LingQ Review: HOW Steve Kaufmann's app works

[@Tehui1974]

On 1 July 2023, I started using LingQ for the first time, and I also started learning a language (Spanish) as a complete beginner. I decided to follow Steve's advice by working through the mini-stories and just trying to connect with the language. After nearly 3 months and 60 mini stories later, I feel that the language is slowly starting to become more and more familiar. I look forward to seeing how much more I can learn for the rest of the year.

[@CouchPolyglot]

That is really cool 😊

[@gerrimongrain6322]

That is wonderful 👍😊

[@mikolajgrzywacz]

Could you update and share your progress with us please ? 😊

[@Tehui1974]

@@mikolajgrzywacz Sure. I'm just focusing on input at the moment. I put in about 45 minutes every day of just listening and reading to podcasts via LingQ. My comprehension is improving. I spend a bit of time reviewing grammar, but not too much. I now need to organise regular time with tutors to practice speaking to start activating my passive vocabulary.

[@fishcannotswim]

Thank for your recommendation!

[@CouchPolyglot]

You are welcome :)

[@srikkanth-tech]

My son is studying 4th grade and he has the French as a subject in school. None of us or in our sorrounding speak french.. So I was wondering how am I going to help him, then I found lingq... I can type in all his lessons and questions and answers in notepad and import into Lingq. I guess this was not a primary usecase lingQ built for, yet it works. I can play whole sentences, paragraphs or single words.. Keep track of what he has studied. Even ask him to read out French loud shadowing the Lingq. I am so glad I found LingQ, none of the apps out there do this. Now I have started brushing my Mandarin after a long time and to my surprise I can use one account to learn both languages.

[@CouchPolyglot]

I am glad that you are having such a great experience with lingQ 😊

[@BigDome1]

Great video, thanks for the explanation. By the way, the room you're recording in is quite echoey and the audio would probably sound better if you put something in there to absorb the reflections (for example some cushions, curtains, a coat rack, acoustic foam etc.)

[@CouchPolyglot]

Thanks a lot for your feedback, I actually bought new equipment for Christmas and I hope the quality improves going forward :)

[@johnczech7074]

Thanks beautiful lady!! You really break content down well. I actually have this app and I like it a great deal!

[@CouchPolyglot]

Glad you liked my video and you like LingQ :) Feel free to share it! :D

[@habeng7208]

This is a great language learning tool lovely Laura. Thanks a lot for sharing it and thanks for getting us an awesome discount 🙏🤟👍🎁💝 (BTW your Greek pronunciation is amazing. You sound like a local 🌟)

[@CouchPolyglot]

Thanks a lot, Ben ☺️

[@mybestideas1]

She is a thief. Lingq is a criminal enterprise.

[@darcycraig5534]

To be honest, I feel this isn't a great app for a beginner. Jumping in right away to a whole story of text, without context, is pretty much just looking at a bunch of strange letters on the screen. Yes, you can click on every single word to kind of get an occasional meaning but overall it's very clunky and challenging. As another commenter stated, it was 3 months and 60 mini stories until the language became more familiar. I know learning a language takes time but I'm not sure this is the easiest way for a beginner to start.

[@CouchPolyglot]

I felt the same way, that is why I mentioned if I were to learn Greek I would definetly take classes and use LingQ as a complement. If you are a beginner, using just LingQ will take longer, it is best to combine it with classes in my opinion too

[@chrisfoe4594]

@@CouchPolyglotI am learning Greek just with LingQ. I have started with a lot of others APP but the best progress is with LingQ.

[@jamiececilielange5249]

I use the free version, and I really like the Spanish part of the site, but my experience with Polish has been that there's a gap between easy and hard content, and the content is also not as varied. Some languages rely heavily on stuff being imported.

[@CouchPolyglot]

That is interesting, thanks a lot for sharing your experience, that helps everyone watching the review!

[@ValentinCabezas]

Hi Laura. I'll try this app. I liked the tools you showed

[@CouchPolyglot]

Glad you liked it :)

[@coreyschumacher4245]

What would I miss out on in languages that are not fully supported? Is the paid version worth it for one of those languages (like Croatian)?

[@CouchPolyglot]

You can try it out for free, I haven't tried it out for Croatian hehe

[@budekins542]

Is LingQ in 2024 able to add subtitles to a mp3 file? For example can I add Spanish subtitles to the audio of a KZbin video? I heard a rumor that LingQ uses "Whisper" to produce quite accurate subtitles.

[@CouchPolyglot]

I personally have not seen this feature, but they keep adding new features every now and then, maybe you could ask their support?

[@mike-lx8tp]

Readlang allows you to listen and highlight and its free.

