tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45533208918968046892024-03-13T11:41:59.979+00:00Learn vocabulary in context - LexicumStefan Kiryazovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08737755259551216058noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-15643317270728783882017-08-01T11:59:00.000+01:002017-08-01T11:59:28.061+01:00Know how to ride the wave of your motivation<p>A <a href="https://dougtoft.net/2017/07/31/dont-try-to-boost-motivation-just-ride-the-wave/">recent presentation</a> by leading change psychologist and usable technology evangelist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._J._Fogg">B.J. Fogg</a> claims that trying to boost our motivation to learn when we are struggling might not be efficient at all. He suggests that we should rather be smarter in using what we have, rather than trying to change it.</p><p>Fogg's starting point is that motivation is variable - at moments it is high, at moments it is low. Because of that, his recommendation is that when motivation is low, learners should engage in easier activities. An example could mechanically adding a newly encountered word to your vocabulary book, or quizzing a couple of words, just to tick of the daily exercise. When motivation is high, however, one could engage in more challenging exercises like reading news articles or books, watching movies, or doing some exercises, for example with <a href="https://www.duolingo.com/">DuoLingo</a>. With such separation, you would still maintain your habit of learning every day, but will avoid the annoyance of forcing yourself.</p><p>Fogg has also some ideas for what you could when highly motivated, to help yourself when you're not. He summarises this in three priorities:</p><p>The first priority is <b>structuring your future learning</b>. To do this, whenever you have high motivation, try preparing some easy exercises that you can do whenever less motivated, be it finding sites with jokes, memes or captioned image galleries, or anything that you might find interesting in the language you're learning. This way, whenever your motivation is low, you can scroll through interesting content, encountering only limited learning challenges.</p><p>Another priority to do when motivated is to <b>reduce barriers to future learning</b>. You can do this by making the exercises you might have prepared easier to use, like having them available offline on your phone, or ordering them so it is easy to know where to start when you find yourself with some idle time.</p><p>Last, but not least, you can <b>increase your learning capacity</b> by coming up with new types of self-made exercises. Our <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/p/communities.html">language communities</a> might be very useful to get ideas for that.</p><p>In general, in moments when you find learning a language difficult, try to remember that you're not alone in the struggle. There are so many others that have had the same experience. And many have managed to overcome it. Why not learn from them, with their help?</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-30711015940543704672017-03-07T04:10:00.002+00:002017-03-09T06:24:05.702+00:00The Lexicum Cycle of Learning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r5tXlhMI418/WMD0qQwDVZI/AAAAAAAAAYc/p_9GcwWLkh4K9wtc84-mEkP1_hRYpxxFQCLcB/s1600/process.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r5tXlhMI418/WMD0qQwDVZI/AAAAAAAAAYc/p_9GcwWLkh4K9wtc84-mEkP1_hRYpxxFQCLcB/s1600/process.png" /></a></div><p>This week we are at the <a href="http://www.innovationarabia.ae/">Innovation Arabia 10</a> congress. A colleague here asked us about the theoretical model that we use, so here are a few words on it.</p><a name='more'></a><p>Martin, our Product Manager did a doctorate at <a href="http://sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk/people/m_angela_sasse/angelas_phd_students/">University College London</a>. He was very influenced by Mick Flanagan's research on <a href="http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/thresholds.html">threshold concepts</a>. As part of this, he often sees teaching through the prism of Davies and Mangan's (<a href="http://www.citeulike.org/user/mapto/article/6145210">2006</a>) model going from <i>theory</i> through <i>pedagogical principles</i> to <i>learning activities</i>. This is useful both for descriptive (analytical) and perscriptive (generation of learning materials) purposes.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-39z_iJu8zqQ/WL4uHGa5L0I/AAAAAAAAAX0/jZHv3fabQaoFsq1n918z0cc6hsKPktBcQCPcB/s1600/serious-games-design-process.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-39z_iJu8zqQ/WL4uHGa5L0I/AAAAAAAAAX0/jZHv3fabQaoFsq1n918z0cc6hsKPktBcQCPcB/s400/serious-games-design-process.png" width="400" height="213" /></a></div><p>This theory was even a cornerstone for his <a href="http://www.citeulike.org/user/mapto/article/14142890">PhD research</a>. It was emoployed and expanded into a process into a model for developing serious games, following that model for both elements of both learning and engagement to build in these games.</p><p>This process can also be seen to somewhat fall in line with ideas from two presentations during the first day of Innovation Arabia 10. In particular, these are the 4 atomic out of the 5Ps (prepare-personalise-practice-produce) that Fatema Alshaer presented for developing a community of practice on education with a Moodle. It is also similar to a model referred by Khawla Bajbouj from the University of Queensland, regarding the <a href="http://www.uq.edu.au/teach/flipped-classroom/what-is-fc.html">flipped classroom</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tZ0KqxzjF0w/WL4u-qy--kI/AAAAAAAAAX4/VpHBWqGwX_I4aJ3pZ49yQy-6I6u12WMqQCPcB/s1600/process-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tZ0KqxzjF0w/WL4u-qy--kI/AAAAAAAAAX4/VpHBWqGwX_I4aJ3pZ49yQy-6I6u12WMqQCPcB/s400/process-2.png" width="400" height="400" /></a></div><p>With Lexicum, we are also applying a similar process. This is what we call "the Lexicum Cycle of Learning" and is a cyclical process of four phases, that we use in our partnerships with schools. Based on a teacher's theory of choice, its Plan and Activity phases correspond to the pedagogical principles and learning activities. In one way or another, teachers already do that. What Lexicum adds is that based on the Practice phase when students work on exercises, we <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/03/now-progress-in-vocab-learning-is-easy.html">record a trace</a> of their learning journey. We employ learning analytics to convert this knowledge into recommendations that can feed into the next phase of teacher planning, but most importantly, we feed this data into a semi-automated process of generating new personalised individual activities that the teacher could use in their practice sessions with students. This way in a classroom, each student gets an exercise that is catered to their needs, yet in line with the learning objectives of the learning session.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-89532407004027657702015-04-16T15:20:00.000+01:002017-03-09T06:24:12.986+00:00How Does Lexicum Reviewing Mechanism Work?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9MPq1PC0uOk/WMDzlqRyDnI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/6UduUjSEVrwOvQJAuSMDPusgmaHJFvKRwCPcB/s1600/leitner.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9MPq1PC0uOk/WMDzlqRyDnI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/6UduUjSEVrwOvQJAuSMDPusgmaHJFvKRwCPcB/s1600/leitner.png" /></a></div><p>In order to remember any new word you encounter when you learn foreign language you must refresh it periodically. Let’s say that you hear the following word in French: “<a href="http://lexicum.net/share/1336" target="_blank">aneth</a>” (dill). If you don’t use this word in any way you are very likely to forget it soon. If, however, you encounter and use this word over and over, for example because you might enjoy cooking or you happen to like this particular spice a lot, <b>then obviously you will retain this word in your brain for much longer.</b></p><a name='more'></a><p>The more often you encounter a certain word the less often you will need to refresh it to make it part of your active vocabulary. However, <b>even the most familiar words can be forgotten if they are not refreshed or encountered for a long period of time</b>. For instance, it is not uncommon that people who move to live or work in another country for a long period of time start speaking their first language less well. The same applies even more when it comes to learning new words – once you stop using them they start to quickly fade away until their meaning is completely forgotten.</p><h3>Spaced Repetition & Leitner System </h3><p><span lang="EN-GB">We didn’t hesitate</span> at all when we chose spaced repetition to implement as a review mechanism for Lexicum’s flashcard-like quiz. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition" target="_blank">Spaced repetition</a> is a learning technique that incorporates <b>increasing intervals of time between subsequent reviews of previously learned material</b> in order to exploit the psychological spacing effect.</p><p>There are many spaced repetition systems but we chose to use the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leitner_system" target="_blank">Leitner system</a>. It is widely used method of efficiently using flashcard, created by the German science journalist Sebastian Leitner in 1973. Based on what we know about spaced repetition and Leitner System we created <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/07/this-is-how-your-effort-becomes-tangible.html" target="_blank">Lexicum’s reviewing mechanism in the simple form of quiz.</a></p><h3>How Does Our Reviewing Mechanism Work?</h3><p>Lexicum’s algorithm works as follows – <b>all the new words you add have 7 stages of learning.</b> Every time you start a quiz you have to mark the words that appear, according the level of difficulty – “easy”, “fair”, “hard” or “didn’t know”. In the beginning every word is in stage 1, or in the first group. If you don’t have any trouble recalling the word’s meaning you click on “easy” button and the word goes 2 stages forward. If you hit “fair” the word moves 1 stage forward. Other two options take the word back.</p><p><b>The word is considered learned, when it ‘s being moved at least at stage 6</b>. The specific thing in this method is that when you move a word forward, it appears less often in the following quizzes. In other words, you review the words you don’t know at all more frequently, than words you know better. The intervals of repetition are as follows:<o:p></o:p></p><ul><li><b>Stage 1</b>: The word appears in a quiz <b>immediately</b></li>
