Hi all
As ever I’m enjoying my studies at Lingq.
I’m just making a quick suggestion that I would like to see on Lingq in the future - the ability to create lingq phrases as well as words. There are lots of instances where looking up words alone don’t make a great deal of sense because they are part of a colloquial phrase or what seems to be a string of words used in a certain way that has a different meaning that literal translation.
I’ll give an example of ‘dar-me conta’ in Portuguese - ‘I realised’
If I just lingq the individual words it doesn’t make much sense whereas the phrase a a whole is specific.
Just an idea. I thought someone else mentioned it too but I can’t see the thread now so apologies if I’m duplicating.
Just select the phrase and click the LingQ button. You can save it just the same as you do a word. You are unlikely to find a definition, although there are definitions for some common phrases in the dictionaries we offer. Over time, we would hope to have User Hints as well for common phrases. Many members save phrases all the time.
I like LingQ-ing phrases a lot too. And I do it all the time here at LingQ. Generally I will LingQ phrases that I know the meaning of already, but for which I want to remember the correct structure. For example I often misuse the particles “à” and “de” in French. So I will LingQ " difficile à savoir" (difficult to know) just so that I can notice the “à” is used there. I will tag it with “à” as well.
If I want to LingQ a phrase that I don’t know the meaning of, I will just LingQ the individual words and the phrase. For example for “hisser la voile” (raise the sail), I will LingQ “hisser”, “voile” and then “hisser la voile”… 3 LingQs for one phrase. As a basic member you have unlimited LingQs so it should be ok.
I too wish there was a link to a good collocations dictionary, but the present system is just great as it is.
Hi
Thanks both for your replies. Ahh…oops - in Portuguese ‘estou idiota!’ - translated ‘I’m an idiot’
For some reason I thought I couldn’t do this. I have no idea why - maybe I just didn’t click properly when I tried or something because now I see I can link phrases afterall. Excellent! Thanks Mark.
Dooo - thanks for your suggestions. I think I may do something similar.
I often LingQ phrases where I know the meaning but where the phrase contains grammar or usage patterns that I struggle to produce. Then I type in the English and review them in reverse flash cards.
Great idea, Steve. I still do not type translation for such lingqs through inertia. But now, with reversing flash cards, it really makes sense. Sometimes I really am blindfolded
I find it very useful to add the simple tag “phrase” on them.
Besides, when a preposition makes me some troubles I put it in capital letters, just to spotlight it
I find it very useful to add the simple tag “phrase” on them.
Besides, when a preposition makes me some troubles I put it in capital letters, just to spotlight it
When I’m learning a new phrase I create lingQs of the words in the phrase first, then I lingQ the whole phrase. That helps the new words to stick in my memory.
There was one time that I wanted to skip a word while LingQing,
(like: “point this out”, I wanted to LingQ only “point out”)
and I tried to do the same way I do with Word, I pressed CTRL while I was selecting the words.
For some reason that I couldn’t understand it didn’t work.
Sometime ago I tried it again and fortunately it worked.
Keep LingQing and asking and you will be able to use all the unique tools of this site.
I am still a beginner in Russian, so I can just copy phrases from the German Beginner’s section and use them as translation for the equivalent Russian text - yes, I’m lazy
I tried this on my Mac and it works. I use the command key. It is important to remember to include a space when you highlight. This could be useful for German, especially. I never knew we could do this. Thanks.
Hmm, which version of Word are you using, LearningEnglish? To my knowledge, CTRL-clicking separate elements has never worked - in Word or any of the browsers I’ve used over the years. Pressong CTRL higlight the entire paragraph.
That being said, I think it would be a nice feature at LingQ, in order to save “better” phrases.
I am in Mac and use the Command key. Which key do you use when you want to highlight just a few items in a list? Try using it when you highlight a phrase. Just highlight the words you want, and remember to include blank spaces in your highlight. I am curious to see if it works in the PC environment.
It works with Firefox on a PC. This is nice!
It doesn’t work with the Internet Explorer 7.
These browser have often very different behaviour.
Thank you for this hint!
If I want to select a few items (e.g. files in a folder, cells in a spreadsheet), I use the CTRL key. I can’t select several words in Word unless they are next to each other, and it doesn’t work in IE either. It’s not a big deal for me, since it has never worked… I just got curious when I read LearningEnglish’s post.
