Vocabulary and LingQ Widget 2.0

Updates, Tips and Known Issues
1

To inspire more LingQing this holiday season we have just pushed a major new update to the site! You will see major changes to the LingQ widget and a completely revamped Vocabulary page.

You will see the new LingQ widget right away when you click Check Dictionary from the blue new words popup. We have now added the ability to add an image, an audio file in addition to Text-To-Speech and a separate tab for Notes. Notice that there are now tabs under the Status bar for Dictionaries, Examples, User Hints, Ask a Tutor, Notes and Audio.

All dictionary results are now integrated into the LingQ widget and show in a separate window underneath the main widget area. This is your Dictionaries tab. Initially Google Translate and Babylon options are available. Just click on the buttons to view the results. Additional resources can be added by clicking the Add Resource button. You can then add from the list of dictionaries/resources available and choose the language to translate into for each resource. Examples, User Hints and Ask a Tutor are pretty self explanatory and function as they did before, although for Ask a Tutor you can now see any existing threads and post new questions right there in the widget. Finally, the Notes and Audio tabs allow the input of notes and audio for each LingQ. Uploaded audio will play in addition to the Text-To-Speech.

One other aspect of the LingQ widget is the status bar which has been revamped throughout the site. It now shows the same colours as the shading on the lesson page. The different shades of yellow for status 1 to 3 and no shading for status 4. As well, the ignore and delete controls have been combined into a red x or status x. We have struggled with how best to deal with deleted and ignored words and have decided that essentially they can be treated the same. These words are completely removed from your database and ignored. However, as always, you can create a LingQ for them anytime to add them back.

The last thing you will notice on the LingQ widget is a new language identifier for Hints. You will now see the flag of your Hint language. This should be your native language or dictionary language, however, sometimes this language can be incorrect. This allows you to set your hint language correctly and to have multiple hints in multiple languages for your LingQs. It is important that hint languages be correct to prevent hints in other languages from getting mixed up in the user hints displayed on the blue popups.

The other major changes occurred on the Vocabulary page, which has been completely updated. The controls have been updated and streamlined and the list itself has been changed to accommodate the new changes to the widget. Among other things, you can now change the status of the words in your list with the 1-click status bar. As well, we have added two new ways to review your vocabulary - Multiple Choice and Dictation! A little something to while away the time during the holidays…!

You will also notice an improved SRS system. We have reworked our SRS algorithm so you will review the LingQs you are learning in 7 stages from 1 day to 3 months apart. These will be emailed out in your LingQs of the Day, based on your email settings as they are now. You can also find all your words due for review in the Due for Review (SRS) tab on the Vocabulary page. This more comprehensive SRS system will now ensure that you always have a full list in your daily email if you have words waiting for review.

Finally, with this update we have re-implemented the 1-Click Google Translate on the blue popups. However, since we must now pay Google for this service it is now a premium feature and not available to Free members.

Let us know how you like the updates. Think of the changes as an early Christmas present… :wink:

2

Thanks for the good work. I’ll just have to take some time to get used to it. I’ll tell you how I go after a couple days of trying it out.

3

Ah…already one problem. No cancel button on the lingq making dialogue. There is the red x but it gives me a dialogue and then the word goes to white. If I press the x up in the right hand corner, it just leaves it yellow but without a hint. I’ve got good reasons for needing to do this at times.

4

We feel that cancel, delete, ignore are all the same action. Just confirm the dialogue and you should be good to go. Why shouldn’t the word go to white? Either you want to LingQ it, make it known or delete/ignore it.

5

If the word is white, I can not find it again; when it is yellow, I can’t find it because I think I’ve lingqed it. There are reasons for wanting to cancel the lingqing process.

6

When does the ‘test in 30 days’ dialogue come up? I thought it was for words which I move to status 4 but it only did it once. What’s the logic behind it?

Is it when I see another instance of the status 4 word again?

