Government FAQs

Have questions? Read through our FAQs below. Still can't find an answer? You are welcome to email your question to us at usg@transparent.com.

General
What is the CL-150 Platform?

The CL-150 Platform (CL-150) is a comprehensive suite of innovative technology and content that supports language learning, sustainment, assessment, reporting, and program management for government personnel and programs. The CL-150 offers a variety of content and capability in over 120 languages. Material is oriented to both general proficiency and dozens of specialized government purposes, such as humanitarian relief, economics, military training, medical, law enforcement, and diplomacy.

What can the CL-150 do for me?

The CL-150 offers a very broad and deep set of resources for language learners, instructors, and program administrators. In addition to general social language for common languages, the CL-150 offers content and capabilities for teaching and learning many less common languages, and for learning language needed to work in specialized fields, such as medicine, diplomacy, military cooperation, humanitarian relief, or international liaison.

The CL-150 offers materials in over 120 languages and is further designed to quickly support new languages when needed to address unexpected language surge requirements related to disaster relief or arising conflicts.

The CL-150 offers materials specifically customized for many US Government language schools and curricula, as well as general interest "Essentials" courses. In many cases, CL-150 resources support a "flipped classroom" or "declaratively accelerated" (DABL) approach to blended learning.

In Declaratively Accelerated Blended Learning (DABL) models, the words, phrases, and sentences a student should learn are put into computer-delivered CL-150 activities or courseware. These materials are then assigned by instructors "just in time" to empower students to perform optimally on each new lesson or during each new training day. Computer, web, and mobile devices are used to deliver and track lexical mastery. Lexically empowered students are then delivered to great classrooms. The blend of great anywhere/anytime technology timed exactly to a given course schedule, plus great teaching by instructors who are trained in blended-learning best practices, is powerful and reliable.

Unfortunately, most people don't always have access to a good teacher. Independent learners can also take CL-150 courses and use CL-150 materials to very good effect on their own.

Beyond initial learning, the key to maintaining and improving language skills over a career or lifetime is to use that language every day. A significant capability of the CL-150 is automated refreshing of each individual's growing collection of learned words and phrases. Every item learned in a CL-150 activity or course is added to the learner's Learned Vocab list. Over time, words and phrases will go "stale" according to how well a learner has remembered an item in the past and how long it's been since the last review. The buildup and refreshing of learned words and phrases is synchronized among a learner's web, laptop, and mobile devices.

Why bother?

From a personal perspective, language skills will broaden and enrich anyone's life. From the US Government viewpoint, Americans are famously weak at languages relative to other cultures. In today's global environment, America's chronic language deficiency, particularly in less-common languages, unacceptably decreases opportunity and increases risk for USG organizations and personnel. To increase language capability, we need to make language learning and language sustainment faster, more reliable, more relevant, and more integrated into the learner's daily life. That's the mission of the CL-150.

What is 7000 Languages?

Of the 7,100 or so living languages on Earth, relatively few attract much in the way of resources or attention from the commercial sector, or even governments. The purpose of 7000 Languages is to make world-class language-learning and language-teaching technology and support available at no cost to experts and advocates of those under-supported languages that attract little or no commercial interest: "the earth's other 7,000 languages." What started as an internal charitable initiative at Transparent Language has now become 7000 Languages, an independent nonprofit. Transparent Language donates its unique technology and support, while 7000 Languages dedicates 100% of its time and resources to benefitting the speakers, communities and advocates of languages largely ignored by the commercial world.

Can I share my CL-150 account?

No. After you have created a CL-150 account, you will have a unique profile. You will develop a learning history and a growing set of learned words and phrases that are unique to you. You should not provide your account information to others.

Will I be able to make changes to my CL-150 profile information after I register?

Yes. If you need to adjust your information, for instance provide a new email address or change your password, you can do so by logging in, clicking your username in the top navigation bar, and choosing Edit Profile. If you are accessing the CL-150 via a designated organization portal, you may need to make changes to your portal profile.

Account Rollover
Can I transfer my user data from an old account to a new account?

Yes, this process is called "account rollover". You can begin the process from the profile page of your new account; you may also be prompted to roll over from an old account when your new account is first created.

If I make a new account, do I have to roll over from an old account?

No, only if you have user data you want copied to your new account, like your learning progress.

How does account rollover work?

Rolling over allows you to transfer your learning data from an old account to a new account. When you roll over an account, all of your list progress, course progress, and learned words and phrases from the old account will be added to the new account. Your old account will then be deactivated, if it wasn't already.

What will I need to roll over?

Your old account's synchronization password, which you can find in the profile screen of your old account or on the denied access page that appears if your old account, is already inactive.

Mobile Applications
How do I get and use the CL-150 mobile application?
  1. Download the CL-150 Mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store onto your mobile device. You can find links to mobile apps in the left-hand navigation of the CL-150.
  2. Start the the CL-150 Mobile app on your device and enter your username and synchronization password. Your synchronization password can be found on your CL-150 profile page. To get to your profile page, click your username in the CL-150 top navigation, then choose Edit Profile.
How do I use the CL-150 website optimized for smartphones?

