyboard or lack of familiarity with one are two of the most common problems preventing Arabic users from communicating in their own language. Microsoft Maren is a Windows extension that comes to the rescue, allowing you to type Arabic in Roman characters (Romanized Arabic, Arabizi, Arabish or Franco-Arabic) and have it converted on the fly to Arabic script. Maren integrates seamlessly with Windows and works in most Windows applications and websites.”. “Maren Transliteration enables the use of an English keyboard to spell out text in what is called ‘romanized’ Arabic. Maren Transliteration then shows the user options in Arabic script.”
The fontboard “Arabic keyboard created by Zsigri Gyula more closely resembles the sounds and shapes of the US English QWERTY keyboard.It is extremely helpful if you do not type in Arabic on a regular basis, and it is without a doubt more intuitive than the Arabic keyboards Microsoft provides.”
These tools can be downloaded from the links and are, if you use the LRC, accessible from the desktop: 
UNCC LRC Language Placement Test: Web-CAPE Online Placement Exam Step-by-Step
- “The Online Placement Exam is designed to help you determine the first course you should take, based on your ability. This multiple-choice [no speaking, listening or writing required] exam presents questions of different ability levels, adapting the next question’s level according to your answers. The number of questions you will be required to complete depends upon your ability to use the language. The duration of the test varies, but it usually takes 15-20 minutes to complete [but can be finished after only 4 questions, and we will give you up to an hour time to complete the exam]”.
- The proctored exam takes place in the LRC (COED434). The exam schedule is published in the LRC COED434 calendar. Read more on how to view the LRC calendar from within the new NINERMAIL.
- When taking the exam during the proctored session in the language center [do not take the exam on your own], to sign up for the test, you have to go to: https://www.aetip.com/student/RegisterStudent.cfm (note: the “s” behind “http” is required), this now forwards to:https://www.perpetualworks.com/secure/register/student/, for which sthe shortcut is: http://goo.gl/PBjhhS:
- First chose UNCC (Avoid the common error of choosing another University of the UNC system, you will not be able to take the test if you do):
- Then choose your language – note that UNCC only allows testing in French, German and Spanish.
- Fill out the other form fields with your information.
- Finally, you need one of these credit cards, and the proper billing info, to take the test:
- Next, you will have to enter your NINERNET student id number.
- The exam results will eventually go to your file. However, they will have to be post-processed by the department. Do not take the exam without coordinating with the Department of Language and Culture Studies, or else your exam results will get lost!
- Remember that you can repeat the placement test, even though the number of retries per languages is limited to two (your score will get invalidated after that!).
- Remember also that is not advisable to study for (let alone cheat during) a placement exam, or else you will get placed into a course that is not right for you.
How can I change the volume on my SANAKO headsets?
- Q: How can I change the volume on my headsets? Hear my own voice on the headsets? A:Use the Sanako Student Player 1. Volume Slider and 2. (for Sidetone = echo of your speaking) Headset Icon:
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- Q: Where is the Sanako Student Player? A: Show Sanako Student by clicking on the notification bar icon:
Speaking dictionary/pronunciation help, Part 1–the pedagogy
On the LRC PC’s, you can copy foreign language text to the clipboard (or with non-western languages to an MS-Word file) and have a wizard (right click, choose: “Read Clipboard”) pronounce for you, like so:
The following languages are supported:
| Language | Demo |
| American English | |
| French | Le Monde |
| German | |
| Italian | |
| Japanese | Japanese |
| Korean | |
| Portuguese (Brazilian) | |
| Russian | Gazetta |
| Spanish | El Pais@10:34 |
Note 1: In reality, the audio quality is smoother than in these demos which needed to be recorded over the network using MSTSC, because of Windows Media Encoder not being able to capture the special video overlay of the MS-Agent technology.
Note 2: Deskbot has problems understanding the Windows clipboard text encoding of some non-western languages. For these languages, instead of simple double-clicking the deskbot wizard to have him read out the clipboard (which would result in gibberish), paste your text into a MS-Word document and have deskbot read this document for you instead: Use the Deskbot option “Read Word document” (allowing Word to translate the character encoding into a format Deskbot can understand enough to aurally (even if not visually) display).
Listen to the Deskbot’s self-introduction when you log in to learn how to change the default language to the language you study.
You can also change other settings (in the LRC automatically limited to your current user session) by right-clicking the deskbot notification-area icon 
Or if you want to configure your own Windows XP computer to support foreign language text-to-speech, the procedure and settings we recommend are documented in Part 2.
Speaking dictionary/pronunciation help, Part 2 – The technology: Installation & configuration of the free Windows XP text-to-speech wizard
- MS-Speech synthesis which comes free with Windows XP is a mature technology which gets even better if combined with free downloadable voice/language combinations and a simple interface.
- Since 2005, I have set up the following text-to-speech environment in language learning centers, wherever I could: The pleasant, speedy interface and convenient integration into the computing productivity environment (Clipboard, Internet Explorer) seems to lead to higher usage than online speaking dictionaries. And the price is hard to beat (all components are free on Windows XP).
- The Deskbot pronunciation – most of my own testing has been for German and English, but I rely on the feedback of native speaking other teachers and tutors for other supported languages – is good on a word level . The prosody of sentence pronunciation leaves a lot to be desired, but is a start nevertheless.
