vocab tester documentation

The vocab tester allows you to review vocabulary or phrases. The vocab files can be located anywhere on the Web, and you can create them yourself, using the trivially easy text format described below. You can also print out a list of vocabulary for review, for when you don't have access to the computer.

Features

Next

Click on this to advance through the file. (You can also click on the area where the text is displayed.)

Re-test

Adds a copy of the current term to the end of the list. This is useful if you want to retest yourself on the odd item that you couldn't remember when you first met it.

Back

Moves backwards through the file.

Shuffle

Randomly orders the vocabulary items for review.

Restart

Returns you to the beginning of the list.

Load data

Type a URI in the text field and hit Enter to load a new vocabulary file, eg. http://rishida.net/tools/vocab/data/hindi1.txt .

Language direction

Allows you to choose which language appears at the top in the term display area. This is particularly useful when the advance mode is set to 'phased' or 'quick test'.

Set advance mode

Phased: the language at the top is revealed with the first click on the Next button, and another click is needed to reveal the transcription and second language.
Review: shows all information in the display area as you move through the terms.
Quick test: shows only the top line in the display area as you move through the terms.

Show transcription

Hides or shows the middle line in the term display area.

Create printable list

Click on the button to create a list of all terms for printing. The Standard button prints in the order in the file. The Random button randomly orders the items before creating the list. This is helpful for reducing the effect of memory related to ordering when using the list for testing.

Creating a test file

This is really easy. Simply add your vocabulary or phrases to a simple text file, one line per item. Each line should have the following format (replace 'english' by whatever language you speak natively):

<foriegn-text>*<english-text>

or

<foriegn-text>*<transcription>*<english-text>

The transcription is optional, and is usually most useful for non-Latin text. The file must be saved in the UTF-8 (Unicode) character encoding.

You can add comments to your text file. Comments must start on a new line and begin with with the character #.

You can also add meta-data (extra information) to your test file that will be displayed at the bottom of the vocab tester page. Meta-data must start on a new line and begin with the character @. You could use this to describe the content of the file, and attach copyright information.

You must escape double-quotes in the test lines, ie. use &#x22;.

You can also apply CSS styling to the text. This is particularly useful for assigning a preferred font or size. To do so, start a new line with !mylanguage or !otherlanguage and continue with CSS. See the second example below.

Here is an example of a very short file:

Straßenbahn*tram
U-bahn*subway
Flugzeug*plane
zu Fuß*on foot
@ This is a small German-English test file.
@ Copyright © Richard Ishida

In this example I recreated a dialogue:

नमस्ते । मैं प्रताप हूँ । क्या आप कमरा जी हैं ?*Hello, I am Pratap. Are you Kamala ji?
जी हाँ, मैं कमल हूं । नमस्ते । यह लरका राज है ।*Yes, I'm Kamala.  Hello. This boy is Raj.
नमस्ते राज । तुम ठीक हो ? *Hello Raj.  Are you OK?
@ Beginning of Lesson 1 dialogue in Teach Yourself Hindi.
!otherlanguage font-family: Chandas, serif; font-size: 80px;  
!mylanguage font-size: 80px; 

Here is another example, with transcriptions and a comment:

丸一日*maru.ichi.nichi*all day long 
五才*go.sai*5 years old
野菜*vegetable 
# look up transcription for previous entry!
才能*sai.nou*talent 
@ This is vocab for lesson 23.

[Note: you must take care to ensure that the file doesn't start with a BOM, if using comment or meta-data on the first line of a file. Otherwise the comment or meta-data will not be recognised. Windows Notepad, for example, automatically inserts a BOM when you save in UTF-8. If you are not sure, just avoid using comments or meta-data on the first line of your file.]

Still to be done

• Go through and remove all inline styling (put there for speed of development).