<li><b>Stage 2</b>: The word appears in a quiz after <b>1 day</b></li>
<li><b>Stage 3</b>: The word appears in a quiz after <b>3 days</b></li>
<li><b>Stage 4</b>: The word appears in a quiz after <b>1 week</b></li>
<li><b>Stage 5</b>: The word appears in a quiz after <b>2 weeks</b></li>
<li><b>Stage 6</b>: The word appears in a quiz after <b>1 month</b></li>
<li><b>Stage 7</b>: The word appears in a quiz after <b>3 months</b></li>
</ul><p>So, the <b>shortest possible learning period for a word is 1 month and 8 days</b> – considering you will mark it as “easy” every time you make the quiz. This is possible for simple words you use and encounter every day. It is normal to mark more difficult words “fair”, or even “hard” a few times, before you memorize them. The process seems a bit slow to a lot of learners, but the spaced repetition guarantees that you will not only learn a certain word for day or two, but retain it permanently in your memory.</p>renederehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14013907276110257621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-21154160803085489662015-03-28T08:17:00.001+00:002017-03-07T15:28:33.417+00:00The UCL Bright Ideas Award<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KO2ZlkNmDCs/VRZgQvYaeHI/AAAAAAAAASk/s5p_XfuxdUo/s1600/371199372_0b57bee77b_o.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KO2ZlkNmDCs/VRZgQvYaeHI/AAAAAAAAASk/s5p_XfuxdUo/s1600/371199372_0b57bee77b_o.jpg" /></a><br />
<p>We are proud to announce that Lexicum was one of the winners of <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/enterprise/about/awards/2015/winners">UCL's Bright Ideas Award</a>. With this recognition UCL takes a step towards becoming an investor in our company.</p><a name='more'></a><p>The finals were held on Thursday, 26 March at the UCL main campus in London. This is not the first time UCL's business units acknowledge our achievements and further potential. We are currently based in UCL's Hatchery office space and we are working with students on different levels. Yet, such a step is very important to us, especially because UCL is a <a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/world-university-rankings/top-universities-world-201415">world-leader in education</a> and their endorsement means a lot.</p><p>Of course, this is not the first top-tier UK university that we receive support from. The <a href="http://emerge.education/">Emerge Education</a> accelerator programme that we took part in last year is strongly supported by Oxford University's Saïd Business School. That involvement has helped us establish collaborations with Oxford University Press and Eton College - two further globally renown institutions in education.</p><p>We owe a huge thank you to the business advisors at UCL Advances Christian Rayner and Lillian Shapiro both for organising a wonderful event, and supporting us throughout our journey.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-23846011156350271262015-02-03T11:36:00.002+00:002022-01-23T14:24:57.078+00:00BETT2015 Survey Results<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d5BqYoYbdAY/VNCz5dDHvUI/AAAAAAAAAPM/58AHfXTCMt4/s1600/16165878048_1d58d99b31_o.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d5BqYoYbdAY/VNCz5dDHvUI/AAAAAAAAAPM/58AHfXTCMt4/s1600/16165878048_1d58d99b31_o.jpg" /></a><br />
<p>Once again, this year we conducted our teacher survey and everyone that responded took part in our prize draw. We had 17 language professionals respond to our questions, but only one of them won the prize. Read on to find more about the results, both aggregated findings and winner of the prize.</p><a name='more'></a><p>Out of our 17 respondents, five were not teachers, but people that use foreign languages professionally. Among the ones that responded we had teachers that give private tuition and ones that annually work with multiple classes. There were representatives from both secondary education and language academies, teaching both EFL (English as a foreign language) and MFL (modern foreign languages). Typically when they teach more advanced levels the preferred language of instruction is the language being taught.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fppOi0U_ezg/VNCmSyV5qGI/AAAAAAAAAO8/dJfttafy0iE/s1600/fig1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fppOi0U_ezg/VNCmSyV5qGI/AAAAAAAAAO8/dJfttafy0iE/s400/fig1.png" /></a></div><p>The first actual part of our survey addressed what current practices do teachers and language professionals engage in. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that close to all of our respondents regularly use online dictionaries. After all this was part of the opportunity that we seized when we started working on Lexicum in the first place. Half of our respondents use some equivalent of a vocabulary quiz as a tool to help vocabulary memorisation. To some this low popularity of the technique might come as a surprise. After all, this is one of the most established way to memorise something. Part of our quest at Lexicum is to popularise such good practices and make them accessible to everyone. Again, close to half of our survey respondents use tools that allow them to hear how vocabulary is being pronounced, a source of useful guidance on what would be correct pronunciation. Other personalisation features like user-specified translations and examples, or gamification through scores and badges are not widespread. Less than 20% regularly use their personalised vocabulary books, and 30% often use scores as a way to measure performance. We suspect that this might have to do with the fact that they are not widely accessible in traditional classrooms.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lNMAhrwUIIY/VNCmS2Up8JI/AAAAAAAAAPA/5Ni2SHdOWOg/s1600/fig2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lNMAhrwUIIY/VNCmS2Up8JI/AAAAAAAAAPA/5Ni2SHdOWOg/s400/fig2.png" /></a></div><p>The second part of our survey was about the outlooks of the direction that language learning with technologies could go into. All participants in our survey were in accord about the future of language learning being mobile. More than 60% of our respondents rated learning on mobile as extremely important. Again, this proves the validity of our approach – carrying over vocabulary to mobile. There was also good reception of the new concept that we recently introduced – sharing word lists. Other proposed techniques like interaction of social networks and teacher-functionality to track students were not as popular. Only 30% of our respondents considered that very or extremely important. The least popular ideas seem to be the ones that also have to do with sharing, but are less structured, so were difficult for respondents to conceive. In response to that, we will now put some further effort in explaining creative ways people could use Lexicum.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jh3_ew2gCLE/VNCmS3Rk54I/AAAAAAAAAO4/vZo0lXWAiDY/s1600/fig3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jh3_ew2gCLE/VNCmS3Rk54I/AAAAAAAAAO4/vZo0lXWAiDY/s400/fig3.png" /></a></div><p>A big topic in our current research is what content would be worthwhile to share. This is both from the perspectives of how useful this sharing is for the learning experience, and how attractive it is. Lexicum now features ways of share particular words via social networks or link exchange. Users can privately send lists to each-other and play games like word ladder, rhymes or word egg. Speaking of word games, this was what the last part of our survey was about. A number of games have been suggested by the experts we surveyed. Here are a few popular word games you might remember playing in some form: Word associations, Word egg, Word ladder, Hangman, Anagrams and No vowels. Another intriguing one that some might find challenging is Animal, Vegetable or Mineral. Some digital tools got also mentioned, notably <a href="https://www.duolingo.com/">DuoLingo</a>, <a href="https://kahoot.it/">Kahoot</a>, <a href="https://zynga.com/games/words-friends">Words with friends</a> and <a href="http://www.scrabble.com/">Scrabble</a>. Our favourite, suggested by a few people was making rhymes and singing. Many people find this to be a really entertaining way to learn languages.</p><iframe width="520" height="293" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZAeKX8lqbXM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<p>Finally, the winner from the prize draw. We put all 17 usernames (part of the e-mails that all participants provided) in a bow and had our colleague Paul from <a href="http://www.playbrush.io">Playbrush</a> pick the winner. And Paul's mighty hand picked <strong>subebo91</strong>. Congratulations to the winner! We will get in touch with everyone that took part in our survey to tell them the result.</p><p>And don't forget, if you have your own ideas about the future of Lexicum, you can always share and discuss them on <a href="http://lexicum.uservoice.com">our community platform</a>. We would highly appreciate your engagement.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-32899587143589836422015-01-30T11:20:00.000+00:002015-03-28T08:20:25.878+00:00Bad news for language learners? Not really...<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XZUQ_jsDVNM/VL3_YqAjamI/AAAAAAAAAOM/VVagqoZTCWE/s1600/7580251822_d8364a9d57_o.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XZUQ_jsDVNM/VL3_YqAjamI/AAAAAAAAAOM/VVagqoZTCWE/s1600/7580251822_d8364a9d57_o.jpg" /></a><br />
