QuickDic Version 7.5
Contents
Miscellaneous
Setup
Translating an expression
Personal dictionary
Lessons
Icons and menu commands
Play on words
Appendix
About QuickDic
QuickDic is a simple-to-use German English
and English German dictionary designed to help you find an acceptable translation for a
specific term.
At the moment the database contains more than 325,000 expressions in each language which are
either based on various sources from the Internet or were entered by myself and other volunteers.
The program is available in two editions, a download edition, and a CD edition
which are identical in content. Contrary to the download edition the CD edition
provides a setup program which takes care of the steps described in
Program setup and
Create database and list of words.
I want to thank everyone for their help and support, and please continue the feedback.
I would be remiss if I didn't express my special gratitude to Eike F. Anderson, Jo Snelling and
Gabriel A. Prunty who, more than anyone else, are responsible for this manual's existence,
and to Thomas Leube for testing the program.
Using and distributing QuickDic
QuickDic is a non-commercial product.
You may freely use, copy, and distribute this software, provided that no fee
is charged for such use, copying or distribution and that it is distributed only
in its whole original, unmodified state.
Therefore, without written agreement from the author, it is not allowed
to distribute a CD, DVD, etc. with QuickDic as
addition (Third Party Product) if a fee is charged for the purchase of the CD, DVD, etc.
Taking data from QuickDic's database or using it
in part or in whole for other purposes or with other programs than
QuickDic requires written agreement from the author.
Disclaimer
QuickDic is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind,
expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability
and fitness for a particular purpose.
Please note that I cannot guarantee in any way the correctness, usability, or quality of the
requested translations. If you notice mistakes, fail to find some expressions, or want to suggest
some features for future program releases, I would appreciate being notified.
The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software as
well as regarding the correctness of the dictionary. The author will not be liable for any special, incidental,
consequential, indirect, or similar damages due to use of the software.
System requirements
Software:
- Microsoft Windows
- To have German umlauts and phonetic transcriptions displayed correctly you need a
Unicode-enabled font, which is Arial Unicode MS or Lucida Sans Unicode by default, but other fonts can also be used.
(This should not be an issue anymore under Windows 10 nowadays.)
Hardware:
- 800 MHz processor
- 800 x 600 pixels, high color screen resolution
- 64 MB RAM
- 25 MB uncompressed hard drive space
Program setup
Once unpacked, QuickDic can immediately be run.
Hence there is no typical installation program (yet). To unpack just
follow the instructions below. Please pay special attention to the disclaimer
and the system requirements.
- The best way to install QuickDic is to start Windows Explorer
and open the folder into which you have downloaded the .zip or .exe file.
- Double-click the compressed file and extract all files contained within this archive
to an empty folder of your choice.
- QuickDic stores all settings in its folder.
Therefore the program requires the respective rights.
The installation of QuickDic will be completed
as soon as you run the program for the first time.
You can use the Configuration
dialog later to create a shortcut for your desktop or Start menu.
Uninstalling the application
Since no entries were made to the Windows Registry during setup and all program files are located in one folder,
QuickDic can easily be uninstalled by deleting this folder.
If you have created shortcuts on the desktop or the Start menu, you should delete them.
Create database and list of words
When you run QuickDic for the first time,
you will be asked in which language you want to install the program. Select English for English
prompts and user interfaces.
Next, a setup form will appear notifying you that the database has to be created.
Click the Continue button to create QuickDic.win based on the compressed file
QuickDic.dat. The archive QuickDic.dat will no longer be needed and will be
deleted automatically when the job is done.
Accept the legal agreement as described in the disclaimer and you will be asked if you want to extend the
database to add a list of existing words. If you agree, QuickDic
can create a list of similar words and display these words for further reference if searching the
database for a word is unsuccessful.
Decide to extend it now, and all words and pairs of words in the whole database with a minimum of two and a maximum
of thirty characters will be included. Feel free to use other functions of the program while the list of words is being created.
Enter and look up a search expression
To search for an expression, enter it in the input line and hit the return key or click the
Look up button. Do not forget to adapt the settings as necessary.
If you want to enter a German umlaut or the eszett but cannot find them on your keyboard you
can use quotation marks as a substitute. Most systems also support the following
standard method of foreign character entry:
| Required input | ä | ö | ü | Ä | Ö | Ü | ß |
| Equivalent input | a" | o" | u" | A" | O" | U" | s" |
| Alt+(numeric pad) | 132 | 148 | 129 | 142 | 153 | 154 | 225 |
You can even enter a decimal number, which consists of up to 15 digits. Given such a number as search
expression, QuickDic will convert the numerals into words.
The input line can store the last twenty search expressions in each language after starting a search
manually. If you have chosen the option auto search,
a search will be carried out as soon as there are two letters in the input line - but no expressions
will be stored.
You can easily look up an expression a second time by selecting it from the input line's list.
Or if you start typing it again QuickDic
will complete it automatically in the input line.
The program limits the search expression to a maximum of a hundred characters.
The number of search results is limited to 1,500.
Displaying search results
After a successful look up, the terms containing the search expressions will be displayed in
alphabetical order and their translations will be indented below. Usually you get a very long list
of different translations. To make it easy for you to find the optimal translation it will also
be shown on the top of the list.
Both the search expression and, if this option is checked, all information regarding gender and
number of German nouns will be displayed and highlighted.
The database contains extra information regarding verbs: the conjugation in full of strong and other German verbs
as well as preterite and past participle of irregular English verbs, including most compound verbs.
