When is the best time to move on to another lesson?

I’m new to using the LingQ method and have been trying to figure out when I should move on to another lesson. Should I first wait until I have marked all the words in the previous lesson as “learned” or “known?” And then periodically review the vocabulary from past lessons by revisiting them sometimes or using the SRS feature?

When I first started lingQ I heard that Steve just keeps going and doesn’t stay on the same lesson for too long. So that’s the approach I took, And have made so much progress. I say just keep going on to new material and don’t spend too much time trying to nail one specific lesson.

However I will say that it depends on what language you are learning. If you are learning a really really difficult language then I would definitely slow down and spend more time on each individual lesson.

I personally have never used the SRS feature other just a few times to check it out throughout all of the years being on LingQ. I think it’s better to spend your time just on reading. Unless of course you enjoy SRS, and it keeps you motivated.

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I find it better to jump to other lesson when i finish reading and i dont use any of the features to memorize. Otherwise it becomes too boring. You will eventually find the words in other lessons and little by little they will be learned.

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Thank you for your response! I’m the total opposite, I find it interesting to use flashcards and those kinds of features to memorise vocabulary and it has always been really important in my language learning. I guess everyone has their own learning style :slight_smile:

Thanks for your comment! So far I’ve revised the lessons a couple of times and trying to learn the words to a good level before moving on and I think that’s worked for me. Personally I love flashcards and those kinds of features so I plan on using them regularly although I will start to move on to new material a bit faster given your advice about that :slight_smile:

I’ll jump on the bandwagon that the other folks have already said. At the beginning, when I don’t know any words, I’ll use the flash cards a little, but once I have a few hundred words saved I rarely use the built-in SRS thing. I find it far more valuable to just keep reading, and the important words will keep popping up. I may also use Anki or something similar for review early on, but obviously that would be separate from LingQ.

I would also say not to go over a single lesson more than a handful of times, and then move on.

If you’re a beginner, stay with material at your level. It will get discouraging if you’re reading stuff well above your level, but if you understand 60-75% of your lesson, you’re in a good place. Don’t sweat it if you don’t understand everything.

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Interesting approach! I guess I will decide whether to keep using the memorisation features as I go along. I am new on LingQ! I already have an advanced level in all the languages I am learning, I am just simply trying to further improve my level as I need the languages for my work. In my opinion it would be very difficult to learn a language on LingQ from scratch. Just out of curiosity, have you learnt any language from zero on this platform?

I usually read the whole lesson and mark the words that I don’t know, and I revisit those lessons occasionally so I can refresh the words that I don’t remember. Repetition is key here, so I don’t forget the words that I marked, also my understanding of the lesson gets better if It’s read more than once. Steve Kaufman approach is reading and listening over and over again till the brain create new neuron connections and it is done by repetition.

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I’m currently studying Italian, Ukrainian, and Greek from zero. However, Italian and Ukrainian are similar to languages I’m already familiar with. Greek is not.

For Greek, I started with LingQ, then switched to Duolingo for a little while (~6 weeks maybe) until I figured out how linguistic concepts work (possession, articles, pronouns, genders, past/future, etc), then jumped back to LingQ.

A common complaint from longtime users is that LingQ is a bear for beginners if you truly are unfamiliar with a language. We all have various ways that we get the beginning concepts down, which for many is done outside LingQ, and then we come back to LingQ to actually learn the language.

A note on Duolingo: I hate their new “path” update, so in the event I start another language from scratch, it will for sure not be done with the help of Duolingo.

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You can try a few things to see what works. If I was starting from scratch on a new language, I’d go through a lesson a few times throughout the day (at different times). I’d Lingq all the words, mark any known or some level of know as I see fit. After a few times of reading and (at least) a few times listening, I’d move on to the lesson.

Others like to not repeat anything and will simply go on to the next lesson without repeating. I personally feel the repetition, in the beginning, is helpful for me. If the lessons are short…1-2 min long this isn’t a big deal to me. Or maybe you can go through a few different ones and again, repeat them a few times.

After a few times, I’d move on, whether you know every word or not. To some degree I feel you’ve gotten everything you can out of the lesson at that point. It might be useful to review it in a few days or more, but in these beginning stages you’ll see many of these words again in other contexts, so it’s not really necessary.

But definitely move on…some words will simply take longer to “stick”. I still get hung up on many words I first “met” in the beginning stages, but I know 25,000 others. So best not to get concerned about these, you will learn many more words in the meantime and eventually those words will click. Seeing them in other contexts will often help, so it’s best to move on.

Also, in terms of judging a word “known”. I personally consider it known, if I understand it in the context of the current reading situation. I think most folks who continue on to the higher levels have basically come to that conclusion. You may choose to do the same, or judge it in another way, but do not let “knowing” it to the point of being able to use it stop you from moving on.

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Yes exactly right! Repetition is so important and that’s what I’ve been doing so far and it has been working so well for me. Glad to hear we are of the same opinion!

Interesting comment, thanks! I have an advanced level in the languages I’m learning here, I’m just new to LingQ, and so far I’ve found the SRS extremely helpful and repetition a few times has been helpful as well. But of course I have been moving on to other lessons once I feel comfortable with previous ones!

Yes, I’ve been learning korean from scratch and it’s going pretty well - but at the start needed A LOT of repetition and I find the srs quiz helps a lot too. For me, although really hard, it was a challenge I enjoyed and I think it’s paying off now. I’ve learned a lot in a year.

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There are many folks here who have learned languages from scratch and/or are in the process of learning them from scratch on LingQ. I think it’s helpful if one has already used LingQ before with another language and therefore has more confidence in the approach. It’s totally doable, and if I ever get more time to learn another from scratch I will likely do this. I might do some SRS for the very top words, but the reality is you’ll see these top X number of words hundreds of time in the content you’re reading so you’re already getting “review” of these words in your reading and listening.

BTW…obviously LingQ mostly helps with reading and listening (and writing if you use the writing exchange). Speaking you will have to work on outside of Lingq mostly (aside from tutors you can hire through Lingq).

There are certainly people who have learned a completely unfamiliar language from zero on LingQ alone. That said, I know that even Steve starts with Assimil and one or two other resources to help him start out. Many also use Anki.

Going from zero to hero on only LingQ is absolutely possible, but I get the impression that many use outside tools of various types, especially to get started.