Meaning of dictionary notations, like (a...), [a...] and (a_)

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Hi, I’m a quite beginner here, and I would like to understand some notations that appear on dictionaries. I haven’t found a page with explanations.

For example, French to English:
une place > room, space, square, place [p…]
donc > so, then, therefore, thus [d…]

Spanish to English:
conseguir > to get, to obtain (c…)
lograr > to achieve (l…)

German to English:
die Angst; -"e > the fear, the anxiety (not ‘S…’, ‘F…’)
richtig > correct (not ‘k…’)
andere > other (not s_)
erhältlich > available, obtainable, procurable (‘e_’)

So, what’s the meaning of those notations?
Thanks in advance

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This is one way some people (me included) handle synonyms.

French and Spanish example: the creator of the course put the first letter of the word you are supposed to learn as a hint.

German example: you are told which word NOT to choose for the answer. (not ‘S…’, ‘F…’) probably means not Schreck, not Furcht (both synonyms for Angst)

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I agree with Foorgol. They are informal clues from the course creators, not dictionary notations.

In your Spanish example, if the course only asked “to get, to obtain”, I might have guessed that the course maker wanted “obtener”.

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I think the answers you have received are all very helpful.

What you need to know, though, is that the creators of these courses most likely had no contact with each other and have just come up with these ideas ad hoc.

Personally, on the Swedish courses I curate (I am not the course creator, just a course contributor), I try to disambiguate words and help other learners by offering phrases in Swedish like this:

[en ~bana] = a _tunnel_bana = an underground railway

The idea here is that offering typical phrases (or here, a compound noun, which Swedish is very fond of) will give course participants a double whammy: a new word, plus a tip to help the person find the right answer.

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hi!

As said above. Different people (creators/contributors) use different ways to indicate which words they want. The word in the brackets are the starting letter of the word you need to type

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Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen! So, those “notations” are actually hints or clues, to help students. Great! Congratulations, wonderfully done by you course creators.

Learning foreigner languages is not simply a matter of communication. Is also a matter of understanding each others culture. And is also a matter of exercising our own brain, very healthy.

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Some course contributors/creators use the convention of giving the initial letter of a word in the case of very similar words which are difficult to disambiguate.