Unless the
Conjugated verbs option is deactivated, this information will also be searched and displayed.
To look up an expression listed by QuickDic after a previous
look up, just click that expression or select it with the keyboard and hit the space bar. This transfers
the expression to the input line where you can modify it if necessary before your next attempt.
If it is not necessary to modify an expression in the list, double click it to look it up quickly.
When an expression is transferred to the input line, the direction
of translation will be adapted and characters with a special meaning will be quoted if necessary.
It is possible for you not only to re-translate the whole expression but also to pick out a single word of an
idiom and to translate it. To pick out a single word right-click its line and a pop-up window with all
words of the idiom will appear. Select one of these words to look it up.
Search list of words
If you decided to create the list of words, QuickDic
provides the facility to display a list of similar words which can be used for the next search.
Further conditions for this facility:
- The search expression must not be found in the database.
- The expression you entered should consist only of letters, hyphens, and space characters.
- The length of the search expression must be at least two and at most thirty characters.
- The default QuickDic dictionary is being searched.
- The item Search for alternatives must be tagged.
Searching for alternatives if a search returns no results will always be done using case insensitive
pattern matching.
If similar words were found, QuickDic displays them,
arranging those with the fewest differences at the top of the list. Click on one of the words to
transfer it to the input line and click the Look up button to repeat the search.
Or double-click the word if you don't want to edit it.
In some occasions, you may be presented with an alternative which is identical to the search expression.
Then, the selected options (case sensitivity, for example) prevent the translations from being found.
About your personal dictionary
Your personal dictionary is made in such a way so that you can extend the program's vocabulary.
You can enter new words, technical terms, and their translations, and optionally
search them with QuickDic.
All modifications to your dictionary will always be automatically saved in the text file QuickDic.udb.
You can, of course, edit this file with an external editor like Notepad. In this case, to avoid loss of data, you should
not edit the dictionary with QuickDic at the same time.
If you have created your personal dictionary, please e-mail your new words to me from time to time so that I can add them to
the main dictionary. The easiest way to do that is to use the e-mail form, which can be opened via the file menu.
With QuickDic, you can enter as many translations as you want.
Edit your personal dictionary
QuickDic provides an internal editor which you can use
to enter your own words and translations.
Both languages are separated with = (equal sign) from each other.
The side of each language can be determined by setting the
direction of translation when you open the editor.
If you open your personal dictionary immediately after you have entered (and looked up) a word,
a new entry containing the word will be added. This gives you the opportunity to easily add a
new word or a missing translation of a word to your personal dictionary without having to enter
it again. You don't even have to copy to and paste from the clipboard.
When entering new translations or changing existing ones, bear in mind that:
- Every line must contain one and only one = to separate the languages from each other.
The status line will always display information on whether you have to enter German or English words.
When your personal dictionary is saved, all other lines are ignored and are removed.
- Never list multiple translations in a single line.
Always split multiple translations into multiple lines and repeat the word of the other language.
The editor displays the words of both languages in different colors
and checks whether the words are correct while you edit them.
Words unknown to QuickDic are potentially misspelt and will be underlined red by default.
There are a lot of commands available in order to make editing the translations as easy as possible,
for example by automatically completing words of which you have entered the first couple of letters.
You can execute these commands by selecting them from the extra icon bar, from the pop-up window
which can be opened by right-clicking an entry, or by invoking the appropriate shortcuts as displayed there.
- Undo
- Cancels the last modification.
- Redo
- Restores the last modification before Undo.
- Cut
- Cuts the selected text to the clipboard.
- Copy
- Copies the selected text to the clipboard.
- Paste
- Inserts the selected text from the clipboard at the cursor position.
- Find
- Opens the Find dialog box which allows you to search for words from either language of your
personal dictionary. All options such as word boundary settings and special characters you already
know from the regular search are also available here.
Use F3 and Shift-F3 to continue searching after you have closed the dialog box.
- Replace
- Extends the Find dialog box to the Replace dialog box which allows you to replace strings
of characters. You can replace strings with or without confirming each replacement,
and you can replace in a selection or the whole file.
- Find previous
- Repeats the last search upwards.
- Find next
- Repeats the last search downwards.
- Jump to line
- Asks for a line number and moves to cursor into this line.
- Previous missing translation
- Moves the cursor into the previous line without translation
- Next missing translation
- Moves the cursor into the next line without translation
- Reverse
- Changes the words left to the equal sign for the words right to it, in the selected line or scope.
Use this operation only if you falsely entered German words instead of English ones and vice versa.
- Sentence
- In the selected line or scope, changes the first letters in both languages to upper case and
adds a full stop if there is one missing at the end of the line.
- Expand line
- If there are two or more translations in one line with equivalent words which are separated by a
punctuation mark, select these words and use this operation to get lines with one translation each.
The words you have selected will be split into alternatives at the positions of the punctuation marks.
Then, for each alternative the current line will be duplicated and the selection will be replaced
by either alternative.
- Automatic reverse
- Checks and eventually changes the words left to the equal sign for the words right to it.
Use this operation only if you falsely entered German words instead of English ones and vice versa.
This command will always be executed for the whole file. QuickDic
will try to automatically recognize the languages of the words.
- Check
- Checks your personal dictionary against the main database in order to remove unnecessary entries.
- Sort
- Sorts all entries alphabetically.
- Save
- Saves all modifications.
