Today’s children have more options when it comes to building their vocabulary. Computer vocabulary apps have improved in the last ten years, from basic dictionary style applications to comfortable customizable programs.

Vocabulary.net is a free vocabulary software for the Windows operating system. The program requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5, but has no other dependencies besides that.

vocabulary builder

The program includes a demonstration database that teaches English to Chinese users. Users who want to learn another language, or prefer definitions in their language need to create their own database of words.

The vocabulary builder makes that comfortable by using Google Dictionary information to fill out target language information automatically. All the user needs to do is to add a word, and let the program do the rest. The source and destination languages need to be selected on first use, but are remembered afterwards.

vocabulary

It is sometimes necessary to edit the data pulled from Google Dictionary, especially the phonetic field does not seem to be filled out at all.

The program supports three different vocabulary learning modes. The first is the least interactive, as it simply reads and displays words or phrases to the user.

vocabulary software

Users need to make sure that the right language is selected in the lower left corner, for the pronunciation to make sense. The pronunciation is pretty good, if the right language is selected.

The speed and other settings can be configured in the options.

Test mode is the second vocabulary learning mode. It hides all or part of the word, and only displays the description and pronounces it to the user. It is now up to the user to fill out the missing characters.

Practice mode is similar to the test mode, with the difference that the word or phrase is fully displayed, and that the user needs to write it completely in the interface.

Vocabulary.net is a lightweight program that can assist users in building their vocabulary. The main problem for most is the lack of existing databases, which means that first time users need to create a database of words first, before they can use the program effectively.

It is therefor best suited for class projects, where everyone contributes, or as a companion for beginners who add newly learned vocabularies to the program.

Vocabulary.net is available for download at the developer’s website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

When a user enters the website he can choose to pick one of the topics presented on the homepage which is a mixture of popular and recent sets as well as some categories like learning languages, history, math and GRE, SAT or TOEFL test sets. Besides that he can use the site search to find sets for specific keywords among the 270.000 sets available.

If you had to learn for an history seminar about Napoleon you would enter his name and find the five corresponding sets, a search for German revealed 781 sets and one for business 114. This is also one of the major improvements and advantages of Quizlet, the main emphasize is not only to help learning languages but also any other topic one can imagine.

Unregistered users can work with four of the five available tests. Two, Scatter and Space Race, are little flash games where the user has to drop corresponding items on each other or typing them making sure they do not reach the end of the screen.

Familiarize provides an option to go through the whole set one by one and Test looks pretty much like a test that pupils would receive in school. It displays all terms dividing them into written-, multiple choice- and true or false questions.

The last option Learn is only available for registered users. Learn is without doubt the most interesting one because it keeps track of your progress and retests on the ones that the user got wrong.

Registered users can also create their own sets which is a great opportunity to learn. One thing that I think is missing is a way to correct errors and typos in sets from other users. I participated in a World War II test and one of the questions were about the German lightning warfare. I entered the term Blitzkrieg only to be corrected that I was wrong, the answer was Blitzkreig which is obviously wrong. Unfortunately though there was no way to correct that term or report it.

This means that parents should make sure that the sets for their children are providing the correct answers, nothing is worse than learning false information. A way to rate sets and users would also be a great addition.

Quizlet is still a wonderful website that assists in learning all kinds of topics.

It’s a basic trainer that displays a word and requests the answer to be typed into the answer box. The next page will display the answer of the vocabulary trainer and your answer so that it is easy to compare the result. Statistics can be enabled that display how many words have been correctly answered so far.

One option that is well done is to flip languages on the fly. Instead of translating Latin to German it is also possible to translate German to Latin. The author provides three vocabulary sets on his website, German-Esperanto, German-Dutch and German-Latin. The format of the files is relatively straightforward and it should not take long to create your own data sets.

The format of the vocabulary sets is always the same, it begins with the name in the first line (#Name) and lists all words and their translations in the other lines. The word(s) and their translations are separated by a “_” sign. The line for the English word car and the German translation Auto would look like this: car_auto. If several words have the same meaning they can be added with the “;”character. car;automobile_auto;automobile.

The main problem that most users will face is that VocabOne does not provide enough vocabulary sets which means that they have to be created before the user can use the vocabulary trainer.