How to use our Active Language© Lab

1. What is the Active Language© Lab?

The Active Language© Lab is an online foreign language learning program developed by Eurcosm. Based on the principles of a classic language laboratory, it brings additional advantages made possible by the Internet and new multimedia technologies.

2. How can the Active Language© Lab help you?

Eurocosm offers a modern and innovative language laboratory enabling personalised learning. What makes it special, is that it incorporates some of the best aspects of the Internet: multimedia and interactivity. Thanks to a language database containing over 50,000 phrases, you will be able, if you wish, to learn several languages at the same time, and not one after the other, as required by most courses - this is especially useful for those wishing to develop and maintain their knowledge in a range of languages. Our learning modules and units are grouped by everyday subjects, allowing targeted learning based on your immediate needs: from simply going shopping, meeting friends, answering the telephone, expressing your opinion, to finding a job or even going fishing! You are also given a number of innovative and modern learning tools. The Active Language© Lab contains more than 10,000 audio recordings, as well as a number of innovative and modern learning tools, such as one that allows you to create your own language units so that you can prepare better for a particular situation or event.

3. Menu Bar

All of the features of the Active Language© Lab are available by clicking on the menu bar at the top of the screen. The "Learning Material" menu allows you to select either a standard lesson, a personlaised lesson, or random learning content. The "Learning Tool" menu contains the learning tools that are then available to you, such as phrase lists with recorded sounds, games and exercises.

4. Simple Mode

This mode displays a table containing all the lesson's phrases in the languages you wish to learn (including your mother tongue). To select this mode, simply click on "Simple Mode" in the "Learning Tool" menu.

5. Play Mode

Instructions
• To select this mode, click on the "Play Mode" option in the "Learning Tool" menu. A musical note sign will appear on the right of each phrase. To listen to a single phrase, simply click on the musical note. If you wish to hear a number of phrases played one after the other in succession, simply highlight your chosen phrases by clicking on the round button next to each musical note, and then click on "Play" near the top of the screen. To stop playback, click on the "Stop" button to the right of the "Play" button.
  Playback Options
• You can regulate the speed of playback (from 1 to 4) using the "Speed" option.
  If you wish to hear all a lesson's phrases in a particular language, you can select all the relevant phrases by clicking on the green arrow at the top of the corresponding column. To listen to a phrase in all the languages you have selected to learn, click on the green arrow on the left of each row.
  Note on Required Software
• The audio files are recorded in MP3 format. In addition to loudspeakers and a sound card, you will need to have the correct software on your machine if you are to hear the sounds correctly. We recommend Microsoft "Media Player". If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or higher, "Media Player" will already be on your machine. If not, you can download a free version of "Media Player" for FREE by clicking here. An alternative player is "Real Player", which you can download for FREE by clicking here.
  
  

6. Dialogue Mode

Selecting Type of Playback
• The dialogue box is a window in which phrases you have selected for playback are displayed. By default, the dialogue box shows the text of the phrases to which you are listening. This type of playback is called "Text in Original Language". If you wish to to read the phrase texts in your mother tongue as they are played in the languages you wish to learn, , select the "Subtitles" option. If you want to see all marked phrases, including those not having a sound file, displayed in the dialogue box, select the "Play all Phrases". Finally, if you just want to read the phrases you have marked, without hearing sounds played, select the "Only Text" option.
  
  Playback Speed
• You can regulate the speed of playback by clicking on the "speed" option at the bottom of the dialigue box. Choose a speed between 1 (slow) and 4 (fast).
  
  

7. Games and Exercises

The Active Language© Lab offers both games and learning exercises. You will find "Hangman", "Comprehension", and "Phrase Puzzle" in the "Learning Tool Menu".

8. Screensaver

Choice of Phrases
• First of all, click on the "Screensaver" option in the "Learning Tool" menu, then choose the content in the "Learning Material" Menu. You may either use an existing list ("New Lesson", or "My Phrases"), or create a new list by clicking on "Random Words", or "Random Phrases and Words".
  
  Screensaver Software
• You should now download the support software onto your machine (1,6 MB). To do this, click on the "Download Software" button, and save the file in a new directory. Open the Zip file (if you do not have WINZIP on your machine, click here to download it for FREE) and run the program called Setup.exe, and follow the instructions.
  Note: you may need to set your new screensaver as your system's "default" screensaver. To do this, simply go to your system's screen options menu in the system menu.
  
