Abbreviations - JAWS V15 - Dictionary Manager

Expanding Abbreviations Using the JAWS Dictionary Manager

The language of the Web can often be a bewildering place, where sometimes obscure abbreviations litter the most seemingly normal of conversations. TBH and AFAIK PPL have their favourite slang terms and, FWIW, there is an expectation that others understand what is being said. For sure, these are the days of knowing your HTH from your IDK and your TYVM from your YOLO. LOL. (Okay, I'm sure you've got the message...)

The reality for many of us is very different! When it comes to reading text with JAWS, these kinds of abbreviations can often be a real PITA. And not just slang, the whole tech world vocabulary hangs on abbreviations. Thankfully though, we can use the Dictionary Manager to make things more palatable by expanding these often obscure abbreviations. Doing this means that when JAWS encounters an abbreviation - LOL for instance - the screenreader actually reads out "laugh out loud".

Before we can achieve this though, you need to supply the new phonetics for the Dictionary Manager. Let's run through how this is done now:

1. Open the Dictionary Manager using the keystroke of INSERT D. Alternatively, access the Dictionary Manager via the Run JAWS Manager listbox which you can launch via the keystroke of INSERT F2.
2. With the Dictionary Manager open, press CONTROL SHIFT D to open the main default JDF settings. While you can create individual dictionary files per application, it makes more sense to have the pronunciations all stored as defaults so they are used across all applications.
3. Use the TAB key to move around the main options in the dialog box, notice the Add button, Delete button and the main treeview.
4. When you have finished exploring, activate the Add button by either focusing on it and using SPACEBAR or using the hotkey of ALT A.
5. Focus now moves to the Actual Word edit field in the Add Dictionary Definition dialog box. This is where you type in the word that requires a different pronunciation. In my case, I want to change how JAWS reads the Web slang AFAIK, so I type afaik into the edit field and press TAB to move on.
6. Focus now moves to the Replacement Word edit field and in here I type in the full phonetic text for AFAIK which is As Far As I Know. Remember that this field is concerned with appropriate phonetics - not to be confused with correct spelling - so, use capital letters and additional letters to create a correct pronunciation. For example, with AFAIK I could also type the replacement words as follows: As Far As I No.
7. From the Replacement Word edit field press the TAB key to move all the way to the Applies To Language combo box - ignore the different Play Sound options for now, we will revisit and play with those in a future post. In the Applies To language combo box make sure it is set to the default of "All Languages."
8. Press TAB once more to move focus to the Speak Replacement Word Using Language combo box and check that this is set to Default.
9. Press TAB again and move past the Case Sensitive checkbox - leave this unchecked - to focus on the OK button. Press the SPACEBAR to confirm your entry and close the dialog box.
10. Focus will now return to the main Dictionary Manager dialog box so tap the ALT key and open the File menu. Press the DOWN ARROW until you hear Save and use ENTER to activate this. When you have saved the file, press ALT F4 to close the Dictionary Manager dialog box completely.

Now give it a bash! Open a new document in MS Word and type some text in that contains AFAIK. On read through, JAWS will now repeat your new text and not simply read a string of letters!

This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the Dictionary Manager is capable of but I hope it is enough to get you experimenting!

Have fun!

For more information on JAWS visit: www.freedomscientific.com