Working On A New Thai Typing Tutor

[jamiesensei]

Thanks Softwater. Am downloading it now and going to take a look. I read about the spaced repetition that Anki does. That sounds pretty useful!

We can use my web site to share anki decks if that would be helpful. I can set up an upload area.

[SoftWater]

Thanks Softwater. Am downloading it now and going to take a look. I read about the spaced repetition that Anki does. That sounds pretty useful!

We can use my web site to share anki decks if that would be helpful. I can set up an upload area.

OK, here’s how to get Anki to let you type in your answers:

Once you’ve downloaded Anki and set it running, open or start a new deck. Go to Settings → deck properties.

In the dialog box that appears, click the Edit button under the Models box.

In the dialog box that appears, click the Card Templates tab at the top.

In the dialog box that appears, you will see an Options drop down menu near to the bottom.

The default is ‘Don’t ask me to type in the answer’. Change this to ‘Compare with ‘back’ if you want to be prompted to type in the answer that appears on the reverse of the flash card when you are shown the front, or change to ‘compare with front’ if you want to be prompted to type in the ‘front’ when you see the ‘back’.

(All this assumes you've set up forward/reverse cards for each entry first - see the documentation on the website for how to set up your cards and the options available.)

Edited August 17, 2009 by SoftWater

[desi]

While you are at it, check out BYKI's free download for Thai. The games, quizzes, etc, are more involved than what Anki has. If you upgrade (it's not expensive and usually on sale) you can use your own sound files and vocab. You can even record to compare what the pronunciation should be.

Note: The Thai vocab that comes with Byki is not 100% perfect...

[Gaccha]

Also, can you adapt it to make it into a sentence practice typing tutor-- a la 'Mavis Beacon' style? At the moment, the options are dire.

The answer to this - and those that want to use Jamie's sw offline - is to get the free ANKI software that Kokesaat mentioned in another post (OK, i'll go get the link in a second).

No, I am afraid that is not the answer. 'Mavis Beacon' focuses on developing a rapid typing speed, not on learning the words or learning how to spell words. The purpose would be to be able to type on a Thai keyboard at full speed. There are no options for this, which is why I would love Jamie to alter his software to do this. I am very aware of Anki, although I prefer some of the competitor's software. So please Jamie...

[SoftWater]

Also, can you adapt it to make it into a sentence practice typing tutor-- a la 'Mavis Beacon' style? At the moment, the options are dire.

The answer to this - and those that want to use Jamie's sw offline - is to get the free ANKI software that Kokesaat mentioned in another post (OK, i'll go get the link in a second).

No, I am afraid that is not the answer. 'Mavis Beacon' focuses on developing a rapid typing speed, not on learning the words or learning how to spell words. The purpose would be to be able to type on a Thai keyboard at full speed. There are no options for this, which is why I would love Jamie to alter his software to do this. I am very aware of Anki, although I prefer some of the competitor's software. So please Jamie...

OK, misunderstood your need, nor am I familiar with 'Mavis Beacon'. If it's any help, the way I learned to touch type in "qwerty" was with a typing tutor that gave me repetitive lines to type while always returning your fingers to the 'start position (asdf for the left hand, jkl; for the right hand. ) so you would get a whole load of lines like "t t t t" to copy, but you had to return to start between each stroke. It went through all the letters individually then increased in complexity with combinations. Dull, but very effective. You could easily set up anki to do the same think with Thai and every time you hit 'return' you see exactly which ones you miskeyed because the way it works is actually just to highlight keying differences between the input and answer card.

(BTW, I'm nothing to do with anki, in case you're wondering! I just happened to have discovered it and find it extremely adaptable, and also free, which I particularly like ).

Edited August 17, 2009 by SoftWater

[jamiesensei]

I created an anki 'shared deck' of cards with the Most Used 101 Thai words as on my web site. You can access it by clicking on Download in the file menu of Anki and then clicking on Shared Deck and it should be at the bottom of the list there. The deck includes mp3 files of the pronunciation. It drills you on tone of the word and English meaning and spelling. Have not worked out how to order the words and would really like to repeat each word several times. I guess if I continue reviewing and don't hit the 'learn more button' then I will continue to get the same cards and not any new ones. Still not familiar with the software but that sounds right?? :-)

[SoftWater]

