Immersion/translation

[judithscott]

I like the way you have set up the review and practice lessons and reminders that certain aspects need review. Not so sure I like the approach to translations that now seem to be grouped under Immersion. From what I see in my session today I am only allowed to edit somebody else's efforts and do not get a crack at it first myself. And no more translations attached to specific units? Why did you make this change?

[judithscott]

I found the same thing as you petro626. I am going to miss the challenge and pleasure of crafting a translation myself. At some point will somebody on staff pick the final "correct" version and will those of us who have contributed be told?

[lynxlynxlynx]

This challenge has not disappeared with the new system, they just need to add new documents ready for translation.

[spetro626]

I'm not thrilled about the changes to immersion either. I find myself correcting someone's mistranslation, only to find they are in turn un-correcting my correction. The previous format of posting a "best" translation was flawed, but this system offers less of a opprtunity to learn if no sort of final judgment is offered.
I also find that the box for entering my translation often does not fit on my computer screen, causing me to spend a great deal of time scrolling to find it.

[Anglea]

I gave it a few goes, but the joy has gone out of it for me. And with no requirement to do any translation to complete the lessons I probably won't be bothering any more.

[judithscott]

I agree it has taken a lot of the pleasure away for me too. Can we ask to have some translations put back in for lesson completion? I have enjoyed duolingo very much for the past 18 months and usually the changes made have been an improvement, so I will keep hoping and revisiting for a while yet. Meanwhile I am going to try Newsinslowspanish website again.

[Oregonviolinist]

I have found that the translations have a smaller average of errors in the final version than before. I have always thought that the previous system was flawed, so now I am pleased to find a better solution, all though I agree that it is not perfect either.

[alfonsofernan]

Note that the fact that the final translations are better does not mean that this system is better for learning; in the old system, several people had to translate the same sentence before the best option was picked, and the result was patchy because they were uncoordinated.

Now, it's likely that one person will write a correct, perhaps poorly worded translation, and the others only get to do some English editing and refining, which involves the foreign language to a lesser extent, sometimes even not at all.

[Anglea]

"one person will write a correct, perhaps poorly worded translation, and the others only get to do some English editing and refining, which involves the foreign language to a lesser extent, sometimes even not at all."

• yes, my (limited) experience with this new system involved correcting poor use of English rather than any translation.

[judithscott]

My experience too Alfonsofernan and Anglea. Corrections of punctuation and style are not helping me to improve my knowledge of the second language.

[judithscott]

Ok Thanks for the thought. I will try it some more. I did just have a better personal experience when I managed to find an article that had not yet been translated by any one else yet. I still wish we could again have some translations as part of the lesson completion process.