Personal Lexicon

Foreign languages can be learned through practice. If you wish to become fluent in a certain language, Personal Lexicon will help you get used to all the verbs, nouns, prepositions and other word types. It comes with a series of predefined lexicons and it allows you to edit them or create new ones, with your own words and definitions, in any language.

The software is free to try, with a few limitations. It is available for Windows and Mac OS X and it doesn't need to be installed. You just need to download the application's 1.70 MB executable and run it. If you opt for the Windows version, you have to make sure that Java is installed on your computer.

When launched, Personal Lexicon will place a series of options at your disposal, to create a blank lexicon and to open, import or download an existing one. The software allows you to make numerous configurations when creating a new lexicon. Besides specifying the native and target languages, you can also define word types, specify their abbreviations, genders, classes and inflections. It is also possible to load templates for certain languages, like English, French, German and others.

Words from the target language are listed on the left side of the interface, where you can also group them in different themes, such as science or politics terms or any other theme you want. The words themselves are explained in the larger area, on the right side of the interface. Regardless if you create a new lexicon or open an existing one, you can add your own words to the database.

New words are edited in the definition area, on the right side of the main window, where you must type the word itself, select its type, like noun, verb and so on and type its definition. Additionally, you can add comments, synonyms and antonyms, roots, similar words or specify related items from the database. You can also type one or more examples, in the same area, set a difficult rating for the new term and attach, import or download sound files.

A feature that makes Personal Lexicon shine is the possibility of generating, managing and taking tests. New tests can be prepared on a separate window, on which you can make a wide range of settings, like selecting a test type, setting up a time limit, enabling hints and much more. You can also select a difficulty range, if you wish to test yourself or others with harder or easier terms.