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Show HN: Learn any language with an AI tutor at your own pace

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Re: Show HN: Learn any language with an AI tutor at your own pace

#21

Post by layer8 »

vouaobrasil wrote: post #5

I have a feeling that soon we will stop learning new languages to communicate with others because real-time AI translation will be so good, and we'll learn languages in a vacuum for intellectual amusement only, barely getting past the A2 level due to the lack of true human stimulation in the activity. This tool is certainly a step in that direction, and it strikes me as a great loss to humanity because we are losing…

There’s always something lost in translation, no matter how good the translator is, and the less the languages are related the more is lost. AI translation won’t change the motivation for language learning that much. It’s more the translator profession that will suffer (and already suffers).

Re: Show HN: Learn any language with an AI tutor at your own pace

#22

Post by kaon_ »

Mkengine wrote: post #18
vouaobrasil wrote: post #5

I have a feeling that soon we will stop learning new languages to communicate with others because real-time AI translation will be so good, and we'll learn languages in a vacuum for intellectual amusement only, barely getting past the A2 level due to the lack of true human stimulation in the activity. This tool is certainly a step in that direction, and it strikes me as a great loss to humanity because we are losing…

Sometimes I ask myself if WALLE is not that unrealistic of an dystopy, as we can already see that people are worse at remembering numbers in contrast to the time before smartphones, that save this information for you. Right now you can let ChatGPT do your homework without knowing anything about the subject. Where does this stop? Are we steering for a future where machines are doing everything for us and we will becom…

From the perspective of a hunter gatherer, we already live in this future. Our skills have nothing to do with theirs. From their perspective we are phenomenally dumb because we couldn't survive very long in the wild, and know very little of our natural surroundings.

In fact you can argue natural pressures have stopped us from evolving. We don't need our logical skills anymore to deduce the tracking and pathing of animals we hunt, or our memory to remember where the berries are.

Re: Show HN: Learn any language with an AI tutor at your own pace

#24

Post by EForEndeavour »

yurishimo wrote: post #4

I'm curious how much effort goes into the management of these LLM backed language tools? I'm learning a less popular language (Dutch) and almost none of them support the it out of the box. Is this a marketing decision? What is the overhead to add support for a new language?

For what it's worth, ChatGPT Plus can understand both written and spoken Dutch, and write or speak it back.

Re: Show HN: Learn any language with an AI tutor at your own pace

#25

Post by Tijdreiziger »

Swizec wrote: post #17
kjellsbells wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the language and the reason to learn it. Right now its pretty discouraging. I pick up, say, enough Italian to get through a 2 week holiday, but all the people I interact with are under 40 and keen to practice their (excellent) English. English is so much the Common Tongue that I even hear the French and German visitors using it. But: if I can get thru that, and start to engage with (say) Italy at a deeper…

> But: if I can get thru that, and start to engage with (say) Italy at a deeper level I was at a native+ level of English in high school according to an IELTS test I took for fun. During college my English improved further. When I moved to USA … ho boy the difference between fluent English and culturally fluent idiomatic English is surprisingly vast. Much hilarity, frustration, and subtle misunderstandings ensued. It…

> Edit: One super interesting aspect is that to speak fluent native English you have to do it wrong. Californians, for example, don’t use the plural contraction. You have to say “there’s many options” instead of “there are many options”. Otherwise you sound like a weirdo.

You’re viewing it the wrong way around. L1 speakers almost never use formalized grammar rules (especially not in everyday speech). Instead, the rules are formulated post-hoc based on the way the language is actually spoken.

In a sense, there’s no ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ language use, only successful or unsuccessful attempts at communication.

For this reason, I find the topic of input-based language learning interesting. The basic idea is that the only true way to acquire a language is by getting a lot of input (i.e. immersion), not by studying grammar rules.

(Disclaimer: not a linguist.)

Re: Show HN: Learn any language with an AI tutor at your own pace

#27

Post by iamthirsty »

Swizec wrote: post #17
kjellsbells wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the language and the reason to learn it. Right now its pretty discouraging. I pick up, say, enough Italian to get through a 2 week holiday, but all the people I interact with are under 40 and keen to practice their (excellent) English. English is so much the Common Tongue that I even hear the French and German visitors using it. But: if I can get thru that, and start to engage with (say) Italy at a deeper…

> But: if I can get thru that, and start to engage with (say) Italy at a deeper level I was at a native+ level of English in high school according to an IELTS test I took for fun. During college my English improved further. When I moved to USA … ho boy the difference between fluent English and culturally fluent idiomatic English is surprisingly vast. Much hilarity, frustration, and subtle misunderstandings ensued. It…

> Basically feels impossible for to ever fully catch up.

Feels this way whether you're a native English speaker or not, unfortunately — growing old is universal.

Re: Show HN: Learn any language with an AI tutor at your own pace

#28

Post by idontknowifican »

Mkengine wrote: post #18
vouaobrasil wrote: post #5

I have a feeling that soon we will stop learning new languages to communicate with others because real-time AI translation will be so good, and we'll learn languages in a vacuum for intellectual amusement only, barely getting past the A2 level due to the lack of true human stimulation in the activity. This tool is certainly a step in that direction, and it strikes me as a great loss to humanity because we are losing…

Sometimes I ask myself if WALLE is not that unrealistic of an dystopy, as we can already see that people are worse at remembering numbers in contrast to the time before smartphones, that save this information for you. Right now you can let ChatGPT do your homework without knowing anything about the subject. Where does this stop? Are we steering for a future where machines are doing everything for us and we will becom…

i think what people memorize has been made optional, but that people still memorize a lot. sure not phone mumbers, but the amount of lore they can recite from some fandom seems to be of similar depth

Re: Show HN: Learn any language with an AI tutor at your own pace

#30

Post by jimbokun »

Mkengine wrote: post #18
vouaobrasil wrote: post #5

I have a feeling that soon we will stop learning new languages to communicate with others because real-time AI translation will be so good, and we'll learn languages in a vacuum for intellectual amusement only, barely getting past the A2 level due to the lack of true human stimulation in the activity. This tool is certainly a step in that direction, and it strikes me as a great loss to humanity because we are losing…

Sometimes I ask myself if WALLE is not that unrealistic of an dystopy, as we can already see that people are worse at remembering numbers in contrast to the time before smartphones, that save this information for you. Right now you can let ChatGPT do your homework without knowing anything about the subject. Where does this stop? Are we steering for a future where machines are doing everything for us and we will becom…

We're not worse at remembering numbers, there's just no need for it so we don't bother.
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