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Show HN: Phrasing – learn every language, to any level

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Re: Show HN: Phrasing – learn every language, to any level

#121

Post by barrell »

jamager wrote: post #116
barrell wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While we offer people the ability to do machine translations, there's absolutely no reliance on them. We actively advise against using machine translations when onboarding new users It's a good point about the "every language" part. That's really the goal of the project - we've been adding about 20 languages a month since we started, and don't plan to stop until we support every language. However we're not there yet,…

> don't plan to stop until we support every language. However we're not there yet, give us a few more months to live up to that You know there are about 7000 languages in the world, right? Most of them with 0 or near 0 presence on the internet.

Yes! I mean, we won't supply the content for all 7,000 languages, but we can make the core learning process and core pipeline language agnostic, so you could learn any language.

With the exception of sign languages of course, as those will require their own processes and pipelines.

Re: Show HN: Phrasing – learn every language, to any level

#122

Post by boerseth »

saintradon wrote: post #113
boerseth wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! I'm a big fan, and have even tested the theory out on myself to great effect. I learned French using the series "French in Action", along with certain other sources of input. I was watching and rewatching each episode, and listening on repeat to its audio which I downloaded. Less than a year in I was listening to the radio, and now, two years in, I can listen and read to almost anything online. I'm behind on mor…

How many hours a day were you putting in?

To answer your question: I don't know, but probably at least 4 hours of listening a day in the beginning, gradually decreasing.

The first few months were intense, I remember. My prioritizing was detrimental to a couple of other aspects of life. Every day I wanted to get in some "active study", i.e. watching the current few episodes of FIA over again, trying to understand more this time of the latest one I was working on. And any free moment I had, walking somewhere or going shopping, I'd pop my earbuds in and listen in a more laid back way.

In the very beginning I also figured that my ear and brain needed practice at simply differentiating all these weird new vowels and sounds, so I played French noises almost constantly, including at night and when working. In hindsight, I think only the night time sounds were a smart decision.

Yet despite my dedication being a lot and the project affecting my life, I was always somehow ashamed of my lack of conviction and effort, when hearing about other learners doing "AJAT" or equivalents (All Japanese, All the Time). There are crazier stories our there!

The sad thing also is that I don't think it would be necessary to go so hard at ot to accomplish what I have. An hour or two a day of more optimal input (what I claim is so hard to find), might get you a really long way in the same amount of time. I do not know. My experiment, however, was testing whether I could acquire a language without speaking it, which it did confirm at least to me.

Re: Show HN: Phrasing – learn every language, to any level

#123

Post by numpad0 »

AdamH12113 wrote: post #57
ESMP wrote: post #44

I would use it for japanese, but after seeing these two examples of english/japanese translations in the landing page that are nonsense just make me say: no thanks. With such powerful forces leading us astray, it's not surprising we find it so hard to discover what we like to work on. しかし息子が木から落ちたり、娘が妊娠させられたりしたときには、そうした結末に対処せざるを得ない。 規律 Actually they've been told three lies: the stuff they've been taught to regard as…

To be clear, some of the example translations given for Japanese seem to be for the wrong parts of the documents. Phrasing English: I am not suited to this world. Phrasing Japanese: それなのに大人たちは、自分たちのやっている事が好きだと言い張る。 Actual meaning: Despite this, adults insist that they like what they do. Phrasing English: It's hard to find work you love; it must be, if so few do. Phrasing Japanese: 数十億人のうち、おそらく二、三十万人といったところだろう。 好きな仕事を…

I think:

  - this is supposed to be collection of parallel texts, in this example [1] in various languages, and,  
  - the principle is looking at parallel texts should help your brain make mappings between the two,   
    * eg. "daidai iro no webusaito"  "a website in orange".
1: https://paulgraham.com/love.html

Re: Show HN: Phrasing – learn every language, to any level

#124

Post by Gow8876 »

boerseth wrote: post #32

> The hardest part about learning a language is knowing what to learn. I disagree with this. The hardest part about learning a language is finding content and resources in the target language that are both engaging and comprehensible at your current level. It's hard to find books, shows, or conversation partners, all the way through that critical awkward stage from beginner to vaguely proficient. The parts of the lan…

The hardest part is being consistent and acrually using it. I have seen someone less tha. 80 IQ speaking their native language and understand the grammar better than someone with Havard degree both fluency in speaking and expressing their thoughts. The main reason is one have to use it day in day out, the other learn it as "subject" to past exam. Why so many people use babbel and resulted in not able to use the language. Spend 15mins, while native speakers spent 12hrs a day. Polyglots also use this forced immersion. Except they dont want to "brag" they learn that way. Instead just want to show how easy they learn ... naturally.

Re: Show HN: Phrasing – learn every language, to any level

#125

Post by boerseth »

Gow8876 wrote: post #124
boerseth wrote: post #32

> The hardest part about learning a language is knowing what to learn. I disagree with this. The hardest part about learning a language is finding content and resources in the target language that are both engaging and comprehensible at your current level. It's hard to find books, shows, or conversation partners, all the way through that critical awkward stage from beginner to vaguely proficient. The parts of the lan…

The hardest part is being consistent and acrually using it. I have seen someone less tha. 80 IQ speaking their native language and understand the grammar better than someone with Havard degree both fluency in speaking and expressing their thoughts. The main reason is one have to use it day in day out, the other learn it as "subject" to past exam. Why so many people use babbel and resulted in not able to use the langu…

Yes, consistency is key, but if you're smart about it, it doesn't have to be hard.

The trick is rather to make consistency easy. My own strategy there is aligned with most language enthusiasts: Make your input and conversations engaging! Make them so engaging you partake in those activities independently of the language, or better yet, in spite of the language. Make engagement automatic!

As an example, I've come to adore the French YT channel "ScienceEtonnante", and now watch anything published by it ASAP. I started watching it because I have a masters in physics, and found much of the jargon very easy to pick up as it's often similar to English. That left only the particularities of French itself for my brian to figure out. Now that I can simply lean back and enjoy the show, that is also what I do! It has become my favorite YT channel.

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