Learning a foreign language is never simple but using an appropriate tool definitely makes the process a lot easier. You are basically supposed to assimilate a huge volume of information representing the vocabulary of the respective language. In this process every method that organizes the line of thought and creates mental links between words, making them easier to remember, is a true blessing. The purpose of the Personal Lexicon program is to allow you to manage and create your own memory associations by making a list of words with their corresponding definitions. This memorization technique is very efficient and also offers you easy access to your "personal lexicon", the expressions that you are able to use so far.

The Looks

The interface of the Personal Lexicon has nothing fancy and is focused on functionality. The primary window offers you easy access to most of the features that you need in order to create the lexicon but you must go to the application’s toolbar for more advanced options like generating or taking a test.

The Works

Personal Lexicon has three very important functions: it enables you to create the lexicon, it generates tests and quizzes based on the information you enter and it offers you an advanced search function that is proven to be very efficient in case of a memory failure.

But this is only the skeleton of a program that offers you a lot of choices for every action. For example when you create a new lexicon you can use one of the language templates for the lexical types but you can also create your own. You may define the lexical items in your own native language if you find it more helpful. You can also organize your personal lexicon by themes, further adding items to a theme or leaving them in the unassigned area. For every item that you classify you can give a personal example meant to reinforce your memory, but you must make sure each one is grammatically accurate. Basically, you can organize your database any way you like giving as much information as you prefer.

The beauty of the process is that it forces you to deal with problems that you might not normally encounter, like the situations in which a certain word belongs to a certain lexical type, or has more than one meaning. You usually encounter this kind of information in a theoretical environment but now you have the possibility to practice what you have learned. This way your database becomes a dictionary, an exercise notebook and also a means to learn new things.

When generating a test you can choose from four test types: personal definition, multiple choice, personal example and synonym/antonym test. The first type will display the definition of a lexical item that you should be able to name. Each test is highly configurable: it may show the entire definition or just a single entry, you may set the required answer precision, use hints or determine if the lexical type should appear or not. Answer precision can be identical, high, medium or low, but you should experiment a little to see exactly how this works.

The multiple choice test offers you the possibility to choose the number of answers and comes in two flavors: you must select either the correct lexical item that matches the given definition, or the correct definition for a given lexical item. The incorrect answers are generated randomly from the lexicon and enabling the similar answer algorithm usually enhances the difficulty degree.

The third test type takes the personal examples that you have given and removes the lexical item in question making you responsible for designating the correct answer. You may also use the extended hints option which means that a hint panel will be generated for each question and when you hit the ‘give hint’ button a new hint will appear. The last test type, the synonym/antonym one, shows the synonyms or antonyms of a lexical item that you must name. The difficulty is increased by the fact that each question might have more than one correct answer.

Your personal lexicon will grow in time and having an appropriate search tool is imperative. Personal Lexicon lets you look for a particular item or for a group of items that have the same characteristic, making the whole process a lot easier.

The Good

The Personal Lexicon is more than a program that organizes and manages your vocabulary and its flexibility is quite amazing. In some situations it almost acts as your language tutor.

The Bad

Learning how to efficiently use the program might take some time due to the fact that you have so many options. You may find the manual available on the Personal Lexicon website quite helpful in this matter. Also the interface is rather dull, with no options for visually underlining an item, which is truly unfortunate considering that the visual learning is a very important tool.

The Truth

Personal Lexicon is a fair product, considering both the price ($15) and the features, although many people might prefer an easier way to learn their vocabulary. But easier is not always better and this is one of the cases. This program actually reminds me of the vocabulary notebook that every teacher made me fill in for every foreign language that I ever studied. And what can I say… it is a pretty efficient method.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:


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