- Personal dictionary
- When you call the editor of your personal dictionary again, all modifications are saved before
it will be opened again. When saving, all invalid lines can be deleted.
A line is invalid unless it contains one and only one =.
- Complete word
- Displays a list of words based on the letters you typed in.
You can select one of these words in order to paste it to the editor.
- Complete from previous line
- Repeats the translation from the previous line, or a matching part of the translation based on
what you have entered so far.
This allows you to easily enter multiple translations of an expression. You neither have to
type it again and again, nor do you have to copy and paste it from the clipboard.
- Show translations
- If in the database, displays a translation of the current word or of the selected words
in a hint window without closing the editor.
About lessons
A lesson is an open collection of vocabulary designed to test you on the words until you remember what they mean.
You can use a default lesson or create your own ones.
QuickDic will help you to learn all vocabulary you want to learn - or have to.
To learn vocabulary of one lesson, run
QuickQuiz.
You can also decide to be tested on random words.
Without exception, each lesson contains words of one language. All possible answers should have been
added to the database as translations of these words. According to the theme of your lesson, you can
specify a subset of translations by separating the word and its valid translations with equal signs (=).
In this case only the translations given in the lesson are valid and all other translations from the
database will be ignored.
Example (taken from the Weathers lesson):
...
rain
rainfall=Niederschlag
shower=Regenschauer=Schauer
snow
southerly wind
star=Stern
sunrise
sunset
...
You can add missing translations to your
personal dictionary. Use the
Options menu to allow it to be searched.
Lessons can be set up hierarchically. In this case, the hierarchy always corresponds to the folders
of Windows, starting with the folder in which QuickDic is located.
To create a new lesson, to delete or rename one, to edit the vocabulary of a lesson and to change
the size of a lesson for QuickQuiz,
select Edit
lessons ... from the Edit menu. That paragraph also deals with more than one way of adding
new words to a lesson.
Edit lessons and vocabulary settings
This editor allows you to edit the words of a lesson. You can delete and add vocabulary
as you wish, as well as selecting individual translations.
In order to save you work when you edit your lessons, you can execute the following commands
by selecting them from the menu and the pop-up window which can be opened by right-clicking
an entry, or by invoking the appropriate shortcuts as displayed there.
For a description of the commands see
Edit your personal dictionary.
Editing a lesson also includes deleting the Hall of Fame as well as setting parameters
for QuickQuiz:
- Under Size of the lesson, you can specify whether all or a specified number of words
of the lesson should be used in the quiz. If you enter a set number, some words from the lesson will be
omitted or randomly selected words from the database will be added if necessary.
- Several words make up the pool, the size of which you can select yourself.
You will be quizzed on the words from this pool several times in random order until you have learnt them.
- Correct answers required - you can select how many correct
answers you need to give in a row before the word is flagged as "learnt".
- Enter under maximum penalty how many correct answers will be additionally required
after you gave a wrong one.
The following illustrations illustrate the meaning of these options:
| QuickQuiz' vocabulary composition |
| |
Size of the lesson (according to settings, 30 by default)
| |
|
| nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn |
| |
| a) |
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn |
nnnnnnnnnnnnnn |
|
|
Actual number of
words in the lesson
(16 for example) |
|
Randomly selected words
from the database for
filling up (here: 14) |
| |
| b) |
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn |
|
Actual number of words
in the lesson (40 for example) |
nnnnnnnnnn |
|
Words which
will not be
asked (here: 10) |
| QuickQuiz' pool size effects |
| |
Size of the lesson (according to settings, 30 by default)
| |
| nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn |
| |
| |
nnnnnnnnnnnn |
nnnnnnnnnn |
nnnnnnnn |
|
Words you have learnt
after answering them
correctly often enough
(here: already 12) |
|
Pool of words
which are asked
at the moment
(according to
settings,
10 by default) |
|
Words which
will be asked later
(here: 8 are left) |
| QuickQuiz' required correct answers and maximum penalty |
| |
Indicator position of each word you have learnt
Indicator start position for each word
Lowest possible position of the indicator |
à
à
à |
|
| n |
required correct answers until a word is learnt
(according to settings, 2 by default) |
| n |
| n |
maximum penalty for wrong answers
(according to setting, 1 by default) |
| |
Correct answers at QuickQuiz move the indicator position forward by one until the word
is learnt and replaced in the pool by another word.
Almost right answers have no effect on the indicator position.
Wrong answers decrease the indicator position by one, but not below the lowest possible position.
|
Icon bar
There are a lot of icons arranged in two rows for changing most settings and executing the most commonly used commands.
- Next to the Look up button you will find icons to turn on
automatic search,
and to keep the application always on top.
- The first icon in the second row can be used to show or hide an
additional icon bar which you can use to determine the information content.
These icons correspond to the Display settings of the
options
menu which can be used as toggle-switches to activate or deactivate them. The icons are arranged
in the same order as in the menu and you can find a detailed description of each option
in the paragraph about the menu.
- The next two icons in the second row can be used to hide or show all translations currently displayed.
- The next three icons are used for word boundary settings and correspond to the General settings of the
options
menu which can be used as toggle-switches to activate or deactivate them. You can find a detailed description
of each option in the paragraph about the menu.
- The rightmost two icons can be used to jump back and forth within the list of recently looked up expressions.
File menu
- QuickQuiz
- You can start the vocabulary game right here - now the tables are turned!
You can test on random words or on vocabulary of any
lesson.
