Since it's been a while since we launched the LingQ Beta and many of you are new subscribers to this newsletter, I thought I would do a bit of a recap of the LingQ project. For a long time we have wanted people to be able to learn more than just English on our site. At the same time there were many improvements we wanted to make. So, we decided to rewrite our system. The new system is called LingQ and is currently available in Beta form to anyone who wants to try it. If you would like to try it, please send us an email at customerservice at TheLinguist dot com. Ask us to set you up with a LingQ Beta account and make sure to include your full name, username and password in the email.
For those of you who are members of TheLinguist now, keep in mind that when we transfer accounts over from TheLinguist to LingQ when LingQ is completed, you will have to choose whether to keep your data from TheLinguist or from LingQ. We recommend using the reading, listening and vocabulary components in one system or the other until then.
Those of our existing TheLinguist members who are using LingQ find the interface more pleasing and the new functionality richer. This is in spite of the fact that LingQ is still in Beta. There are some features that have bugs, and some that will be improved. So far only the Input components are available but our LingQ users tell us that they are excited about the new system and enjoying it.
Regarding the Output components, these are nearing completion and they are also going to be a significant improvement over the current system. The Writing system is essentially complete and the Events system is getting there. We will probably save the Pronunciation system for after launch so the only major component we still need to complete is the payment system.
Yes, there will be a payment system! At some point, LingQ accounts will no longer be free. Actually, that is not quite true. We will have a Free membership level available but it will include no tutoring and there will be some limits on functionality. There will be some form of points system in which points can be bought, earned and spent on different activities on the site. We think this will be a more flexible and fun system so stay tuned!
Finally, I want to thank those of you who have created and submitted content in LingQ. We still haven't been able to upload any of this member generated content to our Store, as we are still working out the kinks from the system. However, the content looks great and will be in the Store soon.
What kind of content do we want? Well, what do you like to read and listen to when learning a language? Tell us about your family, your home town, your place of work or something that happened to you. Talk to your neighbour. Do it in your native language. Record it, transcribe it and Upload it in LingQ. We will continue looking for content from many sources but we believe member generated content will be particularly fun for people.
