Glossa app for iPhone and iPad

Glossa is an easy-to-use, versatile app with which you can learn the vocabulary of any language you like. It acts as a template, that you feed with easily created spreadsheets containing the vocabulary you want to or need to learn.


Why should I use Glossa?
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With Glossa you can save words for multiple languages and thus learn the vocabulary of as many languages as you like from, say, french to mandarin.

Using your input Glossa creates flashcards, which allow you to memorize the words you need to learn, and to evaluate your success.

Simple tests help you confirm that your knowledge of the vocabulary is actually as good as you thought.

Using filters you can define, which of the possibly many words in a language you want to learn.

With no further work on your part Glossa will reverse the direction, in which the words are being presented or tested, e.g . French – English turns into English – French by just a few taps of your finger. Thus you can deepen your knowledge of the vocabulary.

And it probably goes without saying that with Glossa you carry your personal dictionary with you at all times at no extra cost.


How do I create and transfer the spreadsheets containing the vocabulary?
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First of all creating a vocabulary-file by hand is not as tiresome as it may sound. Usually you only need a quarter of an hour for hundred words. Add to that the effect it has on your knowledge of the words and you will find that this time is well spent.

If you learn with a group of friends or colleagues, who use Glossa, you may also consider dividing the task, so that every single one of you only has to create a small file.

If there is no specific book you learn from or if generally speaking you don’t mind to learn whatever words come your way, you may search the Internet for dictionary-files. It is not guaranteed but very likely that soon you will find a text-file containing an extensive dictionary for the language you are interested in.

Finally, many commercial language programs offer the opportunity, to export their vocabulary to txt-or csv-file.

The easiest way to arrange the data in the order, that Glossa expects, is to use the template provided at jmhausadel.de/products/glossa/downloads.php. It works with probably most spreadsheet programs. Please note, that only the first two (coloured) columns – the word and its meaning - are mandatory, but different meanings of a word should always be separated using different columns.

Glossa can only read xml-, csv-, or txt-files. To export to these formats is usually an option in the “Save as”-menu. The file must have as extension .xml, .csv or .txt. Otherwise, it will not be recognized by Glossa.

Name the file after the respective language - e. g. "french.xml" - and transfer it to your iPhone using the document exchange in iTunes. The next time you start the app, Glossa will recognize the file and import its data.

Further information can be obtained at jmhausadel.de/products/glossa.