<p>Ever heard any of these: "Learn a language in hours, not years", "Learn a language in 200 hours", "How to learn a language in 90 days",...? We have. And we don't believe a bit of all this. As many popular jokes go, this is because we have two pieces of news for you: a bad one and a good one. Let me start with the bad one.</p><a name='more'></a><p>Learning a language is not about memorising those 2000 words that are so hard to remember, there <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/04/the-fish-and-chips-shop.html">are always situations</a> where they will not be enough. It is also not about knowing the grammatical rules, there are always exceptions and irregularities. It is about diving into the world of native speakers of that given language. It is about understanding how people think, when they use certain words (and when they don't), what they take for granted, what do they do, what they eat,... It is about knowing the phrases, tenses and humour they enjoy using every day. All this is not something that a tool can spoonfeed you. Tools can only do the handholding while you walk your own path. And the actual journey is not for months or years, if done genuinely it is for life. Once you get into a language, you will always have a sentiment about anything that has to do with the culture around that language.</p><p>Well, after all that, now it's time for the good news: the time you take to learn a language doesn't need to be learning as in work. It could be learning as in leisure time, as in fun. Ask <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raph_Koster">Raph Koster</a>. He is one of the inventors of the massive multiplayer online role playing games genre, you might have heard of World of Warcraft and how notoriously addictive it has become. Now, you would like language learning to feel addictive so that you can submerge in it, wouldn't you. Back in 2004 Raph wrote a book about learning. He called it <a href="http://tisquirrel.me/2013/05/14/anatomy-of-fun/">"A Theory of Fun"</a>. This was because, Raph argued, people experience fun when they are genuinely learning. This is when you don't plough through your daily vocabulary set because you need to stick to this 200-hour plan, but because you are curious and excited about knowing that particular language and culture.</p><p>Because of all that, at Lexicum we don't try to push you to learn the words we think it is good for you to learn. Instead we let you <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/06/use-your-dictionary-interactively.html">develop your own vocabulary</a>, based on your own topics. We also don't push you to hold the conversations we think it is good for you to have, we help you <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/09/become-part-of-learning-community.html">meet the people</a> that would talk about the things you like to talk about. Finally, we help you <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/07/this-is-how-your-effort-becomes-tangible.html">appreciate the little steps you make</a>, so that you know you are on the right track while trying to achieve the goal you want to achieve. Of course, it's always good to <a href="http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/03/21/how-to-learn-a-foreign-language-2/">start somewhere</a>, but rest assured, we will be with you, even after your first 200 hours.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-85043872564821124272015-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:002015-01-05T10:25:08.359+00:00New Year around the world<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qPxfzcDb4s8/VKpl_eLxhuI/AAAAAAAAANM/oePIQOQ3sn4/s1600/15535954703_31b0efe3fc_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qPxfzcDb4s8/VKpl_eLxhuI/AAAAAAAAANM/oePIQOQ3sn4/s1600/15535954703_31b0efe3fc_o.jpg" /></a><br />
<p>Happy New 2015! May you all find new challenges and enjoy the ride.</p><p>The Western Festive Season is so popular around the world that many people tend to see it as the day when the world clock ticks one year ahead. However, to many people around the world it is not any more special than the days before or after it. This is because they use different calendars and did not even enter the Second Millennium a bit more than dozen years ago.</p><a name='more'></a><p>In various parts of India the New Year is celebrated on April 14th. The mystical Maya and Aztec calendars denoted the start of the year on February 23rd.</p><p>Other cultures like the Hebrew and the Chinese traditionally follow Lunar calendars, which leads to a Lunar New Year which does not have a fixed date according to the Western Gregorian calendar. The Chinese New Year regularly occurs in late January or February, and the Hebrew is typically some time in September or early October.</p><p>The Gregorian date of the New Year according to the Muslim calendar is even more difficult to determine. The reason is that this calendar is based entirely on lunar cycles. This led to a very strange flow of events when in the Gregorian 2008 there were two Muslim new year celebrations: both on 11 January and 28 December.</p><p>All in all, the next New Year celebration might be much sooner than you think. Why not start making plans to celebrate once again in a couple of months? You might benefit from learning a bit of the local language on the way.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-83960821512429588002014-12-19T12:26:00.001+00:002014-12-19T12:27:02.997+00:00Lexicum and Zzish at BETT 2015The BETT show is fast approaching - exciting times! For us at Lexicum BETT is a very special event as BETT 2014 was the moment when our project catalyzed through dozens of interviews with teachers and learners - probably the most intense learning experience we've ever head.<br />
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Next year's BETT is proving even more exciting with some partnerships that are taking shape. I can't tell you much at this stage but I'll post the dates so you can save the slots and more details will soon follow up.<br />
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To give you a quick teaser, Lexicum has partnered with <a href="http://vimeo.com/113737057" target="_blank">Zzish</a> to deliver a comprehensive classroom experience for teachers and we'll be showcasing our joint project at their stand, BFG1 at BETT 2015 - 21 to 24 January. Here are the specific dates of the presentation:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Thursday, Jan 22, 14:00</li>
<li>Friday, Jan 23, 14:00</li>
<li>Saturday, Jan 24, 12:00</li>
<li>Saturday, Jan 24, 14:00</li>
</ul>
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Apart from the presentations of our new functionality there will be talks from interesting guests and other surprises so stay tuned!Stefan Kiryazovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08737755259551216058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-55029139374890866762014-11-14T17:27:00.001+00:002014-11-14T17:27:21.972+00:00Last month's winnersAs we've announced previously, we like to recognize our most keen learners by giving out awards to the top users each week. Over the course of the last month we've had two users who were bold enough to identify them publicly and the ones who didn't still received a modest award. The current batch of lexicophiles includes Veronica Piutti from Italy and Georgi Bachvarov from Bulgaria. A special call for Hristiana Tomova, who is not only an active learner but is also very active in our learner communities. <br />
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In case you haven't heard of these, we run facebook groups for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/lexicumes/" target="_blank">Spanish</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/lexicumbg" target="_blank">Bulgarian</a> speakers and learners. If you'd like to get involved with other learners and there is no group for your language and you feel left out - let us know in the comments, we'll create one for you! <br />
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<a name='more'></a>Now a few words about our champs. Veronica is learning English and has 100 words in her vocab book. She works as community manager at Infinite Area and is a keen supporter of startup companies. Georgi is learning Spanish and has astounding 600 words - we'll soon need to come up with some special prize for when he hits 1,000 ;-)<br />
One additional development is that we're getting more and more and repeated winners. For the moment we send out awards for just the first win but apparently we'll need to come up with some new prize category for enduring champions. Stay tuned, we're already planning it and will announce it soon!<br />
Additionally, we're working on features to let you know how does your learning progress register against that of your peers - we already have the point system in place and we'll be adding leaderboards and other tools to see what prizes are you on the way to taking home. If you want to have a say in how this works don't hesitate to give us a shout on our <a href="http://lexicum.uservoice.com/" target="_blank">support forum</a> - we take each and every comment into account!<br />
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<br />Stefan Kiryazovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08737755259551216058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-19366123630124708322014-10-27T22:10:00.001+00:002015-03-28T08:34:54.682+00:00Startupweekend FIWARE @ Berlin - 2nd place for LexicumAh, Berlin - where do I start! A city with such a vibe and energy, uniquely rich culture and history - one of my favourite places in Europe. I'd love to chat about all the crazy things I've done there (although some I'll never mention) but this post is focused on Lexicum's 2nd place at the StartupWeekend FIWARE edition and the background about FIWARE and EuropeanPioneers.<br />
