Using the Spacebar
There are two functions of the spacebar when reading Chinese text in the Reader:
- Press the spacebar on an unknown (blue) character to mark it as known. Doing so will change the Known setting of the character (shown in the Character Dictionary window) to checked. It will also cause the display of the Character Dictionary window to go blank. If you want to see how the Known setting is changed, just click on the character in the Reader. The character will appear again in the Character Dictionary window, and you can see that the Known checkbox is checked.
- Press the spacebar on a known (gray) character to show it in the Character Dictionary window. If the character is part of a known (hidden) word, the word will also appear in the Word Dictionary window.
The purpose of suppressing the dictionary display of characters and Chinese words with their meanings and pronunciations is to facilitate learning. When you recognize a character or just want to practice reading it, you should mark the character as Known. Thereafter in your reading of a Chinese article or story, you will practice to read the character when you encounter it instead of repeatedly translating it.
If you do forget a character that you’re practicing to read, just press the spacebar again. The character will be shown in the Character Dictionary window, but the Known setting will not change; it will remain as Known. To revert a Known character setting, click on the Known checkbox in the Character Dictionary window.
Much more information on using the spacebar is provided in Tutorial: Reading with Chinese Toolbox.
See the updates for
← Chinese Toolbox and Toolbox Coding
→
especially the new Chinese Toolbox 13.1.0.5.