Ectaco Partner EP-X8 User Manual

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ECTACO Partner® X8

EnglishÙPolish

EnglishÙPolish Talking Translator

&

Language Learning System with

2 MB Business Organizer

AngielskoÙpolski tłumacz mówiący oraz system do nauki języka angielskiego wraz z organizerem biznesowym o pojemności 2 MB

USER'S MANUAL

INSTRUKCJA OBSŁUGI

ECTACO, Inc. assumes no responsibility for any damage or loss resulting from the use of this manual.

ECTACO, Inc. assumes no responsibility for any loss or claims by third parties which may arise through the use of this product.

ECTACO, Inc. assumes no responsibility for any damage or loss caused by deletion of data as a result of malfunction, repairs, or battery replacement. Be sure to back up all important data on other media to avoid data loss.

The contents of this manual are subject to change without notice.

No part of this manual shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission from ECTACO, Inc.

Partner® is a registered trademark of ECTACO, Inc., NY, USA

© 1990-2004 ECTACO, Inc., New York, USA. All rights reserved.

ECTACO Partner® X8

User's Manual

CONTENTS

 

INTRODUCTION--------------------------------------------------------------------------

6

General View---------------------------------------------------------------------------

8

Power Supply --------------------------------------------------------------------------

8

Initialization ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

10

Keyboard-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11

Display----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TUTOR ------------------------------------------------------

21

How to Install or Remove the Card----------------------------------------------

21

Electronic Interactive System -----------------------------------------------------

22

DICTIONARIES --------------------------------------------------------------------------

28

MAIN DICTIONARY-------------------------------------------------------------------

28

DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE --------------------------------

29

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARIES ---------------------------------------------

30

Advanced Word Recognition------------------------------------------------------

30

Voice Input-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

30

Parts of Speech, Gender Labels, Abbreviations -----------------------------

31

Phonetic Transcription--------------------------------------------------------------

32

Viewing Entries -----------------------------------------------------------------------

33

Spell-checker Vector Ultima ----------------------------------------------------

36

Instant Reverse Translation and Instant Explanation-----------------------

36

Pronunciation of Words and Sentences----------------------------------------

38

SUPPLEMENTAL DICTIONARIES------------------------------------------------

39

German-Polish Dictionary ---------------------------------------------------------

39

User’s Dictionary ---------------------------------------------------------------------

40

Learner’s Cards ----------------------------------------------------------------------

44

TEXT TRANSLATION ----------------------------------------------------------------

46

VOICE PHRASEBOOK---------------------------------------------------------------

47

ACCENT CORRECTION ------------------------------------------------------------

49

REFERENCE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

52

Irregular Verbs------------------------------------------------------------------------

52

Popular Idioms------------------------------------------------------------------------

53

ORGANIZER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

54

PHONE DIRECTORY-----------------------------------------------------------------

54

MEMO ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

57

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SCHEDULER ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

60

CALENDAR -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

64

DRAWING BOARD--------------------------------------------------------------------

65

VOICE MEMO --------------------------------------------------------------------------

67

PC COMMUNICATION---------------------------------------------------------------

69

CALCULATIONS-------------------------------------------------------------------------

72

CALCULATOR--------------------------------------------------------------------------

72

LOAN CALCULATOR-----------------------------------------------------------------

72

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT---------------------------------------------------------

75

CURRENCY CONVERSION--------------------------------------------------------

77

METRIC CONVERSION -------------------------------------------------------------

79

SIZE EQUIVALENTS -----------------------------------------------------------------

80

REFERENCE -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

81

LOCAL AND WORLD TIME---------------------------------------------------------

81

Local Time-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

81

World Time ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

85

TRAVEL GUIDE------------------------------------------------------------------------

86

TELEPHONE CODES ----------------------------------------------------------------

86

GAME CENTER------------------------------------------------------------------------

87

Mastermind ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

88

Tile5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

88

Brick Game ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

89

Hangman-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

90

ENGLISH NAMES ---------------------------------------------------------------------

91

PHONE WIZARD ----------------------------------------------------------------------

92

CROSSWORD SOLVER-------------------------------------------------------------

92

USA INTERVIEW ----------------------------------------------------------------------

93

SETUP--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

94

INTERFACE LANGUAGE -----------------------------------------------------------

94

SYSTEM SETUP-----------------------------------------------------------------------

95

Key Tone-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

95

First Screen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

95

Auto Shutoff Period------------------------------------------------------------------

