Quick Start
Introduction
The use cycle of LinguaSpace is real simple:
- Make your vocabulary
- Run the Flashcards exam and learn the words
LinguaSpace will take care to store the words you have typed as well as your flashcards exam statistics to optimize the learning process.
Words are stored in LinguaSpace vocabulary files with .lsv extension. Flashcards exam statistics is stored in LinguaSpace user profile files with .lsp extension. This simple model allows the natural separation between individual statistics information and vocabularies shared between several users.
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New User Profile
LinguaSpace is shipped with several pre-build sample vocabularies that help you feel how it works. Obviously, there is no user profile initially right after you install LinguaSpace. So, when you run LinguaSpace for the first time, it creates an empty user profile with your Windows session login name and opens one of the installed vocabularies.
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You can always rename this user profile if you wish. Press F10 to edit the settings of the current user profile. Adjust the name of this user profile, tune the options if needed and press OK button:
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Open Vocabulary
After your are done with the user profile you might want to open the vocabulary you are interested in or create a new one. Let's open a sample German-English vocabulary in this guide. Click  File/Open menu item or press Ctrl-O on the keyboard:
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Select German-English.lsv file in the open file dialog and click Open button:
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Note that you will not have to repeat this over and over again. LinguaSpace remembers the last user and his vocabulary and opens both on the next startup automatically.
German-English vocabulary is displayed in the vocabulary builder window. Left pane contains a list of german words. Right pane contains a list of translations for the selected german word in the left pane. You can navigate between the panes using the Tab key. You can move selection within the pane using the Up and Down arrow keys. Buttons on the toolbar and menu items are enabled/disabled depending on the selection.
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Vocabulary Properties
Now let's explore the properties of the opened vocabulary. Click  File/Properties... menu item or press F4:
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Vocabulary Properties window appears. You can modify the properties of the vocabulary, e.g. add more categories or word types. Click OK button to close the window and get back to the vocabulary builder main window.
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New Word
Click the left pane to make it active. Then click  Edit/New menu item or press Insert to create a new word:
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Type "auswandern" into the second word text box. The first text box contains a prefix, for example an article before a noun. The second text box contains the word itself. Select "Verb" in the Type combo box. Click OK button to save the new word into the vocabulary:
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Edit Translation
Press Tab key to move the focus to the right pane. Click the same Edit/New menu item or press Insert to create a new translation for the word "auswandern":
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Each translation is an atomic piece of sense the word has in the particular context. Translation window allows you to enter the following information: native language translations, synonyms, antontyms, definition, example and categories. We shall do it step by step. Navigate to the Translations list box by pressing the Tab key. Click the New... button on the toolbar or press Insert key to add a new english translation:
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Type "to emigrate" into the text box and press OK button to add a translation to the list:
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Press Tab key to move the focus to the Synonyms list box. Click the New... button on the toolbar or press Insert key to add a new german synonym:
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Type "em" in the edit box and observe how the list of existing german words is filtered to display only those words that contain "em". You do not have to type the whole word "emigrieren" in the text box. Just type enough to filter the list box appropriately and then press a Down arrow key. The selection will move to the list box and the text within the text box will become the same as the list box selected item. Press OK button to add "emigrieren" to the list of synonyms:
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Press Tab key to move the focus to the Antonyms list box. Add the german word "einwandern" the same way as you did for synonyms list:
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Press Tab key to move the focus to the Definition text box. Type the following text: "die Heimatland verlassen, um in einem anderen Land zu leben":
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Press Tab key again to get to the Example text box. Type the following text: "Er hat in Deutschland seinen Meister gemacht und ist damit nach Spanien ausgewandert". Then select the word "ausgewandert" in the text box and click the Highlight button on the toolbar or just press Ctrl-H to highlight our word:
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Highlighting is actually controlled by square brackets. You can type the brackets or delete them manually.
Optionally check the categories the word "auswandern" belongs to and press OK button to finish translation editing and add a new translation to the vocabulary:
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Flashcards Exam
We added to our vocabulary a new foreign word with a rich translation. Now we can run the flashcards exam to watch it in action. Click the  Exercise/Flashcards... menu item or press F5 key. LinguaSpace exercise engine understands that the words you added recently have to be repeated right away for the best effect and will be giving your the word "auswandern" pretty often for a few days:
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Summary
Whenever you run into a foreign word you do not yet know - spend 10 seconds to enter it into LinguaSpace. Your vocabulary will keep building word by word. Run flashcards exam during the working day at your desktop and keep the vocabulary in your head fresh and in sync with vocabulary in LinguaSpace!
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