Login on your smartphone the same way you would login on your laptop via your preferred portal. Ex: If you browse to the CL-150 from SOFTS, then you would do the same on your smartphone, entering your SOFTS or CL-150 username and password. The synchronization password is not used.

Which should I use? The CL-150 mobile app or the CL-150 mobile web?

Each provides an option depending on time and place. If you only have 5 or 10 minutes available to learn, use the CL-150 Mobile app to practice your vocab and you'll accrue learning time for the lesson. If you have more time available but no access to an iPad, tablet or computer, then you can switch to the CL-150 Mobile Web version optimized for smartphones.

Web Application
Where can I find my courses?

All courses are now accessible through the Browse screen in the CL-150 learning application. Supplementary materials, such as course books, instructor handbooks, and other downloads, are available there as well.

How do I access instructor tools, such as class management and student reports?

On the CL-150, instructors and others can manage classes, list-sharing groups, students, and lists. To access these tools, click the "Manage Classes" tile on the CL-150 homepage.

How do I author a vocab lesson?

In the CL-150 learning application, click "Authoring" in the main navigation to go to the Authoring screen. You will be presented with the option to create a vocab lesson or any other kind of lesson.

What title should I give to a lesson I author?
  • When creating lessons that belong to a specific category they should start with an abbreviation of that category name. For example, when creating lessons in the "Language to Learn" category, each list name would start with "LTL".
  • Lesson titles will sort alphabetically. If there is a specific required order to the lessons, consider adding numbers after the category abbreviation (for example, "01").
  • If the lesson being created came from a lesson plan or textbook, consider adding "Unit #" and/or "Lesson #" to distinguish each lesson. For example, "LTL Unit 01 Lesson 01", "LTL Unit 02 Lesson 06", etc.
  • If the lessons being created did not come from a lesson plan or textbook, the lesson names should be appropriately named based on the content within the lesson. For example, a lesson that has cards about different types of weather patterns should be labeled "Weather". Using the above examples, if this lesson was to appear as the first lesson to learn, the lesson name would be "LTL 01 Weather".
  • When adding numbers to the lesson name, consider how many digits you need for the numbering scheme. For example, if the maximum number of lessons is 10, make sure you use a two digit numbering scheme, i.e. 01, 02, 03…10. If the maximum is 100, you would use a three digit numbering scheme, i.e. 001…098, 099, 100. This ensures the lessons appear in the order intended.
What are best practices for adding vocab to my lesson?
  • Side 1 text is typically text entered in the native speaker's language. For example, for a person who knows English but is learning Spanish, the side 1 text would be English.
  • Side 2 text is the language being learned. Using the above example, the side 2 text would be in Spanish.
  • Keep in mind that whatever is entered as the side 1/2 text will need to be typed by the user when using our program. Some suggestions to consider when formatting the card item:
  • Do not use slashes (/), for example: "boy/waiter". It should be boy or waiter. The second description should appear as an "alternative answer".
  • Avoid information in parentheses, for example: "(word)". This information can be moved to the Card Level Comment or Hint field.
Why do I get an error when accessing the Authoring screen?

The Authoring screen runs on port 8080, and sometimes IT Administrators will block that port. If you receive an error message when entering the Authoring screen, be sure to check with your IT administrator about whether port 8080 is blocked.

How do I clone a vocab lesson?
  1. Go to the learning application's Authoring screen and click the tile for vocab lessons.
  2. Find the lesson you'd like to clone.
  3. Click the "Clone" button and name your lesson something unique.
  4. The cloned lesson will then appear in your draft lessons list for editing.
CL-150 Cohorts
I'm a CL-150 Cohort member; how do I listen to the audio in the PDF from my cohort?
  1. Download the PDF File.
  2. Open it in Adobe Reader (not your web browser). Adobe Reader can be downloaded here: http://get.adobe.com/reader/.
  3. Download the latest version of Flash.
  4. Open the PDF file in Adobe Reader.
  5. The embedded audio should play if you click the speaker icon in the PDF.
I'm in a CL-150 Cohort and notice some lessons are no longer there. Where can I find lessons that were previously assigned to my cohort?

Lessons are unassigned after a two week period. Those lessons are still available to you and can be found in the Browse screen, under the categories "ILR Cohort Lessons" or "MINE Cohort Lessons".

I want to sign up for a CL-150 Cohort. When can I join and start the lessons?

There is no defined start and end point. You can join a CL-150 Cohort and complete the lessons at any time! Choose currently assigned lessons or go to the Browse screen in the learning application and select "ILR Cohort Lessons" or "MINE Cohort Lessons" to find previously assigned lessons to help with your language sustainment.

My CL-150 Cohort has "MINE lessons". What is a MINE lesson?

A MINE lesson (Major International News Event) is a one-level lesson assigned to a cohort when there is a major event.