96

Touch Screen Calibration----------------------------------------------------------

96

Adult Lock------------------------------------------------------------------------------

97

Speech Level -------------------------------------------------------------------------

97

Audio Settings ------------------------------------------------------------------------

98

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Scheduler Alarm ---------------------------------------------------------------------

98

Date Format ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

99

Time Format---------------------------------------------------------------------------

99

PC-Link Baud Rate ------------------------------------------------------------------

99

Battery Check-----------------------------------------------------------------------

100

SECURITY-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

100

MEMORY CHECK-------------------------------------------------------------------

102

DATA DELETION--------------------------------------------------------------------

103

BRIEF OF FUNCTIONS------------------------------------------------------------

103

ABOUT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

104

INTERNATIONAL WARRANTY--------------------------------------------------

104

WARRANTY SLIP -------------------------------------------------------------------

107

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INTRODUCTION

Congratulations on purchasing the English-Polish Translator & Language Learning System ECTACO Partner® X8! This product is the result of combined efforts of Ectaco’s staff of linguists, engineers, and programmers. You are now the owner of the most advanced electronic device ever produced for foreign language studies.

The ECTACO Partner® X8 features:

Interactive English Language Tutor

Main dictionary (English-Polish bidirectional dictionary) of over 1,000,000 words, including idioms, medical, technical, legal, and business terms, as well as slang and general expressions

Dictionary of the English Language

German-Polish bidirectional dictionary of 100,000 words

Complete Guide to English Grammar, Vocabulary and Phonetics

US citizenship exam preparation guide

Most popular American idioms

English irregular verbs

Advanced English speech synthesis

Fully automated text translation

New word recording function

Instant Reverse Translation

Advanced word recognition system

The MorphoFinder function

The Voice Input function

Personal word lists for easy learning

Interactive phonetic practice with accent correction

Award winning Vector Ultima bilingual spell-checking system

Over 1,100 useful phrases in the English-Polish Voice Phrasebook with English and Polish speech recognition

2 MB English/Polish organizer with search function

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Comprehensive reference section featuring Travel Guide, English Names List, Local and World time with map illustration etc.

Game center with four games

Crossword solver with educational functions

Standard and Scientific Calculators

Account Management

Digital Voice Recorder

Currency and Metric converters

High-speed data exchange and synchronization with PC

Bilingual Interface

Alarm and Audio Scheduler Reminder

Talking Clock

Calendar

Adult Lock

Data protection system

External power jack for non-battery operation

Headphone jack

The latest speech technology employed by ECTACO Partner® X8 allows you to listen to a clear pronunciation of English words and phrases.

Unlike other portable electronic dictionaries, this model features a break-through combination of two parallel input devices − a welldesigned 72-button keyboard and a high-resolution touch-sensitive display, which makes it functionally analogous to a mouse-equipped computer. Besides, English voice input is possible in the

Dictionaries section.

Note: As continuous efforts are made by the manufacturer to ensure a better quality and performance of the Partner® products, some characteristics or the design of the actual device you purchased may slightly differ from their description in this manual.

The ECTACO Partner® X8 gives you freedom of speech and communication. Enjoy your ECTACO Partner® X8 and make it your companion!

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General View

The general view and external appliances of the ECTACO Partner® X8 are shown below.

Power Supply

The ECTACO Partner® X8 is powered by four AAA (LR03) batteries or by a special rechargeable battery pack. When the batteries or accumulators become weak, a warning message will be displayed.

In order to prevent an excessive discharge of the batteries or accumulators and a resulting loss of data in RAM, the voice recording and talking function will be disabled.

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Note: When the Batteries Low! message is displayed, the energy consuming Text-to-Speech function is disabled. The other voice functions, e.g. Voice Memo, may still remain working.

Note: The voice recording, talking, and electronic communication functions consume a considerable amount of energy. It is recommended to use an external power supply while using these functions.

To restore full functionality of the device and to avoid the risk of losing user data, replace the complete set of batteries or recharge the accumulators as soon as possible.

How to recharge the accumulators

Make sure the accumulators are inserted in the battery compartment.

Note: Only special accumulators – rechargeable battery pack1 may be used with your ECTACO Partner® X8.

Connect an AC/DC adapter to your device.

Note: The ECTACO Partner® X8 is equipped with a jack for external power supply.

Note: Use of an inappropriate external power supply may

cause failure of the device and void the warranty. The AC/DC adapter should provide 9V and min 300mA DC.2

The red LED signal shows that the accumulators are recharging and the green one shows that the accumulators are charged. The recharge LED will glow when the adapter is connected to the device.

