Audio flashcards

[Rvzy]

Just a suggestion, but I think adding an audio-review type to the test types in flashcards would be fantastic.

That is, the flashcard would play the Chinese TTS, then after a set duration it would reveal the answer and play the English TTS, then after another set duration it would continue and repeat the process.

This would create a hands free audio lesson of sorts from your flashcard collection, it's something I've been looking for so that I can learn while driving but I just haven't found anything decent. The only other solution I found makes you pay a huge amount for set vocab lists and has zero customisation.

Cheers.

 

[Shun]

I also think that would be useful as a new Test type, perhaps with the name "On-the-go" or similar. One could also add a setting for whether to include example sentences. Exporting it to an MP3/AAC file for use with an old iPod may be a great function, too. (on iOS as well as Android) Thanks!

 

[mikelove]

That's been on our to-do list for a long time, actually - we delayed it once people started rumbling about smartwatches, since we felt like whatever solution we came up with would probably work better if it supported watch integration. (wouldn't require one, but we'd want to design it to able to accommodate one) So now that the watchOS and Android Wear APIs are starting to stabilize a bit we can think about moving forward on it.

 

[Mikcole]

That's been on our to-do list for a long time, actually - we delayed it once people started rumbling about smartwatches, since we felt like whatever solution we came up with would probably work better if it supported watch integration. (wouldn't require one, but we'd want to design it to able to accommodate one) So now that the watchOS and Android Wear APIs are starting to stabilize a bit we can think about moving forward on it.

A huge second on this request!!

It would be absolutely awesome to do "hands free" review while hiking, skiing (x-country), driving, walking, shopping, watching the kids play soccer, etc, etc, etc. Who wants to stare at their phone all day??

 

[mikelove]

Still considering it, but I'm a little wary on Android Wear now because it seems like there's a strong chance Android Wear will not be the dominant wearable platform for Android users - Gear S2 is by many accounts the best Android smartwatch available now, and it runs Tizen instead of Android Wear.

So we'd probably do Apple Watch first, not out of platform bias but simply because we're much more confident iOS users will end up with Apple watches (due to Apple's platform lockdown) than we are that Android users will end up with Android Wear ones.

 

[Mikcole]

Thanks for the ultra fast response. Reminds me of the good old days with my Palm Pilot back in Taiwan.

Just do it for the phones/tablets first? Personally I think the watch thing is a bit of a fad. The phone is about as small as a ubiquitous personal device is going to get because people really want their screens, and associated cameras. That's another debate but for language learners the more we can practice, practice, practice our language the better.

 

[mikelove]

I'm a little wary of smartwatches too - not wearing mine much these days - but applications like this are precisely why they may eventually become popular; the original iPhone didn't do that much either