How to make CD or DVD of Difficult English Words

The spelling rules of English are very complicated. The English language contains 26 alphabets (letters) but over 40 different sounds. About half of the sounds are made by vowels; but there are only six vowels - a, e, i, o, u and y. These six vowels are used to make about 20 or so sounds. As a result many combinations of these six vowels are used to spell these different sounds. Many times same spellings are used for different vowel sounds. Sometimes same sound is produced by two different words. In addition, other 20 sounds are made by remaining 20 alphabets (consonants). Due to this jugglery, many words have become difficult to spell and pronounce. Have you noticed that ‘C’ has hard ‘C’ or ‘K’ sound in ‘Cat’ but soft ‘C’ or ‘S’ sound in ‘Cell’; ‘G’ has hard sound in ‘Got’ but ‘J’ sound in ‘Gem’. And ‘ Xe’ sounds ‘Ze’ in ‘Xerox’; ‘MN’ sounds ‘N’ in ‘Condemn’; ‘Rh’ sounds ‘R’ in ‘Rhyme’; and ‘Bought’ sounds ‘Bot’. And ‘H’ is silent in ‘Honor’; ‘P’ is silent in ‘Psychiatrist’; ‘K’ is silent in ‘Know’; ‘L’ is silent in ‘Calm’ and ‘Walk’; ‘G’ is silent in Gnat’; and ‘E’ is always silent when at the end of a word. And ‘Knot’ and ‘Not’ have same sound; ‘Cot’ and ‘Caught’ have same sound; ‘Mail’ and ‘Male’ have same sound; Maid’ and ‘Made’ have same sound. Isn’t it strange? But English language is a linking language which helps people of different counties to interact with each other. Its knowledge is, therefore, essential. We remember the words by ‘Looking’ or ‘Listening’. But the effect of combo ‘Looking and Listening’, at the same time, is everlasting. Keeping this in mind, I have made, for my personal use, two DVDs which contain about 10,000 English Words and many other topics like ‘Names of Cricket Players, Tennis Players, English Men and Women’; ‘Names of Countries and their Capitals’; ‘Names of Animals, Birds, Colors, Fruits, Vegetables etc’. Each DVD is of about 6 hour’s duration. These DVDs have proved very helpful to my children. Now I want to share my knowledge of making such DVDs with you

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer
• Software
• Rewritable DVD

