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Q & A

Last updated on: 1st August 2024

If you have any additional questions, suggestions or you want to report a bug, please send an email to info@MyGermanDictionary.com.

Here are some common questions the users have asked me more than once, with my answers. If you have any other questions, suggestions or you want to report a bug please don't hesitate to contact me.

Why can't I hear the sound in my browser when I play lesson's audio?

In short, some browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera...) on some platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS, Android,...) will be able to play sound, while other browsers on other systems won't. For example, Opera on Android doesn't support the functionality needed to play sound from text. The Chrome browser, on the other hand, worked pretty well for me on Windows and Android.

A bit more technical explanation:
The technology used to generate sound from text on this website is called Web Speech API. The Web Speech API was introduced in 2012 by the W3C community, but until now it has not been standardized, and it seems like every browser manufacturer on every different platform has its own way of implementing this specification. There are commercial options for converting text-to-speech, but since this is a free site, my only option, at least that I know of, was to implement text-to-speech functionality with the Web Speech API.

Some tips:
To be able to reproduce the sound from text, the browser needs voices. On Windows I suggest you install the German language pack. This doesn't mean that the UI for Windows will be in German, you will just get the opportunity to change the keyboard to a German one, and you will get German voices.
Chrome browser can use Windows voices for German, but it also has its own web voices that worked for me well on Windows and Android.
On other systems (device, operating system, browser), please check for yourself to see what is available.


Why can't I hear the sound for the language course?

Language course has prepared audio files, and you should be able to hear the sound. Every modern Internet browser should be able to play sound, so please update your browser. You can also check if your device has sound muted.


Why is there a limit on the size of the text in a single lesson?

By default, this website will display the lesson content paginated. Pagination takes time and is executed on you local machine (to be precise, in JavaScript). Now, if you use a desktop computer, 20 to 30 pages can be created quickly, but on smartphones, with much screens and hence much smaller pages, this 20 to 30 pages document quickly turns into a 120 to 150 pages lesson view. In that case, converting lessons into pages can take too long and negatively impact the user experience.

I have also found from my use of this site, that by splitting big content into smaller lessons, I can manage my work in a better way by marking the lessons complete.


When I open a lesson, it takes a long time to load the page content?

As explained in my previous answer, your machine (computer, smartphone, or tablet) paginates the content of the lesson to make it more user-friendly. If you have a slow machine, this might take some time. In that case you can turn off pagination in your user page. If pagination is turned off, the entire content of your lesson will be displayed immediately, and page loading for a lesson will work much faster.


Why is there a limit on the total size of lessons?

This is a free site, so my hardware resources are limited. This is the main reason.

On the other hand, since I also use this site, I have found that I rarely use old lessons again. For example, I typically find some articles online to read. I put them in my lessons, go through the text, add words to my dictionary, and then move on. I rarely need to read the same article again. But you don't have to delete your old favorite lessons. I believe that the storage available per user is enough to keep all your current content and some content from the past. Available storage should be enough for a pretty large book split into multiple lessons, or for hundreds of news articles.


Is there a limit on the number of words in my dictionary?

Again, this is a free site, so my resources for hosting this website are limited.

I have decided to put the limit on the number of words for each user at 10,000. This means that the number of words should be sufficient for reaching certainly B2, maybe even C1 level. At C1 level, you should be practically fluent in German, and your mission to learn German is almost at an end.

To work within these limits in an optimal way, I suggest not adding every word in a text to your dictionary.
For example, not every toponym should be added to your dictionary, like names of streets, villages, towns and so on. This can quickly accumulate if, for example, you consume news articles through your lessons.
I typically add some common names and surnames, but you don't have to add every name or surname to your dictionary. It can quickly accumulate.
Sounds often found in texts like "Khm", "Hmm" or "Ehm", are really not valuable additions to your dictionary.

A few more pieces of advice related to your dictionary. Please, keep your translations short and clear. The translation for "Haus" is "house", not "a place where people live with a roof and rooms". Also, I suggest not using long sentences for phrases. A short sentence might better illustrate the usage of a word than a long one. Storage for words is also measured, but you are far more likely to hit the limit of 10,000 words than the storage limit.

Don't worry too much about the number of the words or the storage. You should be able to collect a lot of words in your dictionary. When you get to a point where your dictionary storage is exhausted, your vocabulary will be somewhere around the C1 level, and this site has served its purpose in helping you learn the German language.