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Show HN: Duolingo-style exercises but with real-world content like the news

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Re: Show HN: Duolingo-style exercises but with real-world content like the news

#81

Post by mavus »

hoseyor wrote: post #76
dataengineer56 wrote: post #35

The English icon has the Union Jack flag rather than the US flag, so it automatically elevates the service above Duolingo for me.

Rather ironic, considering that it’s a flag to indicate personal union of ownership of subjects and lands by the Scottish king who inherited the subjects and lands of England, but you prefer it to be the icon for the language of the state of England, a country in which its own language is more or less indecipherable in many places due to accents, dialects, and degeneration and creolization. You would be far more like…

> accents, dialects, and degeneration and creolization. There are just as many accents and dialects of English in the Americas as there are in Britain. Even your term "creolization" comes from Louisiana. It's a matter of perspective and something that all language learners will have the face, the difference between 'standard' English/Spanish/German and regional variations both within it's originating country and from abroad.

Re: Show HN: Duolingo-style exercises but with real-world content like the news

#82

Post by elric »

pjc50 wrote: post #59
dataengineer56 wrote: post #35

The English icon has the Union Jack flag rather than the US flag, so it automatically elevates the service above Duolingo for me.

English (Traditional) vs English (Simplified)

That meme is such a load of hogwash. In many ways, US English is closer to "traditional" than UK English. They've both diverged somewhat from what they were in the 17th century. Neither form has been "simplified" in any way.

As for the Union Jack: the UK has at least 3 rather different languages (English, Gaelic, Welsh), possibly a few more depending on how you count the different kinds of Gaelic.

Using a country flag to represent a language has always struck me as being silly. Only rarely do they map 1-to-1.

Re: Show HN: Duolingo-style exercises but with real-world content like the news

#84

Post by tom2948329494 »

Just a quick note – the "Configure Your Exercise" step was a bit confusing. It took me a while to figure out what “Number of Gaps” even meant, since that’s not something I’d usually think about configuring.

Also, choosing an input method felt tricky. I hadn’t used the product yet, so I didn’t really know what to pick or what would work best for me.

Once I got into the app, everything made sense, but it wasn’t clear upfront.

Maybe you could let people start with a default setup and explore the options while using it. That way, the learning happens more naturally and the config step doesn’t feel like a blocker.

Re: Show HN: Duolingo-style exercises but with real-world content like the news

#85

Post by slab_city »

tom2948329494 wrote: post #84

Just a quick note – the "Configure Your Exercise" step was a bit confusing. It took me a while to figure out what “Number of Gaps” even meant, since that’s not something I’d usually think about configuring. Also, choosing an input method felt tricky. I hadn’t used the product yet, so I didn’t really know what to pick or what would work best for me. Once I got into the app, everything made sense, but it wasn’t clear u…

Not knowing what "number of gaps" means has no consequence. Just use the app.

Re: Show HN: Duolingo-style exercises but with real-world content like the news

#86

Post by Timpy »

Just a friendly heads up, for the Japanese exercises the video starts just a bit too late and the word you're listening for is cut off. This might only be pertinent for languages where vocab words are appearing at the beginning of sentences, French and Spanish didn't have "gap words" at their sentence start for the few exercises I tried.

This is a cool app, I would have enjoyed this when I was grinding on Japanese back in the day.

Re: Show HN: Duolingo-style exercises but with real-world content like the news

#87

Post by pjc50 »

elric wrote: post #82
pjc50 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English (Traditional) vs English (Simplified)

That meme is such a load of hogwash. In many ways, US English is closer to "traditional" than UK English. They've both diverged somewhat from what they were in the 17th century. Neither form has been "simplified" in any way. As for the Union Jack: the UK has at least 3 rather different languages (English, Gaelic, Welsh), possibly a few more depending on how you count the different kinds of Gaelic. Using a country fla…

It's entirely a joke based on the two different versions of "Chinese" offered on most websites, it's not really meant to be taken seriously. But I've heard that there's an island in New England somewhere whose local accent is closest to Elizabethan English.

Re: Show HN: Duolingo-style exercises but with real-world content like the news

#88

Post by setsewerd »

slab_city wrote: post #85
tom2948329494 wrote: post #84

Just a quick note – the "Configure Your Exercise" step was a bit confusing. It took me a while to figure out what “Number of Gaps” even meant, since that’s not something I’d usually think about configuring. Also, choosing an input method felt tricky. I hadn’t used the product yet, so I didn’t really know what to pick or what would work best for me. Once I got into the app, everything made sense, but it wasn’t clear u…

Not knowing what "number of gaps" means has no consequence. Just use the app.

If that's true then why include it at all? From a UX perspective you don't want to throw a bunch of configuration options at the user before they even know what the options mean.

Re: Show HN: Duolingo-style exercises but with real-world content like the news

#89

Post by tom2948329494 »

slab_city wrote: post #85
tom2948329494 wrote: post #84

Just a quick note – the "Configure Your Exercise" step was a bit confusing. It took me a while to figure out what “Number of Gaps” even meant, since that’s not something I’d usually think about configuring. Also, choosing an input method felt tricky. I hadn’t used the product yet, so I didn’t really know what to pick or what would work best for me. Once I got into the app, everything made sense, but it wasn’t clear u…

Not knowing what "number of gaps" means has no consequence. Just use the app.

It's a hurdle people have to take; and its eating from their 1.5second attention span. Some will get stuck or leave. OP asked for thoughts, this is to help him convert more people.
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