There are a couple exchange requests in Spanish that I have been watching for several days, and I still have not seen a completion by a native. The amount of points that the person making the request is willing to pay seems quite fair to me. I posted a couple recording requests the other day, and I ended up having to ask my tutor to do them. He had been unaware that I had posted the requests. I like my tutors voice, but I would have liked also to hear someone elses, for variety!
Something needs to be done to make these requests more visible to native speakers. I would not be bothered if I got an email each time someone with an English request posted on the exchange.
I agree. The Exchange is a potentially great step forward but we have to find a way to make it more active. Perhaps we could have a “notify me by email of any xxx language requests” feature somewhere, for those who want to be involved.
We also want to create more language partner activity here. That is why removed the LingQ 25% on points, in the hope that is would encourage more exchange of language services between members.
Maybe you could contact some Spanish speakers directly on their wall. You can find them by sorting by language under the “Find a tutor” Tab. Personally I would prefer to see that Tab called “find a partner” or something.
I think their is a lot of potential here as far as written exchange. The problem with spoken exchange is that if I want to have an exchange with somebody, I can just give them my skype, and they can give me theirs, then we can go do whatever we want on skype without paying you anything. In written exchange, you already provide an excellent format: Better than what I have seen on sites like lang-8.
The tutoring aspect of the site is great. Not much should be done with it. I’m happy paying for a tutor. I’m not so sure I would have started with my tutors had they not already had 100’s of conversations completed, though.
I was thinking an integrated irc-like chat might be an interesting idea for paying members, to increase community interaction. This would be great for helping beginners along through starting content.
For the spoken exchange you do not pay LingQ. You pay your partner when he/she tutors you and he/she pays you when you return the favour. Yes you can arrange to speak with members via Skype, but using our tutors you have a better idea of what you are getting You also get the conversation report which I think is very valuable. Granted that could also be done privately. We also want to add the ability for learners to ask their tutors to record the conversation report.
All of these activities can be an exchange, or you can engage a tutor without offering any services in return, just points. I think this is not a bad system and we need to build on it. Of course, there are other options.
Steve, I was just wondering about this: members can now choose the amount of points to award for all their Exchange requests (corrections, transcriptions…) but not for conversation requests. Why not? I think it may stimulate people to be more active on LingQ. Some members may not be able to pay 500 points for a conversation, some may even be willing to pay more than 500. I haven’t held any conversation in Italian for a long time and would accept a conversation request even if I were awarded less than 500 points.
Another example: I want to have a conversation in Polish. I had to send many conversation requests to Polish members who appear to be offering conversations. However, only at the fourth tentative did I get a reply, and luckily it was positive. The other members did not answer at all.
So, what about an open conversation request to be posted on the Exchange page like that: “mikebond has requested a Polish conversation on day X at time Y. Points available: 250/500/674/…” Then, any Polish speaker could offer to be my tutor. Any thoughts about this idea?
Interesting question mike and we will discuss this internally. For LIngQ itself the amount charged between members does not matter. Our concern has been to maintain a level that makes it worthwhile to attract those excellent tutors who are not in it for the exchange but provide a service for a fee.