Lingora's native speaker community - A new and improved version

[ed101langs]

Hello,

Firstly, we wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all of you in this forum who have already used Lingora and provided feedback on the platform.

Thanks to your inputs, we truly believe we've created a much better version of the site: https://www.elingora.com/

If you've not heard about Lingora, then please see some more information about it below...

If you're learning a language and want somewhere where you can get the following 100% free of charge...

• comprehensive feedback from native speakers concerning your writing skills
• comprehensive feedback from native speakers concerning your speaking skills
• the ability to chat to native speakers and interact with them.
• the chance to complete language podcast lessons, which help you gain a better understanding of the regional dialects in the languages you learn. (These lessons are currently only available in the English language, but we're busy working on creating lessons in many more languages, so watch this space....)

...please take a look at the new, vastly improved version of Lingora: https://www.elingora.com/

If you've got time, take a look at the blog post which describes how the platform works in detail:
https://www.elingora.com/en/content/new ... nally-here

Or if you've not got much time, watch the short, How It Works video:

https://www.elingora.com/en/how-it-works


Or why not just sign up and get started?:
https://www.elingora.com/en/user/register

Remember it's a 100% free community!
(Though please note that you are now able to purchase additional services in Lingora's virtual shop such as

• Private one-on-one lessons via Skype with our expert, experienced language tutors
• Face-to-Face lessons with our expert, experienced language tutors
• Homestays with native speakers of the languages you learn.
• Essay & dissertation proofreading services.
• Numerous other resources to help you gain a detailed understanding of the languages you learn.

[Xenops]

Hello,

Firstly, we wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all of you in this fourm who have already used Lingora and provided feedback on the platform.

I just signed up, just to take a looksey, and I'm pleased to say that this could be the Lang-8 alternative we have been looking for. I do have some suggestions, however:

1. When you sign up, the languages aren't in alphabetical order: actually, from what I can tell, they're not in any order at all.
2. You really should have the blog post explaining how the system works under the "How It Works" tab. I'd rather scan some words on a screen than to sit and watch a video (too many work orientation videos for me, thanks!)
3. I really don't see how the points system you use is sustainable: I can foresee people posting stuff to be critiqued, and nobody to critique it. Discounts for Skype lessons doesn't excite me: I can find tutors on italkie for far less than that.

But I'm still optimistic about this development: keep up the good work!

[ed101langs]

Hello Xenops,

Thanks very much indeed for your reply. Much appreciated

We've had a look at your suggestions and completely agree with them.

1. When you sign up, the languages aren't in alphabetical order: actually, from what I can tell, they're not in any order at all.

Yes, we're working on getting this issue fixed as it's frustrating for people (when they sign up) if the languages are not in alphabetical order. Apart from this issue, did you find that the rest of the sign up process was straightforward?

2. You really should have the blog post explaining how the system works under the "How It Works" tab. I'd rather scan some words on a screen than to sit and watch a video (too many work orientation videos for me, thanks!)

That's an excellent suggestion. When we redevelop this existing version (within the next six months) we will definitely have more text under the "How It Works" section of the site.

3. I really don't see how the points system you use is sustainable: I can foresee people posting stuff to be critiqued, and nobody to critique it. Discounts for Skype lessons doesn't excite me: I can find tutors on italkie for far less than that.

We completely see your point about people posting texts/audios and there not being anyone available to critique it. In fact this has happened on several occasions when (for example) members are learning languages which not many people learn. We're working on a solution to this. That said, for the most commonly learned languages such as English, French, Spanish etc, this is not an issue as there are plenty of native speakers who are willing to help out in these languages.
With regards to your point about the discounts for language lessons, we understand that tutors on other websites might charge a lot less. However, would they be as good and as knowledgeable as Lingora's tutors, who have carefully been selected?

Thanks once again for your reply and for signing up to Lingora.

We hope to see you on the platform

Edmund - Founding Member of Lingora.

[Cavesa]

Well, the point system based on exchange is less advantageous not only for learners learning less popular languages. It is also not friendly towards natives of such languages. So, I am curious what will my experience on this site be like.

A few questions:

1.the text editor. What is the length limit?
2.Will you be adding more suggestions for writing (for people unsure what to write about)? Is it possible to send in suggestions?
3.I like the new design of feedback, I am curious how good it will be in reality. It is certainly inovative.
4.I really like the fact you kept both the inbuilt recording tool and import of others.