- SmileMan
- SmileMan
is based on the well-known game Hang Man.
- QuissWord
- Have a look at QuissWord
to check your English and German skills while solving Crossword puzzles.
- LetraMix
- LetraMix
- a fascinating play on words for the whole family.
- QuickDic online
- Connects to the QuickDic homepage.
- Feedback ...
- Opens the e-mail form which you can use to send me any kind of feedback.
- Check for upgrades ...
- Connects to the QuickDic server and determines whether
a new version of the program or of the database is available for download.
- Print
- Opens the
Print dialog, which you can use to apply the settings needed to
print the translations being displayed or your personal dictionary.
- Exit
- Exits QuickDic.
Edit menu
- Cut
- Cuts the selected text to the clipboard.
- Copy
- Copies the selected text to the clipboard.
- Paste
- Inserts the selected text from the clipboard at the cursor position.
- Personal dictionary
- Opens your personal dictionary
for editing your own words and translations.
- Edit lessons ...
- Opens a dialogue window where you can select a language and then create new lessons for that language,
rename or delete lessons, or edit the words of a lesson in an editor, and to determine the QuickQuiz settings.
- This dialogue window can be opened with F7.
- Add word to lesson ...
- You can use this dialogue window to assign a word to a lesson. QuickDic
will propose the selected word and remember the recent lesson, so under normal circumstances you only
have to hit the return key to confirm.
- This dialogue window can be opened with F8.
As an alternative to the option of adding a word to one lesson with F8 as
described above, F9 can be used to add a word with its translation to two lessons
(one per language) simultaneously.
For the example below, say you have created a lesson in each language.
Now you want to assign technical terms to these lessons.
- Enter the technical term in the input line and hit the Return key to look it up.
- If the term was found along with an acceptable translation, hit the tab key to focus the output
area. Use the cursor-down key to select the translation.
- If the term was not found or if you want to add another translation, hit F6 to display your personal
dictionary. Your term will be added automatically so that you can enter a new translation.
- Finally, hit F9. Both the selected translation of the technical term, and that term itself
will be assigned to the lessons which were most recently selected (with F8 or F9).
Selecting and confirming the lessons will only be possible and necessary the first time.
- Hit the tab key to go back to the input line again.
Note: F9 will always extend the same lessons. Use F8 to select other lessons.
Find menu
This menu is only available when you edit your personal dictionary and contains commands to
find and replace within the editor. These commands are described in
Edit your personal dictionary.
Options menu
- Toggle language ...
- Lets you select the language for the dialogues and user interfaces.
- Configure ...
- Opens the Configuration menu which is designed to set up program options.
- Display settings
-
- Show German gender
- Shows additional information about the German gender and number of German nouns whenever this information
is available from the database. The following abbreviations are used:
| [m,sg] | masculine singular | [m,pl] | masculine plural |
|---|
| [f,sg] | feminine singular | [f,pl] | feminine plural |
|---|
| [n,sg] | neuter singular | [n,pl] | neuter plural |
|---|
| [m+f,sg] | masculine and feminine singular | [m+f,pl] | masculine and feminine plural |
|---|
| [m+n,sg] | masculine and neuter singular | [m+n,pl] | masculine and neuter plural |
|---|
- Show info about words
- Provides additional information about parts of speech, especially for some verbs -
information is given on whether they are transitive, intransitive or reflexive.
The following abbreviations are used:
| [v,t] | transitive verb | [adv] | adverb |
|---|
| [v,i] | intransitive verb | [adj] | adjective |
|---|
| [v,t+i] | transitive and intransitive verb | [prp] | preposition |
|---|
| [v,refl] | reflexive verb | [cj] | conjugation |
|---|
| [v,aux] | auxiliary verb | [pp] | past participle |
|---|
| [v,impers] | impersonal verb | | |
|---|
- Group by semantics
- Groups translations where the meanings are very similar or the same.
- Conjugated verbs
- Searches and displays extra information about conjugated German verbs and irregular English
verbs from QuickDic's database.
- Show German phonetic transcriptions
- Additionally displays phonetic transcriptions of frequently used German words.
- Note: Phonetic transcriptions are not available for all German words.
For these words and for all phrases consisting of these words, phonetic transcriptions can be displayed.
As a consequence, the phonetic transcriptions which are displayed for phrases are a composition of the
phonetic transcriptions of the single words and intonation cannot be taken into account.
- Show English phonetic transcriptions
- Additionally displays phonetic transcriptions of frequently used English words.
- Note: Phonetic transcriptions are not available for all English words.
For these words and for all phrases consisting of these words, phonetic transcriptions can be displayed.
As a consequence, the phonetic transcriptions which are displayed for phrases are a composition of the
phonetic transcriptions of the single words and intonation cannot be taken into account.
- Toggle direction of translation if a search returns no results
- Looks up the search expression in the other language if a search returns no results.
This option has higher priority than displaying alternatives.
- Display alternatives if a search returns no results
- Creates a list
of alternative words if a search returns no results.
- Spell checking in the editor
- Underlines probably misspelled words in the personal dictionary and the lessons.
- General settings
-
- German -> English
- Searches the database for German expressions and provides English translations.
- English -> German
- Searches the database for English expressions and provides German translations.
- Evaluate special characters
- Enables some characters within the search expression to have a special meaning.
- Ignore case
- You can instruct QuickDic to do case sensitive or
case insensitive pattern matching.
