ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>Software review: Le Grand Robert &#38; Collins &$233;lectronique (PC/Mac)</TITLE></HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#3299CC"> <P> <Font size="4"><b>Le Grand Robert &#38; Collins &#233;lectronique (PC/Mac)</B></Font><BR> Reviewed by Fran&#231;oise Herrmann<BR> <BR> Dictionnaires Le Robert / Sejer 2004<BR> Bureau Van DIJK Publishing<BR> &#36;85<BR> </P> <P><HR WIDTH=300 Align=CENTER></P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36"> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">For those of you who love the <i>Robert &#38; Collins</i> institutional giants, <i>Le Grand Robert &#38; Collins électronique (<i>GRCE</i>)</i>, published in France, contains both the <i>Robert &&#38;Collins Senior</i> and the two-volume <i>Robert &#38; Collins Super Senior</i> hardcopy editions, minus the synonyms listings and the geographical maps of the <i>Robert &#38; Collins Super Senior</i>(1). Furthermore, this CD is intended for both MAC and PC users, and is designed by the Bureau Van Dijk Electronic Publishing, acclaimed Belgian designers of the <i>Le Petit Robert</i> on CD-ROM. The <i>GRCE</i> contains a total of 1,200,000 entries, more than one million translations, and audio pronunciation of 75,000 words. Finally, in the <i>Robert &#38; Collins</i> tradition of marketing esotericism, the <i>GRCE</i> is also called <i>The Unabridged Collins & Robert Electronic French Dictionary</i>, just in case you run into this title and begin to wonder.</P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">To use the <i>GRCE</i>, PC users will need a Pentium&#153 II processor, 32 MB of RAM, Windows&#153; 98/2000/XP or NT4, at least 16 MB of space on their hard drives, a 4x CD-ROM drive, and an 800 x 600 pixel video card. MAC users will need a G3 processor or higher, 32 MB of RAM, MAC OS 9 to 10, and a 12x CD-ROM drive.</P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">The <i>GRCE</i> comes packaged as a single CD with a small 30-page insert user guide in French. It is installed via a standard installation Wizard that offers three options: complete, partial, and minimum. A complete installation requires 560 MB of hard drive space, allowing you to use the <i>GRCE</i>without the CD, and thus frees your CD-ROM drive for other uses. A partial installation requires 130 MB of hard drive space and allows you to use the <i>GRCE</i> without the CD inserted in the CD-ROM drive, except when you want to access the audio files for the pronunciation of 75,000 terms. Finally, 5 MB of hard drive space are needed for the minimum installation option, which requires the use of both the CD and your CD-ROM drive.</P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">Once the <i>GRCE</i> is installed, you may launch it using the Start menu or the icon located on the taskbar of your desktop. When not in use, the program then collapses on the taskbar just like other applications opened on your desktop. </P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">Once the <i>GRCE</i> is launched, you will be pleased to discover a pleasantly color-coded and versatile menu- or click-driven interface that is delightfully user-friendly and packed with innovative and practical features (see Figure 1). To search the <i>GRCE</i> you may type in your term or phrase in the application &#147;Word or Sequence&#148; field, or use the pop-up function by highlighting your query in any application (including Web pages and e-mail) and then right-clicking on the <i>GRCE</i> taskbar icon. The pop-up mode saves you time since you do not have to type or re-type your search. The results of your search in the Dictionary word list will appear in the larger window to the left of the color-coded list of entries (orange for English, green for French). To speed the search process you may also chose to use the default French and English listing, which allows you to query the <i>GRCE</i> for French or English terms without specifying the language of the search item each time, or you may set the search to one or the other language separately. For speed also, the <i>GRCE</i> parser allows you to type without accents in French and use incomplete or incorrect spelling. </P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">In response to different user preferences in navigation styles, all settings appear both menu- or click-driven. Pull-down File, Edit, Resources, Display, Tools, Window, and Help menus appear at the top of the application, but for users who prefer Web-style click navigation, all of the functions and utilities available via the menus can also be accessed via <i>clickable</i> buttons or tabs at other more strategic and visible locations on the application. For example, say you would like to increase the size of the print on screen, you may click on the increase font icon button at the bottom left corner of the screen, or open the Display menu at the top of the screen and select the &#147;Increase Font Size&#148; option. The same option in navigation styles exists for all of the application functions, including printing, copying, setting the search language, and cross-listings, each of which are accessible both via menus or clicks, depending on your personal preferences. </P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">There are two wonderful and timesaving ways of navigating long articles with the <i>GRCE</i>. One way is to enable the Explorer function or Entrymap summary function. The other way is to type in the item searched within a long article, directly in the dedicated &#147;Find in Text&#148; field. So, for example, say you are searching for a translation of the term &#147;make over&#148; in the article for &#147;make&#148; (see Figure 1). One way is to use the Explorer or Entrymap function, which opens as a small window beneath the color-coded entry list, displaying a hypertext tree structure of the article where you scroll and click on the term &#147;make over.