Last night I went to a French language meetup. Since I’ve learned French to a B2 level nearly exclusively online, I often have had conversations about what sites, tools, and content I’ve used.
Last night was the first time, I omitted LingQ from the list of things I energetically describe. I wondered about other users of LingQ.
If you do recommend LingQ, why and what do you positively refer to and what do you possible caution the other person about if anything?
If you don’t recommend LingQ, why and what would it take for you to positive recommend LingQ (again)?
If someone were to be interested in my language journey (which never happened before), then I would be amiss not to mention LingQ (or any other apps/sites/etc that facilitate comprehensible input). Yet how pointless it would be if someone were to possess all the tools for Comprehensive Input, while ignoring the underlying theory to which they point, not knowing how to apply them, what to expect etc. So, I guess,theory first, then tools for it.
I would recommend them LingQ as “training wheels/fat wheels”, ie you can definitely learn language without these tools, but with them it’s more handy. At some point, those wheels will become obsolete.
While I think that tools such as LingQ might not be necessary (since I’ve done all that comprehensive input thingy years ago without them, scribbling dictionaries in my notebooks, painfully slow, not knowing what I was doing), comprehensive input seems to be irreplaceable.
In my opinion, without Lingq I probably would be too lazy to hunt for material and self study myself. Lingq allows access to content a lot more easily and it gathers everything into one platform in comparison to other apps. Also, it has the ability to record all the content that you have looked through and used. If used correctly, it’s a super weapon for learning languages extremely quickly. The ability to import in a blink of an eye is extremely useful too. Since time tends to be a factor everyone focuses on, the team of Lingq created an application that makes everything extremely accessible and fast. The down side but also positive side is that you are going to be more dependent on it. Although the known words are motivating, it can also be your identity or it will make you believe your max potential is based on the current known words you have at that moment . Until you reach a certain amount of words, it will feel as if a wall is in front of you each time.
I haven’t come across people who are actively trying to learn a language or that have asked me what do I use. I have recommended occasionally on reddit when the topic has come up and I happen to see the topic (I don’t read it all that much).
I would recommend it for sure. I truly believe it is the best way to acquire vocabulary and having a general idea of “where you’re at” with the statistics is nice. And of course it is nice to be able to import interesting content from everywhere and be able to read with assistance.
The caveats I would have when I recommend it would probably be…I think it definitely is better for someone that is able to sometimes think outside of the box. I think sometimes people aren’t able to quite wrap their head around the concept. I had watched enough videos by Steve before joining that none of it was foreign to me. Also, for the best experience, someone who is able to fiddle around a bit sometimes to get the content they want into LingQ. They’ve definitely made it easier but occasionally there can be some tinkering. At some point too, for example for output (speaking) then they’ll have to supplement to LingQ (although LingQ has their tutors as well). Some supplementation from other sources in general I think is beneficial…language reactor, listening and watching sources outside of Lingq when you hit a certain level, light grammar, etc.
LingQ is very good for my Arabic journey, A person has to continue to persevere. It cannot be used alone but in conjunction with some good solid books on grammar and basics. It needs improvements in PDF book import and text recognition but overall it is very innovative. It is also value for money as you get so many languages. If you were to buy books alone it would be costly. It is very rare that you would write to the publisher and demand for changes to be made, expecting them to be implemented within days. You would have to wait for another improved edition. So overall very good format and value for money.
I wouldn’t say that I don’t recommend LingQ, because obviously it is a piece of software that can be really helpful when learning a language.
I wouldn’t say I recommend it either, because obviously it has its flaws.
If someone would ask me, which hasn’t been the case thus far, I would simply list the pros and cons and let the person decide for herself.
The biggest pros for me are that I get an all-in-one app, a comparably direct contact with the devs and a rather vital online community. I’ve also got the impression that they have a rather moderate refund policy, which could play a role for people who are uncertain on whether LingQ is something for them.
The biggest con in my opinion is the interface. The huge icons even in the desktop version instead of a list, the cumbersome amount of clicks neccessary to make even minor adjustments, a general lack of even simple features, like the ability to print all text from a whole course, the importer making use of the format of an imported ebook, the inability to define keyboard shortcuts, the formatting of the translation shown or the Furigana in Japanese etc…
Some of these things can be bypassed with some computer knowledge, which not everybody posesses, some may change in the future and the majority one has to deal with.
