How to use the app
The app comprises six programs. All aim to make you benefit from your suitable prior knowledge.
Learning with the app is easy.
- Choose your native language or the language you want to guide you through the exercise.
- Choose your learnig goal:
1.) “Plurilingualism”: In Exercise 1, the target languages change. You have to fill in the blanks of different Romance languages.
2.) “A particular Romance target language”: In Exercise 2, the tasks or the required vocables relate only to the language you have chosen.
3.) “Nontransparent Vocabulary”: Exercise 3 targets only the words and expressions that (probably) you can’t derive from any other of your languages. This group is also the biggest obstacle to reading comprehension even for expert learners (see description of the app). Therefore its mastery can be crucial.
4.) “Romance-with-English”: Do you want to consistently use the English language as a bridge and thereby also consolidate your English vocabulary? This program limits the tasks to cases where the target Romance languages have an English form equivalent. Exercise 4 shows your target language alongside the Romance sister languages. Since you have not chosen a concrete target language, the languages in which an input is required will change.
5.) Differently to Exercise 4, Exercise 5 asks you to choose a target language. The entries are only made in this target language. The Romance languages, German and English are also displayed.
6.) Opaque verb forms: Exercise 6 provides the verb tables for the target Romance languages. Knowing only a few non-transparent conjugated verb forms allows to understand virtually all forms.
- You have two options for solving the tasks:
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- 1.) fill in the gap, or:
- 2.) simply display the word you are looking for. To do this, tap on the blank. The word concerned then appears in the display immediately.
- If you want to write down the word as it is given by the app, add it to the notepad by clicking on the window “note”.
- The app has a notepad. 20 entries are recorded here. The notepad is not available for all exercises.
Successful learning
- Take time to compare your ‘target word’ with its equivalents. The more intensively you take this step, the greater your long-term learning success will be.
- Suggestion: Write down your thoughts (occuring when filling in the gaps) in a ‘learning diary’. At a later date, possibly in another session, the app will again demand the ‘correct’ solutions from you.
Write down the words you don’t know yet as well. Look up these words in an electronic or paper dictionary. Pay attention to meanings and uses. You achieve best performance by building association networks: between words, languages, meanings, uses and communication situations.
If you master a foreign language sufficiently, you can also use so-called concordancers. They display the use of a word in its different textual environments.
- To avoid misunderstandings: The corrections of the app do not denote ‘errors’. The corrections are explained by the fact that the app solely expects a different form.
Explanation: The automatic correction is due to the fact that there are several equivalents per language to express a same semantic nucleus (signification), but the app’s serial structure allows only one entry per language and series.
- You should keep in mind that the app is primarily aimed at promoting plurilingual reading skills. Positive repercussions on productive skills (speaking and writing) are therefore secondary and not intended.
See also the pages under the tab Learning tips and Phonetic rules practice.