Help!

[David Nash]

At 12:40 PM +0800 14/6/06, Silvano Fasolo (Wankanyi Ngurra Tjurta) wrote:
>We have a Language Dictionary, in Word format.
>
>*What we would like to do:
>(1)     Enter these words from Word into a program like shoebox (is 
>this currently the best program to use?)
Shoebox or its successor Toolbox, yes.  You'll find suggestions at 
http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/lexicog/ for instance.

>How do we best go about doing this?
If you are finding this hard going, another way is to gain the 
services of someone experienced in carrying out such transfers.  An 
appeal on this or on AUSTRALIAN-LINGUISTICS-L at COOMBS.ANU.EDU.AU would 
help locate such people.

>What costs are involved in the software needed,
I expect this can be done using readily available software, in 
particular software that comes with an operating system or can be 
downloaded for free.

>  time needed?
Hard to say without knowing more; and depends too on the experience 
level of the person doing it, and on how consistently structured the 
Word file is (which depends partly in turn on how it was created).

>(2)     Collect language from Language Speakers, so that we could 
>then transfer these into the shoebox (or other ?) program. We have 
>heard about minidisks, gismo's, digitisers - all like a foreign 
>language to us! Has anyone trialed these, and would like to 
>recommend the best (clarity, level of difficulty) equipment to use, 
>costs, manufacturers, etc?
This is a rather separate activity from (1) of course and more 
open-ended and demanding; and even more than (1) is best done by 
someone with some training in linguistics -- who would have access to 
advice about the hardware involved -- and which can be found on the 
web for instance through links starting from RNLD 
http://www.linguistics.unimelb.edu.au/thieberger/RNLD/RNLDfaq.html, 
or E-MELD School of Best Practice: Community Member Start Page 
http://emeld.org/school/commstart.html

David Nash