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I believe I don't need to explain in detail why Berlin is one of the best places in Europe to launch a startup - in fact, we considered it as a possible location for Lexicum when we were starting the company, as I've previously explained in my <a href="http://edtechtimes.com/2014/03/13/qa-stefan-kiryazov-ceo-lexicum/" target="_blank">interview with EdTech times</a>. Luckily, we crossed paths with Berlin once again last weekend and will hopefully continue to do so in the future - but more on this later, let's provide some background first.<br />
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Anyone who's been around me lately can attest how excited I've been about <a href="http://www.fi-ppp.eu/" target="_blank">FI-PPP</a> (Future Internet Public-Private Partnership) and FIWARE. This is an intriguing EU initiative aiming to lead the way in which open technology will revolutionize the world around us and improve our well-being in inconceivable new ways - and it's not just on words, there is 80 million euros funding for innovative projects in various areas and dozens of application building blocks (enablers, in FIWARE lingo) to help developers lift apps off the ground quickly.<br />
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Stimulating an innovative economy with grants and tools is nothing new - but the way it's being done is quite different than other EU programmes we've dealt with in the past. It's a public-private partnership, which in this case means that the EC is funding consortiums of private companies, which not only deal with the applications and award the grants but also run accelerators, with mentors and all. Before FI-PPP the realm of EU-funded projects was quite foreign to the typical startup founders who are used to dealing with slide decks rather than lengthy business plans but this is changing fast - can you imagine, you can now apply for EU funding on f6s!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TxmTi-yDtIM?list=UUbXNGF_hhvKpXdQ1KxzX2HQ" width="480"></iframe><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>European Pioneers presentation</i></div><br />
This brings us to Berlin again. One of the 16 accelerators distributing the FI-PPP funding is <a href="http://www.europeanpioneers.eu/en/" target="_blank">EuropeanPioneers</a> and apart from offering a fantastic support package including up to 250,000 EUR funding with no equity stake they also organized a FI-WARE tech training camp and a hackathon - and not just any hackathon but a StartupWeekend edition! For the unacquainted, <a href="http://startupweekend.org/" target="_blank">StartupWeekend</a> is a global event that goes from city to city, unleashing the untamed creativity of innovators, having them form teams and launch a startup over a single weekend. Sounds impossible? Go find an edition near you and see for yourself - the energy discharge at these events just boggles the mind.<br />
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However, last week's edition was no ordinary StartupWeekend hackathon, for two reasons. First, it was focused on smart cities and FIWARE - participants had to use one of the FIWARE APIs in their solutions. Second, this was the only one where the <a href="http://lexicum.net/" target="_blank">Lexicum</a> team took part! Along with a few other guest members our guys worked on a project called Lexplore - a smart city guide of sorts, helping you explore a city and learn new words on the way, filling your lexicon with relevant words as you visit places. The judges recognized the app's potential and rewarded the team's hard work with a 2nd place!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LL0KYNAJa-w/VE7CE4rnxeI/AAAAAAAAATI/UdZAuX1GYyQ/s1600/sw%2Bberlin%2B5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LL0KYNAJa-w/VE7CE4rnxeI/AAAAAAAAATI/UdZAuX1GYyQ/s1600/sw%2Bberlin%2B5.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Lexplore FTW!</i></div><br />
This award is a great motivation to keep working on the concept and incorporate it in the Lexicum platform. Needless to say, we'll see this happen much sooner if they give us some of this sweet equity-free cash!Stefan Kiryazovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08737755259551216058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-9098395729173239352014-10-13T14:49:00.003+01:002014-10-13T14:51:48.130+01:00With the latest update Lexicum is turning into a powerful tool for teachersLexicum has been helping learners improve their vocabulary for a while now - our web and mobile apps have been live for months. However, with our latest release we add some exciting new features that will not only make the platform more useful for learners but also turn it into a powerful tool for teachers. The most significant addition is the word lists feature - users can now organize their words into groups and can also share these groups with other users. The new functionality allows teachers to prepare lists of words based on topic or a work of literature covered in class. These lists can then be shared with the students so they can use them as a reference in class and practice them later, on any device.<br />
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Here is a quick overview of how the new functionality works (no audio):<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j-tNVfD7fFI?list=UUUzlVS5pVt42rDFut820TSA" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<i>Keen to try it? Sign up now on <a href="http://lexicum.net">http://lexicum.net</a> and get going!</i><br />
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The word lists feature will enhance the stored context of users' words by putting them in different groups based on the learner’s preference. This way every user can create personalized list for each language lesson, or on particular topics like gardening, fishing, politics, sports etc. More importantly, this feature can be used by teachers to create and share curated lists of words with students. This was a requirement that we heard time and time again from the many teachers we talked with and is a problem to which no software provides a satisfactory solution - teachers often resort to circulating photo-copied handwritten notes. With the Lexicum list sharing functionality students can import the list from the teacher on any device - smartphone, tablet or PC - and use the spaced repetition quiz to memorize the new words from the lesson along with any other words they may have added.<br />
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Note that the lists feature is currently available on PC and tablets - the mobile app will be updated shortly. Also, expect to see public lists on common topics that any user can import in order to expand their vocabulary in a particular area. Further features for teachers are in the pipeline and soon the class module will contain a progress overview, showing the number of words from each list that the students have already learned. We are very keen to hear your thoughts about these features and the directions in which we should take the platform to best address the challenges teachers face in the classroom. Feel free to share any thoughts on this, both comments on the existing functionality and feature requests, on our support forum: <a href="http://lexicum.uservoice.com/">http://lexicum.uservoice.com/</a><br />
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Additionally, we'll be attending the <a href="http://www.languageshowlive.co.uk/" target="_blank">LanguageShowLive</a> in Olympia, London, and we'd love to talk to you in person. Looks like there are no stalls left so we'll be wondering around - the safest way to make sure we meet and have a chat is to arrange an appointment. If you are planning to attend the event and want to talk to us please let us know in the comments or drop us a line at <a href="mailto:info@lexicum.net">info@lexicum.net</a><br />
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Looking forward to receiving your input and meeting you in person!<br />
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The Lexicum teamStefan Kiryazovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08737755259551216058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-47440650632935790852014-10-10T13:04:00.000+01:002015-01-07T06:55:05.522+00:00All roads lead to Rome (and Rome leads to Silicon Valley)<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n-A7Wuf0a64/VKzXGsJ5xYI/AAAAAAAAAN4/6TO-zARV_2g/s1600/mtb_cohort.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n-A7Wuf0a64/VKzXGsJ5xYI/AAAAAAAAAN4/6TO-zARV_2g/s1600/mtb_cohort.png" /></a><br />
<p>The Innovator's Week and Maker Faire took place in Rome last week, sending repercussions throughout Italy and even further around Europe. For 7 selected companies the weekend had an even bigger impact - the <a href="http://mindthebridge.org/" target="_blank">Mind the Bridge</a> boot camp took place - an intensive two day mentorship and evaluation programme focused on addressing the US market and settling into the Silicon Valley</p><a name='more'></a><p>The <a href="http://innovationweek.makerfairerome.eu/" target="_blank">Innovation Week</a> was a series of startup events with various prominent speakers and panelists, offering a wealth of insights and networking opportunities. The <a href="http://www.makerfairerome.eu/" target="_blank">Maker Faire</a> was a collossal exhibition, teaming with robots, drones, buzzing 3D printers and various innovative gadgets, giving us a taste of what the future could be like if we unleash our creative sides and foster an ecosystem that encourages innovation.</p><br />
