The importance of simplicity

One of the important principles in the design of LingQ has been simplicity. Language learning is simple, although languages are not. Nor is the work behind the scenes in developing LingQ simple. It is very complex. Yet we are one day away from launching LingQ.

But language learning should be simple. It is a matter of connecting (linking) a motivated, enthusiastic learner with as much exposure to the language as possible in both audio and text form, supported by an efficient way of accumulating words.

The more the learner keeps his tasks simple, and keeps his language simple when speaking and writing, the better.

The more the learner just accepts the language without complicating his/her task, the better.

We are inspired in this by Ockham's Razor: See Wikipedia.

Occam's razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. The principle is often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae ("law of parsimony" or "law of succinctness"):

“

entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem,

”

which translates to:

“

entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.

”

This is often paraphrased as "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest hypothetical entities. It is in this sense that Occam's razor is usually understood.