1. Notepad Step 1: To start with collect about 100 difficult words and make one DVD. Let the first 10 difficult words be:
   Zephyr (n), Pneumonia (n), Quiescent (adj.), Sagacious (adj.), Xylophone (n), Scrupulous (adj.), Fascinating (v, adj.), Capriciously (adv), Psychiatrist (n), Conscientious (adj.)
   (These words are serialized according to the number of letters each word contains)
   Type these words in ‘Microsoft Notepad’ and save the file as ’01 DW’. Then give ‘02 DW’, ‘03 DW’…, names to other files. Create a folder say ‘Difficult English Words’ in ‘My Documents’ and put all Text, Jpeg, Audio, AVI, and Mpeg files in it.
2. Original Image Step 2: (a) Convert text file ‘01 DW’ into ‘Jpeg Image’. Save it with same file name ‘01 DW’. Leave about ½ inch space between word and right/left edges. You can adjust two words in a line and leave space between two lines.
   Refer my article - How to convert ‘Text’ into ‘Jpeg Image’
   (b) Sometimes you need a ‘Combo Image’ of Text and Photo together. You can get it by following this procedure.
   Open Microsoft Word; insert the Photo (say Lion). Type ‘Lion’ below the Image. Save the file if you need it later on otherwise keep it opened on the desktop. This is ‘Doc’ file.
   You have to convert this ‘Doc’ file into ‘Jpeg Image’. For converting it to ‘Jpeg Image’, use ‘Gadwin PrintScreen’ software. Download it from www.google.com. On downloading, its Icon will appear near sound icon in the Taskbar. Right click this Icon, click ‘Properties’ and set the Hot key to ‘Ctrl+F2’. Click ‘OK’
   Keep the mouse arrow away from the open file. Now press ‘Ctrl’ key, and press F2 key, the arrow will become +sign. Keep this +signed arrow at a point from which you want the Image and press left mouse button. Keeping mouse button pressed drag the arrow to form a rectangle enclosing the Photo and Text. Once rectangle is formed, leave mouse button. Right click inside the rectangle and click ‘Continue Output’ button. A small window will open informing the making of Image. The Image is mostly saved in a folder ‘PrinScreen Files’ created by the software in ‘My Documents’. Double click the folder and double click the new Image to see it. You can trim or resize the new Image as stated in next steps.
3. Trimmed Image Step 3: Trim the image ‘01 DW’ (if necessary) by removing its edges etc
   Refer my article ‘How to trim the Images and Photos’
4. Image Resizer Step 4: If you have several Photos and Images of different sizes (e.g. 1024x768, 640x480) and formats (e.g. JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF) and you want to change them into smaller size and same format (e.g. 120x90, JPEG) then convert them before converting to ‘AVI’ files.
   Refer my article - How to resize Digital Photos and Images to smaller size and change their format
5. Audio File Step 5: Convert text file (using same text file ‘01 DW’) into Audio file. Put dots after every word and line. The dots are meant for time gap between two words and lines. Save audio file with same file name ’01 DW’.
   Refer my article - How to convert ‘Text’ into ‘Audio (Wav File)’
6. AVI File Step 6: Convert Jpeg Image ‘01 DW’ (either original or trimmed or resized) into ‘AVI’ file (Video Clip). Save ‘AVI’ file with the same file name ‘01 DW’.
   Refer my article - How to convert ‘Images’ into ‘AVI’ files
7. Mpeg File Step 7: Convert AVI ‘01 DW’ (Video Clip) and Audio ‘01 DW’ (Wav Sound) into Mpeg file (Movie Clip). Save ‘Mpeg’ file with the same file name ‘01 DW’.
   Refer my article: How to convert ‘AVI’ (Video Clips) into ‘Mpeg’ (Movie Clips)
8. Combined File Step 8: Combine several (say 10) ‘Mpeg’ files into one file. Since we have made only one file, this step is not required here. However when you have large number of ‘Mpeg’ files, combine them in a lot of 10 or 20 or 50 files for convenience in burning a CD or DVD and viewing.
   Refer my article: How to combine several Mpeg files (Movie Clips) into one continuous Mpeg (Movie Clip) file
9. Step 9: I use ‘Nero StartSmart’ software to burn CD or DVD. You can use any free CD or DVD burner (DeepBurner or CDBurner XP Pro, both are free) by downloading it from www.google.com Web Site.
   Put a blank DVD-Rewritable in the DVD Writer. Open ‘Nero StartSmart’ by double clicking its shortcut. Click ‘Data’ button and then click ‘Make Data DVD’ button. A window ‘Disc Content’ will open. Click ‘Add’ button. Search ‘Difficult English Words’ folder in ‘My Documents’ and double click ‘Difficult English Words’ folder. The names of all the files will appear in a panel.
   Select all the ‘Mpeg’ files which you want to burn and click ‘Add’ button. Then click ‘Finished’ button which are at the bottom. The selected files will appear in the ‘Disc Content’ window. Click ‘Next’ button. A new window ‘Final Burn Settings’ will open. Select DVD Writer (if you have more than one). In the space, in front of ‘Disc name’ type words ‘DE Words’. You can type any name in it. Click ‘Burn’ button. Burning of the DVD will start. Almost same steps are required for other CD/DVD burners.
   After the burning is complete, take out the burned DVD. Reinsert it in the DVD Writer, the contents of Mpeg files will appear in the screen of the monitor. If they do not appear, click ‘My Computer’ then right click ‘DVD-RAM Drive’ Icon. A menu will appear. Click ‘Open’ button; double click the file you want to see. The contents of the file will appear in the screen of the monitor.
10. Step 10: This DVD can be played in most of the DVD Players. Connect DVD Player to TV Set. Switch on both TV and DVD Player. Put DVD in the DVD Player. A menu of the files will appear in the screen of TV. Select the file you want to see and click ‘Play’ button of the DVD Player. The contents of selected file will appear in the screen of TV. You will also hear the sound recorded in the file.
11. Animal DVD Step 11; Uses of this procedure are many. You can make CD/DVDs of Quotes, Recipes, Events, Grammar, Multiplication Tables, Mathematics, Animals, Fruits, Vegetables, Colors and what not.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment till you are able to produce DVD smoothly. Put some captions, photos, quotes after say 10 to 15 files to make the DVD more pleasant. . I am thankful to those who have made such wonderful free software, which I have used to write this article.
• Keep the original files in an external hard disc as you may need them later on.
• Use Re-writeable DVD till you are able to understand the process fully.
• Read the instructions and guide lines given by the Software Developer for use of Software. Rattanji