How to use Ringo Lingo
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Ringo Lingo has two different audio players for dictations. The first is the Standard Player and this allows you to listen to a full dictation uninterrupted. The controls should be easily understood, but are explained in the following slides.
Click the play button to start the audio. The button icon changes to a pause icon. Clicking the button again will pause the audio.
You can click directly on the progress bar to skip the audio to that point in the dictation. You can skip forwards and backwards as desired.
Above the main player controls is a bar of five speed buttons. By default, dictations play at the normal speed. If you want, you can click a button to slow down or speed up the audio.
Each player has its own volume control, but it may be easier to use your device's volume controls.
Ringo Lingo's Multi Player has some features the Standard Player lacks. The most obvious difference is that the dictations are broken down into parts, with a short delay between each part. The dictations also play more slowly by default.
When you first use the Multi Player, you should see that tips appear when you hover over the controls. These give a brief explanation of how the control works. You can also click the Learn more link for more information. Click the Tips toggle switch to turn the tips off. Note that on a touch screen device, the tips appear when a control is tapped.
When you hover over the keyboard icon, a tip appears that describes the keyboard shortcuts available when using the Multi Player. Note that on a touch screen device, the tip appears when the icon is tapped.
Click the play button to start the audio. The button icon changes to a pause icon. Clicking the button again will pause the audio.
As with the Standard Player, you can click directly on the progress bar to skip the audio to that point in the dictation. You can skip forwards and backwards as desired. Note the progress bar contains markers that indicate the start point of each part of the dictation.
The Multi Player also has a back button. You can click this to stop the player and restart it at the beginning of the current part of the dictation. You can double-click the back button to go back to the start previous dictation part. By double-clicking, you can return all the way to the start of the dictation if desired.
If your keyboard has arrow keys, when a dictation is playing, you can also use the back arrow key to skip backwards. Tap once to restart the current part and double-tap to restart the previous part. This may be easier while you are typing.
Note that while the dictation is playing, the back arrow key's normal functionality is disabled.
- The Multi Player has a loop option which you may find useful. If you activate the loop toggle switch, the player will play the current audio part repeatedly in a loop.
- When the loop feature is turned on, the skip back button changes to a skip forward button. You can click this to move forward to the next part, which will also loop.
If you need to skip backwards, you can click directly on the progress bar.
If your keyboard has arrow keys, when a dictation is playing, you can also use the forward arrow key to skip forwards to the next part and this will also play in a loop.
Note that while the dictation is playing, the forward arrow key's normal functionality is disabled.
Above the main player controls is a bar of five speed buttons. By default, dictations play at the normal speed. If you want, you can click a button to slow down or speed up the audio.
Each player has its own volume control, but it may be easier to use your device's volume controls.
Some dictations may include names or unusual words. In these cases, you may find that there is a lexicon feature in the player. When you hear one of these names or words, click on it and it will be inserted into your answer automatically.
As you listen to a dictation, you should type your answer into the text box. Remember that you can change the speed of the dictation and skip backwards using the back button or back arrow key.
As you type, the number of words you have typed is displayed below. You can also see how many words you need to type in total. When you have typed the correct number of words, the label turns green. If you type too many words, the label turns red.
Before submitting your answer, you may choose to use the Give me a hint feature. You can take a quick look any problems by clicking and holding the button, any parts of your answer that have errors are highlighted.
- If you need to take more of a look at problems, click the open padlock icon within the button and this will lock the hints display
- You can click on a highlighted hint and the player will replay the part of the dictation that contains the problem
Note: Just click anywhere on the Give me a hint button to unlock the hints again.
If you have any errors, after making corrections, you can hold the Give me a hint button again. If none of your text is highlighted, your answer should be error free.
When you're happy with your answer, click the Check my answer button. The result will slide into view and hopefully you will see that you scored 100%.
If you score less than 100%, the places you made errors will be highlighted. The error will be described briefly above each piece of highlighted text.
You can also hover the cursor over highlighted text to see the error again.