[FR] Antidote/Le Grand Druide des Cooccurrences

[Eliza]

So, a few months back I was in Québec and strolling through the local bookstores, when suddenly I saw Le Grand Druide des Cooccurrences. It is a huge sort-of dictionary that contains thousands of words that are typically used with each other. So basically some sort of Frequency dictionary, but for expressions instead of words. For instance, the entry for "journée" looks roughly like this:

journée (n.f.)
bonne ~
~ portes ouvertes
~ entière
...

Unfortunately, I don't have the book with me right now, but here's a link to a review on a blog I found via Google:

http://www.livresquementboulimique.com/2012/09/le-grand-druide-des-cooccurrences-un.html

There also seems to be a software version of this (a knowledge which would have me saved about 1 kg of luggage):

http://www.antidote.info/antidote

It is a company from Québec, but as far as I can tell, the expressions look rather standard french for me. But then again, I haven't looked up "Poutine" yet

I love this book, but I am a bit at a loss at how to use it for language learning. I am at a somewhat advanced level in French, but obviously there are still a lot of words in there that I don't know. I thought about using it as a "mining resource" for phrases/expressions which then go into Anki. Or just add annotations with a crayon? Any ideas are as always greatly appreciated

[ilmari]

I am using Antidote daily for French and English. This is a fantastic piece of software. It is made of three components: grammar and spell checker; dictionaries; linguistic guides. From their web site http://www.antidote.info/antidote/for-english-speakers:

Antidote includes an advanced grammar checker with smart filters, a rich collection of dictionaries, and a set of interactive language guides. Seamlessly integrated with major word processors and email programs, Antidote's tools are available instantaneously right from your text.
Antidote is designed to handle French or English, depending on the language you choose upon download. You can also purchase an optional module which enables Antidote to handle both languages in parallel.

If you read French, you can find complete specifications here: http://www.antidote.info/antidote/caracteristiques
The software is a bit pricey, but it is a life saver and a permanent joy. Needless to say, I have no connection whatsoever with the company.

[Eliza]

Finally, an antidote user

Thank you for your response! If I get your answer right, you are using the software mostly for professional purposes? At the moment, I work in a monolingual environment (with occasional bouts of reading in English), so I would purchase the software mostly for language learning reasons. So basically I am looking for ways of putting the list of cooccurrences to good use
So I was thinking of something like

• marking frequent expressions/cooccurrences that I don't know yet, google an example sentence and put it into Anki (that seems like A LOT of work though);
• writing a text (lang-8 style) with the help of antidote and see what lang-8 users think of it;
• exchanging texts with other students, try to find the errors in the student's text, copy the text into antidote and check if I were able to spot all errors (this might also work with texts from lang-8);
• using it as a trainer for conjugating french verbs;
• learning more about the language in a playful way (reading about etymology* etc.);
• ...

* I do realize that using the words "playful" and "etymology" in the same phrase qualify me as language nerd.

Do you think these non-intended uses would work with antidote? Thanks in advance

edit: fixed the list

[ilmari]

Hi Eliza,

I think all your proposed uses are good. Antidote is an incredibly rich software which you can adapt to your own needs.

By the way, hidden on their web site is a series of screenshots "Antidote en images". Go here http://www.antidote.info/antidote and click the picture in the middle of the page. It will give you a good idea of how the app looks like.

I personally use Antidote mainly for writing in French and English. Besides the grammar checker, the synonymes and cooccurrences sections are extremely useful. If you are learning the language, you will also love the grammar guides. There is also an automatic email checker, cutely called "anti-oops," which has saved my life a few times.

[Sizen]

If you are learning the language, you will also love the grammar guides.

This. I have the app on my phone (no spell-checker) and I used to read the grammar guides in my down time just for the fun of it. I learned so much by doing this. The dictionary and grammar guides alone are worth the price.

It does have certain holes, however. It's missing a lot of relatively new slang that I often end up having to go on wiktionary to find. On the flip side, most long-standing slang is there, they differentiate between the different registers (argot, familier, soutenu...) and they're very careful about marking words as Swiss, Belgian, African, Quebecois or French (all of which they have tons).

Honestly, you could use it in the way you're saying, but I think that by simply looking up words, you'll learn tons of unexpected things and find new ways of making use of the software that suit your purposes.