Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Word Dolphin 1.5.7

 What new:

• Android 10 - 11 support.

• Light and dark themes

• Open your dictionaries (wdi-files) with file managers, mail, etc

👆Before Android 10 Word Dolphin saves and searches dictionaries in the device's storage. Since Android 10 applications have lost access to storage. Watch this video on how to save and load your dictionaries on Android 10 and above.

 Try new features for free today 😀

 


 

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Курс "Базова англійська"

Власне, кілька місяців роботи на пару з Tetiana Kazarian і ось перший результат — курс "Базова англійська". Ви можете проходити його на YouTube, або на телефоні, чи планшеті за допомогою спеціального додатку. Власне, цей додаток і робить курс ефективним оскільки поєднує функції підручника і надає елементи комунікації.





Я рекомендую спочатку продивитися весь урок, вивчити незнайомі слова, а потім увімкнути вправи та пройти урок ще раз. Курс розроблено таким чином, щоб дати необхідний граматичний та лексичний мінімум. Ми усвідомлюємо, що ми всі зайняті люди, тому зробили уроки короткими настільки, наскільки це було можливо.
І пару слів про додаток. Він дуже новий, тому можливі деякі глюки, але, в цілому, працює непогано. Втім, є два моменти:
• – для розпізнавання вашої вимови використовуються сервіси Google. Якщо вони не зовсім коректно розпізнають вашу вимову, просто виправте результат у полі для відповіді. Крім того, дуже рекомендуємо ПИСАТИ речення. Це дуже дієва практика вивчення будь-якої мови;
• – автоматичне перемикання програвача відео з портретної у альбомну орієнтацію поки що не працює. Щоб перемкнутися, натисніть ▭ або ▯.
Приємного навчання.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Hidden Pitfalls of Word Learning: How to Learn Them.

Introduction

Hi there! You're probably learning a language, right? Well, I have something to say about that, because I’m explaining it to you in English, which is not my native language. Learning a language was so challenging for me that, after reflecting on my difficulties, I ended up creating an app to make vocabulary learning easier. But more on that later. For now, I'd like to share my approach to learning words. It works for me, and I hope it will help you too.

What do you think is most important when learning a language?

  • grammar that explains how to build sentences,
  • increasing your vocabulary,
  • or perhaps practicing with native speakers?
All of that matters — but there’s one essential condition: MOTIVATION. Some people love learning languages, and that’s motivation enough. But what about the rest of us? They're not excited about it, so they only start learning when they really need to. Maybe they need to travel, deliver an important speech, or communicate with someone who doesn't speak their language. In short, WHEN YOU REALLY GOTTA HAVE IT — that's when learning begins. Without motivation, there’s no progress.

So, you have enough motivation to study. Maybe you're working with a teacher, a textbook, or an online course. That means you’re learning the rules that help build sentences — grammar. Along with grammar, you’re also picking up new words — maybe from your teacher, your study materials, or something you’ve just seen and want to remember. And that’s exactly what we’ll focus on: memorizing words.

Here are the key principles:

  • TWO DIRECTIONS. Learn words in both directions: Foreign Word ➡ Native Word and Native Word ➡ Foreign Word.
    If you only learn FOREIGN ➡ NATIVE, you’ll understand what others say, but struggle to reply. You’ll find it hard to recall the foreign word quickly. And if you only learn NATIVE ➡ FOREIGN, you’ll have trouble understanding what’s said to you.
     
  • LISTEN AND REPEAT. You should hear how NATIVE SPEAKERS pronounce a word and try to imitate them.
  • WRITE. Writing helps you remember and recognize words in texts. But don’t write them by hand! Almost all texts you read are in printed letters, and you simply won’t recognize a familiar word in print! Learn the printed form.
  • REVIEW REGULARLY. Words are easy to forget. You might learn some today and forget half tomorrow. Without repetition, you’ll forget most of them within two weeks. A good teacher will reuse learned words to help you retain them. But the more you’ve learned, the harder it gets to keep them all in memory — unless you keep using them.

Most importantly, learn DAILY. You need to build a habit. It takes about 40 days to form a habit. That’s not something I made up — it’s how our brains work. To get through those 40 days, you need motivation. Once the habit is set, remembering words gets easier. But be prepared: some days you won’t be able to learn even two new words. That’s okay! Don’t force it — just review what you’ve already learned. And don’t get discouraged if you can’t remember many words at once. With consistent effort, your vocabulary will grow.

To make memorizing easier, I created an app called Word Dolphin. If you have the motivation to study daily, Word Dolphin will help you remember and not forget new words.

