Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

dictionarygames.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 22 posts

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#11

Post by jamesdhutton »

tomek_zemla wrote: post #9
replwoacause wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh ok maybe that’s why it didn’t make sense to me, it’s a British colloquialism I’m not familiar with as an American.

Designing an ESL learning app for the global village is a challenge.

Speaking as a native English speaker from London: I can assure you that most Brits would get this question wrong. It is true that Brits use "jolly" to mean "very" but it is, as you've noted, informal. Brits do not use it this way in formal speech. You would have to make it clear in the question that you were talking about informal English. E.G. "Name a word that means 'happy' and can also informally mean 'very'".

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#12

Post by tomek_zemla »

jamesdhutton wrote: post #10

I think your game has potential but, at present, the questions are too hard and the answers are sometimes simply wrong. Example: Q: Find the noun matching the following definition: "A burden or responsibility." A: Saddle This is not correct. Saddle as a verb can mean "to burden", but as a noun it does not mean a burden.

Working on finding these issues...

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#13

Post by satisfice »

By its nature, this game should accept synonyms of the synonyms it is looking for. I offered “bountiful” when the game wanted “abundant.” My answer was not wrong. When it was rejected I instantly lost interest (i.e. motivation, will, desire) to play the game.

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#14

Post by tomek_zemla »

jamesdhutton wrote: post #11
tomek_zemla wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Designing an ESL learning app for the global village is a challenge.

Speaking as a native English speaker from London: I can assure you that most Brits would get this question wrong. It is true that Brits use "jolly" to mean "very" but it is, as you've noted, informal. Brits do not use it this way in formal speech. You would have to make it clear in the question that you were talking about informal English. E.G. "Name a word that means 'happy' and can also informally mean 'very'".

Note that the question is never a single example or definition, but a starting question plus multiple clues and hints. These help to clear up ambiguities and guide the student towards the correct puzzle answer.

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#15

Post by tomek_zemla »

satisfice wrote: post #13

By its nature, this game should accept synonyms of the synonyms it is looking for. I offered “bountiful” when the game wanted “abundant.” My answer was not wrong. When it was rejected I instantly lost interest (i.e. motivation, will, desire) to play the game.

The puzzle is about finding a specific (one) word for each game/question. In your case abundant was the answer. The cursor indicates correct/incorrect word before it is submitted preventing you from giving a good answer - bountiful - which is NOT the solution to this specific puzzle. It's designed to push the students to find alternatives, i.e. yet another word that can be a solution until they find the correct one. In other words it does not accept multiple solutions by design.

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#16

Post by gumboshoes »

As someone who works in the linguistics space and has worked with numerous teams on games and has a wealth of knowledge on how people actually learn vocabulary and what they actually find fun when doing so, I feel like this game would benefit from a pause, a rethink, and a redo. I am in the middle of a Covid bout right now or I would say something more substantive but perhaps most important: you already have valuable feedback here you seem to be rejecting. Why? For example, what if you did allow multiple answers in the blank and scored accordingly?

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#17

Post by tomek_zemla »

gumboshoes wrote: post #16

As someone who works in the linguistics space and has worked with numerous teams on games and has a wealth of knowledge on how people actually learn vocabulary and what they actually find fun when doing so, I feel like this game would benefit from a pause, a rethink, and a redo. I am in the middle of a Covid bout right now or I would say something more substantive but perhaps most important: you already have valuable…

I am not 'rejecting' the alternative design. I am choosing one design path over another. I have a specific vision of how I want this application to work. It is designed to 'push' users to discover new vocabulary. It's not exactly a game, although it feels a bit like that. It's a new take on an ESL vocabulary practice workbook.

Most words in English have synonyms. Some have long lists of them. The puzzles are designed to make you discover (or just recall) specific words. Accepting a semantically correct alternative defies the purpose! It also makes it easier, and the learning happens when it is hard.

If the question is about finding synonym to pretty and you provide beautiful, it's great. But the puzzles are designed so you discover splendind and stunning and ravishing and glamorous and lovely and... etc.

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#18

Post by Terretta »

tomek_zemla wrote: post #12
jamesdhutton wrote: post #10

I think your game has potential but, at present, the questions are too hard and the answers are sometimes simply wrong. Example: Q: Find the noun matching the following definition: "A burden or responsibility." A: Saddle This is not correct. Saddle as a verb can mean "to burden", but as a noun it does not mean a burden.

Working on finding these issues...

OK, another such issue:

---

Question

Find the verb having the following synonyms : collapse, crumble, shatter

Answer: disintegrate

Result: SORRY... Word implode is the answer to this puzzle.

---

It not educational to suggest "shatter" --> "implode".

The original 3 words are to fall down, fall apart, or fall to pieces. My answer "disintegrate", is the opposite of integrate, and works for all three.

Implode is an inward converging motion. The 3 words are not that motion.

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#19

Post by tomek_zemla »

Terretta wrote: post #18
tomek_zemla wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working on finding these issues...

OK, another such issue: --- Question Find the verb having the following synonyms : collapse, crumble, shatter Answer: disintegrate Result: SORRY... Word implode is the answer to this puzzle. --- It not educational to suggest "shatter" --> "implode". The original 3 words are to fall down, fall apart, or fall to pieces. My answer "disintegrate", is the opposite of integrate, and works for all three. Implode is an inwar…

English is my second language so I do not create the content for the puzzles. The data comes from different publicly available sources. A quick search on Google for 'Thesaurus implode' gave me this: The thesaurus for "implode" offers several synonyms, including collapse, crumble, buckle, cave in, shatter, and fail. These words describe the act of something falling inwards or breaking apart due to pressure.

Re: Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

#20

Post by tomek_zemla »

Terretta wrote: post #18
tomek_zemla wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working on finding these issues...

OK, another such issue: --- Question Find the verb having the following synonyms : collapse, crumble, shatter Answer: disintegrate Result: SORRY... Word implode is the answer to this puzzle. --- It not educational to suggest "shatter" --> "implode". The original 3 words are to fall down, fall apart, or fall to pieces. My answer "disintegrate", is the opposite of integrate, and works for all three. Implode is an inwar…

Also... Note that the cursor indicates if you typed the correct puzzle answer before you submit it. It prevents users from suggesting words that are correct answers, but not the solutions to the given puzzle.
Post reply on HN