Well, this leads to the most interesting aspect of modern approaches:
“self-reference”.
The only “certainty” you can then have is that there are “operations”
otherwise nothing happens (that was already the solution of René Descartes’
“cogito ergo sum” → the generalized version is: operantes sumus).
But consciousness and social systems (like families and organizations)
can’t operate using self-reference alone, therefore other-reference (i.e., constantly
changing topics) is introduced.
However, how do we explain the fact that we bore ourselves to death by talking about the same things again and again and again… - and the best thing is: nothing changes
“How would we test to verify?”
You don’t.
You just do something more exciting
I mean she is an Apple user, so creating a software that even someone like her will understand is not possible.
Jokes aside, there are users that do not often work with any software and then fail to understand how things work on their own. In the video you see he doesn’t manage to find the right arrow button to flip the page and thinks that it’s a premium feature to be able to scroll down further. I don’t think it is possible to address this by changing the pages design. Some users need to be shown how the software is used. This could be done through a tutorial or a youtube video, but it needs to be clear and slow paced.
Some things on LingQ are however actually not clear if nobody explains them to you.
The translations for lingqs is one of these things. I didn’t know that the suggested translations come from the community when I started, and then I made a post where I reported that some words don’t have a correct translation. I then received a reply that i can use the dictionaries to add my own if the community translations are wrong. This is something that could be mentioned somewhere in a sentence.
Same goes for the content. A user that starts with something like russian will see an almost endless amount of content, where someone starting with Afrikaans has like a few YouTube imports and that’s it. This is also something that could be explained somewhere.
Also it’s clear that she reached the 20 LingQ limit before remotely understanding how to actually use lingq.
we’re getting new features (like Whisper AI) instead of focusing to improve the core experience.
Whisper AI is really good for languages that don’t have a lot of content. It allows you to use any audio as learning material, which is one of the best things they could have done imo.
Or we just keep reading and listening so to improve our languages.
Some day we are more on edge, others we aren’t. At the end of the day, this community is the best language learners community I have found so far, and we should also give credit to LingQ to allow this to happen.
I mean, it is a good balance, there are many good things as well. I want to give you some positive in this period, I see you a bit #@#@•##?@
I like Lindie, and have the utmost respect and admiration for all the work she has done through her learning. I do agree that there should a step-by-step “how to get started” with LingQ. And I mean hold my hand and spoon feed me until I can cut the cord.
But, Lindie has been doing this for years… Yes, she knows what it takes to learn a foreign language, but her methods may not work for others. I know her method wouldn’t work for me, because I tried it.
I have a subscription to LingQ, and have watched all the videos on YouTube. But, I still can’t figure some things out. I will keep the subscription just because of the ginormous amount of material that is accessible, but I am honestly having the most success, rather it be slowly, with Olly Richards.
I have been using the following to learn Mandarin, and this is what I have begun since the beginning of June. I’m ranking it in order of using it multiple times every day:
The app “Immersive Chinese”. I set it while I am sleeping and just let it soak into my brain. Not active learning, but I like to keep it going.
Olly Richards’ site storylearning.com. I really, REALLY like the way they walk you through the dialogue and break down each character… And I like the fact that it is pretty much from the third lesson not making you dependent on pinyin.
I use Pleco… like EVERY SINGLE DAY… Holy wow… I can already write some characters, and I write characters every single day…
I bought a book to learn to write Chinese radicals. I bought both the kindle version and the paperback version… I use it them daily. I hate carrying around books, sooooo…
Which brings me to a little gadget that I purchased, and I use it to write Mandarin all the time. I do not work for this company, but I purchased a smaller size Supernote. I can read my Kindle books on it, and practice writing Chinese. They have a template already installed with the “practice” paper to learn to write. I think I have 15 pages so far… Yes, worth every single penny…
I purchased a premium subscription to YouTube. I watch about 5 Mandarin shows a day. I’m a slow learner, so I don’t understand a word they are saying yet.
I use LingQ a couple to three times a week. I like looking at all the stuff and poking around on it, but still can’t figure it out.
Mandarinblueprint - I was hot and heavy with this for the first couple of weeks, then my brain got fried trying to figure out their “Hanzi Movie Method” for remembering Chinese characters. I might re-visit this procedure this weekend. I am having a tough time with who goes what and where… Yep, that’s why I’m confused.
