Understand spoken language

Handling grammatical cases of words

Submitted by admin on 30 June 2021

In some languages, such as Croatian (and similarly structured languages like Polish and Russian), nouns follow a case system. So, in Polish for example, you don't just have the word "dog", but rather:

  • pies (nominative)
  • psa (genetive)
  • psu (dative)
  • psem (instrumental)
  • psie (locative)

How to handle these in Lingopolo?

Do not add the same word in relation fields twice

Submitted by admin on 30 June 2021

When adding relations like "Pronounced the same" and "See also" it is tempting to add related words which are pronounced the same way in both sections. However, you should not do this. It doesn't help the student to see the same word linked to twice. Indeed it just clutters the page.

No, if a word is already listed in "Pronounced the same", then you should NOT also list it under "See also". It is enough for it to appear once.

Using Tatoeba to find content

Submitted by admin on 5 June 2021

A great tool to use for finding useful sentences is Tatoeba. Tatoeba is a large database of sentences and translations. The sentences are copyright free, and so Lingopolo may happily use them without any problem: there is just one condition, that we must link back to any sentence we use from Tatoeba. This link back is something which we must always do, as it is a condition of using content from Tatoeba.

Is there a way to reset my scores back to zero and start again?

Submitted by admin on 27 April 2021

Yes, there is a way to reset your scores back to zero and start again.

Firstly, take a look at how to reset a complete lesson, because you're going to need to know how to do that.

Then you will need to go the language home page, where you have access to 3 special lessons:

  • Dutch Known (or whatever language it is you are studying), which is the lesson which contains every entry (word or phrase)
  • Words Known, which is the lesson which contains every individual word
  • Phrases Known, which is the lesson which contains every phrase (two or more words)

Language known, words known, phrases known

By clicking on each of these numbers, you can go directly to the Mastery tab for each of them. Here you can reset the entire lesson, and therefore you can reset your entire score back to zero.

reset All Dutch lesson

Be careful that's really what you want to do, because your score will start again from zero and you'll have to redo all the entries.

Used carefully, this can be a great way to revise everything. No doubt the second time through the content you'll whizz through much faster than the first time you went through it, so it can be a great way to do revision. 

Is there a way to reset a complete lesson back to the start?

Submitted by admin on 27 April 2021

Yes, there is a way to reset a lesson back to the start.

You will need to go to the Mastery tab for the lesson, and at the bottom you should see a "Reset levels" option:

reset level for lesson

When you click on Reset levels, you will receive a confirmation warning of what you are about to do, telling how many entries (words or phrases) will be affected, and the change in score which will occur:

reset lesson warning

When you click Reset, all the entries for that lesson will be reset to the Unstarted state, and the points for those entries will be reset to zero:

reset lesson complete

Why would you want to do this? Well, if you feel you just need a little bit of extra practice for a particular lesson, then by resetting the lesson scores, Lingopolo will automatically quiz you again on this lesson content.

Is there a way to reset a word or phrase back to the Unstarted level?

Submitted by admin on 27 April 2021

Yes, you can reset a word or phrase back to the Unstarted level. On every entry (word, phrase, dialogue), you should see a "Reset Level" option:

reset level

When you click on this it will ask for confirmation, showing you the current level of the word/phrase (in this case Level 8), and warning you that it will be reset to the Unstarted level:

reset level confirmation

If you click on Reset, it will reset the level to Unstarted, which you can then see displayed:

level reset to Unstarted

Why would you want to do this? Well, it's an easy way to get Lingopolo to give you some extra practice for a word or phrase, since it will make Lingopolo think you have never yet practiced this word or phrase.