5.In the shop section, you should probably divide the skype lessons from stays with the teacher (which are an excellent idea btw!). Also, it might be good to divide offers of one lesson for such or such price, and bundles of several. Right now, it is slightly chaotic. When you have more teachers and offers, it will turn into a hell to scroll through.
6.I am a rather sceptical person, when it comes to teachers. Experience taught me that. One of the few things that actually work on convincing me, and are most probably awesome for most learners, are introduction videos. On Italki, I can see and hear (which is more important) the teacher, get a better glimpse of their style and personality. I think that would be a good addition to the profiles, which I find rather generic. Not only the text formatting on the shop page is horrible (I guess you are still working on that), there is not that much info in the profiles. CELTA, that is no prove of anything (I've met several horrible "teachers" with this certificate), the experience counts, and there is too little information on it (how many years or students, what levels, and so on). A video could be convincing, even if the description isn't. Also, what does Celta have to do with Spanish teaching (Karin)? One of your teachers caught my attention as she is preparing for the DELE (Marta). Yet, on the profile itself, there is no information on that. What levels does she prepare for? How many students has she prepared so far?

Sorry, if I sound too critical. I am excited about the whole idea of lingora, I am just curious how it will work out.

[Whodathunkitz]

I had a go. It's the first time I've ever added Spanish audio anywhere public.

A few comments.

When I got a response back (great that it includes audio!) and commented back it seemed that I was commenting as a reviewer and not as the original creator.

What I expected was a couple of links or workareas. One to "Review L1 posts by other people" and the other to "Reviews to your L2 audio/texts"

I seem to be at the top of the leader board. That doesn't seem right.

Two links to home take you to different places.

Again, just comments and I'm interested in, and hopeful for, the site.

[tiia]

I didn't sign up (yet?), and only read the FAQ so far. The idea of Lingora seems to be interesting. However, I'll also add a few more questions and suggestions here:

Q: How secure is payment?
A: We use the highest methods of payment security. Please take a look at this document for more detailed information.

There is no document linked so far.

The headline "Lessons" might be better called "Podcast lessons" as far as I understood it, because you can buy Skype or face-to-face lessons in the shop, but in the FAQ it says lessons would be for free.

And now for the part that makes me rather sceptical:

Q: Are all my chats private?
A: No. When you go to the main page (by clicking the chat now button) you will see that all chats are made public. This is for the benefit of all the site’s members. For example: you might be learning English and struggling to grasp the meaning of a certain phrase and when to use it. If you view a chat where someone else who is also learning English asks the same question to a native English speaker in the chat panel, you can view the chat and learn from it!

Q: Can I make a chat private if I want to?
A: No. Lingora's aim is not to be a private messaging platform.

Is there any function for private messaging? What if I would like to exchange an emailaddress or skype name?
Personally I don't want a chat or maybe even every conversation I had with a stranger or someone else to be read by literally anyone even years later. Example sentences may often touch peoples personal lives, as they just have to learn to talk about themselves. So could I at least delete a chat, if I don't want it to be read anymore?
The idea that you can find some chat with similar mistakes might be nice, but I also don't know how well it will work to actually find those.

[Cavesa]

not sure, if you are still following the discussion or I should post this bit of feedback through email.

A huge question: Do the natives, who have commented on my audio, get a notification, if I answer to the comment?

A practical example. I am interested in getting rid of the remaining mistakes in my French pronunciation. I am very good but too far from perfection to my taste. The native in question gave feedback, and the new grid allowed them to sort it in different categories. In two, I got the perfect note. In two, I got some reserves. For example, there have been 3-4 errors (the green option). What were they? I asked in the comments, but I am not sure, whether I am likely to get any answer, as the native may never know my question, if they get no notification.

[Cavesa]

Yeah, and I probably should't be getting any points for commenting on my own audio.

[ed101langs]

Well, the point system based on exchange is less advantageous not only for learners learning less popular languages. It is also not friendly towards natives of such languages. So, I am curious what will my experience on this site be like.

A few questions:

1.the text editor. What is the length limit?
2.Will you be adding more suggestions for writing (for people unsure what to write about)? Is it possible to send in suggestions?
3.I like the new design of feedback, I am curious how good it will be in reality. It is certainly inovative.
4.I really like the fact you kept both the inbuilt recording tool and import of others.

5.In the shop section, you should probably divide the skype lessons from stays with the teacher (which are an excellent idea btw!). Also, it might be good to divide offers of one lesson for such or such price, and bundles of several. Right now, it is slightly chaotic. When you have more teachers and offers, it will turn into a hell to scroll through.
6.I am a rather sceptical person, when it comes to teachers. Experience taught me that. One of the few things that actually work on convincing me, and are most probably awesome for most learners, are introduction videos. On Italki, I can see and hear (which is more important) the teacher, get a better glimpse of their style and personality. I think that would be a good addition to the profiles, which I find rather generic. Not only the text formatting on the shop page is horrible (I guess you are still working on that), there is not that much info in the profiles. CELTA, that is no prove of anything (I've met several horrible "teachers" with this certificate), the experience counts, and there is too little information on it (how many years or students, what levels, and so on). A video could be convincing, even if the description isn't. Also, what does Celta have to do with Spanish teaching (Karin)? One of your teachers caught my attention as she is preparing for the DELE (Marta). Yet, on the profile itself, there is no information on that. What levels does she prepare for? How many students has she prepared so far?

