Jim, Thanks for your reply. I will try to carry on your good work with ispell. Expect the default language to be British English :) I shall look for the source package and start from there, or do you have anything which I may find useful? Oh, and it's amazing what you can learn about a program (I'm a geophysicst, not a comp. scientist), when your girlfriend forces you to get a Portuguese spelling checker :) :) Best wishes, Kenny.