Alex -
It’s really surprising that the lingqs software continues to lack a straightforward and easy way for the use to export the lingq list. Your software has been around for a long time, and people have constantly requested it over the years.
It cannot possibly be a complex task to take what is essentially just a relational database and tweak it so that a user can readily export the entire list into a text file or a csv file or a spreadsheet file. If the software can keep track of the lingq words readily enough to respond when you’re using it, then why not just allow the user to take that list easily?
I used to use lingqs quite a lot. I’ve gotten back into it, but what drove me away for quite a while was the hassle of getting the words from lingq to, say, flashcards deluxe, which is what I use. In order to do that, I have to export the cards 200 at a time, and add them to a spreadsheet to upload them to Flashcards deluxe.
That’s a task which is easier said than done. Maybe there’s an easier way to do it, but what I do is to export the cards to csv files in 200-card chunks. Then I used the spreadsheet to assign unique numbers to each one. If I want the cards to be in the order they were created, I have to fix the fact that lingq exports them with the most recent at the top. So I reverse that in the spreadsheet.
Then I do a search and replace to get rid of the brackets and quotation marks which lingq puts on either side of the words in the csv file. Then I copy and paste the new chunk of words into the most recent spreadsheet.Then, finally, I upload it to flashcards deluxe.
All of this has to be done with some concentration. It’s easy to blow the whole thing up with some error or another. Today I added 350 cards.
This could be simple, if you would just set up a feature which allowed direct export of the list to a two-column csv file or whatever. One could then just cut and paste it to flashcards deluxe or whatever other software the user wants to use. There’s no reason why the user’s entire list can’t be exported into one file from your software, in a format which is readily usable by flashcard software. It would be make it a 3-1/2 minute chore to get the entire new list into the flash cards program.
The core design of the software is so good that it’s attractive to keep coming back. But while I’m running through the drill of exporting the cards, it’s frustrating because I know in the back of my mind that I’m having to this simply because whoever decides these things, presumably Steve, is for some reason intentionally leaving this barrier in the software, in order to prevent people from easily exporting the cards. That’s the only explanation I can think of. Sort of a my-way-or-the-highway approach to the method of study. It’s unfortunate that this type of difficulty detracts from the genius of the core design.
I’ll bet that a significant portion of the students on your system just want to create a list, and don’t want to use the spaced repetition business. The lingqs approach seems to be to intentionally limit the options of the user.
Maybe some day you’ll sell your system to Simon and Schuster, so they can market it as part of their Pimsleur system or something. I’m sure you’d make a fortune. I’m also sure also that the Simon and Schusters of this world would not waste any time adding these simple features to make it easy for the use to use the software in whatever way he or she desires.
I’ll keep struggling with this, but it really leaves the user - at least this user - with a bad feeling to know that such an easy fix isn’t being provided. This issue has very much slowed down my progress, because I use the software only in fits and starts, because it’s such a frustrating process. It cuts into the goodwill the user feels about the system.
There are other issues with respect to which I see problems, such as the relatively limited functionality of your iphone app. But that’s of lesser importance, and I’m taking up all the space in this forum. So I’ll sign off.
Thank you.
DS