Hello guys, I created a web application for learning vocabulary. It’s still quite new and there are little over 350 foreign words but I’m keep working on it and keep improving it.
I would like to know your opinion about it and if you think it could be useful for learning and practicing vocabulary.There are six available languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Polish and Italian.
Here’s the address: www.vocabularyschool.com
Sorry, but I don´t understand whats so special about it? But, I only visited it for a minute or two, maybe there is some cool stuff I didn´t see. But why on earth would one learn words like “Pumpkin”, and that other one, I forgot it now, big bird, that runs very fast and use to put its head into the ground when scared, why put in time, as a total beginner, to learn that kind of words?
Cribbe, I didn’t write the application is only for ‘total beginners’ as you suggested. It was created for practicing and rehearsing the vocabulary knowledge. It can be used by beginners as well as by people who already have some language knowledge to expand their vocabulary.
I’m still working on it - it’s not finished yet. Just wanted to see if I’m going in a good direction 
Thanks for the feedback.
@Michael
You said: "Recent research concerning the brain and learning process indicates that memorizing of new vocabulary depends on the quality and frequency of the information processing activities. It means that new foreign words need to be learned in different ways, including listening, reading and writing. The learning method used in this application implements all these forms of learning and I didn’t see anything similar for memorizing vocabulary. "
How does a flashcard provide the experience of “listening, reading, and writing?”
Congratulations on putting together another of 10,000 flash card sites… I’ll keep using Anki when I feel like using flashcards - At least Anki is customizable, allowing me to use full sentences and paragraphs, and it provides SRS.
I don’t know why you have the impression that it’s about flashcards. The first person wrote he spent 1 minute so I believe it’s hard to assess anything within that short time - especially learning method and how good it is.
The application is based on frequent repetitions and rehearsing vocabulary - flashcards are just a small part of it (not really too important). As I said I’m keep working on it and there will be more functionality. During each exercise learners are able to learn via reading, writing and listening to audio pronunciation. I doubt in Anki you are able to study how to pronounce vocabulary correctly.
“I don’t know why you have the impression that it’s about flashcards.”
How is it not flashcards?
“I doubt in Anki you are able to study how to pronounce vocabulary correctly.”
You can import audio files for Anki cards, so… you can.
Anyway… I agree with Cribbe and David, I don’t see what’s so special about it. There are a ton of other sites that are like this but way better, like Memrise. You need some sort of new feature that sets this site apart from the rest.
The site is also not at all visually appealing and that makes a huge difference. Any site that claims to be “state-of-the-art” in Times New Roman on a plain white background is probably not “state-of-the-art”.
Your buttons are also somewhat sticky and the tests offer no semblance of reward to the user for getting the right answer.
You need more interactivity and engagement, much better design and most importantly, some sort of feature that makes your site different from the thousands of others just like it.
You don’t have to memorize any words you cannot memorize. Those are, I suppose, unnecessary words for you. Don’t worry about forgotten foreign words. This is my official foreign policy.
Any beta test of a product is bound to have rough edges. Take the criticisms offered here as points to ponder.
As you do not include the language I am learning, it is not a product I would use. Still, I took the time to look through it a bit.
I did not grasp at first that when it showed “191000” and said the word “one thousand” that it had changed from flashcard mode to test mode.
I am not sure how I am suppose to indicate I know the word. I kept reviewing cards and it still said 0 correct. Hmm. Felt kind of disappointed that they system didn’t think I was learning anything.
The audio files were inconsistent. Sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, of varying sound levels. It was clear you are working off of native speakers recording each word rather than a generated audio from the IPA of the word. It will certainly make adding vocabulary difficult if you have to have someone record audio for each word.
I agree that first impression of your home page was too much text, and some of it did not read like written by a native English speaker. Perhaps you could have someone review your text and consider having much less on the first page?
I am actually studying numbers in Korean at the moment, so I used the English cards and said the Korean words. Korean has two number systems (native and Sino-Korean) so I wonder how your flash card system would handle that? In other words, for ‘3’ there are two correct answers.
I took the quick test. I was bored before finishing the 50 questions, but that could be because I knew all the answers.
It just has the look of the kind of website a student learning how to program would create as a programming assignment. It lacks the sophisticated design to make it appealing. As a beta test, I found no flaws, but I also did not see any compelling reason to recommend it until you do some further development.
The question that arises is who is your audience?
If you are just doing this as a hobby, great, have fun and don’t be discouraged by nay-sayers. I write my blog for fun with no expectation of gaining an audience. If you hope to make a commercial venture out of selling this product, then perhaps you should research your competition.
Thank you Jreidy for the feedback. It’s really helpful. I see where the problem is with “191000” - there were two images: one presented 19 and other 1000. There was no space between them and it looked like “191000”.