Sorry, if I sound too critical. I am excited about the whole idea of lingora, I am just curious how it will work out.

Hello Cavesa,

Thanks so much for your excellent feedback. It is such a huge help to us.

Let me adress your points:

1.

Well, the point system based on exchange is less advantageous not only for learners learning less popular languages. It is also not friendly towards natives of such languages. So, I am curious what will my experience on this site be like.

Yes, I agree with you here. Lingora's aim is not simply to cater to the most popular languages people learn like Spanish and English, but other less common ones. What we could perhaps do is to give members extra points (and more rewards) if they have the time and motivation to learn less common , endangered languages . What do you think of this?

2. 1.the text editor. What is the length limit?

The text limit is 500 characters. When members post texts we don't want them to be too long. This is because Lingora is a free community and members are not paid for spending time helping others improve at their native language(s).

3.I like the new design of feedback, I am curious how good it will be in reality. It is certainly inovative.
4.I really like the fact you kept both the inbuilt recording tool and import of others.

Glad to hear this. And the inbuilt recording tool now works on the most popular browser - Google Chrome, so this is certainly a bonus.

5.In the shop section, you should probably divide the skype lessons from stays with the teacher (which are an excellent idea btw!). Also, it might be good to divide offers of one lesson for such or such price, and bundles of several. Right now, it is slightly chaotic. When you have more teachers and offers, it will turn into a hell to scroll through.

Excellent suggestion. What we'll be doing in the future is building a clearer filtering menu in the virtual shop, so users can decide if they just want an online lesson, or actually want to go for a homestay with a qualified teacher. We'll also be allowing users to filter by price and whether they want just a one-off lesson or if they actually want to purchase a whole course.

6.I am a rather sceptical person, when it comes to teachers. Experience taught me that. One of the few things that actually work on convincing me, and are most probably awesome for most learners, are introduction videos. On Italki, I can see and hear (which is more important) the teacher, get a better glimpse of their style and personality. I think that would be a good addition to the profiles, which I find rather generic. Not only the text formatting on the shop page is horrible (I guess you are still working on that), there is not that much info in the profiles. CELTA, that is no prove of anything (I've met several horrible "teachers" with this certificate), the experience counts, and there is too little information on it (how many years or students, what levels, and so on). A video could be convincing, even if the description isn't. Also, what does Celta have to do with Spanish teaching (Karin)? One of your teachers caught my attention as she is preparing for the DELE (Marta). Yet, on the profile itself, there is no information on that. What levels does she prepare for? How many students has she prepared so far?

We love your suggestion of having introduction videos for each teacher in the shop. We completely agree with you that it's much easier for members to make a decision (when it comes to purchasing a course or a lesson with them for example) if they can actually hear and see them. It will take us some time to produce these videos, so please bear with us The profiles were rushed and need to be improved quite a bit, so we're busy working on that too!
With regards to Karin, she is also an English teacher. She is bilingual so is able to teach both languages. We should make this clearer that the CELTA qualification is only relevant to those wanting to learn English with her. Good suggestion.
About Marta, those are excellent questions and (again) this shows that teacher's profile should be much more detailed. As mentioned, we will be working hard on tutor's profiles over the coming months - so expect to see improvements soon.

Thanks once again for your response Cavesa. This is truly helpful feedback

[ed101langs]

I had a go. It's the first time I've ever added Spanish audio anywhere public.

A few comments.

When I got a response back (great that it includes audio!) and commented back it seemed that I was commenting as a reviewer and not as the original creator.

What I expected was a couple of links or workareas. One to "Review L1 posts by other people" and the other to "Reviews to your L2 audio/texts"

I seem to be at the top of the leader board. That doesn't seem right.

Two links to home take you to different places.

Again, just comments and I'm interested in, and hopeful for, the site.

Thanks very much for your review Much appreciated.
Glad to hear you got a response on the audio you posted! We see exactly what you mean about commenting back. At the moment, members are rewarded 5 Lingorock points if they post a comment anywhere on the site (even if they comment on their own audio). This is something that we need to fix. We agree that it does seem really strange to be rewarded points for commenting on your own audio

With regards to the type of feedback you expected, I'll feed this back to the members who commented on your audio. As a native English speaker and teacher, (when giving feedback to people who have submitted audios or texts in English) I always make sure I post links to useful resources that help them improve on a particular area.

The leaderboard is divided into users who are most active on a weekly, monthly and an all-time basis. As this new version of the site is very new, (and there hasn't been a lot of activity so far) this is probably why you suddenly found yourself at the top of the leaderboard.

Two links to home take you to different places.

We'll take a look into this. Admittedly the launch of this new version was a little rushed, so should have been tested more thoroughly! Thanks for pointing this out.

Thanks once again for you comments. They are truly helpful to us