Note: Accumulators (if inserted) are recharged every time you connect the device adapter to electricity.

How to replace the batteries

Press the key to turn the device off.

1Please communicate with an Ectaco office to get more information about this rechargeable battery pack purchase.

2Contact your dealer to order the compatible AC/DC adapter or call +1 (800) 710-7920 within the continental US or +48 (22) 844-16-64 in Poland.

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Note: Never try to remove the batteries from the device when the power is on. This can seriously damage the device. If you experience difficulties turning the device off, press the RESET

button on the right-hand side of the keyboard (above the button) and reinstall the system.

Remove the battery compartment cover by sliding it away from the device.

Remove the used batteries and replace them with new ones. ♦ Note: Do not mix old and new batteries.

Make sure to place the batteries according to the polarity marks (+ -) inside the compartment.

Put back the battery compartment cover by sliding it toward the device. Make sure the cover sits in place properly.

Turn the device on to make sure it works correctly.

Note: You have two minutes to replace the batteries without risk of losing the data stored in RAM. Do not exceed the twominute limit! Neither the manufacturer nor the dealer may be held responsible for the loss of user data.

Initialization

The initialization routine is started:

when the ECTACO Partner® X8 is turned on for the first time;

when you remove the batteries (e.g. when replacing them) for longer than two minutes;

after the system has been reset with the RESET button.

Note: The RESET button is located on the right-hand side of the keyboard (over the button). It can be accessed with any thin object like a paper clip. Never use a needle or a pin since it can damage the device.

If you see the Initialize System? message, press or touch or to abort initialization and customization.

If you confirm the prompt, the factory defined settings will be restored, but you can still prevent the deletion of your data by

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canceling the ensuing prompt Delete all user’s data? Press

or touch or to preserve your data.

The System is initialized! message indicates that the system initialization has been accomplished, freeing memory and restoring the factory defined settings.

Also, the user may be prompted to conduct the touch-screen calibration, which configures the proper spacing and alignment of the touch-sensitive screen elements. Please refer to page 96 for the procedure description.

After a completed system initialization, or when using the device for the first time, the interface language will be reset to English. Users who prefer to see menus and messages in Polish are referred to page 94 for instructions.

Keyboard

The American standard QWERTY keyboard combined with the Polish and German layouts allows you to enter any word just in seconds.

Each set of national characters is linked to its language input mode.

Language modes can be toggled by pressing the key. In the

English-Polish bidirectional dictionary and German-Polish bidirectional dictionary, however, the input mode selection is made automatically to comply with the current source language, and the

key is used for changing the translation direction. The function and control keys are described below.

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Function shortcut keys3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn the device On or Off

 

RESET

 

 

Re-initialize system

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Show Main Menu / Switch tab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open Main Dictionary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open Voice Phrasebook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open Text Translation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open English Language Tutor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open System Setup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

u

t

Launch Spell-checker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+ ,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use speech function

Control and editing keys

Í, Î

 

 

 

 

 

Move cursor or highlight

Ð, Ï

 

 

 

 

 

 

Move cursor or highlight / Scroll lines

 

 

u, t

 

 

Page by screen / Switch Main Menu tab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Execute

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enter space / Check or uncheck boxes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close active window / Cancel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enter symbols from the two-letter keys4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Type in uppercase / Enter additional

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

symbols5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+

 

 

 

 

Clear input

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn Caps Lock On or Off

3Key1+Key2 here and further on signifies the combination of keys to use – first press and release Key1, then press and release Key2.

4Use the ALT key to enter the lowercase Polish or German letters. To obtain the uppercase images of the letters, press SHIFT or CAPS LOCK on the keyboard first.

5Additional symbols are marked over the numeric keys.

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Copy selection or the entire text to clipboard

Insert clipboard contents

Delete character to the left of cursor

Delete character to the right of cursor

Toggle Insert / Overtype modes

Activate toolbar buttons6

Switch language or translation direction

Computational symbols and operations are available in the

Calculator section.

Display

The ECTACO Partner® X8 features a large-size touch screen with a responsive and efficient windows-driven graphical interface.

Touch-screen elements

By touching a screen item of a certain type – a push button or prehighlighted text – you perform an action associated with this item.

The keyboard equivalent of touching the highlighted item is moving the highlight bar to it with the arrow keys (Í,Î,Ð,Ï) and pressing

.