[@CouchPolyglot]

I never heard of it, I will check it out, thanks! :)

[@MichielHollanders]

Nice app and review, but in my experience Greek people these days don't reply with 'είμαι πολύ καλά, ευχαριστώ ' - more likely something along the lines of 'ας τα λέμε καλά.. το παλεύουμε.. υγεία να'χουμε.. 😂'

[@CouchPolyglot]

Thanks a lot for sharing that😯

[@johnnacke4134]

Is this program good for Japanese beginners?

[@CouchPolyglot]

I haven't used it for Japanese so far, I might try it at some point cause I want to learn that language one day. But as of now I can't tell you anything about that language on LingQ. Maybe someone else can share their experience 😄

[@oscarlizama43]

Just a short question, We need to pay for use it?

[@ProfShibe]

Yes, unless you are Ukrainian. Ukrainian itself is also free to learn. I think another language or two might be free as well.

[@CouchPolyglot]

To use it in all its features, you have to pay. You can test it out for free up until 20 Lingqs, you also get extra Lingqs for referrals. Hope this helps!

[@josecarlosbayoncueto4689]

Hi , I know that I'm not a patreon , but I will like to suggest a topic for your channel , if you are interested of course ,the topic is the difference between a language teacher and a language couch , I think is and interesting topic to talk about, you have a great channel.

[@CouchPolyglot]

Thanks for your feedback, that is a great idea! In a nutshell, I think a teacher facilitates learning of a specific language through lessons (in a group or 1-on-1 setting) and a coach is more focussed on teaching you how to learn on your own and helping you discover what works best for you (really tailored to your needs and 1-on-1, not necessarily about one language, but languages in general). Those are my first thoughts anyway, what do you think about that?

[@josecarlosbayoncueto4689]

Sorry for the late reply , you are correct also a language couch focuses on tecniques , strategies for learning a language and also memorizing techniques ( also known as mnemonics ) a friend who is a english teacher told me this

[@StevenSchoolAlchemy]

hello! new subscriber

[@CouchPolyglot]

Welcome 😄

[@自由之风-v9g]

我不知道这个软件有什么问题，还是我有什么问题，根本无法注册，我用的最贵的vpn

[@CouchPolyglot]

So you can't access LingQ? Sorry to hear that

[@thomasfleck6552]

i like the concept, it's way better than your average app full of dumb phrases.... but. some of the more interesting languages are only semi supported, and it is so effing expensive. we're living in 2023 and paying for food and rent is challenging enough, who can afford to pay that much for a hobby (even with a discount it's still a lot of money)?

[@coolbrotherf127]

Someone making $25 an hour at their job wouldn't have any issue paying 30min of their time to use a well built language learning tool for an entire month.

[@thomasfleck6552]

@@coolbrotherf127 correct, but there are a lot of people who earn way less than that.

[@CouchPolyglot]

Hi Thomas, thanks a lot for your feedback 🙂 I think it depends on everyone's situation and what they prioritize. For instance, I think a lot about whether I should get a gym membership, but don't think twice to order food every now and then or grab a coffee 🙈🙈🙈

[@thomasfleck6552]

@@CouchPolyglot yes, it's always about priorities. and yes, i could probably afford it. but, i have to pay about 400 € more per month for food, rent, energy etc. than 3 years ago which means 400 € less for "nonessentials". most people have less disposable income than i have - median income between 15000 and 20000 € in western europe, japan and north america, everywhere else it's less than that. so, it's not like half an hour of work, more like 1.5 hours in rich countries and three months in the poorest countries. anyway it might be a better deal than an online teacher. you get a month of learning for the price of about 1 hour of teaching. not too bad if you want to pay for your hobby💁‍♂️

[@Jo-re2ye]

I started learning Ukrainian using lingQ. So I was lucky that language is offered for free at the moment. I immediately liked the tool so much, that I volunteered to become a librarian. If I do enough work, I now get premium month by month, which enabled me to also have a look at the other languages. Even when Ukrainian is the 11th language I'm learning, I find it hard to learn more than 1 new language simultaneously though. So my focus remains on Ukrainian for now. And I love being able to contribute something.

[@GeorgeDeCarlo]

I have been commenting on many polyglot and language sites about the fact that all known language programs and classes at all schools fail. After 13 years of failure to become basically conversationally fluent in Tagalog and during that time spending several hundred hours searching for methods, I realized the truth. Think about it, any exam with less than 60% success is a failure. Imagine classes failing up to 60% continually. No language program or classes achieve greater than 60% basic fluency. Why? Something has been wrong for a long time. I contend no program or classes even get to 5%. Learners or acquirers drop out due to hopeless failure. Very short-term tests give a false impression of accomplishment since the ultimate goal fails. Question all programs and classes. Any rationalizations are hiding failure. The polyglots had better all get together and figure out what has been and is wrong. If any other subject had such failure an immediate fix would be attempted. Not so with languages. It just continues as it has for over a hundred years never achieving over 60% much less 5% for all those attempting basic fluency.

