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Show HN: Vocab Top – AI-powered vocabulary builder that helps you retain words

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Re: Show HN: Vocab Top – AI-powered vocabulary builder that helps you retain words

#3

Post by anon1094 »

Anyone who's learned a language to an advanced level knows that after a while you have to use the language itself to learn the language. You can't keep relying on translations because there are so many language-specific and culture-specific nuances that translations can't quite capture.

Re: Show HN: Vocab Top – AI-powered vocabulary builder that helps you retain words

#4

Post by ivansavz »

anon1094 wrote: post #3

Anyone who's learned a language to an advanced level knows that after a while you have to use the language itself to learn the language. You can't keep relying on translations because there are so many language-specific and culture-specific nuances that translations can't quite capture.

You can choose English -> English in the UI for explanations in English.

Re: Show HN: Vocab Top – AI-powered vocabulary builder that helps you retain words

#5

Post by NarcisMirandes »

I have tried and it works well. I bookmark it to use it in next days.

What I do now: I am in a small country in Europe and I use translations a lot, every day literally. I am in a Mac and I have a "space" dedicated to that with three things:

  - dictionary and Tesaurus. Free app in all Macs
  - translation. https://translate.google.com/
  - a Excel file where I save and review the new words
My first impressions:

  - Your tool could be useful as it groups all three in one place.
  - I have checked that it works well and it is nice and well designed.
  - I would have to spend time to reorganize myself, try a new way. There is and investment in time and the fear that it is not clear that that new way is much, much better. Perhaps it is only a bit better and I am not sure it is worth the time.
Why?:

  - Why do you do that?
  - Will it be premium layer later? What will happen with the people who has "invested" time and effort in your project?
  - What is your revenue model?

Re: Show HN: Vocab Top – AI-powered vocabulary builder that helps you retain words

#6

Post by Aachen »

I thought it would be some sort of scheduler (spaced repetition) based on the title, but putting in a word I just learned in German (hinfaellig), it shows what looks like a Wiktionary page. Except of course it took idk how much energy to generate instead of serving static content that already exists

It gives a different definition as what I just learned from a native speaker (was literally just watching a German lesson before opening HN: https://youtu.be/6QA7YBhnU0I 2:45). They said obsolete or no longer valid. The bot says frail, dilapidated, decrepit. This sounds to me like another valid translation, but I had to check to make sure, and yep it's valid, just incomplete. Not sure why I would use this instead of the place I'd check anyway (https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/hinf%C3%A4llig)

I like the UI theme and that the only animation, around the search box, is subtle enough not to distract from reading but still look cool. UI-wise one thing I'd improve is being able to copy text from the page instead of having to type things over

Edit: and maybe fix that it'll make up definitions for invented words. I'm having trouble understanding who the target audience is here, since language learners can't use it (see also the other comment about pronunciations being very unreliable) and it's not a vocab builder either

Re: Show HN: Vocab Top – AI-powered vocabulary builder that helps you retain words

#7

Post by bunderbunder »

anon1094 wrote: post #3

Anyone who's learned a language to an advanced level knows that after a while you have to use the language itself to learn the language. You can't keep relying on translations because there are so many language-specific and culture-specific nuances that translations can't quite capture.

That said growing vocabulary is widely regarded as one of the most important steps towards being able to interact with the language in a more authentic way.

My concern is that AI-generated translations and example text still tend to get the subtleties wrong. I’ve seen that cause a lot of confusion for beginning learners who don’t know their target language well enough to know when something isn’t quite right. The help forum on a learner community I’m in is full of cases where the answer is, “You’re confused because what the AI told you is incorrect.”

And that’s a big part of why I still prefer a good old fashioned keyword search over GenAI when I’m looking for more examples to help me understand a new word.

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