We seem to be focusing on a lot of technical problems/improvements, but what I think what will decide lingq’s success is something that I think was one of the points of the site in the first place. That’s the community and the content.
I think the people that are mainstays and the people who don’t have any direct involvement in the tech side of lingq can really help build the overall community and with a larger community comes more varied and better content. Obviously on this forum most of the communication is in English and I think that needs to change. People aside from Australians,North Americans, and the British might decide not to even try posting and therefore getting involved if they see this is mostly English speakers.
I think the speakers of the individual languages should try to post more in languages other than English, even if they’re mostly talking and responding to each other at the beginning, a bigger than English community is crucial. I think this in general would help build a more cosmopolitan community, in turn give us a greater amount of content. What other ways could we help to develop the community and content? Which in my opinion is far more important than using Babylon/Google or sound files with flash cards…
The core of what we already need is here: transcripts/free audio, let’s think of ways to bring more people here…
I agree that we need to build up the community. I am disappointed at the small number of people writing in languages other than English.
We need to think of other ways to bring in more members and to encourage them to be active. We have some things planned and it just takes time to get them up on the site. But we welcome all ideas.
I think I have been guilty of discouraging languages other than English here. I fact it might encourage more participation if people simply felt free to write in any language they want, their own or the language they are learning.
We have separate "open"forums for the different languages, and forums for the different “LingQ Podcasts” in different languages and we have a tutor’s forum for each language, so there is ample opportunity to write in any language we want.
However, maybe it will encourage more participation if this, the most frequented forum, were truly open to any language.
I think you really become the general bridge to all the languages used in the forum. I think if people started responding to questions and statements in there own or in a language other than English, like SanneT did here your response has to give us an idea what was said, 'cause obviously we don’t all have ten languages. But any use of other languages besides the over use of only English I think is necessary for the community to strive…
My post was trying to look at this from non English speaker point of view. If I came to this forum and was confident in my English I might not answer or respond to anything because of fear of mistakes or whatever reason, but if I saw there were loads of people speaking loads of different languages I might hop on, get involved and find myself on the site more.
That’s my two cents,grosze,pence,sen and whatever other subunits of money I can’t think of
I am not sure I have the time to translate every post here. I agree that our community is fantastic, from young students, to professional people, housewives, and those of us wanting to be creative in our golden years!!
How about scheduling a multi lingual skype chat. I think skype will accommodate 16 or more. Anyone interested should just post their skypename here and the languages they are going to speak and what time works best. I will set it up if there is interest.
A simple “solution” is to write more in our target language forums, whether we get everything right or not.
I’m not too sure that only native anglophones write here (in English, that is). For what it’s worth, I think I read and write more in English than in Swedish. Every day of the year. And I have seen many a post from tutors of all the other languages.
I agree with Jeff. I suppose that not only natives are “responsible” for keeping up the conversation, but learners also.
I prefer write English, because it is my target language, but I have not enough time to work on it, as Japanese takes too much time… So for every day practice I just read English forum
Well this post streamlined a bit. It was supposed to make people think of general ideas to build a bigger than English community not just focus on my one idea…
It’s a very valid point though. A few months ago I wrote a post in German to the German forum, because it was intended for native Germans. I got very little response and someone suggested I should post in English on an English forum, because that’s where the Germans hang out. I felt that if that is true, it is a weak point of LingQ. I would really like to see more people hanging out in their native language/target language forums.
My problem with writing is that I tend to write long posts… For example I have start writing posts many times for Steve’s blog but I never post them because they were four paragraphs long and I still hadn’t finish all I wanted to say! In real time life I am not very talkative person. Most of the time I stay at the background of a conversation, I might participate a bit but most of the time I like to listen. So maybe that’s the reason why when I write, I write so much staff! Truth is that I hadn’t been part of online community before, I wasn’t fun of it. But now I find it interesting! I have also start reading forums in Russian in different sites. I think it is useful for language learning to see how native people are talking to each other.
When I write in Russian I have a another problem. Again for example I have start writing a post 3 times so far for the discussion about the Ukrainian language but I stopped because I was stacked. I 'm still not so good in writing in Russian, plus it takes me a while until I manage to write something. But i don’t mind that. The problem is that if I can’t finnish my thought I don’t like to post it…
I think if people just started writing in any language wherever, some would inevitably be excluded from the discussion where less people know their language, and it could also prevent a more engaged discussion overall. Of course, the more languages one knows, the less a problem this becomes and it could also, as mentioned, encourage more people to post in their target language, as there would a wider variety of threads and topics to discuss. I’d also add that the writing correction option for each post is a fantastic addition.
One thing I’m definitely guilty of is not writing enough in my target languages, mainly out of a pointless desire for perfection, which I know I won’t attain and shouldn’t strive for. I think I’m just going to have to start posting in the target language forums freely without constantly referring to a dictionary to make sure everything is write. With a more “carefree” attitude, I think that would improve one’s confidence, despite whatever errors and mistakes one makes in the process. At any rate I admire the number of non-native English speakers who post often in English. It’s something I should be doing myself!
A multilingual Skype chat sounds interesting. I’d be willing to join for sure.
I don’t really understand how a multi-lingual skype chat would work… Would we have like ten people speaking ten differently languages??? I don’t really get it, but I’m for it…
“One thing I’m definitely guilty of is not writing enough in my target languages, mainly out of a pointless desire for perfection, which I know I won’t attain and shouldn’t strive for.”
I sometimes play “spot the grammar mistakes” in Steve’s Russian posts. (He and I started learning Russian at the same time). The important thing is though, that he is an active poster, mistakes and all. I just sit here and think about it. Perfectionism can be a real hinderamce in language learning
My conclusion from this exchange is that we should continue to write in English here, to write more in our target languages in the appropriate forum, not be perfectionist (my new motto is "to be perfect is OK, but to make mistakes is glorious’).
If we do a multilingual skype discussion, say on ways to develop the LingQ community, I or others could provide translation into English as we go, and no one need feel inhibited from contributing.
Most of the time I write in English. There are two reasons: First is English my target language. Second is that more people could understand what I write. Sometimes I practice to write a post in English and German.
I admit that I’m a bit frustrated if I cannot read a post in a foreign language, which I don’t understand
@Helen: Unfortunately there are only a few learners from Germany who are active at the forum. Maybe therefore you got only a few answers. I try to answer in the language that is used by the creator of the thread.
Meistens schreibe ich in Englisch. Dafür gibt es zwei Gründe. Zum einen ist Englisch die Sprache, die ich lerne. Andererseits gibt es dann auch mehr Leute, die verstehen, was ich schreibe. Manchmal mache ich es so, dass ich in English und Deutsch schreibe.
Ich gabe zu, dass es mich frustriert, wenn ein Beitrag in einer Sprache geschrieben ist, die ich nicht verstehe
@Helen: Leider gibt es nur wenige Lernende aus Deutschland, die im Forum aktiv sind. Vielleicht hast Du deshalb nur wenige Antworten bekommen. Ich versuche immer in der Sprache zu antworten, in der der Ersteller eines Threads geschrieben hat.
