LingoPad 2.6

LingoPad gives you the opportunity to learn German without paying a dime. The Application provided by Lingo4you GbR is actually a highly comprehensive German/English, English/German dictionary. With its 230.000 entries and 360733 references in either language, this dictionary is worth taking into consideration.

For German speakers, the application provides also pronunciation for almost any English word. Now, we all know that a dictionary is not enough to learn a language. That's why the company provides also a free online German grammar book. This can be accessed directly from the application, and you will be linked to the correct web page.

The application has a nicely designed interface which can be easily handled. Every word will be indexed in the beginning, so that the search for a specific word would be a lot faster. Two buttons on the top left of the interface let you shift between the two languages. For special characters there is another button which automatically provides the correct list of special characters depending on what language you want to use. The program provides also a history list, so that you can turn back to a word if you have forgotten its meaning.

A very important thing to know is that the application can be turned into a multi language dictionary. You just need to search for updates in the online data base and install the dictionary that you need. Featured dictionaries: German-French, Norwegian-German, Spanish-German, German-Latin, German-Khasi, Japanese-German, Chinese-German/German-Chinese, German-Esperanto, Turkish-German, Kurdish-German, Italian-German, Hungarian-German, etc.

Pluses: It's freeware. You can use also the online grammar service, so there's actually a two in one application. Another plus is the data base with many dictionaries.

Drawbacks / flaws:

In conclusion: Although it's free, this application contains enough informations to help you in learning the German language or to help German speakers shift in foreign languages.

version reviewed: 2.6.0