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<p>But these fantastic events are not the reason why we went to Rome, and neither were the Colosseum or the Sistine Chapel - we came for a boot camp weekend with Mind the Bridge foundation, an organization founded by team of ex-googlers-turned-investors, focused on helping European tech startups get a foothold in the US market and attract investment from the Silicon Valley. Lexicum was selected long with 6 other teams (Chromville, Kiwi Local, Nextome, Poikos, Snapback, Wi-Go) among hundreds of applicants for an intense coaching and evaluation session, a first step towards eventual investment and setting up shop in the US.</p><p>The event was hosted at the magnificent premises of <a href="http://www.dnsee.com/" target="_blank">Dnsee</a>, an invigorating mix of old and new, of tradition and innovation. Reinforcing the formidable coaching team from Mind the Bridge were prominent mentors: <a href="https://twitter.com/SimonSchaefer" target="_blank">Simon Schaefer</a> of The Factory, <a href="https://twitter.com/albertoacito" target="_blank">Alberto Acito</a> of Blackberry, Marco Salvadori of Cisco, among others, sharing their personal journeys and providing advice during 1 on 1 sessions. After such a focused experience, in such a creative environment, we can safely say that the 7 companies who came to Rome are not the same</p><p>Here is some more info about the other participants who are all awesome and provided us with great inspiration - we encourage you to give their products a try if they solve a problem that's relevant to you:</p><ul>
<li><a href="http://www.is2you.eu/">wi-GO</a> - Since 2012, IS2you is fighting to make live better. Our passion is born out of the fact that not everyone in the world is looked after. This creates a heartbeat within IS2you. A heartbeat that leaves through our technology. A heartbeat that inspired us to create the wi-GO, an autonomous device, driven by the power of changing people’s lives, which can help them carry objects in an independent, dynamic and safe way.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.snapback.io/">Snapback</a> - Snapback is an Italian startup based in Rome, focused on developing new, intuitive and revolutionary ways to interact with smart devices. It provides a natural and powerful user experience by reinterpreting the available technology as a user-centered environment. Hence, explores new ways of communicating with our devices by enforcing simple hand, voice, and air gestures and minimising touch and sight interactions.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.poikos.com/">Poikos</a> - Poikos empowers anyone to obtain a 3D scan with 100+ accurate measurements, using only the onboard camera in their smartphone, tablet or PC. This 3D scan is then used to create an ideal future version of oneself as a target to aim towards, and enables easy tracking of body changes over time.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.kiwilocal.net/">Kiwi Local</a> - Kiwi Local is an Italian startup focused on developing white label proximity social networks for associations and brands. We enable organizations to improve their CRM and monetize their communities. At the same time, community members can find like-minded people nearby and share their ideas and projects with the whole community.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nextome.org/">Nextome</a> - Everyone knows about GPS navigators and that GPS signals don’t work indoors. Thanks to this opportunity we have invented Nextome: Nextome is the most accurate (submeter accuracy) indoor positioning & navigation system for smartphones that allows users to locate and access services associated with their location reusing the existing iBeacons infrastructure. It's accurate (submeter accuracy), low cost, runs on off the shelf smartphones, works also without internet, the technology is patent pending in Europe and Italy. It's the TOM TOM for indoors.</li>
</ul>Stefan Kiryazovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08737755259551216058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-21548214339999368112014-09-04T18:27:00.000+01:002015-03-22T23:32:36.794+00:00Become part of a learning community<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQDgGI52FlE/VAigktckRFI/AAAAAAAAALo/PV0GW8pA-E4/s1600/facebook.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQDgGI52FlE/VAigktckRFI/AAAAAAAAALo/PV0GW8pA-E4/s1600/facebook.png" /></a><br />
<p>At <a href="http://lexicum.net?demo=blog">Lexicum </a>we know how important it is to get support while learning. Be it a teacher that knows what's right and what's wrong, or be it a friend to hold conversations with, it always helps when you have someone to discuss with. In educational research they call it cognitive scaffolding, to remind of the way scaffoldings help workers erect buildings. There's no question about the benefits of a learning conversation. Yet, it is not always possible for everyone to attend language classes for years, as students traditionally do. Because of that at Lexicum we are gathering a community of language learners to help one another.</p><a name='more'></a><p>To do that we started organising communities in different languages where people can meet, share interesting links, learn together, discuss and have fun. We have started doing this with an English community around the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexicum">Lexicum fanpage</a>. The success story of this page made us want to reach out for other communities as well.</p><p>This time we wanted not only to have many followers, but also to engage people to take the initiative of their learning and to become leaders. To do this we decided to use Facebook groups rather than pages. This way everyone can post and invite their friends to learn with. We insist that it is not about Lexicum, but about your own learning experiences.</p><p>We have now successfully initiated our first language-specific groups. We have a quickly growing <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/lexicumbg/">group for Bulgarian</a>, and a brand new <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/lexicumes/">Spanish group</a>. They are now part of our communities <a href="https://lexicum.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/521697-lexicum-language-communities">over various platforms</a>.</p><p>So no matter whether you are a native speaker using Lexicum, a foreigner learning the local language, or just someone that just wants to meet interesting people and be up to date with the news, join our groups. We guarantee that we will have loads of fun.</p><p>Finally, if you want to be one of the first members of a Lexicum group in your language, write a comment here or get in touch with us. We'd be more than happy to organise it for you.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-67184851139842813422014-08-11T13:28:00.001+01:002014-08-28T16:10:13.308+01:00Lexicum at the Intel Business Challenge Finals<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sbKPUeH_m7A/U_9GLP9tZsI/AAAAAAAAAKw/WAcKn4-mNOM/s1600/13975508708_81756b413e_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sbKPUeH_m7A/U_9GLP9tZsI/AAAAAAAAAKw/WAcKn4-mNOM/s1600/13975508708_81756b413e_o.jpg" /></a><br />
<p>Most people know Intel as the manufacturer of the "hearts" of modern computers. Well, they are much more than that - they are a key supporter of tech innovation, have a major venture fund run various startup contests. Well, Lexicum made it to the European finals of their <a href="https://workshop.intel.com/IBCE2014/">Business Challenge</a>. The finals are to take place in Vilnius, Lithuania on 8th to 10th of September.</p><a name='more'></a><p>We are, of course, honoured to be selected as finalists among tough competition from all around Europe and we're looking forward to the event in Vilnius, Lithuania - a place none of us has previously visited. We hope we'll manage to make a mark at the finals as Intel are a fascinating partner and tremendous source of support (and funding) for startups like ours - Intel Capital, their venture fund, has hundreds of exciting companies in their portfolio and their representatives have been among the judges that pronounced us <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/05/lexicum-is-balkan-venture-forum-winner.html">winners</a> at the Balkan Venture Summit.</p><p>So, fingers crossed for Lexicum on September 10th - and why not <a href="http://lexicum.net">give it a try</a> if you haven't, if it's good enough for Intel it surely must be good enough for you!</p>Stefan Kiryazovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08737755259551216058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-37377730672745827942014-07-11T19:43:00.000+01:002014-07-11T19:43:13.958+01:00This is how your effort becomes tangible<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6DyBUs9kbkM/U7_3Lme8SUI/AAAAAAAAAHw/DejgkUf21W4/s1600/visual-header.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6DyBUs9kbkM/U7_3Lme8SUI/AAAAAAAAAHw/DejgkUf21W4/s1600/visual-header.png" /></a><p>What we do here at Lexicum is making vocabulary learning more accessible with the use of technology. Part of our vision is making it easier for learners to feel that they are making progress. Now with the new version we have made one more step towards this goal. This article is meant to explain how we track your learning and convert it into points.</p><a name='more'></a><p>Everybody likes to be able to speak foreign languages. What stops people from actually doing it is the gap between encountering a couple of words and mastering the necessary hundreds of them. Somehow working towards the goal of language proficiency is very tedious, at times even boring. This is because even when you've put a lot of effort, it is still difficult to assess how much you've already passed and how much more is left to go. With Lexicum we help you track what you do.</p><p>Words cannot get integrated in your vocabulary in a day. Lexicum shows your the progress by aggregating information about your practice when you recall your own words. <br />
In your dashboard you can always see an overview of your progress with words. There are groups: new entries, learning in progress and words that you'd only occasionally make sure you haven't forgotten them. Based on how you want to get your words in future, you might try to rate words so that you plan when they will be thrown back at you.</p><p>Now you also have a score. We have continued <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/04/lexicum-weekly-awards.html">our competition</a> and this is the official metric that shows us who the most active users are so that we can contact them to give them their prize. This is where you can see if you can be better than others. You can challenge them to beat your score.</p><p>When you got into it, did you notice how the number of pages in your dashboard grows endlessly?</p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dEaXSVefw70/U8AvnB0VmPI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/jQN13QhR2ec/s1600/score-annotated.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dEaXSVefw70/U8AvnB0VmPI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/jQN13QhR2ec/s1600/score-annotated.png" /></a><br />
