Being in the computer programming business myself, I’m appreciating the hard work your programmers have put in to lingq.com (which I’m only really starting to use properly in the last 24hrs or so!) — and I’m wondering if you guys at the helm of LingQ (Steve and others) are thinking of possibly extending the range of languages to include any new arbitrary language? Or perhaps a “private” section where a user can upload their own “private” custom language for a small monthly fee. There, that person can then leverage all the useful tools that lingq.com has to offer a target language that may not warrant it’s own section because of its obscurity or because content may not be publically admissable etc, etc.
I understand that there may not be a dictionary available that is integrated, but there are other resources and the “hints” section can be populated by the learners which can, with a little work, function as a cache/lookup dictionary of sorts.
… might as well mention another idea i had floating around:
In the future, I was actually envisioning a flash-component that you could run on your browser, your iPhone, your iPaq or similar and simply run your stylus or finger or mouse over the passage. The audio mp3 file would have it’s timecode mapped to specific syllables of the text so as you moved your finger over the text, the syllables would sound out via the audio output… and at the same time the translated meaning of the particular word would appear off to the side in another area. That way, you could really immerse yourself in a text and control the speed of the speaker with your finger and if you needed to go over a particular sentence a few times, you could. Just run your finger over the sentence again and again, faster, slower, etc… and if need be glance over to the translator box to see the rough translation of the word your finger is currently on. I think that system isn’t necessarily anything breakthrough but it would just make things easier and allow the reader to be “served” almost everything they need just by their finger following the passage.
You are right on with both of your ideas. We have a lot of things on our plate right now, but we want to get there. The ability to start any language is not so far away, maybe months. The improved functionality and ability to view things on a hand held device will take little longer. Please let us have your good ideas and help us grow and get better. Thanks.