- If you deactivate ignore case, bear in mind that you will have to enter German nouns and proper
nouns with an initial capital.
- Word boundary left
- Finds only expressions in the database containing one word matching the search pattern at its beginning.
- For instance, if you enter tür and select Word boundary left, Haustür
will not be found.
- If you deactivate this option, Haustür will be found, stürmen, however,
will be found, too.
- Match whole expression
- Finds only expressions in the database matching the whole search expression.
- This option is useful to filter out long lists of idioms if you just want a simple translation of a word.
- For example, if you enter careful, select Match whole expression, and deactivate
Word boundary right, careful, carefully, and carefulness
will be found, but expressions such as after careful consideration and more
careful will not be found.
- Word boundary right
- Finds only expressions in the database containing one word matching the search pattern at its end.
- Auto search
- If this option is selected, QuickDic will automatically try
to find a new translation every time the search expression is altered.
- Always on top
- Select this option to make QuickDic stay on top
of all other programs.
- Hide buttons
- Hides the menu bar and and all icons which are not necessarily needed to minimize the
window size of the application.
- Back
- Jumps back to the previous expression you looked up.
- Forward
- Jumps forward to the next expression you looked up.
- Auto save options
- Always saves the current settings in the file QuickDic.ini
when you exit the program.
- Save settings now
- Saves the current settings in the file QuickDic.ini.
Help menu
- Contents
- Opens your favourite browser in order to display this file.
- Disclaimer
- Shows the agreement about using and distributing and the disclaimer, the terms of which you must accept when you use
QuickDic.
- About ...
- Shows information about the current program and database versions.
Print dialog
This dialog can be used to set the options necessary for printing either translations of a look-up,
your personal dictionary, a lesson or a crossword puzzle you have created.
- Printer
- Select the printer you want to use here.
- Setup ...
- Opens the default dialog to set up the selected printer.
- Number of copies
- If supported by the printer driver, this is where you can determine the number of copies.
When printing translations you have the following options:
- Only exact matchings
- Only search result list: Limits the print-out to exact matchings,
e.g. all the entries that have been repeated at the top of the list.
Requires the option to repeat exact matchings at the top of the
search result list.
- Only selected block
- Personal dictionary and lessons: limits the print-out to the selected lines.
Requires that a block has been selected.
- Line numbers
- Prints a consecutive number at the beginning of each line.
- Header/page number
- Prints a header with page number on each page.
- Use colors
- Prints the expressions in color.
When printing a crossword puzzle you have the following options:
- Regular puzzle
- Prints the puzzle as a regular crossword puzzle.
You can determine if you want the puzzle to be printed with questions and/or answers.
- Communicative crossword
- Prints the puzzle as a communicative crossword puzzle.
If you select this option two puzzles will be printed - each with half of the words.
You and a partner ask each other for the missing words in the foreign language.
Last but not least you can determine the widths of the margins.
Configuration dialog
On the following tabs of this dialogue, you will find many options to adjust and tune the program to your
own needs and expectations.
- Search
- At this section, you can specify whether to look up words in the default
QuickDic database, your personal dictionary or both.
Besides QuickDic.udb, you can also determine another personal
dictionary file.
- If you deactivate the QuickDic database, no list of
alternative words can be created after an unsuccessful search.
- You can also set the duration of the pause before an expression will be translated
automatically.
- German umlauts and eszett
- You can determine if an a, o, or u you entered
should also match the umlauts ä, ö, and ü.
Note however that, for example unlike e and é, in German a and
ä are two different letters.
- You can determine if ss should additionally match the eszett ß.
- Furthermore, since there is no eszett in Swiss German, in "Swiss Mode" the ß
will be displayed as ss. Note however, that replacing ß with ss results
in words which are neither correct in Germany nor in Austria.
- Search result list
- You can determine if you want to re-translate a word from the last look up
by clicking or by double-clicking the line in the output area.
- The next option allows you to have the search results, which match the search expression exactly,
repeated at the top of the list of all search results in order to highlight them.
- You can specify whether you want irregular verbs to be displayed expanded. By default,
irregular verbs appear collapsed.
- Number of translations
- This option allows you to determine at what point the program will stop searching the database.
Just select the maximum number of translations you want to see.
- Clipboard
- You can specify that an expression, copied to the clipboard from within another application,
will be copied to the entry line and then translated automatically.
- If a translation was found QuickDic can activate itself in order
to show the results.
- Another option is to automatically copy the (alphabetically) first translation back to the clipboard
so you can easily paste it in the other application.
- Note: Insert one and the same expression into the clipboard a second time and it will not be
translated again and the content of the clipboard will not be overwritten with the translation.
- Furthermore, a translation can automatically be copied to the clipboard when it becomes selected.
- Focus
- You can determine automatic changes regarding focus and selection changes here.
- By default, after you look up a word the focus is not changed and no selection is made.
So the focus remains in the entry line after a search without selecting the search expression
so you can easily edit it.
- Another option is to select the search expression automatically after a search so you can easily replace
the current search expression by a new one.
- Focus the search result means to move the focus to the search result automatically after a search.
- Note: use the tab key to toggle between the entry line and the output area.
- In addition, you can make the search expression to be selected each time you activate
QuickDic (e.g. with Alt-Tab).
- Sort
- Here you can select the sort criteria and sort order.
The expressions you find can be ordered alphabetically ascending or descending with respect to the
beginning of the whole entry or to the beginning of the part that matches the search expression.
