I’m a big fan of the performance statistics on our profile page. They keep me motivated to carry on reading and listening and speaking and writing, even in the times when I don’t feel that I’m improving. I also like the fact that the statistics can be altered manually (eg if I read a newspaper, or talk to someone face-to-face I can add that to my LingQ activity), as well as altered semi-automatically (when I study a lesson I can click a button to say how many times I have read and listened to it).
My suggestion is this: would it be possible to add hours of video watched as a new statistic? Once you are intermediate then films, YouTube videos, music videos and so on are useful materials for study. A common topic on this forum is just how challenging it can be to watch a film, with or without subtitles.
To begin with, the video hours would have to be added manually, further on, maybe we could have a LingQ floating widget to “add this video clip to my LingQ video score”.
As I write this I am watching a video of Steve from YouTube. It’s 9 minutes and 31 seconds long. There is no transcript, though maybe Steve could provide one if the demand was there. That’s nearly 10 minutes of advanced language study I’ve just done.
Actually, while I think about it, we ought in the future to be able to create and share video lessons. There could still be a transcript, just as with the current audio lessons. With video you get extra visual clues like the expression of the speaker, plus any props that the speaker may wish to wave at the camera.
I would simply add the video to the listening. After all that is the most important part of watching a video or movie.
We can share video lessons Helen. Just put a link to the video in the footer or description. That way we can use the existing functions of LingQ and yet still enjoy the video.
Erm…So if I created a video lesson would I upload it to YouTube and put the transcript in the English library with a hyperlink? Will the system let me do that?
I think that video is a different kettle of fish from an audio recording, because it forces you to concentrate on visual clues. I can currently listen to a carefully-articulated audiobook in Russian, knowing that if necessary I can get the book out and read along. Watching a film I have to immerse myself in the events, picking out the sense from the traffic noise, incidental music and general visual art stuff.
I do currently add watching to my audio stats, but as I get a bit more advanced I shall aim to do some of my listening as watching. Being a bit of a statistics junkie I shall probably time the films and keep a note in my diary. I will try not to think about how sad this makes me look
Fascinatingly sad: I love your brain! I also agree, another bar in the statistics for ‘viewing done’ would look good and please those of us who like stats.
We would love to add all conceivable statistics for you but we are unlikely to add video statistics until we add video itself to the site. No bets on when that will be unfortunately… Until then, folding it in to the audio stat sounds like your best bet.