7

From the blue, there are only three actions you can take: save it, mark it as known, or delete/ignore it. When you encounter a blue word, you should take the appropriate action with it. If you want to save it later, then just ignore it for now. When you encounter the word again, it should be clear to you if you don’t know it, so just save it the second time around.
If you’re looking to access the user hints that are on the popup, just click the User Hints tab at the bottom of the LingQ widget. I’m not sure what other reason you would have for wanting to delete the word and move it back to “New”.

The additional dialogue for SRS appears when you click on the 4 for a word that is already status 4. To move a status 1, 2 or 3 word to “30 days”, etc., just click it once to move it to status 4, then click it again to see the additional dialogue box.

8

Ok. This dialogue is really a problem for me. I do not use the vocabulary section to learn words. I only learn words by reading and listening, while moving the words up to high statuses while I’m doing this. (You’ll remember my recommendation to move the status box to the top which would help people who like to do this.) This new feature, while perhaps good for some, has just ruined LingQ for me. I can adapt to the loss of the cancel button, but the second really degrades my learning process. What can I do?

9

The additional review stages dialogue comes up when you click on 4 in the status bar after a word is already status 4. For most users, these steps will just happen in the background when words are reviewed. Each additional stage only requires one correct response in the activities to be moved to the next stage. This ensures that words that you move to known do come back at you in the future to make sure you really do know them.

10

If a word is at status 4, it is considered learned by our system. If you don’t use flashcards, then you essentially don’t need to worry about the SRS – just get words to Status 4 and you’re good :slight_smile:

11

I don’t understand what you are saying. If you need to change the status, you can do so right there in the yellow popup. No need to open the widget. What am I missing?

12

I don’t open the widget, I do it from the yellow popup. But, when I move a word to level 4, other instances of that same word - do not move to level 4. I try to move them to 4 and it gives me the ‘review in x days’ dialogue. Then they too go to level 4.

13

Ahh…ok. The solution is not to remove the new functionality surrounding status 4 words. This change only pointed out an inconsistency. The status for the word should update on all instances of that word when you adjust it. We will see if we can make that happen. Thanks for pointing this out…!

14

No worries. I figured it was just a little bug in there. :slight_smile:

15

I have to say, I really like the changes that you’ve made, however there’s something that I noticed, and I’m not sure if it’s intended or not.

When I import a new lesson, as I’m going through I flag them and do the look ups as usual, and if I need to change the status of a word, I can do that nice and easily, however, if a word comes up that’s new and I flag it as status 4 (which I do as I like to have it there as a “just in case” while I read through the rest), the original instance of the word flags white, but other instances of the word change to yellow (as if they were status 1) and do not change to white. If I mouse over the other instances, it says that status 4 is selected, so it obviously knows that it’s meant to be status 4, it just isn’t updating the colour. Previously all instances updated their flagging.

I’ve only noticed this with new words, but I’m not sure if the same would happen if you’re changing the status of a word to 4 and it’s already LingQ’d.

Not sure if it would matter at all, but I’m using Mozilla Firefox 8.0

16

You should have read the thread before you posted, Lyise. We’ve just figured that out. :slight_smile:

Might give some more info though.

17
  1. Status of lingqs doesn’t change when doing the Dictation test. I marked several words as known during Dictation, but I can see all of them in the list with the same status they had before.
  2. The personal statistic doesn’t seem correct anymore. I’ve definetely learned more than 23 lingqs this month.
18

I find, like Lyise, that the recent changes make LingQing much more efficient and pleasant. There are a lot of new features and we need to take time to get used to them.

There will be features that are not working as they should. There will also be features that bother some users. We want to make sure that we accommodate the concerns that people have, so please keep reporting your experiences.

Basically, as a heavy LingQer, I am very pleased with these changes. It will take time to sort things out and make sure that most users are fully satisfied.

19

… and I noticed that almost every italian-russian lingq pair in my vocabulary is marked as “English” translation =) Is there a way to ‘bulk’ language change for all of lingqs?

20

A place for notes - yay!

When I go to the dictionary (wordreference, google translate) the window is not long enough to see the definitions, and I can’t go down any further or enlarge it. I’m using Firefox. Is this my problem or yours?