- Font
- Use this option to select the font size of the input line and output list.
- You can also select a font to use in the application, and a Unicode-enabled
font for displaying phonetic transcriptions.
- Text colors
- Use this tab to determine all colors the application uses to display search results und
for the editors of your personal dictionary and lessons.
- Note: If you don't want potentially wrong words being underlined red,
set the underline color of potential errors to white (# FFFFFF).
- Minimize and restore
- At this section, you can specify how the program is to appear when it is minimized.
In addition to the default appearance in the taskbar, it is possible to minimize it to the
status notification area (sometimes referred to as system tray).
From the system tray, the program can be restored to view on single or double click.
By popular request you can determine whether the program becomes minimized to the system tray
instead of closed when you click [x] in the window's title.
- Hints
- Here you can determine the style of hints. Hints are displayed when you pause the mouse over
a control.
- Shortcuts
- This section lets you easily create or remove shortcuts to the application on the desktop, in the
Start menu and the program group of the Start menu.
- Furthermore, you can create a shortcut in the Startup group to start the program automatically
when you log-on.
If you create the shortcut with the Minimize option checked, the program will minimize to
the taskbar or system tray immediately, depending on what you have selected on the Minimize
and restore tab.
- History list
- The history list is saved as part of the program options and
it always contains the last expressions you looked up in each source language.
Its purpose is to automatically complete a search expression when you enter it a second time.
- You can determine in which cases a search expression should be added to the history list
and you can set the maximum amount of entries. Last but not least, you can clear the list.
- Miscellaneous
- You can determine if you want to have to confirm to save your personal dictionary.
- If you check One instance at a time you cannot launch QuickDic
a second time.
The program settings made in this menu will apply only if you close the menu with
Save or OK.
E-mail form
QuickDic is a freeware tool and you can help to improve it. Use this form to
contact me and tell me what you like and don't like about the program.
If you are using your personal dictionary, I would appreciate it if you would simply attach
the new words to the e-mail. Then I can make them available to the Internet community and you
will soon be able to download a bigger database with new words from other people.
Please be aware that there is no QuickDic news group.
Your e-mail address will not be saved and so you cannot receive any e-mails from me you don't want.
Nevertheless, you can send your feedback anonymously. However, if you have a question
and expect me to answer, this is the wrong way because I cannot answer any anonymous e-mails.
Thanks a lot to all of you who have helped to improve QuickDic!
QuickQuiz
QuickQuiz just turns the tables. The computer will build up a list of 30 words by default
and it's your turn to learn them and to come up with proper translations when the computer asks you.
Before you start the game, you can determine whether you want to be asked for German or English vocabulary
by selecting the appropriate direction of translation.
- German -> English
- Shows a German term and asks you for the English translation.
- English -> German
- Shows an English term and asks you for the German translation.
In addition to confronting you with random words, QuickDic can
test you on words of a lesson with predefined vocabulary.
The default size is 30; if there are more than 30 words in the lesson, 30 words out of it will
be selected at random. If there are less than 30 words or if not all of the words exist in either
the database or your personal dictionary, random words will be used to fill up.
Apart from these regular lessons you can also learn irregular English verbs
and how to conjugate German verbs.
You can change the size of the lesson when you
edit the lesson.
And this is how it is done:
- Hit the return key or click Ask me and the computer will invite you to translate
a word, expression, or sentence.
- If you are not sure about the translation and require some help, press the return key once
again or click Solve before you start to type in your answer. In this case the computer
will show you the first letter of a possible translation.
- Type in your answer. Then hit the return key or click Solve to see if you are right.
It may well be that there are a lot of translations of the term in question.
In this case there will be a lot of correct answers.
The computer will count all correct, almost right, and wrong answers you give and will keep you
up-to-date with the scores. Furthermore, a clock is started. However, there is no reason to become
nervous because there is no time limit.
- If your answer corresponds to one of the solutions the number of correct answers will be
increased. Note that the computer will always perform case insensitive comparisons.
- If your answer is very close to a correct translation, the score will be increased accordingly.
- If there were not enough similarities, the number of wrong answers will be increased.
After this, a solution will be shown in any case. If there were multiple possible correct answers,
you will be shown the one that (best) matches your answer.
The Info button will appear enabled if there is extra information or other translations are available.
Click this button to see all translations and, if selected and available, information regarding gender
and number of German nouns.
Your aim is to give two correct answers to any of the 30 words - or whatever your lesson size is.
But be careful: a wrong translation will cause an additional right one.
- After giving three correct answers in a row you will have finally learnt it
and a green spot will indicate that you will no longer be tested on it.
- The ten yellow spots represent the pool of words you're currently being tested on.
The red and green bars inside symbolize still required and already given correct answers.
- The other words will be up later.
You can also change all these setting when you edit the lesson.
Hit F1 or click the triangle in the lower right corner of the graphic area in order to see a legend.
When you have successfully finished a lesson, you may enter your name to the Top 5 Hall of Fame -
provided that your rating is high enough. Such a list is available for each lesson.
To display it, click Hall of Fame.
You can start the game all over again by pressing the Restart button,
and you can exit the game at any time with Close. Exiting or selecting a new lesson
will reset the scores.
SmileMan
SmileMan is based on the well-known game Hang Man. The computer comes up with a word or sentence,
and your job is to find out all letters of it. You just have to enter all the letters you think may be
in the expression. If you are right, these letters will be revealed. If you guess a lot of expressions,
Smiley will feel better all the time, but this is not as easy as it looks! Your aim is to bring back
the smile to the poor yellow Smiley ...