[@CouchPolyglot]

In my eyes, there is no program "that will teach you anything", you need to put in the energy, habits, dedication, etc. If you look at school, it is the same, isn't it? Students learn things by heart and forget most of them even a couple of weeks later. Some things, like reading or writting, stick because you keep practicing them daily. If you learned to read at 5 and never ever read anything again in your life, you probably would have forgotten how to do that too. My feeling is that people only remember things that are integrated in their daily lives or others that for some reason are specially interesting to them. The key might be that there is either a habit attached to it or an emotional connection to it. There are techniques that are better than others, of course, but they will only guide you, they won't do the work for you. I think that is what people should understand and not be expecting "the learning to magically happen"

[@GeorgeDeCarlo]

@@CouchPolyglot I do understand what you are saying. I now dedicate a great deal of time telling parents and those wishing to take classes in a language to forget it. It will fail to make them them basically conversationally fluent. Classes and most everything else that advertises is a waste of time, money and energy. I also warn people about moving to at least the Tagalog region especially Metro Manila if one goal is to be fluent. I now tell friends that I will not be anywhere with them if they use Tagalog and do not teach me what they are saying. People are forbidden in our home if not teaching when using Tagalog. After all, if not communicating so I understand then they are not acting as friends. I do think not all is forgotten after learned. I had not skated for 40 years when I brought my spouse and friend to go skating at MOA several years ago. Yes, I was surprised getting on the ice and skating as if I had done so the day before. Sadly the Tagalog culture in general refuses to help. So why they ask how long I have been here ALWAYS followed by "you must know Tagalog" is a mystery. My reply is a historical lecture. A few said I should go back to where I came from. Yes, I get attacked and blamed to their cultural failure to help.

[@stst77]

Some cultures are takers, others givers and others are neutral. In my experience, America is a giver culture where churches, community groups, and individuals give free English lessons to help foreigners. Americans are also very friendly and will befriend foreigners never thinking of what they can get out of them. Instead just wanting to help, but Asian cultures tend to be takers always looking to foreigners as a free English lesson and if you try to speak to them in their language even if your ability is better than their English they will insist on English. I have also been to Mexico and would call it a neutral culture where some will ask to learn English. Others just don’t care and just speak Spanish and you either learn or are left in the dust but for the most part they don’t push hard either way. They do their thing and let you do your thing which is definitely better than the taker culture.

[@GeorgeDeCarlo]

@@stst77 very interesting. This I have never seen discussed.

[@TC-hd8uq]

​@@stst77I once worked in a warehouse mainly staffed by Mexicans. In fact, I was the only person fluent in English. They asked if they could practice their English with me. They got so hung up on accents but I thought their accents were beautiful. Perfection is the enemy of progress. I wanted to learn Spanish, but that was a want and they needed to know English, and the women would offer me food. Actually, they told me I was too thin and forced me to eat. I'm not sure if we are givers in the US, but some of us hate that there's such a harsh discrimination against foreigners who haven't learned English yet, especially against Spanish speakers, so if they want to learn, I'll gladly help.

[@weetjeweetje4054]

I am a user of LINGQ, and can't recommend it. It really SUCKS. Suppose your basic language is English, and you are learning French. As part of your practicing, you get an English sentence that you have to translate into French. The French translation is broken into, e.g., 6 pieces that you have to put in the correct order. Nice, except that you frequently get into a loop in which the same sentence is repeated 2, 5, 10 or even more times. There is no way to get out of the loop apart from trying again and again and again. This makes the use of LINGQ very tedious, time consuming and ineffective. The idea behind LINGQ is nice, but better try a different method. LINGQ will only result in frustration.

[@CouchPolyglot]

I am sorry to hear that it hasn't worked for you, but thanks nonetheless for sharing your experience 👍

[@weetjeweetje4054]

@@CouchPolyglot LINGQ is simply poorly programmed. It should not contain this type of basic error. LINGQ is not worth considering.

[@dillon4248]

Agreed. The idea is great. But the app has a lot of bugs/weirdness

[@GOOFYoverREG]

It takes too long to complete a lesson especially for beginners when they are creating Links with every word and they fill up vocabulary I would prefer apps such as Language Transfer or French Learning (if you are learning French) to better start or learn more.

[@SourStrawberrys]

I haven't used my subscription to this site in a few months, one of the reason why I kind of didn't like using it was the Persian/Farsi generated voice was so bad and robotic sounding that I could barely understand what it was saying. Now after coming back to it today it is significantly better. Much more natural sounds. So I can at least say they are adding improvements to this site. What made me come back to it is because I got an email of them stating the price of subscription will go up by 15% soon. So keep that in mind.

[@CouchPolyglot]

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts and experience 👍👍👍