Zane PowerCD: For your child's benefit

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): If you're in the middle of a scrabble game and your opponent forms the word discus, would you insist that it should be discuss? I would have. That is, before I came across the word discus in Webster's New World Children's Dictionary on the PowerCD by Zane Publishing.

Zane, a Dallas-based company, specializes in quality multimedia materials classified into references, home libraries and special interest categories. The PowerCD that we're going to review today belongs to the reference category. In the home library series, Zane publishes and markets CDs containing materials in literature, art, music, history, geography and sciences.

Would you like to know everything there is to know about the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Or do you want your child to become a good cop in the future? Zane also publishes, as part of its special interest products, the Encyclopedia of the JFK Assassination and the 6-CD series Encyclopedia of Crimes. In case you wish to see the complete list of materials by Zane Publishing, you can visit the home page at www.zane.com.

A dictionary right on your computer is always as handy as a rice cooker. Each time you want to make sure you're using the right word to convey an idea, all you have to do is load it and type the word in question in the appropriate space. Some good dictionaries, such as my favorite American Heritage Dictionary (AHD), also come with a thesaurus that will help you expand your vocabulary and give more variety to your writing. Some, like Webster's New World Children Dictionary in this PowerCD, have an audio feature that helps you learn the correct pronunciation.

Click on the Pronounce button, and you'll hear a man or a woman pronouncing the word. For foreign students studying at a school or university where English is used, the audio feature can be a lifesaver. Honestly speaking, I wouldn't be able to write without the help of these on-line reference materials.

The dictionary on this PowerCD from Zane is rather limited in the number of words it contains, although I couldn't find the right size of its inventory. For instance, it doesn't recognize the word incumbent or alienate, which are quite commonly used. That's probably to be expected, as Zane has intended it for students.

However, I discovered a small glitch when the dictionary automatically substituted the word encumbrance with enchant when I entered it in the look-up space. In AHD, for example, the dictionary would first offer me with a list of possible words that are similarly spelled -- just in case I've misspelled the word.

No thesaurus is available in this dictionary, either. Nor does it have a facility that helps you search the right word based on the ideas that you have in mind. In AHD, on the other hand, I can use Wordhunter to search for words that have the words heavy and difficult in their definitions. This will give me the words bear, carry, cumbersome, heavy lifting and workhorse. I can click on any of them to see what it means and how it should be used in sentences.

The good thing about this dictionary is that it has a more systematic way in explaining the meanings of the word. Each different meaning is explained further in a sample sentence. This is very useful because it indirectly tells you what preposition to use, whether you have to use a gerund, etc. It also adds explanations on a number of -- albeit very limited -- idiomatic expressions such as by word of mouth, have a word with and word by word. Unlike AHD, Webster's New World Student Dictionary gives alternative pronunciations for words like either and digestion. It also provides graphic images to illustrate the meaning of some words, including discus. When I clicked on the image of an athlete holding the discus, I got an enlarged image as shown in the accompanying picture.

Encyclopedia

The American Concise Encyclopedia on the PowerCD contains a lot of surprises. It must have been intended to be an aid for students planning to study in the U.S. I found one of the most interesting parts under Life Skills in the Social Science section. In it I found useful explanations on checking accounts -- what they are, how long it usually takes the bank to clear a deposited check, what happens if your checks frequently bounce, etc. A new student in the U.S. will really appreciate this.

It even provides a long list of don'ts concerning the use of ATMs and your PIN. For example, it tells you that, according to a survey by the Bank Administration Institute, it turns out that most ATM crimes happen between 7 p.m. and midnight at ATMs located on bank premises. Therefore, you shouldn't be standing there unaccompanied while drawing cash during this time.

It also explains, among other things, why you need a passport, what to be particularly careful about when you travel abroad, and what departure tax means. However, the best thing about it is that this encyclopedia -- going out of its way -- provides a set of good guidelines for reading textbooks and learning and preparing for tests.

Excellent as these materials are, I discovered at least two uncanny errors that you wouldn't expect a reference of this kind would contain. Consider the following sentence I took from the study guide: How difficulty is its presentation? How difficulty is the material?

Aside from the useful guides, the encyclopedia contains a surprising amount of information in Humanities, Social Science and Science. It also has quizzes. I took the Government Quiz, and scored three correct answers out of 11 questions.

If you're sending your child to the U.S. to study, this PowerCD from Zane Publishing should be one of the CD-ROMs he has in his travel bag. It will help with English, and it provides a good example of how to get information today: Right there, on- line.