Before you start the game, you can determine whether you want to guess German or English vocabulary
by selecting the appropriate direction of translation.
- German -> English
- The computer comes up with German terms you have to guess.
- English -> German
- The computer comes up with English terms you have to guess.
And this is how it is done:
- Hit the return key or click Next one and the computer will come up with a word,
expression or sentence.
- Try your luck! Just type in the letters you expect. If you have no German umlauts on your
keyboard - never mind. You can click the appropriate button as an alternative.
- Every wrong letter will turn a green light into red. After six wrong letters Smiley will
always look a little more mournful but as long as you solve the expressions, you will be
facing new challenges and finally, Smiley will show his nicest smile.
- If you haven't a clue you can ask for a little help. Click Buy a tip and
all occurrences of an existing letter will be uncovered for the cost of a wrong letter.
Note that you can only get one tip for each expression you have to find out.
You can interrupt the game without hurting Smiley by clicking Close before asking for a new
expression. Think twice before you give up. Giving up a game will displease Smiley.
And closing the dialogue window before having guessed the term will be judged as giving up.
After solving or having solved an expression its translation will be shown if you move the
mouse over that expression.
Click the rectangle in the lower right corner of the letter area to display no background or to
choose your own picture.
QuissWord
If you enjoy doing crossword puzzles and you are well grounded in English and German,
you will enjoy QuissWord. Here the computer comes up with words of one language, arranges them
into a crossword puzzle, and uses the respective translations as questions.
Before you start, you can determine the language of the questions and answers
by selecting the appropriate direction of translation.
- German -> English
- You have to translate German questions into English and write them onto the puzzle.
- English -> German
- You have to translate English questions into German and write them onto the puzzle.
After you have opened the QuissWord window you can click the settings button to open a dialogue window
in which you can lay down all options for the next crossword puzzle.
In addition to changing the language, the following settings are available to you:
- You can set the puzzle's size by specifying how many columns and rows you want it to have.
- There are two ways in which you can affect the lengths of the words used in the puzzle.
On the one hand you can set the minimum length. On the other hand you can indicate whether you
prefer short or long words. If you prefer short ones, QuickDic
will choose short words at an early stage when building a puzzle. Otherwise, longer words
will be chosen for a while.
Please note that not all combinations are sensible.
For example, it neither makes sense to set the minimum length to 2 letters and to prefer long
expressions at the same time, nor to set the minimum length to 6 letters and to reduce the size
of the crossword puzzle to 9 x 9.
- You can choose not to have the same answer several times in a puzzle.
- And you can specify that when the computer is building the crossword puzzle new words are to be
added either in alternating directions, changing between horizontal and vertical or in random directions.
When adding words in random directions to small crossword puzzles the resulting puzzle may be not as
expected, e.g. showing only two or three words in a horizontal direction and a lot of words in a vertical
direction.
- Being asked for an ID of the puzzle to create allows you to solve a puzzle a second time or
to print it (or its answer).
Since the database version is part of this ID you can only recreate a puzzle as long as you use the
same database.
- You can increase the difficulty level considerably by allowing spaces to be used in the crossword
puzzle and by not wanting to have multiple translations displayed when this is possible.
If you allow spaces within the puzzle, it will take a bit longer to make the puzzle
because compound words will also be used.
- Finally, you can choose the main database or your personal dictionary as a data source
for creating the puzzle.
Use
Save settings now from the options menu to save these settings.
And this is how it is done:
- Hit the return key or click New puzzle and the computer will make a new crossword puzzle
based on the settings described above. Your screen should provide an adequate resolution for big puzzles.
- The crossword puzzle will be shown as soon as it is ready. On the right-hand side the translations
will be listed, functioning as questions for horizontal and vertical answers.
Click a question if you know the answer and the cursor will move to the first letter of the word.
Enter the word now and the cursor will move down or to the right automatically.
- To enter, correct or erase a single letter, click its field or focus on the puzzle and select the field by
moving the cursor to it with the direction keys. Now you can enter the letter or erase it with the space bar.
In contrast to common German crossword puzzles, a QuissWord puzzle can contain umlauts - and even spaces.
If you have no German umlauts on your keyboard - never mind. You can click the appropriate button as an
alternative.
- If you haven't a clue you can ask for a little help. Move the cursor to the field from which you
want to uncover the letter and make use of one of your five jokers.
- To solve the crossword puzzle, you have to find out its answer. There is no time limit
but you have only five attempts to succeed. Select Review to find out which letters you
entered correctly. Correct letters will be emphasized on a green background, wrong letters on
a red background. If the answer is correct you will score ten points for each correct letter
plus the remaining bonus which depends on the size of the crossword puzzle and the number of
reviews you've made. The puzzle will be solved automatically after your fifth review has failed.
Once a puzzle has been created you can print it at any time - with or without its answer.
Enter the ID of the puzzle to have it recreated. So you can print the answer later or solve the puzzle once again.
When printing a crossword puzzle
you can make your choice between two variations: as a regular crossword puzzle or as a communicative crossword.
You can interrupt the game without getting hurt by clicking Close before asking for a new puzzle.
Closing the QuissWord window before having solved the crossword puzzle will be judged as giving up.
LetraMix
LetraMix is about arranging given letters to words crossing each other. All words from the database
and your
personal dictionary are allowed.