Both the touch screen and the keyboard procedures of activating an option or a command are referred to as selecting in this manual.

6Commands and options associated with currently displayed Toolbar buttons are also accessible from the keyboard by pressing the F1-F8 keys with the corresponding number, counting buttons from top to bottom.

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Stylus

Touching is preferably done with the supplied pointing device called the stylus, which, when not in use, can be conveniently kept in a special slot at the base of the device’s case lid.

The stylus is especially useful for operations that cannot be performed from the keyboard, for example, highlighting an arbitrary text fragment in the Organizer sections or a multi-word translation in a dictionary entry.

Note: If, for some reason, using the stylus does not provide the desired effect, use , and the arrow keys (Í,Î,Ð,Ï) to access the Touch Screen Calibration procedure (see page 96).

MAIN MENU

The MAIN MENU appears as a row of tabs at the top of the screen when the device is turned on (unless the Resume screen setup option has been selected, see page 95) or an application is closed,

or the key is pressed.

The MAIN MENU is divided into six submenus, each of which includes a number of related sections.

Sections may also include subsections and various lower level options.

The six parts of the MAIN MENU are:

English Language Tutor

Dictionaries

Organizer

Calculations

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Reference

Setup

Opening a Submenu

The easiest way to open a specific submenu when the MAIN MENU is displayed is by touching a corresponding tab at the top of the screen.

Alternatively, the submenus can be chosen by pressing the key or one of the paging t,u keys on the keyboard.

Opening a Section

To open a section in the ECTACO Partner® X8, display the appropriate part of the MAIN MENU and do one of the following:

touch the section name;

move the highlight bar to the section name and press

;

press the numeric key corresponding to the section number.

Sidebar

Sidebar ▼

Nine sections of ECTACO Partner® X8 have permanent touchsensitive shortcut buttons on the Sidebar to the right of the screen:

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ECTACO Partner® X8

 

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Main Dictionary

 

Voice Memo

 

 

 

 

 

English

 

 

 

 

(Explanatory)

 

Game Center

 

 

Dictionary

 

Local Time (Pop-Up

 

 

Phone Directory

 

 

 

Scheduler

 

Window and Talking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clock)

 

 

Calendar

 

Calculator

 

 

 

Touchpad

Touchpad is a set of virtual keys displayed on the screen. This set of keys simulates the conventional physical keyboard or part of it. The touchpad shown below is the most widely used throughout the ECTACO Partner® X8 applications.

The basic touchpad layout contains the letters of the respective alphabet and a set of symbols. The control key images have the following meaning:

Touch key

Meaning

Keyboard equivalent

Backspace

Enter

Shift

Caps Lock

Input the Polish or German letters ę, ó, ą,

ś, ł, ź, ż, ć, ń, ü, ö, ä, ß

Change language

Touching the keyboard button in the lower-right corner of the screen or pressing F8 on the keyboard hides the touchpad, thus

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enlarging the visible input area. To re-display the touchpad, touch or press F8 again.

Windows

Every application, pop-up menu, or dialog box used in the ECTACO Partner® X8 appears in its own window.

A window is displayed as a framed screen area with two main elements: the Title Bar and the Close Button.

The Title Bar may show the name of the currently active section or a

message title. Any window can be closed either by pressing on the physical keyboard or by touching the Close Button in the upper-right corner of the window.

The Vertical or Horizontal Scroll Bars might also be present in a window. The Scroll Box shows the position of the displayed contents relative to the rest of data.

On a Scroll Bar:

touch a Scroll Arrow or to advance or go back one line;

touch and drag the Scroll Box to browse information;

touch the Scroll Bar below or above the Scroll Box to jump to the corresponding portion of text.

Pop-Up and Pull-Down Menus

A pop-up menu is an overlapping window that requests the user’s selection of one of the displayed options.

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Touch a line with the stylus or move the highlight bar to a line

with the arrow keys and press .

Aside from pop-up menus, non-window pull-down menus may be used. The button on the screen indicates a hidden pull-down menu.

Touch the arrow button to open a pull-down menu.

To select an option, touch its name or highlight it and press .

To hide a menu without making a selection, press or touch the screen outside the menu area.

Dialog Box

A simple example of a dialog box is a prompt, which contains a Yes/No question pending the user’s confirmation or cancellation.

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ECTACO Partner® X8

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Ways you can respond to a prompt:

Touch

Meaning

Keyboard

equivalent

 

Yes

 

, Y

 

 

 

 

 

No

N

Cancel

A Setup prompt expects the user to specify data items directly in the dialog box. This can imply either checking boxes or setting values.

