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

Use your pons.com user account on pons.com under Sign in. If you don’t have a user account, 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 (under ‘add new words’ in the ‘manage words’ menu) or take words over directly from the PONS Online Dictionary.

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.

The PONS Vocabulary Trainer app is available for smartphones for two operating systems:

• iOS: is used by Apple smartphones and tablets. For example, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch.
• Android: is used by smartphone companies such as Samsung, LG, Xiaomi or Sony.