Before you start the game, you can determine whether you want to come up with German or English words
by selecting the appropriate direction of translation.
- German -> English
- You get letters for German words.
- English -> German
- You get letters for English words.
And this is how it is done:
- Hit the return key or click the button Roll dice, and the computer will come up
with 13 randomly selected letters. Beneath them there may be a joker shown as an empty piece.
- Drag the letters to arrange words in both directions - horizontal and vertical
within a given period of time. Try to use as many letters as possible.
When the time has run out your score will be determined. If you finish earlier, you can
stop the countdown with Finished.
- Beside the joker which does not count you will get points for every letter you used.
A letter used in both directions will be taken into account twice.
The values of letters you did not use will be subtracted.
- Please note that there are special letters for German umlauts and the eszett.
In the current version, you cannot replace them by using ae, oe, ue or ss.
If you click Close while the time is elapsing this means you have to give up the game.
Click the rectangle in the lower right-hand corner of the letter area to display no background or to
choose your own picture.
Characters that have a special meaning
If the option evaluate special chars is tagged, some characters will have
a special meaning when used in a search expression. Use these characters in an appropriate way to take
advantage of a powerful search function.
- .
- The full stop represents any character.
- [ ]
- Characters within square brackets represent all these characters but no other ones.
Example:
- M[aä]us
- represents Maus or Mäus and finds words like Maus, Mäuse and Mäuschen.
- [^ ]
- A ^ (caret) at the beginning of a string enclosed in square brackets corresponds to a logical not.
Example:
- [^uvw]
- represents any character but u, v, or w.
- Square brackets cannot be nested.
- [ - ]
- A hyphen within square brackets indicates a character scope. The ASCII code of the character in front of the
- (hyphen) must be smaller than the one after it, e.g. the character in front of the hyphen must
alphabetically precede the one after it.
Examples:
- überbe[a-m]
- represents überbea to überbem.
- überbe[^a-m]
- represents effectively überben to überbez.
- ( | )
- Round brackets can be used to indicate alternative strings.
Examples:
- (laufen|rennen)
- represents laufen or rennen.
- (lauf|renn|geh)en
- represents laufen or rennen or gehen.
- ausge(ge|)ben
- represents ausgeben or ausgegeben.
- Square brackets may be used within round brackets but not vice versa.
- Round brackets cannot be nested.
- ?
- A ? (question mark) behind a character means that it is optional.
You can also insert it after a closing bracket. In that case it would affect the whole group of characters.
Examples:
- colou?r
- represents color or colour.
- fire[\- ]?proof
- represents fireproof, fire-proof, or fire proof.
Please note that since the hyphen resides within square brackets it needed to be quoted with
the preceding back slash to look it up.
- ausge(ge)?ben
- is identical to ausge(ge|)ben and represents ausgeben or ausgegeben.
- kn[oe]wn?
- Among others, this expression represents know, knew, or known and will find
exactly these words if both Word boundary options are tagged. Otherwise the suffix n?
would not be taken into account and words like knowing would be found, too.
- Using a question mark within square brackets is not allowed.
- \
- A back slash quotes the next metacharacter, e.g. it denotes that the character following
will be looked up in its own right, and any status it may have as a special character will be ignored.
Example:
- \?
- represents ? (the question mark).
If
evaluate special chars is activated, all special characters, except for - (hyphen) and ^ (caret) outside
square brackets, must always be preceded by a back slash to search for them.
Hotkeys
All commands of the application can be executed by using the mouse. Nevertheless, by popular
request, the following table lists (almost) all hotkeys:
Frequently asked questions
Instead of phonetic transcriptions, square symbols are displayed.
- By default, QuickDic uses the font
Arial Unicode MS
in order to display phonetic transcriptions, which is part of MS Word, or Lucida Sans Unicode.
If you have no valid license and not installed either of these fonts, you can
select
a different Unicode-enabled font (e.g. Gentium
or Charis SIL) for displaying phonetic transcriptions.
Are there databases in other languages available for QuickDic?
- Unfortunately not. Who wants to do the editorial work?
Are there other ways to get the files apart from downloading them?
- I can e-mail you the files. Just let me know.
Shipping the program on a CD is possible on request.
Is there a version of the application for other operating systems?
- Linux and MacOS: There are Windows emulators for Linux (e.g. WINE) and MacOS, and I was told
QuickDic can be executed in these virtual machines.
- Windows 95 and 98 are no longer supported.
- Mobile devices: a version for mobile devices is not available at present.
I want to understand the lyrics of a song or a poem. Who can help me?
- Go to the artist's pages, forums, or search the internet for the lyrics.
Usually you can find translations and a lot of related articles on the Web.
How can I translate whole documents?
- There is no application that always translates all kinds of texts correctly.
But some services claim something like this and are freely available on-line.
You can find related links on QuickDic's homepage.
Can I install QuickDic on my company's intranet or can I build a mirror site?
- No, this is not possible at the moment.
I want to have the source codes of the program and the decrypted database.
- It was a lot of work to write the program and to create the database. And both,
the program and the database are being improved and updated frequently.
You can not only use the latest version online but also download it from the internet
for free and use it as long as you want to. I think that's enough.
What can I do to help improving QuickDic?
- Please tell me about any errors and missing words.
If you'd like to have a feature or improvement implemented, just let me know.
Is there a way to donate something?
- Yes, the easiest way to do this is to use PayPal and to donate@quickdic.org.
But don't send any e-mails to this address.
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