&#148; Another way is to type the term &#147;make over&#148; directly in the &#147;Find in Text&#148; field of the article &#147;make.&#148; Both ways supply you with direct access to the entry &#147;make over&#148; within the larger article for &#147;make&#148; without having to scroll up and down the article searching or reading it. Ultimately, both ways greatly speed up and simplify the process of searching and finding hits within a long article. </P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">There are still more targeted ways of finding terms in the <i>GRCE</i> using the word list options &#151;again, each is accessible via buttons across the top of the application or inside the pull-down Resources menu, depending on the user s preferences. The main and default word list is the Dictionary. The remaining six lists are cross-lists of the Dictionary list : Idioms, Compounds, Phrasal verbs, Abbreviations, Proverbs, and Cultural Notes. Entries for each of the lists appear in the left window and the content of the articles in the right window, so that beyond invoking a search for a specific term, it is also possible to peruse or scroll the lists. Additionally, when the Explorer function is left enabled, the location of a proverb, compound, idiom, phrasal verb, or abbreviation in the dictionary also becomes transparent. </P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">The Conjugation function is embedded in the articles of the dictionary, as is gender and number information. Inflected forms of all verbs, the feminine and masculine, as well as the singular and plural forms of all nouns and adjectives, are accessed via a small expand icon button next to the noun, adjective, or verb grammatical categories listed in the article. These forms pop up in a separate window. For French verbs, the Conjugation window includes a list of all tenses, modes, and persons accessible via tab format, allowing you to find any verb form you are seeking. For nouns and adjectives also, a window opens displaying inflections. </P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">Similarly, the design of hypertext is novel. In the <i>GRCE</i>, when you click on any word in an article, the linked information pops up as a window beneath the article so that both are visible on screen, instead of the linked article replacing the current article. Forward and backward arrows next to the headword display also allow you to retrace your steps through your searches and hyperlinks. Thus, via this uncommon hypertext design, you may view the new linked information you want without losing track of the information in your original searched article. </P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">As in the paper edition of the <i>Super Senior Robert &#38; Collins</i>, the <i>GRCE</i> includes a notional-functional grammar, termed &#147;Language in Use.&#148; This grammar is accessed via the tab besides the vertical Dictionary search tab, and comes with the bonus advantage of hyperlinked cross-references to the main dictionary. In contrast to this grammar, as in the paper versions, the content of each Dictionary article of the <i>GRCE</i> is structured according to traditional grammatical parts of speech, the hypertext tree structure organization of which appears clearly in the Explorer windows.</P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">In addition to the small 30-page insert user guide in French that comes with the CD, the <i>GRCE</i> includes a full-blown help function, mapped onto the Windows Help menu option, including a hyperlinked index and search field. The <i>GRCE</i> Help function is available in both French and English when you switch the language of the interface using the Tools menu, and it will uncover any remaining mysteries of the application. </P> <P><SPACER TYPE="horizontal" SIZE="36">To complete this brief tour of the <i>GRCE</i>, it is important to reiterate that the <i>GRCE</i> includes the content of both the<i> Super Senior</i> and the <i>Senior Robert &#38; Collins </i>hardcopy dictionaries, minus the synonyms dictionary and maps of the <i>Super Senior</i>. Thus, the <i>GRCE</i> brings you, to date, the most complete of the <i>Robert &#38; Collins</i> bilingual dictionary listings and translations. This includes all the known, and much respected, qualitative dimensions of excellent terminology and concordance-tested common usage, gleaned from large databases of multiple media sources, in addition to state-of-the-art design to enhance and magnify the possibilities of the paper editions. It is hardly surprising, then, that this application has been awarded the prestigious French Ministry of Education RIP award &#151;Reconnu d int&#233;r&#234;t p&#233;dagogique [Recognized of educational benefit]. This is a tool that works. As always, it works for all your common French and English translation needs, short of the ultra-specialized. And it works <i>now</i> as a smooth and slick electronic tool that harnesses your paper editions, sending them to soaring heights. Plus, it s a real deal! Enjoy!</P> <P><HR WIDTH=300 Align=CENTER></P> </P><B><FONT SIZE="2"> Figure 1</B>:<i>GRCE</i> interface displaying a search for the term &#147;make over&#148; in the article for the term &#147;make.&#148;</FONT></P> <IMG HEIGHT=768 WIDTH=1024 SRC="GRCE.jpg" > </A> <BR> <p><b>Notes</B></P> <p>1. The <i>Robert & Collins Super Senior French&#60;&#62;English Dictionary</i> (two volumes) paper edition was reviewed in the August 2003 <i>ATA Chronicle</i>, pp. 51-53.</P> <P><B><A HREF="Publications.html">Publications</A></B></P> <P><B><A HREF="Bookrev.html">Reviews</A></B></P> <P><B><A HREF="index.html">Home</A></B></P> </BODY> </HTML>