LectureSift · Study by exam and topic
English-medium lectures: transcripts and term cards
Study an English-taught lecture recording in three rounds: the English transcript first, translation only where you are stuck, then English term cards.
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Where the real difficulty lies in an English-taught course
If you study on an English-taught programme and English is not your first language, you are doing two jobs at once: learning the subject and decoding the language it is taught in. When the lecturer speaks quickly, uses a term you have never heard, or you lose track of a long sentence, the rest of the lecture gets harder to follow. Translating the whole recording into your own language looks like the easy way to revise, but if the exam is in English, you need to recall the terms and definitions in English.
This guide suggests working through a lecture recording in three rounds: read the English transcript first, look at a translation only where you get stuck, and finish by writing each term on a flashcard with its English definition. The example topic is two data structures from computer science: the stack and the queue.
Work through the recording in three rounds
Read the English transcript.
Read the transcript in English while you listen, or straight afterwards. Underline sentences you do not understand, but do not look at a translation yet. Keep a separate list of terms you do not know.
Translate only where you are stuck.
Read the translation of the sentences you underlined and write down the meaning in your own words. Use the translation to unlock that one spot, not as a replacement for the lecture.
Finish the term card in English.
Put the term on one side of the card and the lecture's English definition plus an example on the other. Add the word in your own language only as a brief note.
This order keeps understanding the lecture in English at the centre. The translation helps at the point where you are stuck; the English form of each term, the one you will use in the exam, stays on your cards.
Example: a lecture on stacks and queues
This section is an example. The source paragraph, checking table, question and cards were written for this guide for teaching purposes. They are not taken from a student's upload or from a live LectureSift output. The errors in the table were made up to show the kinds of mistake that automatic transcripts and translations can contain.
Source paragraph
A stack is a linear data structure that follows the last-in, first-out principle, or LIFO. You add an element with push and remove the top element with pop, so the last element you pushed is the first one you get back. A queue, by contrast, is first-in, first-out, or FIFO: elements are added at the rear with enqueue and removed from the front with dequeue. Function calls are tracked with a stack, while print jobs waiting for a printer are usually handled with a queue.
Checking table
| What you see | What it should be | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| “life-o principle” | LIFO (last-in, first-out) | Abbreviations often get mangled when speech is turned into text. |
| “the cue is first-in” | queue | Same sound, different word; if the term is spelt wrong, your card will be wrong too. |
| push and pop translated with their everyday meanings, such as “shove” and “burst” | push: add an element to the stack; pop: remove the top element | A technical term translated with its everyday meaning turns the sentence into nonsense. |
In your own words: in a stack, the last element added comes out first; in a queue, the first element added comes out first. Function calls are tracked with a stack, a printer's waiting jobs with a queue.
Question
3, 7 and 5 are pushed, in that order, onto an empty stack. Then pop is called once. Which element comes out? A) 3 · B) 7 · C) 5 · D) None; the stack is empty
Show the answer and explanation
C) 5. A stack is LIFO, so 5, the last element pushed, is the first one popped. Had the same three elements been enqueued in a queue and dequeued once, 3 would have come out; option A assumes queue behaviour.
Flashcards
stack
A last-in, first-out (LIFO) structure: push adds to the top, pop removes from the top. Note in your own language, for example Turkish: yığıt.
queue
A first-in, first-out (FIFO) structure: enqueue adds at the rear, dequeue removes from the front. Note in your own language, for example Turkish: kuyruk.
When you review a card, say the English definition out loud before you turn it over. If you remember the definition but not the word in your own language, that is fine; if the exam is in English, the English definition comes first.
Review term cards at intervals
Coming back to your cards at intervals usually makes terms stick better than learning them in one sitting and moving on. As a starting point, try reviewing the day after the lecture, three days later and a week later. These intervals are a suggestion, not a rule: return more often to cards you struggle with and less often to the ones that have become easy.
- Keep cards small. One term and one definition per card. Split long definitions across two cards.
- Add an example. Adding “function calls” to the stack card ties the definition to a situation.
- Try the reverse direction. Read the definition and try to name the term. In the exam you may see the definition rather than the term.
For more on review intervals and testing yourself, see the active recall guide.
Using LectureSift for an English-taught course
When you upload a lecture recording as MP4, MP3, WAV or MOV, you choose the source language and the output language separately, and you can leave the source language on auto-detect. With English as the source and, say, Turkish as the output, the “Translate transcript” option gives you a translation of the transcript. The original transcript is kept too, and on the results screen you can switch between the original and translated text. “Precise timestamps” shows speech segments with more precise times, though it can make processing take longer.
On the flashcards tab you can mark each card “I know this” or “Repeat”. Those buttons help you work through the cards, but LectureSift does not build a review schedule for you; you plan the intervals above yourself. The generated cards ask about the lecture's concepts and are not always in a term-and-definition format, so you may need to complete your English term cards yourself, using terms you pick from the transcript.
Frequently asked questions
Can the summary be in my language while the transcript stays in English?
Yes. The source and output languages are chosen separately. The summary, notes and questions are prepared in the output language; the transcript itself stays in the source language, and you can get a translation of it as well.
Does the translation get technical terms right?
Not always. Technical terms can be translated with their everyday meanings. Go with the term your textbook or lecturer uses, and compare any doubtful sentence with the original transcript.
Will a lecturer with a strong accent or fast delivery be transcribed accurately?
Recording quality, accent, speaking speed and background noise all affect transcript accuracy. Check abbreviations, names and terms in particular against the recording.
Can I upload an English lecture from YouTube with a link?
No. LectureSift does not process videos from a link; you upload a file from your device. Choose a recording you have the right to use.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. Without an account, a one-time guest trial processes a source of up to 30 minutes. A free account gives you 120 minutes each month. Before trying a long lecture, check the per-job length limit on the plans page as well.
Try it with your own recording
Start with a short section.
Upload an English lecture recording as a guest. Choose the source and output languages, read the transcript and complete your term cards yourself.