Learning through another language

Every card has a front, the word you’re learning, and a back, its meaning. A subject can offer the back in more than one language. You pick the one you want to learn through, and every card in that subject shows its meaning in that language.

Right now:

All 38 ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi cards have a Chinese meaning with pinyin and a Chinese note. Those Chinese meanings were drafted by machine and haven’t yet been checked by a speaker, so each one is marked as a draft (see Drafts).

Choosing a language

There are three places to choose, and they all change the same setting:

• Learn through chips on the subject’s page, under its title.
• Learn through chips on each deck page, above the word list.
• Answer language in the study settings.

The chips are labeled in each language’s own name, such as English and 中文. A subject with only one back language shows none of these.

The choice is kept per subject: learning ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi through Chinese doesn’t change how Chinese cards are shown. It’s saved on this device, and other open tabs follow it.

Until you choose, Verso uses the site’s own language (English) when the subject offers it, and otherwise the subject’s first back language.

What changes

• The answer side shows the meaning in the chosen language. A Chinese meaning is set in the Chinese serif font, a size larger, with its pinyin underneath.
• The note, when there is one, comes in the chosen language too.
• The prompt side. When you study with the meaning first, the prompt is the meaning in the chosen language. The Prompt side buttons follow it as well: “Hawaiian first” and “Chinese first”.
• Word lists show the chosen language’s meanings and notes, and the column heading changes to match. Every language is already in the page, so switching is instant and doesn’t reload it. Your stored choice is applied before the page first draws, so the wrong language never flashes up.
• Search looks through the meanings, readings and notes in every language, so searching 裙 finds both 裙子 and pāʻū. Card results show the meaning in the language you chose for that subject.

When a card isn’t translated yet

A subject’s first back language is required on every card. Its other languages are optional, so a card can be missing one.

When a card has no meaning in the language you chose, it shows the default meaning instead, with a small chip naming that language, such as ENGLISH. The note falls back the same way, on its own: a card can have a Chinese meaning but only an English note.

The chips under Learn through say how much is covered, such as “5 cards of 6 have Chinese. The rest show in English.” or “Every card has Chinese.” In study mode, the settings sheet says how many cards in this deck, or this hand, will show in the default language.

In a mixed hand

A hand from Play can draw on several subjects at once. Each subject still uses its own choice, so ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi cards can show Chinese meanings while Chinese cards show English ones, in the same hand.

• The settings sheet has one Answer language row for each subject in the hand that offers more than one, named for its subject, such as “Answer language · Hawaiian”. In a hand, the row carries the subject’s name even when it’s the only one.
• The Prompt side buttons read “Term first” and “Meaning first” when the hand mixes subjects. When every subject’s answers are in the same language, the second button keeps its name, such as “English first”.
• Which language to answer in. When the hand mixes words from different languages and the meaning is the prompt, each prompt says which language the answer is in, such as “in 中文” or “in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi”.

Drafts

A meaning written by machine and not yet checked by a speaker is marked review: "machine" in the content. It shows a dashed DRAFT chip on the answer side and in the word list, and the Learn through hint says how many cards are drafts. Once a speaker has checked it, the mark becomes "checked" and the chip goes away.

Under the hood

• Content. A card’s back is keyed by language, such as en and zh-Hans. The subject lists which languages it offers, the default first. See Subjects, languages and decks.
• Build checks. The build fails when a card has no back in its subject’s default language, when a back uses a language its subject doesn’t offer, or when a subject offers its own front language as a back. Each build prints how many cards have each language, and how many of those are drafts.
• Storage. The choice is one localStorage value per subject, such as verso-back-language:hawaiian set to zh-Hans. See Privacy and storage.
• No flash. A small script in the page’s head reads that value and sets data-back on the <html> element before anything is drawn. A per-page style rule then hides the text tagged for the other languages. The same script runs on each page swap, so the choice carries across the site.