<p>You can see how you did with your last quiz session when you complete it. Of course performance tracking lets you see how much you've done. It further allows you to try to push your limits by giving you a tool to measure your progress. The words that are more difficult might have to be exercised more, but you see that your performance improves over time until you encounter the new set of difficult words. You will start seeing that this is tied to the nature of the words you worked with. Easy sets of words will give you a quicker satisfaction for learning. More difficult ones will challenge you, but will also give you better gratification.</p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IyPjIzxlH7Y/U8AXmxxg1jI/AAAAAAAAAIA/xJKJaurQL94/s1600/donut-annotated.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IyPjIzxlH7Y/U8AXmxxg1jI/AAAAAAAAAIA/xJKJaurQL94/s1600/donut-annotated.png" /></a><br />
<p>This is how every single learning action is being collected and analysed to make vocabulary learning more tangible.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-57044066262598450022014-07-03T17:28:00.001+01:002014-07-09T11:23:37.616+01:00How to improve your Duolingo experience<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jj2XmdtcrKE/U7Vq11_A4NI/AAAAAAAAAG8/2JIV3P9uj8Y/s1600/duolingo.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jj2XmdtcrKE/U7Vq11_A4NI/AAAAAAAAAG8/2JIV3P9uj8Y/s1600/duolingo.png" /></a><br />
<p><a href="https://www.duolingo.com/">Duolingo</a> is amazing and loved by so many. It is no secret that we love it, too. It is accessible, fun, and it gives you the confidence that you need when you see you are making progress. It simply works. But if you include Lexicum into the mix, then you’ve hit the jackpot! A few of our users have discovered that Duolingo is even better when combined with Lexicum.</p><a name='more'></a><p>At Lexicum, we meet many people that love to learn languages. And very often these people, like us, use Duolingo and really like it. Yet on numerous occasions, we hear that it would be nice if the app had a way to collect words. Of course, we understand this. Many people say they want to be able to review the words they have learned. So enter Lexicum! It's nice to have a single place where you can remind yourself how your vocabulary has grown. After all, this is an encouraging way to see how much you have achieved without even noticing it.</p><p>Well, actually not having such a feature integrated in Duolingo might not be so bad after all. Sometimes putting a bit of effort is actually to your benefit. Rewriting the word again to add it to your collection makes sure of that. Once again, it shows that you pay attention to how it is spelled, which includes your muscle memory working into the process of learning vocabulary. There is no golden rule of how many times you need to write a word to be able to remember its spelling. Yet surely once more, on top of the times you write it in Duolingo itself, is not too bad.</p><p>And your personal Lexicum cloud is the ideal spot to maintain your digital vocabulary book. It is optimised to <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/03/now-progress-in-vocab-learning-is-easy.html">make learning transparent</a>. You can easily test your vocabulary and see where you stand with it.</p><p>This is how it could work. It’s pretty simple. When you use DuoLingo, just make sure you have Lexicum open in the background. When you encounter a word that you feel is worth your attention, just switch over and type and search it in Lexicum's dictionary. The multiple meanings that you get in return let you <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/06/use-your-dictionary-interactively.html">further explore</a> how exactly you have used it in DuoLingo. Did you understand various possible interpretations and subtleties? Did you make the mental connections that are so widely accepted to find place in the dictionary?</p><p>Try it! See if it works for you. Let us know what you think about it. We'd be more than happy to hear that we've helped you improve your learning experience.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-34285792617160935572014-06-30T12:17:00.000+01:002014-07-14T14:46:48.218+01:00Use your dictionary interactively<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-96LEG6ToFWk/U8Pe3T22GTI/AAAAAAAAAIs/_unZMTA7G5E/s1600/inverse-lookup-multiple-banner.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-96LEG6ToFWk/U8Pe3T22GTI/AAAAAAAAAIs/_unZMTA7G5E/s1600/inverse-lookup-multiple-banner.png" /></a><br />
<p>Lexicum makes it easy for you to search for words interactively. You can find translations, not only of the language that you are learning, but also in your native language. With this, the dictionary is useful, not only when you want to understand what something means, but also when you want to learn how to say something new.</p><a name='more'></a><p>To switch the language of the word you’re looking up, just click on one of the language buttons to the right of the search box to switch the languages (see the screenshot). If you have entered the word in your native language already, this will show you the translation immediately. If not, you will see the change reflected in the inviting message in your text entry box.</p><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fK5u18X0l-8/U8PfFqrHq2I/AAAAAAAAAI8/C3PrbxZ72FA/s1600/inverse-lookup-multiple-annotated.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fK5u18X0l-8/U8PfFqrHq2I/AAAAAAAAAI8/C3PrbxZ72FA/s1600/inverse-lookup-multiple-annotated.png" /></a><br />
<p>Once you get the result of your dictionary search, you can click on individual words in the proposed translations to make sure you find the one that is closest to what you need.</p><p>And that's not all. To make it even easier, if you get only one suggestion from the dictionary, you can save it directly to your word list. You don't need to revert the translation back to the language you are learning.</p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QudymyE2lR8/U8Pe_Dc3EJI/AAAAAAAAAI0/8gPiUQQlYyo/s1600/inverse-lookup-singe-annotated.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QudymyE2lR8/U8Pe_Dc3EJI/AAAAAAAAAI0/8gPiUQQlYyo/s1600/inverse-lookup-singe-annotated.png" /></a><p>With this interactive dictionary search, you get to dig deeper into the meaning and explore what possible nuances it might have. From understanding these relationships you can get more of the implicit connotations that these translations have than an explicit dictionary definition.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-85528779512506767202014-06-26T12:39:00.002+01:002015-03-28T08:12:09.076+00:001st Prize at the Language Tech Summit<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UgaNXdcQ93o/U8Pd_8bPirI/AAAAAAAAAIk/kMCY6uoR3qs/s1600/banner-530x200.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UgaNXdcQ93o/U8Pd_8bPirI/AAAAAAAAAIk/kMCY6uoR3qs/s1600/banner-530x200.JPG" /></a><br />
<p>Lexicum is on a winning streak! After winning at the <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/05/lexicum-is-balkan-venture-forum-winner.html" target="_blank">Balkan Venture Forum</a> we now <a href="http://www.lt-innovate.eu/page/lt-innovate-award-discover-best-language-technology">took home the 1st prize</a> at the European Language Technology Innovation summit. The event was superbly organized, the competition was pretty solid but we still managed to stand out and were awarded the top prize by Paul Rübig, a member of the European Parliament. </p><a name='more'></a> <p>If we have to be honest, we didn't expect to win the top prize - there were some mindblowing cutting edge technologies showcased at the event compared to which our offering looks rather modest; there were some pretty good presenters as well. Still, the jury recognized that, albeit simple, Lexicum has the potential to deliver tangible improvement in learning vocabulary to a large number of people. Apparently, sophisticated tech was outweighed by good positioning and clear channel to market which outlines one important observation - quite often, innovation is not about delivering a fancy product but is rather about finding the big pain point which can be relieved relatively easily. </p><p>We hold great admiration for the other participants - startups, academic projects and established companies alike; we're very excited to have met them and we're sure some interesting collaborations will follow after this event. We'd like to thank the organizers at <a href="http://www.lt-innovate.eu/" target="_blank">LT-I</a> for giving us this opportunity and we're looking forward to working with them in the future. <p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02774485034005282795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-91235632788055980472014-06-18T22:53:00.000+01:002014-06-18T23:03:59.778+01:00Make the most out of Lexicum with keyboad shortcuts<p>Lexicum is all about making the process of learning vocabulary smooth. We are not trying to impose a tool-centered way of learning words - we just provide a tool that fits in your learning process seamlessly. With Lexicum you get rid of the more mundane tasks and get more time for what matters the most: experiencing the language. Thus, we've added comprehensive keyboard shortcuts to automate more tasks and spend even less time on tools. Here is the comprehensive list.</p><a name='more'></a><p>The shortcuts below are split according to screens:</p><h3>Dashboard</h3><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N5JuAfiXmso/U6IHfHWPDiI/AAAAAAAAAEs/ze6BPxheDmo/s1600/dashboard.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N5JuAfiXmso/U6IHfHWPDiI/AAAAAAAAAEs/ze6BPxheDmo/s320/dashboard.png" /></a><br />
