Dictionary

[Nicholas Thieberger]

I would encourage you to persevere with Shoebox, and to look at 
Toolbox, the newer version, available for free from the SIL website. 
They also have training modules available at the same website which 
are well worth reading. This is very good dictionary software that 
gives  you many ready-made functions that do not exist in ordinary 
database software like FileMaker Pro.

There are some websites that may help too:
http://www.linguistics.unimelb.edu.au/thieberger/RNLD/RNLDfaq.html#6
http://www.linguistics.unimelb.edu.au/thieberger/CALW/Shoebox5.htm

A database program can be a good data entry form, depending on how 
complex you want your dictionary entries to be. A database program is 
limited because you may want some entries to be brief while others 
may need lots of subentries and senses of the headword together with 
examples. But when you want to produce a neat looking dictionary, 
both on paper and on the web, for example, Toolbox will do that as 
part of its inbuilt functions, and a database program will not.

Can you find a linguist who uses Toolbox locally who can give you 
some help? Once you are over the first learning curve it is a great 
way to organise your dictionary.

Nick Thieberger


>Dear Sirs
>
>I found your contact in the Internet. Sorry for the disturbance. I 
>am a linguist and I am currently working on a dictionary for an 
>african language with the program Shoebox of the SIL. I am having 
>some troubles. So I wonder if you could tell me how to import my 
>data into an alternative software, for instance the File Maker (for 
>Windows). I would be very grateful if you had any hints for me 
>because Shoebox is not very user friendly.
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Kind regards. 


-- 
Project Manager
PARADISEC
Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
University of Melbourne, Vic 3010
Australia

nicholas.thieberger at paradisec.org.au
Ph 61 (0)3 8344 5185

PARADISEC
Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures
http://paradisec.org.au
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