- If you want to install the Deskbot Text-to-speech wizard for your users, or for your own testing and language learning, here are the steps and settings we recommend:
- Use these installers:
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Language TTS Engine Language Add-On American English tv_enua.exe already installed British English lhttseng.exe already installed Dutch lhttsdun.exe agtx0413.exe French lhttsfrf.exe agtx040C.exe German lhttsged.exe agtx0407.exe Italian lhttsiti.exe agtx0410.exe Japanese lhttsjpj.exe agtx0411.exe Korean lhttskok.exe agtx0412.exe Portuguese (Brazilian) lhttsptb.exe agtx0416.exe Russian lhttsrur.exe agtx0419.exe Spanish lhttsspe.exe agtx0C0A.exe - Move the Deskbot near the lower right corner notification bar to have it not clutter the user interface.
- Do not automatically read clipboard when changed
- Do NOT play animation sound effect: effects wear out quickly and become distracting or annoying.
- Default set to American male: or whatever in your shared environment is the language all learners understand .
- You have to click “set” to actually effect a change, and close the options dialogue.
- Set read random greeting at startup: in a shared computer setting, you can on startup.
- Have the Deskbot introduce himself with basic usage instructions: In order to have this feature self-advertise in the LRC, beyond my face-to-face-classes in the language center, I have the Deskbot read out an informational welcome message every time it starts up (you could use this feature also to have the Deskbot issue a random greeting in your target language).
- Show balloon – useful since words scroll in as spoken.
- In the Speech control panel, you can set the speed to slow – useful for language learners.
- MS Agent Options: TBA
- You can view the Deskbot install process in sequence as a screencast:
- Or you can view the configuration options screens with recommended settings in this screenshot gallery:
- For my own – and maybe your – reference, here is a raw screencast of the most recent installation and configuration of Deskbot multilingual text-to-speech engine for MS-Windows.
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time
content
0,00
Base install begin
2,50
Deskbot – including its installer – cannot handle the character encoding of some non-western languages that it speaks (Japanese, Korean, Russian). In order to have Deskbot speak these languages, you have to use the Deskbot option “Read Word document” (allowing Word to translate the character encoding into a format Deskbot can understand enough to aurally (even if not visually) display).
4,13
fine tuning for language learning purposes in deskbot options and speech control panel after install
6,09
“advanced character options”: set the speaking speed
Returning to the base installation of some more languages
8,04
more deskbot options
10,34
test of Spanish pronunciation with elpais.com
- In a computer lab environment with Faronics Deepfreeze and Symantecs Ghost imaging, you will also want to copy these settings to the Default user, and make sure that the deskbot startup items gets added to all users or HKLM registry hive (the interface does not allow for installing for all users).
Subtitling language learning exercises with Sanako Study 1200 Student
I love to work with target language subtitles in the media-rich environment of the Language Resource Center: Target language subtitles provide readily available transcripts of non-ephemeral, often authentic target language to base language learning exercises on.
More and more target language subtitles are included in newer editions of movies. In addition, projects that crowd-source subtitles for other video materials, have sprung up on the web also, e.g. http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/ . So if you just want the transcripts to build language learning exercises from, you have a variety of choices.
If however you think “Der Weg ist das Ziel” and the listening comprehension and writing activities in creating subtitles are valuable language learning exercises in themselves, the Sanako Student player comes with a subtitling mode:
In the following screencast I subtitle one of my own training screencasts (explaining how to access timestretched animated GIFs for practicing Chinese stroke order in the LRC environment) in a 3-step process: type along as fast as you can while listening to a first run of the screencast; listen to the screencast again and correct errors; finally, to adjust the timing of the subtitles (which the Sanako makes especially easy), listen to the screencast for a third time (talk about “massed presentation”).
Potential Moodle-compatible replacements for Wimba Voice
With the demise of Wimba Voice on campus, Languages and Culture Studies lost some of their online learning acitivities and are still looking for a replacement, perferably within Moodle.
I have looked through some options and would recommend the following applications for a test install:
1. NanoGong, free (as in kittens). More info here:
2. WebSwami, a language learning platform, not free, and can also record video, and do much more. More info here:
Sanako Study 1200
Study 1200 is the top of the line Sanako language learning product which comes in a number of lesser versions (Study 700, Study 500). You can get a feel for what this product does from this raw video from footage, shot during a vendor demonstration at EUROCALL 2009: Sanako-study-1200-version45-demo-eurocall.AVI. Or search this blog for other examples of using the Study 1200.
Questions? Read the About. Or just ask me a quick Our Databases: Resources with calendars -- Language learning material Moodle Sites, multimedia files -- films
FAQs for LRC student staff or for students or for teachers. To search our FAQs, in the browser addressbar, add after "https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/feed/?tag=faqs+/" "+TAG1" (from tag cloud below) OR "https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/feed/tag=faqs
&category_name=" "CAT1" (from category hierarchy below). OR search both categories and tags, and multiple TAGs/CATs (connect with "," for OR-search, with "+" for AND-search), like so: https://plagwitz.wordpress.com/feed/?tag=TAG1+TAG2+...TAGn&category_name=CAT1
+CAT2+...CATn"
Other ways to find help
If you cannot find it here, look there: 5,500 Language-Learning Links and Programs for learning or teaching 150 languages
Shortcuts:Our Lists, Our Maps, LRC Staff Moodle Site,LRC Project Moodle Site, 49erexpress, UNCC Moodle, Student Recordings: s:claslcslrcsanakostudent
Learning usage samples: Sanako oral exam, Kaltura webcam presentation, Dictation with speech recognition, Sanako written exam, Chinese and Japanese interactive stroke-order practice
Test the Sanako Installer, Webbrowser Popup Konfigurator for XP, or Windows7, faster LRC TeacherPC Log-in Let MS facilitate diacritics writing by installing for you US-International keyboard layout
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