I created an anki 'shared deck' of cards with the Most Used 101 Thai words as on my web site. You can access it by clicking on Download in the file menu of Anki and then clicking on Shared Deck and it should be at the bottom of the list there. The deck includes mp3 files of the pronunciation. It drills you on tone of the word and English meaning and spelling. Have not worked out how to order the words and would really like to repeat each word several times. I guess if I continue reviewing and don't hit the 'learn more button' then I will continue to get the same cards and not any new ones. Still not familiar with the software but that sounds right?? :-)

Yeah, that's one way to do it. Another is to generate duplicate cards, tho' I think you have to uncheck an option somewhere that prevents duplicate cards by default (or maybe, it just warns you when you make a duplicate, but you can ignore the warning - sorry, can't quite remember off the top of my head! - there's also an option I think in Study Options that lets you decide whether to see the cards in the order created or randomly (so I guess you'd want to have them in order created?).

By the way, Jamie, thanks a million for this; i'll download your deck tomorrow - its past my bedtime!

All the best

Sw

[SoftWater]

Hi jamie, the deck downloads, but i've got no sound. Looking at the cards, there's a reference in each to the sound fie, but I'm taking a guess that the mp3s aren't actually in the deck, as the size of the file for the whole deck is only 716kb.)

Can you upload again? Or am I doing something wrong?

[jamiesensei]

Hi,

The size is right and I checked and the mp3s are definitely included in the packaged anki deck that I uploaded. The deck seems to work for me ok. Maybe ANKI is not using the sound files for some reason, is this a bug in ANKI??

Have a fiddle with it some more and see if you can get it working.

If not send me an email to [email protected] and I'll send you or anyone else the packaged file that includes the mp3 as a possible interim solution. Maybe if you import that manually rather than downloading it then it will work for you. Or else you can possibly unzip the file and install the mp3s in the right place - see the file import documentation for more info on this.

Jamie

[desi]

I downloaded and it's working fine (some of the fonts are wonky is all). It could be the Anki version, or just a glitch. So maybe either download the latest Anki (btw - I'm not using the latest) or delete the deck and reload again?

[SoftWater]

I downloaded and it's working fine (some of the fonts are wonky is all). It could be the Anki version, or just a glitch. So maybe either download the latest Anki (btw - I'm not using the latest) or delete the deck and reload again?

Thanks guys, in case there's anyone else out there like me, I finally found the source of the problem:

Anki does not support audio for Mac earlier than OS 10.4

[desi]

Anki does not support audio for Mac earlier than OS 10.4

Oh dear. Can you download BYKI and see if that'll work on your Mac?

[SoftWater]

Anki does not support audio for Mac earlier than OS 10.4

Oh dear. Can you download BYKI and see if that'll work on your Mac?

Thanks for the suggestion. Hmm...BYKI web page says it'll work with mac 10.3.9 (my version), but the BYKI downloader quits with the error msg 'system does not meet minimum requirements' so I guess not. Anyway, I've got a load of decks I want to create for Anki that don't need sound, and when they're done...I guess I'll have to brace for the impact of buying a new machine as this incompatibility problem is starting to occur far too often.

Edited August 19, 2009 by SoftWater

[desi]

Thanks for the suggestion. Hmm...BYKI web page says it'll work with mac 10.3.9 (my version), but the BYKI downloader quits with the error msg 'system does not meet minimum requirements' so I guess not. Anyway, I've got a load of decks I want to create for Anki that don't need sound, and when they're done...I guess I'll have to brace for the impact of buying a new machine as this incompatibility problem is starting to occur far too often.

Good luck on that (perhaps contact Byki, or even try a different browser?)

I so know the frustration of having to upgrade. I seriously dislike getting a new computer, so I wait as long as possible (until I can't run all the new software out there). I was forced to get a new MacBook Pro just this weekend and I'm STILL transferring files, passwords, and settings over. I realise that Macs have auto-transfer, but I want to start fresh.

[Baannok]

No sound for me either. Running Vista Home Premium.

[SoftWater]

No sound for me either. Running Vista Home Premium.

Having got a new mac, I can now hear the sound files. Just wanted to say big thanks for this Jamie - the speaker and quality are crystal clear. A good resource.

[desi]

Having got a new mac...

Congrats!

(btw - if the drunken trackpad drives you crazy, check out the settings in System Prefs)

[russc1964]

Just seen this Jamie and it's excellent, nice one