  

9. New Lesson

To select a new lesson, click on the "Learning Material" menu, and select the "New Lesson" option. Then selct a course module from the list that appears on the left of the window. A list of lessons contained in your chosen module will then appear on the right of the window. Click on one of the lessons in this list. If you cannot find the lesson you are looking for, you may enter a search keyword at the bottom of the screen.

10. Create your Own Lesson

Adding a phrase to your personal lesson
• You may add phrases to your personal lesson when you are working in "Simple Mode", "Play Mode", or "Dialogue Mode". To add a phrase, simply click on the book at the end of each phrase row. These phrases will then be saved automatically into your personal lesson.
  
  Taking your Own Lesson
• To take your own lesson, you need to choose the "My Lesson" option in the "Learning Material" menu.
  
  

11. Create a lesson using random phrases

If you don't want to learn expressions grouped by our standard lessons, you have the possibility of creating lessons containing a random selection of phrases and words from our database. This is particularly useful for established linguists who simply want to test themselves on a broadrange of subjects. To use this function, select either the "Random Phrases and Words" or the "Random Words" options in the "Learning Material Menu". Each time you call this function, 15 phrases will be selected from our database, which contains more than 50.000 phrases.

12. Choice of Languages

To select the language(s) you wish to learn, click on the "Active Language© Lab" menu and select the "Languages" option. You can select up to four languages to learn in addition to the language you have selected as the "website" language (in this case English). In the "Languages" menu, languages you wish to learn are marked "yes" and those that are turned off are marked "no". To change a setting, simply click on the language you wish to turn on or off. If the previous setting was "yes", the new setting will now be "no" (and vice-versa). When you first visit our site, all languages are set to "yes". Should you change these settings, the changes will be saved between visits.

13. Searching for Phrases and Words

The option "Search for Phrases and Words" in the "Active Language© Lab" menu enables you view all phrases in our database. You may input a number of searchwords at the same time, and you can select whether you want to include all phrases containing at least on of your searchwords, or only those phrases containing ALL your searchwords. Your searchword(s) can be in any of the available languages, and you should specifiy the language used (the default language is the "website" language you have chosen (in this case English). When you are ready, click on the "Search" button. A list of phrases will then appear on the screen if the search has been successful. If you have found the phrase in the list that you have been searching for, you may click the lesson code at the end of the corresponding row to see more phrases of that type. You may also click on the book to the left of the lesson code to save the phrase to your personal lesson (see section 10 above). An additional benefit of the search function is that you can use it to see the various uses of a particular word in a foreign language.

14. Media Player

In order to hear phrases in the MP3 format we use, you require the proper software on your machine. There are two widely-available and FREE software plug-ins we support: Microsoft Media Player (our recommendation) and Real Player. If you are using Internet Explorer version 5 or above, Microsoft Media Player should already be on your machine, and you should not need to do anything. If you have neither of these plug-ins, you may download one of them for FREE by clicking on the corresponding options in the "Media Player" menu. You will find that Microsoft Media Player will enable our Active Language© Lab to work slightly faster. The default player setting is Microsoft Media Player. To use Real Player, you need to change the setting in the "Media Player" menu. You will only need to change this setting once, because your choice is saved between visits to our site.

15. Adding Vocabulary

You may wish to add vocabulary to our database. This helps us expand our databse and offer everyone a more enriching learning experience. If you wish to add a word or expression, simply click on the "Add Vocabulary" option in the "Active Language© Lab" menu.

16. Have you found a mistake?

If you think you may have found a mistake on our website - it is possible! - be it a translation error, spelling mistake or grammatical error, or even if you have a remark or comment to make, please don't hesitate to let us know! To do this simply click on the "I found a mistake" option in the the "Active Language© Lab" menu. We are very grateful for any feedback you give us.

I can't hear any sound

If the sound doesn't seem to work when, check that your machine is set up correctly: Are the loudspeakers connected? Have you set the volume correctly? Is your sound card configured correctly? Have you installed the correct media player software (see section 14 above) for playing MP3 files?

The Active Language© Lab is too slow

If the Active Language© Lab seems to be too slow (for example, download times for sound files, or course units) it is probably because your Internet connection (modem and/or server) is not fast enough. Active Language© Lab has been optimised for a 56 kbit/s modem and a computer containing a Pentium processor. If you do not possess this equipment, we recommend you concentrate on those functions which require limited download time, such as "Simple Mode" and the various games (Hangman etc). Of course, you may solve this problem by purchasing our reasonably-priced CD-ROM, which will soon be available in our online Shop.