posted by drummerboy on April 30, 2012 | 15 comments
Does anyone know how this feature works? "see any words you don't know? Click on them to add them to your memory bank...." I've tried several times and cant seem to get it to work. (operator error is defiantly possible). Once I click on the word, do I drag it somewhere? Should that word then end up in that particular lesson's vocabulary list? Any help is greatly appreciated.
If you click on any word with a popup, do you see the word float up a bit and then fade out? If so you should be able to find it here:http://popupchinese.com/vocabulary... and have it automatically added to your SRS routine. First thing to check is if the onclick special effect isn't working for you though....
drummerboy on May 1, 2012 | reply
How do I check the on click special effect? Right now when I click on a word I do see the word float. However, I don't if the word is actually being added and/or how to find it. Any chance of allowing the user to add new words directly into their lesson vocab? Or perhaps creating an individual file called "personally vocabulary" that could then be selected from the drop down menu like the other lessons?
A good example for me is "My Father's Back". Ideally I could add unknown words from the text to the existing vocabulary list, that way I can easily quiz myself via your new awesome flashcard app. Right now I'm not sure how to group the words I have clicked on for easy identification and review.
Thanks
Hmmm... the click-to-add system is designed to be lesson agnostic right now. I'll see what I can do to add proper labelling at least for transcript vocabulary. It may be possible to fix this with a quick hack of sorts. At least for now -- it sounds like the material is IN your vocabulary list, but is getting lost given the amount of material there.
drummerboy on May 3, 2012 | reply
Thanks, really appreciate it. Let me know once it's working and I'll be happy to give it a test drive.
OK. Lesson vocab should be getting tagged with the lesson title now.
drummerboy on May 4, 2012 | reply
I just tried and it's still not working for me. Here's what I did: I went to the lesson "My Father's Back" and clicked on the word 举箸提笔 from the text, the popup window came up and was floating on the screen. I then went to the vocab tab in that lesson and clicked on the "Add to Vocab" button. I then went to see where that word was placed and could not find it in the lesson vocab or in the drop down vocab list for that lesson. I also noticed that when I go back to that particular lesson, the word is still floating on the screen and I cant seem to get it to disappear.
@drummerboy,You may need to refresh the whole webpage to get the most up-to-date javascript, but I think it will work for you now -- even on the iPad/iPhone. If you still have problems, please send me an email with your exact setup so I can try testing on this end.Best,--david
drummerboy on May 7, 2012 | reply
It works! Very awesome, really like this feature. Unfortunately I'm still having issues with the flashcard files I have uploaded. When I go to review a file, it tells me I got a perfect score right away or after a card or two. It does not progress though the cards. I also see that some of the cards do not have a definition. There is a blank space and when I type in a definition, it does not save it.
@drummerboy,
What's happening when the review ends abruptly like that is that it has been asked to test you on something it doesn't have the data for. In your case it looks like this has happened because your account previously had english-definition testing enabled, but the word you were scheduled to review lacked an english definition. As we add more test modes to the system (i.e. we just added multiple-choice pinyin review this morning), this problem will minimize, since the review feature will automatically adjust to select different testing formats depending on what data is available in the system. It's only when there are no other available options that it charges ahead with a multiple choice and then gives up.
I believe the source of the problem is that these lists have been imported from Pleco XML files, and Pleco does not export its actual english definitions. This means that only the pinyin and chinese characters are available for some content in your imported wordlists (we provide definitional data for entries where they exist in our dictionary, but that doesn't provide 100% coverage). So the solution is either to add the missing definitions manually or expand your testing options to include at least one pinyin-centered test, at which point words without english definitions should default to testing on pinyin.
We obviously need to have a custom error message when this sort of thing happens, since it is an error rather than a finished test and I know you haven't been the only one confused by this. I'll see if I can put something together today that will communicate this problem more clearly. I'm not sure there is really a better or automated solution to this though since we want to give people full control over selecting and unselecting test options, and can't really control what edits people make their vocab lists.... Suggestions very welcome though.
drummerboy on May 9, 2012 | reply
@ trevelyan,
I have unchecked multiple-choice pinyin review (hoping that would disable the pinyin testing) however, 4 out of 5 flashcards still test me for this. How can I turn this off? Thanks
@drummerboy,Do those entries have english definitions (you can add them here: http://popupchinese.com/vocabulary)? I'd guess it is defaulting to pinyin out of a lack of any other options.If this isn't the case can you let me know what wordlist you're testing yourself on in an email and I'll login under your account and take a look.Best,--david
drummerboy on May 9, 2012 | reply
@ trevelyan, It's doing it with the popup vocab lists.
OK... I'm on it!
Update: yes -- it was a problem on our end. It's fixed now and you're getting only multiple choice english as far as I can see.
drummerboy on May 10, 2012 | reply
Yep, works now. Thanks.
drummerboy on May 8, 2012 | reply
@ trevelyan,
Thanks for the detailed explanation. I very willing to add the english definitions myself (if that's an option). I fully understand wanting to maintain consistency and integrity of what is being input. Should that be an option, I would input the definition from Pleco, based on the context of usage. I did a double take when I saw the new pinyin feature this morning, it threw me off at first. Great new feature and love to see the continual improvement in the product.
Proof that Popup Chinese is by far, off the charts, over-the-top, hands-down, the best Chinese language learning system in the galaxy! How's that for a plug? :-)