Resource Review: WordChamp

I wrote before about how I use Firefox plug-ins to read authentic Arabic material. These plug-ins give you the ability to obtain instant translations. Using a plugin like "qtl", you simply highlight a word you don't know, and a popup window shows you a translation. Instead of spending 10% of your time reading and 90% of your time shuffling through your dictionary, these plug-ins enable you to do the opposite--focus almost entirely on reading, while instantly looking up words you don't know.

Today one of my teachers introduced me to an even more powerful resource: WordChamp. I've only begun to explore this website, but it has one tool I've already fallen in love with: a WordChamp Reader that is far more elegant and powerful than qtl. The screenshot below shows an example:



You can either access the reader from WordChamp's website, or you can install a plug-in toolbar. Either way, the reader functions similar to qtl. If you rest the cursor over a word, a translation will appear in a popup window. WordChamp has several advantages over qtl, however:

(1) In addition to built-in translations, WordChamp supports user translations.

(2) WordChamp has audio. Simply click on the sound icon, and a native speaker will pronounce the word for you.

(3) With a single click, you can add words from an Arabic text to a flashcard list (complete with audio). You can save these flashcard lists and practice them whenever you want using WordChamp's built in flashcard drilling program. The screenshot below shows the flashcard program.



So far, I only have two big critiques of WordChamp:

(1) The flashcard software is fairly inflexible, and requires that users type out their answers.

(2) The WordChamp reader is terrible at recognizing conjugated verbs or words that have any attached letters, i.e. attached pronouns or prepositions.

Despite these limitations, I think WordChamp looks like a promising tool. I'm eager to play with it and see how it will work into my flow of studying the news.