Did you notice anything new? 👀
The episode player for our Shorties has a fresh new look and we’ve added more features to make your learning experience smoother and more flexible. 💪🧠
Whether you’re just getting started, or you’ve been with us for a while, we want to make sure you understand how everything works.
Here’s an overview of the controls, with a ⭐️ highlighting the biggest changes:
Play
Plays the audio and automatically scrolls the script in sync.
Skip forward or back
Use the forward/back arrows to skip forward or backward 1 line at a time.
Faster / Slower / Repeat
Use the speedometer icon to change the audio speed. Select the 🔄 icon inside to play it on repeat.
⭐️ Translate
Use the options under the translation icon to turn on/off the translations. You can view Portuguese (PT) only, English (EN) only, or both (PT/EN) while you listen, depending on what you want to focus on at the time. (Or just close your eyes for an extra challenge! 🙈)
- PT only (default)
- Follow along with the Portuguese text to train your ear to match the sounds you hear to the words you read.
- Challenge yourself to understand without being tempted to peek at the English translation.
- EN only
- Work through line by line and try to translate from English to Portuguese. Then toggle on the PT as needed to check yourself. (Keep in mind there are usually multiple correct ways to translate, so keep an open mind. 😉)
- PT/EN
- View both languages, with the English translation on for ALL lines. (This is the same as the old “Translate” toggle.)
⭐️ Go line by line
Instead of listening non-stop, sometimes you may want to work through a Shorty line by line.
Simply tap/click on a line to highlight and bring up the controls. Select the speaking icon to hear the audio for that line only. Select the PT/EN button to toggle on/off the translation. When you’re ready to move on, just tap the next line.
Use this option when you want to:
- focus on the details,
- challenge yourself to understand each line one a time (toggle on the translation to check yourself only as needed),
- or give yourself a reading challenge (without the audio)
Note: Make sure the main player controls are set to just PT or just EN. If you already started playing the audio and then you tap on a line, it will keep that line highlighted and visible. To return to the regular automatic scrolling, just tap the line again to remove the highlight and it will re-sync with the audio.
⭐️ Individual word translation / “Look Up”
After you tap/click on a line, the old “Look Up” function is now automatically available for all the words in that line. Select any of the individual words to search it in the pop-up translator tool.
New locations
- Vocab: Both Vocabulary and Expressions are now together in this section
- Comments: Questions or something to discuss about the episode? Comments are now under this tab on the right.
- Download & Bookmark: These have moved to the top, just above the player. (In the app, you’ll see the icons near the top right corner.)
- Video translation: The Videos don’t need as many playback controls, but you can still toggle translations on/off using the PT icon on the lower right.
Tags
Select a tag to easily browse more episodes about the same topic, at the same level (A1-C1), or recorded by the same person.
