Hey "Learn Finnish" users!! Please read...

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 1:30 am

There have been some complaints about the random generator in the "Learn Finnish" program and I agree that it's messed up. Certain words would appear much more than others.

...so I think I fixed it.

Please try it out over the next few days and let me know what you think. You can also e-mail me: phil@REMOVETHISfilanya.com

One thing you should know, if you get words wrong during the practice sessions....the program will soon ask you that particular word again to help you learn that paritcular word better.

The problem is, sometimes you get a word wrong and it asks you immediately....I am working on fixing this right now. Let me know if you still continue to experience this.

THANKS!!!

**Sponsor:**

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 9:55 am

It still happens that it shows the same word immediately after a wrong choice.

And if I may, I think the program is a tad bit picky. For example if you take the Finnish-English vocabulary test and it asks 'me', you HAVE to say 'we/us'. If you only give 'we' the answer will show incorrect.

But for the rest it's a great thing!

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 12:51 pm

Arno wrote:It still happens that it shows the same word immediately after a wrong choice.

And if I may, I think the program is a tad bit picky. For example if you take the Finnish-English vocabulary test and it asks 'me', you HAVE to say 'we/us'. If you only give 'we' the answer will show incorrect.

But for the rest it's a great thing!

Yeah, right now the database only allows 1 Finnish word for 1 English word. I'm going to start work on version 2.0 and I'll fix this issue.

Burek · Post by **Burek** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 8:17 pm

Arno wrote:It still happens that it shows the same word immediately after a wrong choice.

Actually, I thought that was an intended feature. IMHO it makes learning much more effective, since after you make a mistake you can quickly and effectively correct it and memorise the right word.

I must admit I'm blown away by the "Learn Finnish" programme. For all its shortcomings, it is an excellent learning tool. Keep it up, Phil.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 11:57 am

Tom_Campbell75 wrote:I thought that the immediate repetition aspect was quite good. Gives you the chance to get it right after you got it wrong. Good motivationally. Be interested to know how people progress with randomisation that avoids repeats compared to the present situation.

But it happens also in the tests. That's not so good...

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 12:21 pm

Burek wrote:
Arno wrote:It still happens that it shows the same word immediately after a wrong choice.
Actually, I thought that was an intended feature. IMHO it makes learning much more effective, since after you make a mistake you can quickly and effectively correct it and memorise the right word.

I must admit I'm blown away by the "Learn Finnish" programme. For all its shortcomings, it is an excellent learning tool. Keep it up, Phil.

Thank you for those kind words!!

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 12:24 pm

Tom_Campbell75 wrote:I thought that the immediate repetition aspect was quite good. Gives you the chance to get it right after you got it wrong. Good motivationally. Be interested to know how people progress with randomisation that avoids repeats compared to the present situation.

After you get a word wrong, there is a 1 in 5 chance that it will ask you that same word again in the next few rounds.

But with the current version, there is only a one word buffer. So if you get a word wrong, and then get a different word wrong...it takes that first wrong word out of the buffer. The new version of "Learn Finnish" will have a larger word buffer.

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 12:25 pm

Arno wrote:
Tom_Campbell75 wrote:I thought that the immediate repetition aspect was quite good. Gives you the chance to get it right after you got it wrong. Good motivationally. Be interested to know how people progress with randomisation that avoids repeats compared to the present situation.
But it happens also in the tests. That's not so good...

I was thinking of disabling it for the tests but I decided not too. I think it's more effective to your learning process if it asks those words again....even during the test.

WebDesEyen · Post by **WebDesEyen** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 10:33 pm

just so you know, even though it might be a bit glitchy every now and then, this little program has made me remember more words than my books have... i think it is excellent.

Kemars · Post by **Kemars** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 9:13 am

Phil wrote:There have been some complaints about the random generator in the "Learn Finnish" program and I agree that it's messed up. Certain words would appear much more than others.

...so I think I fixed it.

Please try it out over the next few days and let me know what you think. You can also e-mail me: phil@REMOVETHISfilanya.com

One thing you should know, if you get words wrong during the practice sessions....the program will soon ask you that particular word again to help you learn that paritcular word better.

The problem is, sometimes you get a word wrong and it asks you immediately....I am working on fixing this right now. Let me know if you still continue to experience this.

THANKS!!!

Sorry Phil, to be honest, I have not had the chance yet to mess around like I said i would and give comments on this. I will this weekend for sure...look for comment doc in your email by Monday...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 10:58 am

WebDesEyen wrote:just so you know, even though it might be a bit glitchy every now and then, this little program has made me remember more words than my books have... i think it is excellent.

Agree with that

Nathan Lillie · Post by **Nathan Lillie** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 1:08 pm

I've been using the vocabulary program and think it is very helpful. I'm working on level 19 right now. Thanks Phil.

Here are a few suggestions:

I think it is a good idea to have words which you get wrong appear again soon.

I also think it is a good idea to have the word appear again right away after you get it wrong, so that you have to type it right at least once before going on. For me at least, it helps to type it in once while looking at the correct spelling, if I don't know the word at all. This is especially important for learning to get the spelling right even if I have a passive knowledge of the word.

On the other hand, if you type it in correctly, it should not appear again for a while.

It seems like it might be a good idea to decrease the probabity of getting words which you type in correctly a certain number of times. That way, after a while on a given level, you can focus in your efforts on the words you still haven't learned.

Also, it might be a good idea to put in periodic tests for multiple levels, say every five levels or so. This will encourage reviewing, because otherwise the infrequently used words from the lower levels get forgotten.

Still, it is a great program as is!

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