FAQ Vocabulary Trainer

The following things are new:

• Completely new design - the frog Ponsi is now your learning companion
• You will be rewarded for your training! You collect points and can compare yourself with other users. Also, Ponsi will get a lot of flies.
• New exercises such as Hangman
• New mode for targeted preparation for a test at school
• Instead of learning progress from 1-5, there is now our 7-stage plan for more effective learning
• The app will now remind you of the training and report your progress
• Fast and automatic data backup on the server

But a many things have proven their worth and will therefore continue to exist:

• Free and ad-free basic version of the app
• Supports over 20 languages
• Organization of vocabulary in lessons
• Lessons can be purchased or created by yourself
• Import of vocabulary from the dictionary or an Excel file
• Exercises such as scratch card, matchmaker, and alphabet soup
• The "vocabulary test" and the flashcard mode are still available, but both can now be used alternatively
• Study groups to share lessons
• Learning on multiple devices

Just use your PONS user account. If you don’t have a user account yet, you can register using a username and password selected by yourself. Please use a valid email address in order that your password can be sent to you if you forget it at a later date.  You can get started as soon as you have activated your user account, then its practise, practise, practise …!

You can add new words either by hand or take words over directly from the PONS Online Dictionary - just tap the "+" in the vocabulary view of a lesson.

If you use the dictionary, it works like this: tap on the plus icon (+) in your dictionary following the translation and then on ‘Reserve for the Vocabulary Trainer’. The word is then saved in a list with other words from the dictionary that have already been collected. The words can then all be imported at once into the Vocabulary Trainer, you have to select the language and the target unit. If you have not yet set up any units in the language, the entries will be saved in the standard unit ‘My words’.

You can also import words in an Excel or CSV format. This option ‘add new unit from own file’ can be found ‘add unit’. Add the title of the new unit and select the file format for the new words. There is an example to show you the necessary format for the table. You can check the words before you import them. It is very important before you import the words that the columns in the table for your words, their translations and any other information are named using the menu.

We have divided the vocabulary training into 3 steps.

1. Memorize - here you memorize new vocabulary using flashcards or scratch cards.

2. Practice - here you practice your vocabulary with various exercises that become more and more difficult.

• Multiple choice: choose the right answer from three options
• Matchmaker: match the vocabulary to the correct translation
• Listen!: listen to the vocabulary and write down the translation.
• Hangman: type the correct letters in the correct order. Warning: you can only make 5 mistakes!
• Alphabet soup: type in the translation using all the letters of the word to help you.

3. Test - here you test your knowledge using flashcards or the writing test.

Each vocabulary goes through 6 stages before it reaches stage 7 and thus your long-term memory. So you repeat your vocabulary systematically over a longer period of time. Whenever you were able to translate the vocabulary correctly in a test (not in the exercises), it goes to the next higher stage and then waits for the next test for a few days. The time interval increases at each stage according to a special, scientifically based formula. The app will let you know as soon as vocabulary for the next level is available. On the home screen you get a clear display of how much vocabulary you have at which level and can then train it in a targeted manner.

Here are the time intervals:

Vocabulary is at level 1 and can be taken to level 2 on the same day by testing.

Vocabulary is at level 2 and can be taken to level 3 after 1 day by testing.

Vocabulary is at level 3 and can be taken to level 4 after 3 days by testing.

Vocabulary is at level 4 and can be taken to level 5 after 8 days by testing.

Vocabulary is at level 5 and can be taken to level 6 after 1 month by testing.

Vocabulary is at level 6 and can be taken to level 7 after 3 months by testing.

Study groups consist of several trainer users and share at least one vocabulary section. This way, for example, a teacher can share vocabulary with the class or you can learn together with your friends on the same vocabulary, which only needs to be saved once and not by everyone separately.

Please note that only lessons you have created yourself may be shared and not purchased ones.

Can't hear anything? Please check the volume settings for media playback.

A certain language does not work? The audio language packs are downloaded in the background if they are not already present. Please just start the audio function again or restart the app completely, then the audio pronunciation will work.

If that doesn't help, you have to install the language data manually.

This is how you download a new language on your iPhone:
Settings - Accessibility - Spoken content - Voices - Select and download language.
Then please restart the Trainer app.

To download a new language on your Android phone:
Settings - General - Text-to-speech - Settings of the selected service (in this case Speech Services by Google) - Install voice data - Select and download language.
Please then restart the Trainer app.