New feature: display sentences

I have a feature idea for you.

On the Learn / Vocabulary menu, there should be an option to simply display the LingQs in their original contexts. I recommend at least 30 words on a side, or the full sentence, or the full sentence plus one, or the full sentence minus one, or all three sentences: and perhaps it could be adjustable per text. I don’t like flash cards or clozes for the same reason Steve dislikes being forced to answer grammar and other language-learning questions: it’s uninteresting, and it makes me do something that isn’t natural. But just seeing the sentences again is natural.

Now, you’re very close to this anyway. If you go to Learn / Vocabulary, you can actually see all the sentence fragments there. But it would be good to have this on the mobile device, to just flip through sentences one by one, no questions, just give me exposure to the sentences where I found something good. And, make it at least one whole sentence no matter how long. No fragments.

@creimann - Thanks for the feedback. We don’t have any plans to make adjustments to the way phrases are handled. What you can do in the current system is adjust what shows on the front and back of flashcards. This will allow you to review the sentences for these words. If you would prefer full sentences instead of fragments I may recommend actually editing the sentences for your LingQs when you save them to ensure they are according to your preferences.

Hmm… that doesn’t sound very time efficient…

You know, a voting page for features would be a great way to enhance the user experience based on what the users would like to see. You come up with the possible enhancements and paid users vote for the next 2 or 3 big features. It works well with open source projects. voting results : vim online

Thanks Alex! I think that sounds like it will meet my needs. Besides that, I have come to favor the basic ideas of Steve, that exposure to [new] inputs is the best procedure. Why should I review my old sentences, when I’ll find new uses for those words soon enough?

@creimann - Well, that’s a whole other view you’re touting… :wink: I myself don’t really review sentences; I just wait until the word comes up again as I continue making my way through content.

@spatterson - We actually get no shortage of feedback from our users. In the end, decisions come down to a mixture of our own ideas and the ideas or suggestions that come from others. We can’t outsource decision making, but always welcome feedback from our users.

@alex: Heh! :slight_smile: Also I recall being in elementary school, reading hundreds of books. I know I didn’t make word lists. Occasionally looking through old papers I can find a word list but there’s no way I wrote out two or three hundred thousand words. Also I think the main benefit of writing out a word and definition is just to pause over the word and increase exposure to it. But by and large it was just by encountering words, perhaps with a brief dictionary consultation with no writing. Exactly what we’re doing here.

I like seeing yellow words in freshly-opened documents. I can see how marking those separately gives me a clue that I must know that word, and sure enough, I can see how it is clearer now, coming into contact with it again. It’s a great use of the medium.