<ul><li><strong>alt</strong>+<strong>f</strong> - focus on lookup to enter word<br />
</li>
<li><strong>left</strong>/<strong>right</strong> - switch pages in your word list<br />
</li>
<li><strong>alt</strong>+<strong>q</strong> - go to quiz<br />
</li>
<li><strong>alt</strong>+<strong>e</strong> - edit word meanings<br />
</li>
<li><strong>escape</strong> - cancel popup or edit<br />
</li>
<li><strong>enter</strong> - confirm or save<br />
</li>
</ul><h3>Quiz</h3><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5rV_g45jilY/U6IHrZBRiXI/AAAAAAAAAE0/hPUk8djnG7I/s1600/quiz.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5rV_g45jilY/U6IHrZBRiXI/AAAAAAAAAE0/hPUk8djnG7I/s320/quiz.png" /></a><br />
<ul><li><strong>left</strong>/<strong>right</strong> switch words<br />
</li>
<li><strong>space</strong> - flip flashcard<br />
</li>
<li><strong>1</strong> - rate word as easy<br />
</li>
<li><strong>2</strong> - rate word as fair<br />
</li>
<li><strong>3</strong> - rate word as hard<br />
</li>
<li><strong>4</strong> - rate word as don't know<br />
</li>
<li><strong>backspace</strong> - go back to dashboard<br />
</li>
</ul><h3>General</h3><p>Shortcuts accessible from the entire app:</p><ul><li><strong>alt</strong>+<strong>h</strong> - go to help</li>
<li><strong>backspace</strong> - go back to dashboard<br />
</li>
</ul><p>If you are one of our more active users, with hundreds of words in your wordbook, then we'd love to hear from you how we can optimize the process to be even easier and to make it take even less time to enter and review words. We hope that adding these keyboard shortcuts is a step in the right direction, and we're keen to add more - so don't hesitate to let us know if you have an opinion on this, either in the comments here, by email or on <a href="http://lexicum.uservoice.com/">our support forum</a>.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-59768954391391606102014-06-12T13:33:00.000+01:002014-06-18T23:04:16.716+01:00Vamoooooooos! Lexicum update with new look and Portuguese for the world cup<p>Once again the world is gripped by the football fever and all eyes are set on Brazil where the top 32 teams in the world will contest the most prestigious title of all. At the same time, Lexicum releases a major facelift, including adding Portuguese to our list of supported languages. </p><p> More than 3 million will get immersed into the unique vibe at the stadiums and probably up to half a billion will watch the games on TV, some of them - at very awkward times. In Europe most games will be at reasonable times, only occasionally going past 2am - but believe most employers will tolerate mild delays due to football fever on the previous night; Lexicum, for one, surely will! </p><a name='more'></a><p>Now that football is back to the country where it's most revered - why not seize the occasion and learn some Portuguese (I hope you at least now that this is the language which Pele speaks!) ? We're offering a quick selection of useful phrases that we'll be hearing a lot of over the coming weeks: </p><p>Football - Futebal<br />
World Cup - Copa do Mundo<br />
Go Brazil - Vamos Brazil<br />
Beat them senseless! - Acaba com Eles!<br />
He's simulating - Ele esta simulando<br />
Penalty kicks - Aos penalts<br />
We won - Ganhamos<br />
We lost - Perdemos<br />
We had bad luck - Тivemos mal sorte<br />
The referee was unfair - O arbitro foi injusto<br />
<br />
and of course...<br />
<br />
Goal - Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool<br />
(yeah, you need to pronounce it with all the Os) </p><p>With this solid start - why not learn some non-football Portuguese too, now you can use Lexicum for this. We've also enabled Portugese as a basis of learning other languages, among plenty of other updates. Try the new lexicum - we hope you'll find the user experience more intuitive. You might wish to do a hard refresh (Ctrl-F5) when you load it for the first time to make sure all the latest stuff is correctly loaded. Our next step is to also include these updates on mobile - we'll be releasing the new mobile web and iPhone app. As usual, you're more than welcome to share both your thoughts and comments about the lastest update and any wishes about the upcoming mobile version - here is our <a href="http://lexicum.uservoice.com/" target="_blank">feedback forum</a>. </p><p>Before we finish with this post and kick off the football season let's spare a thought about the social issues that the world cup is highlighting. While the spectators will enjouy the glamour of the brand-new facilities there is a backdrop of poverty, protests and irregularities of various sorts. Organized footbal is not without some dark sides, which we think is best highlighted by some humour:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DlJEt2KU33I" width="480"></iframe> </p><p>No one from our team will be attending in person but we won't be far from the vibe - in an international city like London one can witness the joyous sounds of the winners and sombre mood of some users almost every night. We also hope that apart from breathtaking moments for the visitiors the event will also bring sustainable improvement in local communities. </p>Stefan Kiryazovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08737755259551216058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-39381330179950015812014-06-03T08:39:00.002+01:002014-06-18T22:56:01.228+01:00Lexicum releases a native iPhone appAs you all know, Lexicum started as a desktop web site but we've known from day 1 that the smartphone is going to be a key platform for learning vocabulary. Thus, mobile apps have been central to our vision and we've had a mobile web app since March. We have now backed this with native app which will provide for a smoother experience for iPhone and iPad users. If you own any of these devices feel free to give it a try: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lexicum/id869779000" target="_blank">https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lexicum/id869779000</a> <br />
<a name='more'></a>Lexicum is a cloud service, meaning that your vocab book is shared across all your devices - you can add words on your computer and then do a quiz on your smartphone, and vice versa. One particular scenario that we believe will be popular is to add words on dekstop when you read or surf the web and then practice the words on the go with the mobile app. And did we mention that it also works offline? Yes, you can totally do the quiz on the tube in London or during any other commute without network coverage - just make sure you open the app while connected so that it fetches your pending words from the server. <br />
Note however that this is an early version and we'll be adding a lot more to it in order to realize its full potential as the definitive mobile vocab book. Still, it already has the key features that set Lexicum apart from other language learning tools:<br />
1) it translates new words,<br />
2) it keeps build your personal word list and<br />
3) you can do a quiz on the go.<br />
<br />
The next features we'll be adding to the app are as follows:<br />
- Automatic lookup of words copied in the clipboard - you won't need to actually go to the app<br />
- Login with google or facebook (yeah, it's annoying to have to type on the on-screen keyboard but at least you need to do it just once)<br />
- Various improvments of dictionary lookup quality and usability<br />
<br />
Additionally, we'll be providing apps for Android and Windows Phone, too. Our intention is to first polish the iPhone app and then port to other platforms but in case you own one of these and would like to have it sooner - feel free to express your outrage on our <link></link><a href="http://lexicum.uservoice.com/" target="_blank">support and feedback forum</a>; thoughts about features you'd like to see first are also always welcome. <br />
Thanks for all the comments and feedback and stay tuned for more exciting stuff from Lexicum! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02774485034005282795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-38366765279217900042014-05-24T16:21:00.001+01:002014-06-18T22:57:53.172+01:00Greetings for St. Cyril and Methodius Day<p>It's celebration time - various places are having a long weekend for various reasons. In the US they have Memorial day on Monday and in the UK it's the uncreatively named Spring Bank Holiday. In Eastern Orthodox countries however, and especially in the ones using the Cyrillic alphabet, it's an even more special holiday - the St. Cyril and Methodius Day, which is also celebrated as the culture and education day as these guys invented the Cyrillic script. It should, therefore, be a also a major holiday for us, lexicophiles. </p><a name='more'></a> <p>Even though in the west the Cyrillic is mostly known as a scene setter for cold war era films it's actually used in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_using_Cyrillic" target="_blank">dozens of languages</a>, it's an official script in 12 countries as diverse as Mongolia and Tajikistan and is used in many others, like China - the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungan_language" target="_blank">Dungan</a> language is the only tonal language that uses Cyrillic.<br />
