Vocabulary without Tears

Acquiring a wide enough vocabulary is always a major difficulty when learning a language. In Latin without Tears I have tried to ease the pain of learning vocabulary as much as possible.

Personal vocabulary revision

As you translate a passage, the program keeps track of every word you look up using the Meaning Button. When you go to close the passage, you are asked if you want to save the list of Latin words which have caused you problems. If you click OK, those Latin words together with their meanings are saved to a special vocabulary file identified by your name and initials. Later, you can open the Vocabulary Revision Menu and click on Revise Your Own Vocabulary. You are presented with a list of your problem words:

Clicking the word and then on the Grammar Button displays the word’s full declension or conjugation. The SelfTest Button takes you to a fresh screen where you can test yourself on your problem words using a multiple-choice format that requires no typing:

At the end of a SelfTest session, the program tells you your score and comments appropriately on your performance. When you have learned a word, you can delete it from the list.

Testing Yourself on Standard GCSE Vocabulary

The program also contains full lists of the official OCR GCSE vocabulary for each level. These vocabularies are arranged in groups of about 30 words and be selected by left-clicking:

When the OK Button is clicked, the Latin words in that group and their meanings are displayed in a list:

Clicking on any word in a list will show words which are derived from or connected with the Latin word as an aid to memory. Selecting a word and clicking the Grammar Button will show the complete declension or conjugation of the Latin word. The Self-Test Button works as with your personal vocabulary.