"Tinycards" from Duolingo

Uncle Gizmo

Uncle Gizmo

Founding Member
#1
#1
I was wondering whether to mention this within this forum. I say that because some of the software I have seen mentioned here seems very sophisticated and the software I would like to mention is very basic, but also very good, if you know what I mean.

I've been learning Spanish with Duolingo, and I discovered that Duolingo also have something called "Tinycards" https://tinycards.duolingo.com/ and that's what I wanted to mention.

Duolingo records the words I am learning, I can access those through the PC interface. It lists about 3000 or 4000 words I've learnt.
Duolingo also reports on how often I have viewed them, and gives an indication of how long ago I was last presented with the word.
Duo also has some sort of scoring system, where it's decided how conversant I am with the particular word.

Anyway, I digress, the main point is, I copied these words out into a Google spreadsheet, used translate to translate them into English and now I have a list of the Spanish & English words side by side. I copied The top 100 and the bottom 100 and pasted them straight into the tinycards interface to build my own flashcard sets, quickly and easily. The software even reads out the word when it presents the word to you!

This is an example of the set of my top 100 words, they are the words that Duolingo lists me as knowing best!

https://tiny.cards/decks/9jPHJhiE/uncle-gizmo-s-top-100

I thought I would show it here so that you could see what the software can do. You may find the software useful for making flashcards quickly and easily.
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#2
#2
Great post Uncle Gizmo! Good to see you back here.

I like it. Had a quick look at the flash cards, which gives you the nice audio cue. The great thing about flashcards is they force an attempt at recall. This helps strengthen the neural trace. If you just look through highlighted notes, nodding away to yourself saying, "I remember that", you are in fact fooling yourself. There is a huge difference between recognition and recall.

How long have you been using that method and how well is it working for you?

Edit: I've always been useless at language. And yes, that includes the English language!
 
Uncle Gizmo

Uncle Gizmo

Founding Member
#3
#3
I have been using the app Duolingo on and off for a couple of years, but I am now on my 115th day of using the app consistently (days in a row).

With regard to the flash cards, I've only discovered them about 2 months ago. Duolingo have their own sets of cards which compliment the app... https://tinycards.duolingo.com/courses/AnLaX/duolingo-spanish-course there are several other Duolingo sets as well. When you complete a Duolingo set of flashcards you are given 5 points towards your daily Duo score! This encourages you to use the Duo sets of flash cards. I find them a nice change from the actual app...

The Duo app itself is more about sentences. The tiny cards, like you say are excellent for refreshing and maintaining your knowledge of words already learnt.

Tinycards is not just for languages, you can put any sets of words you like in there. I've been trying to build a set of words to show the Latin names of fishes for my wife, her hobby is tropical fish. I'm trying to find a list of the words along with the pictures. I found one, but I couldn't get the pictures to format correctly in Duolingo "Tiny cards"
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#4
#4
Have you been trying to keep your "streak" going? I ask because I posted something about this in my post called "The Grid - a game changer in productivity". It looks like the Duolingo app is using gamification and it is working!

You could try using something like Anki for the tropical fish. It is ideally suited to this task. Plenty of YouTube tutorials on how to use it and you only need the free version of Anki. Someone has made a fish collection already, although I am not sure how good it is. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1691928540

Frankly, it is often better to make your own collection. It can be pretty quick with copy and paste.
 
Uncle Gizmo

Uncle Gizmo

Founding Member
#5
#5
It looks like the Duolingo app is using gamification and it is working!

Yes Duolingo have got the gaming aspect about right I reckon...
 
Uncle Gizmo

Uncle Gizmo

Founding Member
#6
#6
"The Grid - a game changer in productivity"

I had a look at that, I can see what you mean but have trouble keeping a diary let alone having something like that to do!

The best thing I found for me anyway is "Pomodoro" I have this browser window open all the time and I click on it, it gives me 25 minutes to do something. When the alarm goes off I go and have a cup of tea, sit and watch the telly, something like that. It's amazing how quickly the 25 minutes runs out!
 
Bee

Bee

Founding Member
#7
#7
I quite like Duolingo. I was using it to learn Irish, but I could never keep a streak going. Once things have calmed down a bit here (I'm moving house) I'll try to get back into it, although I'm also currently learning British Sign Language and learning 2 languages at once might make my brain go pop.
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#8
#8
I think this forum is making my brain go pop. I can't keep up with all the discussions!

I've used the Pomodoro technique. I even got a tomato timer I put on my desk. Due to my ADHD (self-diagnosed grasshopper mind), I used to cut it down to 10 minute stints. But then when I am doing something I enjoy, an hour can go by without even thinking about it.
 
Bee

Bee

Founding Member
#12
#12
Pretty much. There's about 3 million living in Wales and just under 5 million living in Ireland - but the numbers of people who speak Welsh or Irish are significantly fewer.
 
Bee

Bee

Founding Member
#14
#14
No, I can do that in sign language :)

I'm learning Irish because it's a source of great shame to me that I can't speak my mother-tongue.
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#17
#17
I wonder if the urge to learn a new language has declined somewhat, now that Google Translate can do it on the fly.
 
Jon

Jon

Administrator
Staff member
#19
#19
Why worry about it picking up the wrong language in one context, when you are picking up the wrong words in the other 100 languages it knows but you don't. It reminds me of the rather biblical saying: Take thee log out of thy own eye before you try to take thee splint out of thy other.
 
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