</p><p>Despite its cultural significance, the Cyrillic alphabet has been a royal pain for some of us in Lexicum who started our careers as developers in Bulgaria before Unicode became established. The windows code tables saw great contortions in this period in order to accommodate use of Cyrillic, resulting in countless lost files and conversations. We want to take this occasion to sincerely apologize to the holy brothers for whatever unpleasantries we might have said about them at the height of frustration. We didn't mean it! Our curses should have actually been targeted at the guys who invented the buggy encodings used at the time. </p><p>Few techies from the next generation will ever know the pains we've been through in order to make multilingual applications in the 90s and early 2000s - nowadays we can just print text in Unicode without spending a thought about the underlying complexities. Thus, we should use this date to also celebrate the effort of the Unicode Consortium who made it possible. You guys deserve a big thank you not just from developers of Cyrillic apps but from anyone writing in a non-Latin script. </P>Stefan Kiryazovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08737755259551216058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-27756887711596815982014-05-22T20:11:00.000+01:002014-06-18T22:57:43.566+01:00Lexicum is a Balkan Venture Forum Winner!<p>We're very happy to announce that <a href="http://lexicum.net" target="_blank">Lexicum</a> was among the 7 winners of the <a href="http://www.balkanventureforum.org/" target="_blank">Balkan Venture Forum</a> which took place on 15 and 16 May near Sarajevo and saw pitches from startups from all over south-eastern Europe. Among fierce competition we got the ticket for the finals on the European Venture Forum in Dusseldorf; friendships and partnerships were made and fun was had. </p><a name='more'></a> It's also interesting to note that the former Olympic resort of Jahorina was covered in deep snow which prevented some of the delegates from coming but also made the experience quite memorable - if not surreal - for the ones who made it. Despite the disturbances, the organizers from Europe Unlimited and Balkan Unlimited did a great job, the event went smoothly and was a huge success - not just for the winners but for everyone who attended. <img width="100%" src="http://lexicum.net/pics/stefan%20jahorina.jpg"/><br />
<br />
On a darker note, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina saw the greatest flooding ever recorded, taking dozens of lives. The Lexicum delegation managed to get in and out safely, despite driving through some of the worst affected areas, and were shocked by the first-hand experience of the scale of the devastation. Our thoughts go out to the families of the victims. <a href="https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/5/18/1400427655340/Floods-in-Brcko-Bosnia-014.jpg" target="_blank"> <img width="100%" src="https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/5/18/1400427655340/Floods-in-Brcko-Bosnia-014.jpg" /> </a> <i>Floods in Brcko, image: The Guardian</i><br />
<br />
Apart from the BkVF event we also attended Startup Bootcamp which was held the following weekend in Sarajevo, where we witnessed a small but thriving startup community aided by a great support network. It was really fascinating to see a city not yet managed to plug the bullet holes in the buildings rebounding at such a steady pace and spurting solid innovation - hats off to the teenage winners Light Docs, who got tickets and a stall for Tech Crunch conference, as well as to all the other contenders, hosts and mentors who made it possible. Expect big things from the Balkan startups! As was highlighted by the panel discussion, it's not just a matter of importing Silicone Valley culture into the region - there are areas in which Eastern Europe can lead the way too, like building solid teams and developing world class technical talent with limited resources.<br />
Apart from the booming tech scene, Sarajevo turned out to also be quite the cultural destination. Apart from the stunning views of a well-preserved old town snuggled among the hilly landscape there were also fascinating museums and exhibitions which, incidentally, were open during the night on the same weekend due to the Night of the Museums initiative. The National Gallery held an exhibition of newspaper comics capturing a decade of humorous depictions of a region torn by war while the History Museum presented in grave detail the not-at-all-humorous reality of the siege of Sarajevo and the atrocities performed in the region in the 90s. We believe that everyone should at least once immerse themselves in the pictures and stories of the survivors, to experience Europe at its ugliest from as close as possible, as to get convinced of the dangers extreme nationalism and xenophobia. <a href="http://lexicum.net/pics/bosnia%20cartoon.jpg" target="_blank"> <img width="100%" src="http://lexicum.net/pics/bosnia%20cartoon.jpg" /> </a> <br />
<br />
Overall the trip was a great inspiration for the Lexicum team and a trigger to include the languages from the region on our platform. Thus, expect the addition of some south Slavic languages in Lexicum, immediately after we sort out the technical challenges... and the political implications, as even language names can be a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_language#Controversy" target="_blank">thorny issue</a> on the Balkans. We really hope that the growing tech scene, among other factors, will help people set aside their differences and help bring about a climate of trust and cooperation.<br />
<br />
Update: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HardcoreHelp/photos/a.146284695436982.29878.146242898774495/662477957150984/?type=1&theater" target="_blank">Hardcore Help</a> are gathering donations for disaster relief in the Balkans.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02774485034005282795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-12107104090372027192014-04-11T13:15:00.000+01:002014-06-26T21:10:24.088+01:00The fish and chips shop<p>People often ask us how did we come up with Lexicum. To answer this question we are posting a series of stories. Each of these was a small step towards starting to work on Lexicum. These <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/search/label/stories">stories</a> also illustrate different ways people can use Lexicum. We started with the <a href="http://blog.lexicum.net/2014/03/the-four-most-difficult-bulgarian-words.html">introduction to Bulgarian</a> and now continue with my (Martin's) first experience of British traditional food - my visit to the fish and chips shop.</p><a name='more'></a><p>Let me start with a bit of background about myself. I've grown up in Bulgaria, but I went to university in Germany. This was on an international programme that attracted students from all over the world. This is where I started having English as the language of both classes and casual conversations. Since then I've been working for a number of international organisations, and more often than not, English was the official language at work. I've worked with people from the US, Canada, Germany and the UK. All this gave me confidence that I am a proficient English speaker and that when five years ago I moved to London I shouldn't have any problems with English. Well, I was wrong and I found it out in my very first days in London.</p><p>This happened during my induction at work. My new boss, a very kind lady, and a gourmet-lover, decided to take our entire group to a very old and classical fish and chips restaurant. One might say that this is not exactly the fines of cuisines, but you have to appreciate that it is something very British to people that come to London for the first time.</p><p>So we went to the fish restaurant. On the way to the restaurant I was told how people commonly have fish battered and with sides such as mashy peas and tartar sauce. Then they told me that it is typical in England to season fried fish with vinegar, which I found quite strange.<p><p>But it got more confusing when it came to choosing the actual fish. I had previously had the Portuguese bacalhau, so the traditional choice of cod didn't sound so exciting to me. I wanted to try something new. This is when I opened the menu and realised that I should have prepared myself. It wasn't the case that I only knew cod. By that time I also knew what herring and haddock are, but I had no clue about hake, plaice, skate or pollock. Those words meant nothing to me and seeing several battered fish lumps didn't help either. I had to order something randomly and do my homework better when I went back home.</p><p>This story is only one of many similar experiences I've had. There are whole loads of other topics that have their own vocabulary. This is as true for gardening, fishing or cooking conversation, as it is for professional topics or extreme sports. Now I am convinced that regardless how proficient one might be in a certain language, there are always contexts that one has never encountered and that can be a surprise with loads of new vocabulary. And, of course, this is exactly what <a href="http://lexicum.net/?demo=blog">Lexicum</a> is made for. Try it now, you will probably need it very soon.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4553320891896804689.post-85489478631943741082014-04-08T17:10:00.000+01:002014-04-08T17:24:46.189+01:00Weekly vocab awards<p>User activity on Lexicum has been growing steadily. By using <a href="http://lexicum.net/?demo=blog">Lexicum</a> people are not only working on their vocabulary, but are also providing us with insights of what works well and what could be further improved in our web app. We want to say 'thank you' to everyone that helps us develop an even better product.</p><a name='more'></a><p>As a way to do that for every week till the end of April we are giving away one award to the most active learner that week. The way we determine the winner is counting the newly added words that were exercised. This means that every Monday we count the words that were added in the last week. A word counts for the purposes of the competition only if you have already reviewed it in your quiz.</p><p>Now we can announce the winner from the last week of March (24th-30th). Our sincere gratitude and respect go to James Hill, a student at Eton College in England. James is using Lexicum for his Korean. He did the quiz for 117 of the words he added that week. We admire James's language learning rigour and we are in preparation of an exciting (so far secret) award for him.</p><p>Of course, we already have a winner for last week (31 March to 6 April). There were a few close contendants, but the clear winner had 48 added and exercised words. We are now contacting the winner so that we can know how to announce them.</p><p>However, don't waste time waiting for winners and awards to be announced. Join in. There are so many exciting opportunities - don't miss them.</p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0