Motivation to create Word Dolphin

When learning new words, it's usually recommended to write them down in a notebook and learn. It is not the only approach, but it is the most widespread. It actually works quite well, especially for a small number of words. But if the learning process is continuous, you may have some problems:
  • Quick forgetting. Words you've already learned are quickly forgotten, so you have to create a review schedule constantly.
  • Varying memorization difficulty. Not all words are easily memorized, so some need extra attention and more frequent repetition.
  • Pronunciation issues. Transcription only gives you an idea of how a word sounds. For correct pronunciation, it's best to hear a native speaker.
  • Inconvenience of paper notebooks. The notebook format isn't ideal for learning words or for adding comments or usage examples. Of course, no one forbids you from writing new things between the lines, but too much extra text in front of your eyes hinders memorization.
  • Recognizing printed text. If you learn words written by hand, it's hard to recognize them in printed form.
  • Finding words. After you've written down several hundred words, quickly finding the one you need becomes difficult.
  • Inconvenient learning order. Adding words to a notebook forces you to learn them in the order they were added. That's inconvenient when you need to learn just a few words quickly.
  • Lack of a notebook at hand and duplication. Your notebook often isn't around when a new word appears that you want to write down. What's more, recorded words can be duplicated. This happens when you've written down a new word but haven't learned it yet, and then you come across it again.
  • Loss and damage. A notebook with words often gets lost or forgotten somewhere, and in the end, it just falls apart.
  • Cluttering the vocabulary. Editing clutters your notes, making learning harder.
When I began searching for a program that would address these drawbacks, I couldn't find what I wanted: some apps were quite complicated (especially for children); others worked slowly or only supported one language. So, I decided to write Word Dolphin, an app that would be free of these problems. I put a lot of effort into making the app fast and as simple as possible. I hope it worked out and you'll like Word Dolphin.

Word Dolphin compared to regular dictionaries

Word Dolphin doesn’t aim to compete with regular dictionaries. Its purpose is to store new words, help you learn them, and prevent you from forgetting them.

Organizing the learning process

Language learning encompasses several key components: constructing and understanding sentences, expanding vocabulary, refining pronunciation, and honing communication skills. To communicate at a basic level, you need to know about 3,000 words. For everyday communication, you’ll need 7,000–9,000 words. Where can you find these words?
  • Search online. Look for phrases like "1000 most common words."
  • Read in the target language. Start reading in the language you’re learning. It’s best to choose texts on topics you’re familiar with. This way, in addition to the most common words, you’ll get examples of real, living language.
After you have found the unknown word, add it to Word Dolphin and decide on its translation because there can be many meanings. However, you should learn the three or four commonly used meanings. The optimal quantity is two or three, as more will be difficult to remember. For many languages, Google or Microsoft Translate provides commonly used meanings, pronunciation samples, and more.
After adding unfamiliar words and their translations, you can start memorizing them.
  • Start with a few words, such as five, and gradually increase the number of words. The main rule is that there should be just enough words for you to memorize them easily.
  • Always listen to the pronunciation and try to repeat it.
  • Writing (typing) greatly helps with memorizing words.
Word Dolphin offers many features. You can add a word by copying it to the clipboard or using the “Share” function. You can learn it in both directions, practice writing, and work on pronunciation. If a machine can recognize your pronunciation, a person will understand it too!

Reinforcing knowledge

Reinforcing knowledge is essential because learned words are quickly forgotten without practice.
  • First, review recently learned words, then the rest.
  • Word Dolphin tracks your skills and creates a personalized repetition list based on them.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Privacy Policy

At Word Dolphin team we recognize that privacy is significant. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) applies to your use of the applications on all platforms (the “Application” or “Applications”), the related services we provide (“Services”) and the Site.
Word Dolphin team ( “us” or “we”) has created this Policy to explain our privacy practices so that you will understand what information about you is collected, used and disclosed with respect to the Applications, the Services and the Site.
By using Application, the Services or the Site, you consent to the privacy practices described in this Policy. This Policy covers our collection, use and disclosure of your information through the Applications, the Services and the Site. It does not cover any collection, use or disclosure by third parties through any applications, Web sites, products or services that we do not control or own, such as Facebook, or any third party features or services made available via an Application, the Services or the Site. All trademarks, trade names and logos of third parties featured on the Applications or the Site belong to their respective owners.

A. WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT
a. Personal Information. We do not collect Personal Information. “Personal Information” is information that identifies you or another person, which may be transmitted or received when you use an Application, the Services and/or the Site. Personal Information includes your geographic location information, names, physical addresses, email addresses, telephone, fax, SSN, information stored within your Device and other information you transmit or receive using an Application, the Service and/ or the Site which identify you or another person.
b. Non-personal identification. We may collect non-personal identification information about Users whenever they interact with our apps. Non-personal identification information may include the type of your phone and technical information about Users means of connection to our apps, such as the versions of phone model and other similar information.
  1. Session and Usage Data. “Session and Usage Data” is information about your use of an Application, the Services and/or the Site and includes, without limitation, connection and service-related data submitted to us through your use of an Application, the Services or the Site. Session and Usage Data includes information relating to the connection request, server communication and data sharing, including network measurements, quality of service, and date, time and location of the bump. We also may aggregate Session and Usage data as described in Aggregate Information below. Please note that Session and Usage Data does not include any Personal Information nor does it include Content you may transmit or share through the use of an Application (such as photos, contacts, calendar appointments, etc.), the Services, or the Site. 
  2. Log Data. When you interact with us or use an Application, the Services or our Site, our systems may automatically collect your unique User Device number, the IP address, type of browser or operating system you use, and the dates and times of your use (“Log Data”). 
  3. Aggregate Information. “Aggregate Information” is data we collect about a group or category of services or Users from which individual User identities have been removed. In other words, information on how you use the Applications, the Services and the Site may be collected and combined with information about how others use the Applications, the Services and the Site, but no personally identifiable information will be included in the resulting Aggregate Information. Aggregate Information helps us understand trends in our Users’ needs so that we can better consider new features or otherwise tailor the Applications, the Services and the Site.

B. HOW WE USE COLLECTED INFORMATION
a. Personal Information- since we do not collect Personal Information, we may not use your personal information in any way. b. Non- Personal Information. We may use Non-Personal Information for any purpose as below:
  1. To personalize user experience- We may use your Non- Personal Information to understand demographics, customer interest, and other trends among our Users;
  2.  To help develop our service- We may use Non- Personal Information to provide, maintain, improve and modify the Applications, Services and the Site and develop new services;
  3. To further develop Word Dolphin team business. We may use Non- Personal Information for promotion and marketing purposes.

C. HOW YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE DISCLOSED
a. Personal Information. In general, we use Session and Usage Data internally to serve our Users and enable them to take maximum advantage of the Applications, the Services and the Site. We do not store Personal Information and therefore we do not disclose your Personal Information.
b. Non-Personal Information. We may disclose Non-Personal Information to our trusted partners who shall comply with this privacy policy and the relevant privacy laws. We do not combine Non-Personal Information with Personal Information (such as combining your name with your unique User Device number).

D. THIRD- PARTY SITES
We may provide links to third-party Websites, such as Facebook, as a service to our Users. The Site may also carry advertisements from other companies. When you click on links to third parties in an Application, the Services or the Site, you may leave the Application, the Services or the Site. We do not collect your information on and through and This Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy practices of Web sites operated by third parties, whether they are linked to or otherwise accessible from an Application, the Services or the Site. The inclusion of a link or accessibility of third party Websites does not imply endorsement of such third party Website by us.

E. USERS WITH WHOM YOU SHARE YOUR INFORMATION
We cannot control the actions of other Users with whom you share your information. We cannot, and do not, control the information you share with other Users using an Application, the Services or the Site (including via Forums) or how such other Users will use or share such information. We are not responsible for third party circumvention of our security measures.

F. SECURITY
We are very concerned about safeguarding the confidentiality of your information. We do not collect Personal Information, and we employ administrative, physical and electronic measures designed to protect your Non-Personal Information from unauthorized access and use. Please be aware that no security measures that we take to protect your information are absolutely guaranteed to avoid unauthorized access or use of your Non-Personal Information which is impenetrable.

G. INTERNATIONAL USERS
Your Personal Information may be stored and processed in any country where we have facilities, and by using an Application, the Services or the Site you consent to the transfer of your Personal Information to countries, including the United States, which may be outside of your country of residence and may provide for different and less stringent data protection rules than in your country. If you object to your Personal Information being transferred or used as described in this Policy, please do not use any Application, the Services or the Site and immediately delete all Applications from your User Devices.

H. SENSITIVE INFORMATION
We ask that you not send us, and you not disclose, any sensitive Personal Information (e.g., information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, sexual orientation, criminal background or membership in past organizations, including trade union memberships) on or through an Application, the Services or the Site or otherwise to us.

I. CONTACTING US / REPORTING VIOLATIONS
If you have any questions or comments about this Policy or our privacy practices, or to report any violations of the Policy or abuse of an Application, the Services or the Site, please contact us at michael.kazarian@gmail.com

J. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify or otherwise alter this Policy at any time. If you do not agree to any modifications to this Policy, your sole recourse is to immediately stop all use of all Applications, the Services and the Site. Your continued use of any Application, the Services or the Site following the posting of any modifications to this Policy will constitute your acceptance of the revised Policy. Please note that none of our employees or agents has the authority to vary any of our Policies.