At the beginning I was doing this application only for my own learning purpose (to learn how to create web applications) and only as a hobby. It’s just now I would like someone to use it. I’m getting to work today and I will make new layout and design. It should look way better.
"I am not sure how I am suppose to indicate I know the word. I kept reviewing cards and it still said 0 correct. Hmm. Felt kind of disappointed that they system didn’t think I was learning anything. "
Well, it doesn’t give any points while you are only browsing cards. After you browse some of them there is a simple exercise that consist cards you have just seen/learned and this exercise is scored.
Because of the audio pronunciation it is actually pretty hard to add new vocabulary and new languages. But I will still try to add more of them. And I agree with you the audio files should be definitely more consistent because I realize they might sound a bit annoying this way.
The text from the main page will be deleted in the new version of the layout that I’m making right now. The purpose of this text was to have some written content for search engines. But in this new layout I will solve it in different way.
The audience should be the people who want to practice vocabulary. I thought at the beginning to keep user interface as simple as it is only possible so people in all age would be able to use it without bigger problems. But I see it needs big improvement.
At this moment, I’m working on:
This problem with Korean is similar to Japanese different alphabets. I’m thinking about it because I also wanted to add these languages.
Thank you again for your reply It was really helpful.
I tried the flashcards for learning school vocabulary in Polish. I think the biggest problem for me was the lack of any sense of progress or reward. I didn’t know when the session would end, or even if I was being tested or just supposed to be learning. Rewards are a huge part of online learning, and if you want people to keep going, you have to provide some sense of progress.
I agree that there are lots of sites that do this better, with vocabulary that is more personal for the student. If you want a website that people will use, you have to look at what’s out there already and do something better.
Regarding the level, I think you can only pitch this at beginner and elementary levels. The reason is that it’s difficult to say which words come at which level beyond that. It really depends on the student’s experience, and any course or coursebook they are following.
I’ve also noticed that there is no consistency in the audio files, for example, in German, I sometimes hear the article and sometimes not: der Pfirsich, die Tomate, but Zitrone, Reis. I’d prefer if the article was always pronounced.
Personally I don’t like the images white background on a grey background, but I admit the images are of good quality.
I’ve noticed that with longer expressions, the audio icon covers the word, for example with die schwarze Johannisbeere, making it impossible to read it. I think a smaller icon would be nicer.
Sometimes the images are not well chosen: For the word der Herrenfriseur you have an image of a woman, for example.
In a test situation, when you are supposed to choose one of two images, I see 2 images, but they are exactly the same- der Feuerwehrmann.
Hello, I just tried it, and chose to learn animals collection of vocabulary. I got through about 5 and then it went to a page that was a multiple choice test to choose one of lobster or swan. I thought it was stuck, but you are supposed to drag the picture to answer the question. I only found that out when I hit the help button. I do think that should be more obvious somehow.
TO THE OTHER POSTERS: Guys, I think we should give credit where credit is due. At least he has tried to make something to help the world learn. What is wrong with that? It is well-intentioned, and I believe everyone is being pretty rough on the guy. He spent some time doing this, and it’s a decent start. He has the rest of his life to tweak it and make it better. Personally, I have been using several different methods of learning, and find that the alternating between methods helps keep it fresh for me. Why don’t we recognize the good this person has done?
Also, I can see that it isn’t just Flashcards, but integrated testing along the way. While not groundbreaking, it could be useful. I don’t use flashcards very often, but they are helpful a little from time to time.
Michael, thanks for making your site. I will bookmark and check on your progress in the future.
-Lance_R
Thank you Lance for supporting words It’s still the early beginning and the website will definitely improve and there will be new features and way more vocabulary.
I’m thankful for all the opinions good and bad. I always take into consideration all the criticism.
I’m almost done with the new layout. I think the site should look way better now. I will work on audio files consistency and I decided to add articles everywhere.
Thank you @mfr for finding the errors - I will fix them soon.
@zbrntt I agree with you and I’m going to start working on the way of keeping track of users’ learning progress. I would also like to add more advanced vocabulary but I think the learning method should be little different for that - and I still need to think about it.
@Lance_R: I agree with you, nothing wrong with that.
Of course its always better, that people make language-learning tools on the internet, than guns for instance,
that I also salute, but the site already seems better, perhaps because of the not-just-schratch-his back posts. I don´t know.
He probably need a mix of both.
Looking better and better michael87!
Yes, this looks much better! See the difference design makes?
If I were you, I would work on the design and mechanics of the cards themselves now.
I agree, that new design changed a lot and the site looks much more professional now.
@lynkusu That’s true the cards and exercises still look little like from the old version of the website, and I will definitely need to improve them too.