I just subscribed to LingQ today so I’m getting used to the software.
How do you go about words that appear in different spellings with identical meanings. For example I’m learning Russian and in my lesson there are the words язык and языка (which means language). Obviously it is the same word but in different genders I guess (I don’t know the grammar yet).
Would you mark both words as unknown and make 2 lingqs or keep one of them blue?
Also, I guess this will be very common with verbs and adjectives so I could end up with dozens of variations of the same word. What would be the best approach?
We recommend creating LingQs for both versions and treating them as separate words. We don’t tie them together on LingQ. I wouldn’t leave any words blue. You should get rid of all blue words and then study the lesson from there. Blue just tells you the words are new for you. No problem to see the various forms of a word highlighted yellow in different situations. It all helps to reinforce the meaning until you realize that you understand all the variations you see and can just move them to Known on your Status widget. All forms are counted and treated as individual words, which they are, on LingQ.
As mark said already, we treat them as separate words. If you don’t remember the word you just create a new LingQ until you get it.
The only problem I see, for now, is that you have to repeat the process of writing the translation as they are not linked in any way. It’s a bit a waste of time to me but for now there’s no other choice.
It’s a problem mostly for first levels A1, A2 or B1.
For these levels it’s better to make several Lingqs for different forms of the same word to get accustomed to them.
But by reaching levels B2 or C1 you’ll feel different forms of the same words and you needn’t to make a new Lingq for each form.
By the way, you can find a huge number of my Russian lessons for every level here in lingq.
Good luck!
Agree with what the others said. BTW, the meanings of different forms are often slightly different, sometimes enough so that you really do want to ling them differently. Choosing a hint that identifies языками as instrumental plural might help you cement the grammar. Sometimes the forms are irregular and you’ll really want to treat them as separate words for learning purposes. E.g., maybe you’ll learn брат means “brother” and mark it known, but it could take you longer to mark братья known as “brothers” because that’s not what the regular grammar makes you expect.
Good luck with your Russian learning! There’s always folks willing to help you on these forums if you need it. I was not a beginner when I found LingQ, but others give Evgueny’s beginner lessons very good reviews.