As a student of other languages besides English, I continually encounter the need for a resource that is a consolidation of all that my databases makes use of, namely, a multi-lingual dictionary, thesaurus, grammar, and references for real-world usage, idioms, and colloquialisms. It sounds a lot more complicated that what it really is. Because Access is not my strength (writing and illustrating are) I fear that I may confuse things if I talk much about my approach to structuring the tables and relationships.

Functionality-wise, what I want to do IS simple. Picture four column headings for English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Under each heading is a list of words. Click any word anywhere in these lists to jump the whole database to that word. In other words, clicking any word in the lists changes the values of all of the controls accordingly.

I'm doing this database myself because nothing else like it exists. I really hope you're willing to help me put it together! I'm willing to help you or anyone else who reads this post and has the skills to deliver. I've got backing if necessary. I'm done trying to hack it out on my own. I'm looking for the help I must have to make this "consolidated languages reference library" a reality.

Please take a look at the attached screen shot of the interface mock-up to begin to understand my goal. Starting at the top and moving down, the mock-up really captures the end result of the intent of this design:

- At the very top, lettered buttons allow the user to jump to words beginning with the same letters on the buttons

- Just below the lettered buttons, the user clicks "Eng," "Esp," "Por," or "Fra" to sort the parallel word lists alphabetically by English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French respectively.

- Below the four column headings "Eng," "Esp," "Por," and "Fra" are the parallel word lists for English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Click any word in these lists to jump the whole database to that word. In other words, clicking any word in the lists changes the values of all of the controls accordingly.

- Under the the word lists are (scrollable) lists of synonyms and then antonyms in each of the four languages.

- Under the antonyms, from left to right are a parts-of-speech (POS) combo box, a categories (CAT) combo box ("bod" for body, "tec" for technology, "num" for numbers, etc.), then a varies-by-gender (GNDR) text box (yes, no, na), and finally a varies-by-number (NMBR) text box (yes, no, na). Regarding the parts-of-speech combo box and categories combo box, change the value of either to filter the word lists accordingly. For example, change the value of the parts-of-speech combo box to "bod" to limit the word lists to only words whose parts-of-speech field is "bod."



- Beneath the combo boxes/text boxes is a text area for traditional dictionary definitions

- Under the definitions text area is a text area for examples as follows: real-world examples taken from actual discussion or readings, followed by the English interpretation in parenthesis; idioms; and the availability of providing a word that could be clicked to launch a sound file providing pronunciation.

- Under the examples text area is a text area for rules to address target word -relevant "gotchas" like false cognates or fussy grammar. In the case of a verb, this field will cite a model verb in the form of a link. Clicking the model verb link will jump the whole database to that word. The rule field of the model verb itself will provide text detailing the full conjugation of the verb.