Checking boxes

To highlight an empty check box , touch it with the stylus. Alternatively, move the dotted frame to the desired check box

with the arrow keys and press . The selected check box becomes filled .

Touch or press to apply the changes and close the window.

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ECTACO Partner® X8

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Setting Values

To change a value in the highlighted box, touch the , buttons or press the Ï,Ð keys.

To change the active box, touch it or use the Í,Î keys.

Touch or press to save settings and close the window.

Message Box

A message just requests the acknowledgement of information.

To close the message box, touch or where available.

The ECTACO Partner® X8 does not allow moving or switching active windows. Thus, you will have to close an overlapping window in order to proceed.

Toolbar

A Toolbar is a set of vertically arranged buttons appearing to the right of the pertaining window.

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ECTACO Partner® X8

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The most frequently used Toolbar buttons are:

Page Up

Save

Page Down

Edit

Scroll Up

Delete

Scroll Down

Search

OK (Apply)

Settings

New

Say

Explain

Spell-checking

Translate

Font size

As an on-board help to the user, a short Toolbar button description (Tool tip) appears when a button is being touched.

Commands and options associated with currently displayed Toolbar buttons are also accessible from the keyboard by pressing the F1F8 keys with the corresponding number, counting the buttons from top to bottom.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TUTOR

English Language Tutor is an extremely powerful linguistic tool for those who want to master the English language and learn to communicate fluently. With its help you can learn English fast and easy. The English Language Tutor course is stored on the special card provided in the standard package. Please visit Ectaco's Web site www.ectaco.com for more information.

How to Install or Remove the Card

Make sure the device is turned off and there is no other card installed in the CF slot of your ECTACO Partner® X8.

Pull the ejector switch down to set it to the Unlock position.

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ECTACO Partner® X8

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Insert the English Language Tutor card into the CF slot thoroughly.

Set the ejector switch to the Lock position.

Note: Always use the ejector when installing or removing the card.

Note: Never insert or remove the card when the device is on. Use the ON/OFF button to turn the device off.

Note: Use of unspecified cards may cause device failure and possible loss of user's data. Always use the original English Language Tutor cards manufactured by ECTACO, Inc.

To eject the card, set the ejector switch to the Unlock position and move it towards the Eject B Card mark.

Remove the English Language Tutor card from the slot.

Electronic Interactive System

Install the English Language Tutor card into your ECTACO Partner® X8.

Press the ON/OFF button to turn the device on.

Select English Tutor from the MAIN MENU or press the key.

You will be prompted to register.

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ECTACO Partner® X8

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Please input your name (login) and password into the corresponding fields.

Note: The maximum name (login) length is 31 characters and the password length is 8 characters.

This feature is designed so that you could let several users (e.g. you and your relatives) learn English with the same device. You can create an account (user) without a password. In this case, do not input any characters in the Password field on the Registration screen.

Use:

to create a new account

to delete an account.

When you open the Users list, please select your name to log on.

Note: In case you forgot your password, you can use the usrpass password to log on the English Language Tutor.

However, this password blocks the access to any other protected sections of ECTACO Partner® X8, e.g. Phone Directory, when the device is in the locked mode (see page 100).

Note: The maximum number of users is limited in order to save memory resources.

Note: Before using a new version of the English Language Tutor card, please remove all accounts from the Users List. Create a new list and add the previous accounts to it, if necessary.

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Touch Buttons

Depending on the current lesson and exercise, the following toolbar buttons are available in the English Language Tutor section:

Touch button Meaning

Navigator

Grammar

Phonetics

Vocabulary

Practice

Decrease font size

Increase font size

Proceed

Show virtual keyboard (to enter an answer)

Listen to the prerecorded sound

Start voice recording

Audio settings

Check answers (Statistics)

Placement Test

Once a new account is created, you are offered to pass the

Placement Test.

In the Placement Test section, you can check your English knowledge level before starting your studies. At the beginning, you are asked simpler questions; the difficulty level gradually increases.

Note: Total number of questions is about 200 and depends on the English Language Tutor card version.

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Note: Placement Test content depends on the English Language Tutor card version.

You can skip the Placement Test and go directly to the Tutorial section. However, it is recommended to pass the Placement Test first. Please answer each question of the Placement Test.

To highlight an empty check box next to the correct answer, touch it with the stylus. Alternatively, move the dotted frame

to the desired check box and press . The dotted frame appears when either of the Í,Î keys is pressed.

