LexDex - online and mobile flashcards

LexDex is a new mobile and online language learning tool I found recently. It's pretty simple to use (though a bit buggy at the moment).

LexDex is a website with a database specialising in language textbooks. You can browse the database, select a textbook and use LexDex to output the content to flashcard for online or mobile study.

First you have to create a profile (which refreshingly just requires your email address and mobile/cell phone number). In order to output to mobile, you have to choose your phone make and model.

After that, I found it quite easy to search for a textbook, and to select a chapter, then select the words I needed to learn. LexDex does output them to online flashcards,mobile flashcards or as a study guide.

The online flashcards are quick to generate and are pretty standard, although I couldn't get the audio file to work. Maybe this is coming soon?
The study guide is just a HTML page with the words you're trying to learn in table format - you can also output to PDF, although I imagine have an editable doc is more important.

I found I could output a limited number of flashcards to my mobile. The process worked - I got an sms with a link to my flashcards, and I downloaded and installed the java app. Pretty soon I could view my cards on a clean, easy to use GUI. There was no audio. But when I decided to download a second set of cards, I got into trouble. Both files seemed to have the same name, so I couldn't get the second set of cards to work. LexDex still feels like a beta product.

LexDex was designed specifically to produce mobile flashcards for foreign languages. But now the team are expanding towards other subjects and are developing games. The tool was created by 3 Americans - Edward Kim, Joseph Constanty and David Pauker. They recently graduated from university and are now living in Shanghai, China. To date, LexDex has not been used by any universities or businesses, although the team are working on developing partnerships with local schools in Shanghai.

I've mentioned that LexDex use a team of databasers to input all the information from text books for use on the site. The input is checked before publication to the site. I'll admit my main concern about this website and tool is the copyright issues behind behind this.

When I asked LexDex for more info on their relationship with publishers, I was assured that publishers have been 'pretty receptive' to the idea of LexDex using their books to create flashcards, as they see LexDex as a complementary tool rather than a supplementary one. LexDex openly states it does not intend to replace the teacher, class or even the textbook, but to help students study.

I imagine the idea of generating more sales of a textbook through LexDex does appeal to publishers. However, LexDex does not actively promote the sale of any of the textbooks from its site. I imagine it would be easy to hook up to the Amazon book store, so users can purchase the textbook they aim to study, if they don't already have it. LexDex haven't (yet?) implemented this step.

And what will happen if any of the publishers decide that they want in on the revenue stream from the flashcard sales? LexDex will soon be charging a very reasonable $7 per book for the ability to access and create flashcards for 6 months. Although it's early days, and there can't be a huge revenue stream in this tool alone, I can see publishers in a tightly-squeezed publishing industry eventually demanding their slice of this pie.

Lingro launches new free language learning tools

Lingro have translated their site into French, Spanish, German, Italian and Polish, so massively expanding their targe user base.

And they've launched some brand new FREE language learning tools (again I ask, HOW are they doing it???). I've not had a chance to play properly with everything, but I've grabbed two of their widgets to help ESL readers of my blog.

The first of these is a badge that enables users to open my page in Lingro. This means they can then translate it to the language of their choice. If this is helpful for any of my readers who have English as a second language, please please let me know! It's near the bottom of the right-hand column - try it out now.

The second widget for your blog or website displays a real depth of thought from the Lingro team. When users find a translation missing in Lingro, they can use the widget to contribute a translation for the missing word. This is clever because although the Lingro team have put a huge up-front effort into creating their tools and resources before launching, the Web 2.0 model of their ongoing project requires user-generated content to continually add value. Disseminating widgets to where their people might need them most is a great idea.

I haven't had time to check out the other tools, so if anyone has a go and wants to feedback here, they're more than welcome!

New FREE Lingro language learning tools include:

- a "sentence history" page that lets you see the sites you've visited through Lingro, the words you clicked on and the sentences they were in.
- A new dictionary building tool that lets people enter translations of missing words.
- A Swedish dictionary which translates back and forth between all the other languages on Lingro (Lingro say they've had loads of requests for it from users).

I'm a fan of Lingro...but I'd love to know what other people think! Post a comment with what you think of Lingro's new tools.

Check out my previous post on Lingro for more info on the website and tools.

Talk Irish - new website

I've been really busy this week, trying to launch my new website, www.talkirish.com. I've finally got it up - although I'm still tweaking it - so make sure you go and check it out.

So what's www.talkirish.com all about? Well, it's an Irish language learning website, aimed at adult learners who have a cúpla focal or or no Irish. Right now, we're working hard to publish lots of free Irish language learning materials - such as podcasts, flashcards and language learning games. They're not live yet, but we're going to launch these as soon as we can.

If you're trying to learn Irish, or if you know someone who's trying to learn Irish, go to www.talkirish.com or sign up now for our podcasts. The more people I can sign up in advance, the more free learning materials I can provide on www.talkirish.com!