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Language sites - Clozemaster
Apr. 13th, 2020 09:18 amI've been using Clozemaster for a while now, and decided to give some thoughts on it.
Clozemaster is a language-learning site. In a typical lesson, it provides a sentence with one of the words blanked out, and a translation underneath, and you need to select the correct word in your target language from four options. There is also a more advanced form of this that allows you to type the word in instead.
It has a lot more language options than Duolingo does, both for learning from English and learning from other languages. For example, it offers Estonian, Cantonese, and Tagalog from English, and Arabic from French, and so on. I can't speak to the quality of anything other than Norwegian from English, though.
I don't think I would use this one to start from the beginning with a language unless I had few other options. The format relies on you knowing most of the vocabulary already; it's better for review than for learning new material.
There is a course for learning French from Norwegian, and I was thinking about trying that, but at this point my Norwegian is much, much better than my French, and I think I would struggle with it. Going to have to sit on that idea for a while.
One issue that I have with this site is that, at least in the EN-NO course, a lot of the sentences it provides are kind of casual, and they don't precisely match the translation that is provided. In some ways, this is a good thing, because it requires slowing down and really reading the sentences properly to make sure you know what they're saying. But it means that it could cause difficulties for somebody trying to learn new words rather than review old ones.
For example, one of the sentences it gave me translated roughly to "It must have cost you a lot of money", with the word kostet being the one that was missing in the sentence. But the English translation provided was "You must have spent a lot of money on it". The sense is the same, but the actual words are different, and just like in English the words in Norwegian for cost and spent are different (kostet vs brukt).
Obviously, this isn't a problem if somebody already knows this vocabulary and is taking their time with the lessons. But it's one of the reasons I'd be hesitant to suggest this site for learning, or as a Duolingo alternative. It's better to pick it up after you've played around with a language a little.
There have also been times when the "correct" answer was different from the word that I know, and I've been left unsure as to whether it was a synonym, a regionalism, or either Clozemaster or my knowledge was incorrect. But that's on me - I should be looking up the details when I encounter those cases.
I do love its review option, though. Its spaced repetition works in a similar way to Anki flashcards - once it's clear that you know a word, you don't have to review it all the time.
Tl;dr: I think Clozemaster is great for reviewing a language that you already have some familiarity with, and I would recommend it for that. I wouldn't necessarily suggest it for anything else.
Clozemaster is a language-learning site. In a typical lesson, it provides a sentence with one of the words blanked out, and a translation underneath, and you need to select the correct word in your target language from four options. There is also a more advanced form of this that allows you to type the word in instead.
It has a lot more language options than Duolingo does, both for learning from English and learning from other languages. For example, it offers Estonian, Cantonese, and Tagalog from English, and Arabic from French, and so on. I can't speak to the quality of anything other than Norwegian from English, though.
I don't think I would use this one to start from the beginning with a language unless I had few other options. The format relies on you knowing most of the vocabulary already; it's better for review than for learning new material.
There is a course for learning French from Norwegian, and I was thinking about trying that, but at this point my Norwegian is much, much better than my French, and I think I would struggle with it. Going to have to sit on that idea for a while.
One issue that I have with this site is that, at least in the EN-NO course, a lot of the sentences it provides are kind of casual, and they don't precisely match the translation that is provided. In some ways, this is a good thing, because it requires slowing down and really reading the sentences properly to make sure you know what they're saying. But it means that it could cause difficulties for somebody trying to learn new words rather than review old ones.
For example, one of the sentences it gave me translated roughly to "It must have cost you a lot of money", with the word kostet being the one that was missing in the sentence. But the English translation provided was "You must have spent a lot of money on it". The sense is the same, but the actual words are different, and just like in English the words in Norwegian for cost and spent are different (kostet vs brukt).
Obviously, this isn't a problem if somebody already knows this vocabulary and is taking their time with the lessons. But it's one of the reasons I'd be hesitant to suggest this site for learning, or as a Duolingo alternative. It's better to pick it up after you've played around with a language a little.
There have also been times when the "correct" answer was different from the word that I know, and I've been left unsure as to whether it was a synonym, a regionalism, or either Clozemaster or my knowledge was incorrect. But that's on me - I should be looking up the details when I encounter those cases.
I do love its review option, though. Its spaced repetition works in a similar way to Anki flashcards - once it's clear that you know a word, you don't have to review it all the time.
Tl;dr: I think Clozemaster is great for reviewing a language that you already have some familiarity with, and I would recommend it for that. I wouldn't necessarily suggest it for anything else.
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.