Chinese Zero to Hero - This is the MOTHER… and I mean MUTHA… I LOVE THIS, but it is WAAAYYYYYYYY too difficult for me at this stage. I got crazy and bought the lifetime subscription. I will use it, eventually… The guys who developed this are wonderful at teaching… And you can take the HSK books and follow right along… Perfect for someone like me who likes structure but also like to be a little carefree in the study method sometimes. You do have to let your brain rest every now and then.
And yes, I purchased ALL the HSK books in one shot… I KNOW I will use them… at some point…
*Side NOTE: xiaoman on YouTube is working on an AI Chatbot to learn Mandarin. I just love this guy. I actually used ChatGPT to translate an entire chapter of a book from English to Mandarin. After I was done, I ran the Mandarin back through two online translators back to English, and every single word was exactly the way it was in the printed English version. I did this for kicks because there is a girl on YouTube who is a PhD studying neuroscience, and she made her own graded readers from Mandarin TV Shows. What an Excellent IDEA! She even had them printed. Now who else can say that they did this? This was fabulous and I have to admit that I’m a little jealous! Bianca is her name… She is great…
But, I’ve rambled enough… I agree with Lindie that LingQ needs a beginner mode, but she’s pretty hard core. And I am an accountant, so I can work 18 hour days sometimes… I need a break.
I love all the above paths I’m trying to follow; I know I will get there…
Just like Steven and Olly says, " You will get there".
Someone recommended LingQ to me coming from paid Duolingo. I signed up to a free account to try it out. I don’t really get how it works or how it’s better and now I keep hitting a message that says you only have 20 linqqs - whatever that means. I can’t even get through one lesson.
I was prepared to sign up and pay but I want to try it first - that means at least being able to complete one lesson and look at what content it offers. Looks like this is not possible so I won’t be signing up.
The new user experience is really bad on lingq. Lots of people sign up and are completely loss on how to use it. They really needs a very simple new user guide. You sign up and you’re immediately shown a short video of someone getting started on lingq that explains all its functionality.
Exactly. I don’t know what it is with Lingq but they seem to seemingly do everything else but improve the base user experience. I’ve wrestled with this app for 3 years for lack of an alternative and i’ve resigned myself to it but they aren’t exactly doing themselves any favors for having the attitude that they do in regards to their own platform.
I gave up on LingQ documentation pretty quick and watching Steve K do “this and that” in a YouTube was no help either.
So I just experimented and read comments and came up with my own flow. I’m still learning and improving.
My suggestion would be for passionate, experienced users to post comments describing how they use LingQ, and for LingQ to provide a special place in the Forum for such information.
Sorry for the late reply: too much work during the week, too little time
"give you some positive in this period,
As always, I appreciate your “positive” attitude!
I see you a bit #@#@•##?@
No, I’m cool (a bit overworked, though - but that’s ok bc. I’m the one responsible for pushing myself ).
Apart from that, I’m happy that our baby girl is happy as a clam and evolving rapidly (at ca. 8.5 months she is already able to stand on her own and talk - ok, just 3 words: “Ma”, “Pa”, “Wau” (doggie). But this is the beginning of the continuous polyglot yakking that will come later
That said, it doesn’t make sense to discuss the same points ad nauseam.
LingQ doesn’t value user feedback very much - at least when it comes to UX and QA.
And they don’t learn, but make the same basic mistakes again and again…
Therefore, why bother?
I’m ok with that as long as the core functionality (i.e. the AudioReader SW) works most of the time - at least more or less
And I’ve been in business long enough to know that LingQ isn’t the only company sabotaging itself. I’ve seen many of them.
Here are some possible reasons for this self-destructive behavior:
Das passt zu meinem Buch-Tipp (in Deutsch) für Dich:
“Im Westen nichts Neues” (gibt’s auch als Film auf Netflix)
@PeterBormann I here you. I’m becoming a master of workarounds.
I’ve imported the Icarus Paradox and bookmarked the film in Netflix, thanks. If there is one thing I never get enough is things to read or listen to. I just can’t stop learning.
Hi,
I am a new user of LingQ. I watched this video to understand how LingQ works: How to use LingQ (NEW) | Getting Started Guide to LingQ | Features | How to import Lessons on LingQ - YouTube. After this using LingQ is easier.
The reason was that after starting the course “Getting started” which in my case is korean with german translation started of with quite a lot of errors in the german sentences. This was realy frustrating and it´s only text. I already have learned some korean using a book.
It would be nice to have a quided tour through the UI or a document with the complete text of the course “Getting” started with pictures.
