Reviewing Guide

Reviewing Fluenough decks

Mirrors docs/REVIEWING.md in the repo, which tools read.

Thank you for considering this. You do not need to know anything about programming. You need an Android phone with the Fluenough app and a mail app, and for each course you review, such as Bengali from English, you must know both languages well, the one taught and the one it is taught from, and read both their scripts.

What reviewing is

Fluenough teaches languages from decks of cards: a word, how it is read, what it means, examples. Many decks were written without a native speaker and are marked "unreviewed" in the app. You are the check. You tell us which cards are right, which are wrong and what they should say, and how rude a word really sounds to native speakers. A review by a native speaker is the most useful thing anyone can give these decks.

Your code and languages

1. Open Settings > Reviewing and turn on Review decks.
2. The app asks first, then makes your rater code on your phone, like FL-XXXX-XXXX-C. Nothing is sent when you turn reviewing on. You can copy the code from Settings.
3. How reviewing works then walks you through this guide once, one step per screen. Skip it whenever you like, and read it again any time from How reviewing works in Settings.
4. Under Languages you review, tick the courses you review, such as Bengali from English. Every course the app offers is listed, downloaded or not. You can tick a course only if you know both languages and read both scripts; the others are greyed, with the reason. Say which languages you know, and whether you read each one's script, in Languages you know (the button on the same screen opens it). Until you have said which scripts you read, no course can be ticked.
5. A course whose decks are not on your phone asks to download them. They are for reviewing only: the language is not added to the languages you learn, and stays out of Today, the language bar and your lessons. Each course on your phone shows its size, whether an update is waiting, Update and Remove.

You can turn reviewing off whenever you like. Your code is kept.

What "To review" shows

• Units on the learning path are marked To review when their deck is not yet signed off by a native speaker, in your languages.
• Waiting for review in Settings has three parts. Reviewed, not sent opens your cards and suggestions, by deck. Reviewed and sent opens each suggestion's state: Accepted, Rejected or Waiting for a second review, with a count such as "1 more acceptance needed" and never a rater code. Then each language you review, folded until you tap it, with the decks and cards left to check in its header; unfolded, it lists the units and decks still waiting, the offensive words not yet rated and the sound-alike pairs not yet confirmed. What you unfold is remembered.

Check cards, then sign off

Open a unit and tap Review. Mark each card that is right (Looks right).

Where a base word changes its stem in the card's form, such as Telugu రావడం (rāvaḍam), "to come", in వచ్చింది (vaccindi), "she came", the notes should say so. If they don't, suggest a change to the notes.

When every card is checked, Sign off becomes available. It says you checked the whole unit.

Suggest, and answer proposals

• Suggest a change. If something is wrong, tap the card, choose Suggest a change, tap the pencil on a part (word, reading, IPA, meaning, notes), write your version and say why. Edit as many parts as you like, then tap the tick to save them all. A card keeps one suggestion of yours per part.
• Base words. Each base word has its own box. Its pencil changes the base's form, reading and meaning; its delete button removes it, with Undo until you tap the tick. Add a base adds one for a word of the card that has none. When the base's form is the word of another card, you can link that card instead. Each base change has its own why.
• A new word. You may replace a card's word with a better or more common one. The card keeps its id and its meaning, so learners keep their progress. The sheet then lists what hung on the old word: Replace the bases removes the old bases and opens one for the new word, the old word stays an accepted answer unless you untick it, and the notes and example are marked Check. All of it is sent as one review, and goes into the deck together once the new word is agreed.
• Others' proposals. Suggestions from other reviewers of your language show on the card with Accept, Edit and Reject. Accept it as written, Edit it into your own proposal, or Reject it. A rejection does not stop a change by itself; it tells the Fluenough team.

Offensive words and sound-alikes

• Offensive words (18+). These are never in a unit's ordinary review. Each language has its own Offensive words review, under Waiting for review, which you open only if you choose to. Before showing any word it explains why they are in the app: some are deeply offensive, some mild, some fine between friends; learners should understand abuse, not use it without knowing; and a word's strength differs across languages and cultures. Then it asks if you are 18 or over, each time. Rate how offensive a word is to native speakers in general, from 1 to 9, not how it feels to you, and say where you speak the language.
• Sound-alike checks. A word may sound or look like a rude one. These pairs are checked in the same Offensive words review: confirm or reject each, and for a confirmed pair write a short care note (at most 40 letters) that learners will see.

Send several decks in one mail

Reviews stay on your phone until you send them. You can review several decks and send them together in one mail: tap Send review, leave the decks you want ticked, and your mail app opens with Fluenough's address and one file per deck ready. Read the mail and send it yourself.

• Do not change the mail's subject or the files. The files carry your code, language and deck, and the team reads those. Please send without editing them.
• Send from the same mail address each time. Your first mail ties your code to that address. A later mail from another address is flagged for the team to check. If you change address, say so in the mail.
• The phone cannot tell whether you pressed send. If the mail did not go, use Send the last mail again in Settings.

What is public, what is private

Public:

• your rater code;
• the languages you reviewed (the public issue list shows code and languages);
• your suggestions in the decks, which are public, with your code.

Private: your mail address. It is never written to the public issues.

How changes reach learners

• Your suggestions are put into the decks as proposed changes soon after your mail arrives, for other reviewers of the language to see. Learners never see a proposal.
• When enough other reviewers accept a change exactly as written, it goes to learners, usually within an hour or two of the agreeing mail (after the automatic checks pass). The number is REVIEW_AGREEMENTS_NEEDED, set by the owner, and is 1 by default: one other reviewer is enough. It may be raised later.
• If several proposals concern the same part of a card, the first to be agreed wins and the others are closed.
• The owner can undo any change.
• This runs only once the owner has set up the review bot; until then your reviews are filed for the owner to read (setup).

Thank you

When a deck you checked is updated, it lists your code, and a unit says "Checked by and N others". Settings lists Decks you helped build.

Help

Write to fluenough@gmail.com. Send the mail from the address you review with.

See also: Home