The selected check box becomes filled .

Touch or press to confirm your choice.

Note: If you quit the Placement Test before completion, your Placement Test statistics will be discarded and you may be advised to pass the Placement Test once again.

Tutorial

Select the Tutorial section to open a list of available levels.

Note: Tutorial content depends on the English Language Tutor

card version.

 

Select the desired level and press

.

A list of available lessons will be displayed.

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ECTACO Partner® X8

User's Manual

Select the desired lesson and press .

Get acquainted with the topic of the lesson and touch or

press .

Before going on with the selected lesson, please get acquainted with the reference material.

Touch:

to read grammar

to read phonetics

to read vocabulary.

Select the first exercise of the lesson.

Depending on the task, input or select the correct answer and touch or press .

Note: There may be several correct variants among the given answers. The answer will be treated as correct if you mark all correct variants.

Note: When doing an exercise requiring answers input, you should use the words learned in the Vocabulary section.

You can listen to the pronunciation of English words displayed on the screen, obtain their translations and explanations. Translation for Polish words is also available.

Touch the desired word and hold down the stylus until a pop-up menu appears.

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ECTACO Partner® X8

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Select Say, Translate, or Explain from the pop-up menu.

The book provided in the standard ECTACO Partner® X8 package will be especially helpful when you want to find any reference for the lessons' material.

Practice

When in the Practice mode, the results you achieve doing exercises are not added to your score. This feature is designed for your convenience, so that you can make a try before going through the selected exercise.

Select the desired level and lesson.

Touch the button to begin practicing.

Navigator

When you are unsure what lesson to choose, please use Navigator

– the button. According to the previous statistics, it will bring you to the most appropriate lesson.

Statistics

You can see the results on completion of an exercise, lesson, or level in the Statistics window.

In the Tutorial Browser window, select a lesson.

Use the button to view the detailed statistics for the last exercise you have completed.

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ECTACO Partner® X8

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Quitting the English Language Tutor

Other sections of your ECTACO Partner® X8 remain available while in the English Language Tutor mode.

Press any hotkey on the keyboard or touch any button on the sidebar.

Note: When you quit the English Language Tutor, your results are not deleted. However, to resume doing exercises, you must enter the English Language Tutor and select the level, lesson, and exercise again.

DICTIONARIES

The important part of the ECTACO Partner® X8 is the DICTIONARIES section – it contains seven language-related subsections.

Select the tab from the MAIN MENU to open the DICTIONARIES section.

MAIN DICTIONARY

The ECTACO Partner® X8 contains the most advanced EnglishPolish and Polish-English electronic dictionaries available on the market. This manual usually refers to those as the English-Polish Dictionary, or simply the Main Dictionary.

Note: The Main Dictionary contains not only general vocabulary and technical terms but also slang. You can hide it using the Adult Lock function (see page 97).

General Dictionary Function

Select English-Polish Dictionary from the DICTIONARIES section, or touch on the Sidebar, or press the key on the keyboard.

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During the initialization of the Main Dictionary you may see the icon. This usually means that User’s Dictionary contains a considerable number of entries. Since both dictionaries are interlinked, the more words the User’s Dictionary contains, the more time it takes to initialize the Main Dictionary. Please wait while the loading completes.

Note: Please refer to the How to Use the Dictionaries section (see page 30).

DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH

LANGUAGE

The ECTACO Partner® X8 includes the advanced English explanatory dictionary.

General Dictionary Function

Select English Dictionary from the DICTIONARIES section.

Note: Please refer to the How to Use the Dictionaries section below.

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ECTACO Partner® X8

User's Manual

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARIES

Advanced Word Recognition

To translate or explain a word, start entering it from the keyboard or the touchpad.

While you are typing, headwords closest in spelling to the portion you entered so far are displayed in the Advanced Search Area under the input line.

If the desired word had appeared before you finished typing, select it (touch the corresponding line or make sure it is

highlighted and press ) to see its translation(s) or explanation(s).

Note: Some words borrowed from French may be given in the Dictionary without accent marks.

Scroll or page through the Advanced Search Area to find the word in question manually.

To enlarge the visible Search Area, hide the touchpad by touching .

Voice Input

The Voice Input is a new exclusive function which enables voice input of English words.

To translate or explain an English word, touch and spell it. Please pronounce each letter distinctly. It is recommended that the pause between letters should not exceed 1.5 sec. The word will be

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