It’s really a matter of how important the positive and negative aspects are, and therefore rather subjective. I for one decided to keep continue using it. If I will do so for the next years, time will tell.
In regards to pricing I would say it is probably dependent on how much income one has. Is the pricing the same in every country?
I recommend it and am immediately embarassed that it does not have a single click to see the next sentence, hear the audio and see the translation; it’s main purpose.
I have found it extremely beneficial for learning French and German.
I cautiously recommend it to anyone who has an intermediate level in a second language. The key feature is listening to audio while reading the transcript. The student can at any moment stop the audio and look up the meaning of a word or a phrase. One can also read texts, and at any moment lookup a word or a phrase. One could of course use a dictionary or an online translator, but that would take more time.
I cautiously recommend it to anyone who is a beginner in a second language as long as they have already learnt at least one other second language to an upper intermediate (B2) or higher level. This person understands language learning, and can figure out for themselves an effective learning routine.
I hesitate to recommend it to a complete novice because it has almost no structure. A novice could get completely lost and lose motivation. I wasted lots of time with several different ways to use LingQ before I landed on the method that works for me.
A big problem with LingQ is that it promotes Stephen Krashen’s theory which as far as I am concerned is very clever and convincing nonsense. It is not scientifically proven, despite the claims of its proponents. I just don’t think beginners should be given a false description of the learning process.
There is one last reason why I hesitate to recommend it to anyone, and that is the quality, or rather the lack of quality. The interface, whilst superficially appealing, is clunky (Obsttorte has made good points in that regard), there are significant bugs (such as a video suddenly going back to the beginning) which they do not fix, and there are regular show stoppers. Not being able to use the app for a full week because it crashed seconds after opening is just not acceptable. In that case the workaround was to uninstall and reinstall the app, after which it worked for 20 minutes or so, before the bug reappeared. Not being able to import any videos for several days is not acceptable. A video going back to the beginning is not acceptable, it can take me several minutes to refind my current position in the video.
I think LingQ might not be for everyone. To get the most out of it, you need to be quite hardcore. It’s not a language learning software that guides you by hand, it’s a tool for self-directed learning, better suited for a specific language acquisition hypothesis. LingQ is for those who have in mind they’ll need to read 3-5 million words before reaching their goal. I’m convinced that’s the best way to acquire a language, and I’m yet to find a more convenient platform for it than LingQ. I only recommend it if I feel the other person is very serious.
I recommend it. Quite frankly, the Lingq team has made huge positive changes in recent years and I feel somewhat bad for them that at least a vocal minority keeps complaining about it here. Sure it has its flaws, but the team seems responsive to feedback.
I guess some people expect it to be an (as Germans say) “Eier-legende Wollmilch-Sau” (a wooly pig that also lays eggs and produces milk) …
A naive person might argue that the reason for the positive changes lies at least partially in the complaining minority, or as I call them feedback-giving customers.
I would recommend LingQ, but I would point out that (at least from my point of view) it is not suitable for absolute beginners. You should already be at level A1 (or at least A0.5 ) to benefit from it. As a complete beginner, you will waste far too much time with LingQ if you want to learn the basics. It is much quicker learning the basics the conventional way, i.e. with a textbook and accompanying audio recording.
If you know the essential basics, then you will definitely benefit from LingQ, namely because you can then continue learning
with material that is suitable for your current level
and
I would recommend LingQ to B1 or above, or at least a serious A2. A0? Don’t even bother.
IMO, LingQ is THE best reading/listening app around. The ability to flag words and phrases and notice when they come up again, already flagged, is amazing.
I do not understand why people think that you can’t start learning a language from zero by using comprehensive input, i.e LingQ. When I started using LingQ, I didn’t know what bonjour meant, yet that did not stop me from clicking on every word, to learn their meaning and progress. It was quite satisfying to turn a wall of blue words into a yellow one.
I always kept in mind a phrase I heard about learning/babies, it went something like this: ‘If babies only did things that they already knew, they wouldn’t grow’ (don’t quote me on that one, the wording is not exact)
To me it feels like language learning requires some degree of pain tolerance, being okay with feeling a lil goofy while saying something incoherent, readiness and willingness to leap into the unknown. As long as you make your learning material challenging (not easy and not unapproachable/impossible), you’ll learn.
