Errors in Type what you hear exercises

Community-Created Courses Other European Languages
1

From Unit 6 onward in Beginner: Spoken Irish 01-20 I am getting multiple errors in Type what you hear exercises. The audio is in Irish but when I type in Irish I discover that instead of following the instruction and typing what I hear I am expected to type the English translation for what I have heard. The problem is that it only happens sometimes. So sometimes I am expected to type what I have heard in Irish, but other times, with no indication given, I am expected to type the English translation. This is a very serious defect. Of course at other times it is clearly indicated that I am expected to write the English translation. Why not use that instruction in all cases when we’re expected to write the English translation??? It’s crazy!

2

Hi @BlackTau,

Thanks for reaching out! I’ve had a look at this course and can definitely see how it is confusing for the user. I’ve now flagged this to our web team as a point of improvement on Listening Skills.

Unfortunately, it’s a little trickier than other courses as I can see that the creator has set different testing directions per level. From what I can see, however, all audio test levels are testing your English.

I hope this helps for now.

Kind regards,
Memrise team

4 Likes
3

Hi, Thanks for paying attention to this problem.
I would just like to clarify what exactly the problem is:

  1. Lots of the exercises are based on a “Type what you hear” instruction. This is perfectly normal. The exercise consists in listening to a short phrase in audio and then typing in what you have just heard. In this case, starting in Bunús Cainte:01-20, the audio is in Irish and the student (me) assumes that I have to write down in Irish the phrase I have just heard.
  2. However, when I write down in Irish the phrase I have just heard, the system marks it in red as incorrect and leads me to a new screen where I discover that I should have typed the phrase in English and not in Irish. Remember the original instruction was “Type what you hear”.
  3. Then it becomes very complicated, because after that and continuing on into the units following when I get the instruction “Type what you hear”, it turns out that I am sometimes expected to type the phrase in Irish, which is what seems normal, but at other times I am expected to write the English translation. So, I have to guess whether I am expected to write in Irish or in English and I only have a 50% chance either way, apart from finding it extremely irritating .
  4. I repeat that the problems arise exclusively from Unit 6 onward and exclusively with the specific instruction “Type what you hear”. Everything else, in so far as I have observed, works perfectly.
    For the moment I will stop using this course, so I hope the issue can be solved as soon as possible. It’s a useful course for people trying to learn Irish like me. I realize it may be complicated but it may be worth the effort.

John Tynan (Black Tau)

4

It seems this problem has now been corrected. Thanks for the speed and efficiency. I like this course a lot, so it’s now a very good course to follow.

5

Hi,
I’m back again. I’ve now progressed to Level 12 in Buntús Cainte 01-20, and unfortunately I find exactly the same defect as I found previously, i.e. the “Type what you hear” exercises for audio in Irish the system requires an answer in English, rather than in Irish as one would expect. As I told you previously, this defect occurs at this particular level but not in surrounding levels. Again there is no consistency, so it’s like a lottery, as a student I can try in English or in Irish but have no idea beforehand which is required.
I report this to you, so that the course may be improved and these defects eliminated. I realize it may be difficult to change things. I notice too that this particular defect is happening in the levels which are specifically marked in this course as AudioTest levels, i.e. they are audio tests on preceding levels. So, if somebody is revising this defect, they will probably find it also in levels 18 and 24, which are also Audio Test levels, though I have not yet arrived at these levels so I am simply making an unconfirmed observation.
Thank you for your attention. I hope it will be possible at some stage to get this defect corrected, as otherwise I find the course very helpful.

BlackTau John Tynan

6

I’ve just encountered the exact same problem. It is incredibly frustrating.