Why isn’t there more languages? It seems people can freely contribute, but then why limit the scope of the languages that are offered? I love using the site for German, but I’m also learning Indonesian and would really love to see content appearing in that language.
@philtrem - There are a few reasons that prevent us from opening up the site for all languages. One is that each new language we add takes time, not just in adding it but also in responding to issues related to these languages, responding to questions regarding these languages, etc. Another is that most new learners don’t know the difference behind a “beta” language and a “supported” language. With this, we have had many complaints from members who sign up to learn a language such as Hebrew or Norwegian and note that there is very little content or that there are some issues with this language.
In the end, we would love to add more languages to the site, but we also don’t want to spread ourselves too thin as we are a small team. We’ll see what we can do as we move forward!
“most new learners don’t know the difference behind a “beta” language and a “supported” language. With this, we have had many complaints from members who sign up to learn a language such as Hebrew or Norwegian and note that there is very little content or that there are some issues with this language.”
I think that explaining the difference in a clear way would be the best solution.
2 Likes
I agree with Michele. To explain the issue with beta languages seems more logical to me than to eliminate them. Lots of learners, escpecially intermediate and advanced learners, were happy that they had a slot to work properly with these languages even if there is not much content or a limited number of dictionaries. The chances that members create content is also much higher if you show these languages. Hiding them is the death of the existing beta languages in my opinion. The chances to get these languages up to the required level will be virtually zero.
I did a calculation on another thread. Look here: http://www.lingq.com/forum/1/20681/?page=4 I’ll post it here again:
The limits are high, and people have to put a lot of effort into it to make a Beta language a supported language. Especially if you consider that you will not earn a lot of points for the lessons, and you have a lot of work before you will earn some points.
Based on my experience I would say you have to put the following efforts into creating lessons.
2 hours beginner lessons
On average you will need a minimum of 20 minutes to write, record and upload 1 minute of a beginner lesson:
→ 40 hours
5 hours intermediate lessons
If you write and record the lessons on your own, you’ll need 30 minutes per 1 minute of an intermediate lesson:
→ 150 hours
If you find a podcast on the internet which you have to transcribe and upload, you’ll need a minimum of 15 minutes per 1 minute of an intermediate lesson:
→ 75 hours
If you find them on the internet
→ 50 hours including research, uploading, text formatting
So if you do a mixture I would say you have to put in 90 hours.
5 hours advanced lessons
Same as for intermediate lessons.
All over all
About 220 hours. Good luck!
4 Likes
Veral wrote:
“Lots of learners, escpecially intermediate and advanced learners, were happy that they had a slot to work properly with these languages even if there is not much content or a limited number of dictionaries. The chances that members create content is also much higher if you show these languages. Hiding them is the death of the existing beta languages in my opinion.”
I agree.
Mikebond wrote:
“I think that explaining the difference in a clear way would be the best solution.”.
I agree with Mikebond too.
Very well said, Vera!
1 Like
You could, for instance, have a message appear when a member selects a Beta language for the first time: “The language you selected is an unsupported language. You may not find a lot of material…”. You could also replace the asterisk in the dropdown menu with the word BETA, which would make things clearer.
3 Likes
And one point is that, as for me, more then having a ready content in LingQ I need a tool for downloading my own content.
Of course, I use content at LingQ, but I repeat that 99% of content is my own.
1 Like
I use LingQ mostly to study my own material, as well. I’ve been studying Catalan for a few months now, and it would be so helpful to have it in beta mode, so that I could upload my Assimil lessons and integrate them with the LingQ tools.
1 Like
The problem is not add a new language on lingq, the problem is to creat a library, people interested in this language, tutor to help learners with his doubts… There are a few things behind the scenes that people have no idea.
“There are a few things behind the scenes that people have no idea.”
As we already said, if “people” are not aware of what beta languages are, let’s make them aware of it! Most learners of beta languages are ok with their limited content and such. And I know of supported languages with fewer tutors than some beta languages.
2 Likes
“the problem is to creat a library”
A library will never being created if the language is well hidden. As long as LingQ hide these languages “behind the scenes” nothing will happen, because LingQ never searchs actively for content creators or tutors in a language. In all successful languages there were normal users who created the lessons and offered tutoring. But this will never happen if the languages are hidden.
6 Likes
Indeed!
1 Like
Thanks Alex for your prompt and concise answer. This totally makes sense. I’ll think up a solution and post it here. But quickly, I’m thinking of a “clone site (beta.lingq.com)” for beta where customer support options are disabled. Or, where you can access them but they are disabled and a message clearly states (when you access support), “you are on a beta section of the site because you are learning an unsupported language “language name appears here” and we cannot offer customer support for this language”. Also explain that any attempt to contact customer support about unsupported languages from the main site will be ignored.
I’ll keep thinking about possible solutions and I will post them here when I do.
I think a good guideline is this: Think around the lines of building the limitations in the system rather than relying on people understanding rules.
It goes that I disagree with those who supported the following idea: “I think that explaining the difference in a clear way would be the best solution.”.
Also, maybe instauring community based moderation. And maybe a similar thing for parts of the customer support could be envisionned.
@all - Thanks for all your feedback. We do have plans to add a better way for people to discover and contribute to these languages, and will do this when we find the time. Also, please see my post here regarding the time frame: http://www.lingq.com/forum/2/22305/?page=1#post-156571
Alex, I honestly hope that
“We do have plans to add a better way for people to discover and contribute to these languages, and will do this when we find the time.”
will not mean these languages will stay hidden for many months… Any solution would be better than keeping beta languages hidden without making users aware of them.
I do hope the Finnish and Norwegian do get more support and more contributors in the future.
Ozzy, I hope all languages will get more support and contributors, but I can hardly see it happen under the current circumstances.