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Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

talk.quazel.com

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Re: Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

#221

Post by richrichardsson »

Hadjimina wrote: post #152
biztos wrote: post #127

I tried out Hungarian — I speak it well but have an accent — and it got some parts wrong in the transcription that a human speaker would definitely understand. A second try was better but not quite 100% and I do worry about edge cases with languages that might have less training data or less precise classification. Also for Hungarian the response was a bit weird, though on topic. I was using Google (via some speech t…

we do have some plans but nothing finalised yet. We actually removed the stripe implementation because we want to publish it as a PWA on appstores. For pricing we would probably go the subscription route. An other idea we had was for an ad-based service (I also hate ads so give me a sec to explain): When you talk to a friend about movies you are currently watching, the might recommend a good movie they just saw on ne…

As long as the paid version removes this advertising (picks a random movie for instance) and you're up front with the fact that the "free" version will include sponsored content in the conversation [1] then I see no problem at all.

I'm sure everyone knows by now that if the product is free, "you're the product".

[1] I wouldn't even care if the conversation went off on a massive tangent temporarily to include the advert. The point is that not everyone can afford to pay for such a service, and advertising can solve that issue.

Re: Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

#222

Post by jasone »

allisdust wrote: post #103
bongobingo1 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think more importantly, most people find the _communication_ part exciting. Listening to 1000h of $LANG language podcasts is dramatically less enjoyable than the sense of cultural connection you get from conversation. That's all muddied by AI/programmed learning (how much connection do you get from Duolingo?) now but I think the kernel is still true. People largely learn languages to talk, not to listen, it's no wo…

Not if it is a movie or a tv series. Best (enjoyable) way would always be to watch something you like in a language you want to learn with subtitles for a longer term. Things like binge watching won't work though because the brain gets tired and tunes out.

The brain doesn't engage in the same process when presented with translated subtitles, to such an extent that you're better off watching a familiar show with no subtitles. However it can be helpful to have same-language closed captioning to improve distinction of word boundaries, accents, etc. Netflix has been great in recent years for this, in my case watching German-language shows.

Re: Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

#223

Post by melvinmelih »

englishrookie wrote: post #200
crazygringo wrote: post #187

I tried using it in Portuguese and it's cool but it seems very off, just a huge number of things that don't sound even remotely natural or idiomatic. But when I click the translate button, the English translation is a perfectly reasonable thing to say. SO... I'm highly suspecting that, behind the scenes, the "real" conversation is happening in English, and it's translating in both directions. Which is always going to…

Based on just a few exchanges in Dutch (I'm a native speaker), I'd say it's pretty good. The conversation sounds pretty natural (albeit shallow). Maybe the quality differs per language?

Dutch is a sister language of English so I’m not surprised

Re: Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

#224

Post by Rooster61 »

Multiple people have pointed out in here have asked about a privacy policy or where this information is going.

Considering this doesn't work without having to create an account, you need to provide some information about how people's inputs are being recorded, how it's used, and who it's sent to.

This is a dark pattern and it's disconcerting that people's questions are going unanswered, especially since you mentioned that you would be seeking an accelerator for this project.

Re: Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

#225

Post by loufe »

bobajeff wrote: post #47

In my opinion the issue with most language programs is that they focus too early on speaking when listening should be the focus early on. Really speaking shouldn't even come into the picture until exposure of about a year and something like 15,000 hours of good comprehensible input.

I'm not sure I agree with 15,000 hours. I started a job in French 4 years ago, I could hardly stammer out a sentence with my one university french course, now I'm quite apt. A quick calculation of work hours puts me around 7000, much of that working alone at the computer. So maybe 2500 hours of conversation got me to a high level of fluency.

Re: Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

#226

Post by forinti »

crazygringo wrote: post #187

I tried using it in Portuguese and it's cool but it seems very off, just a huge number of things that don't sound even remotely natural or idiomatic. But when I click the translate button, the English translation is a perfectly reasonable thing to say. SO... I'm highly suspecting that, behind the scenes, the "real" conversation is happening in English, and it's translating in both directions. Which is always going to…

You never hear Brazilian Portuguese with perfect grammar. If it were a Portuguese accent, it would be more realistic.

Re: Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

#227

Post by snuns »

I love the product! There are a lot of people that are too shy to talk to others while learning a new language. This seems like a good way to start talking in a "secure" environment.

Also, you should add english language! It is being learned by 1 billion people as a second language and probably it would be a lot easier to make a great model in english.

If I were you, I would nail english language first and after that focus on adding more languages.

Anyway, great product!!!

Re: Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

#228

Post by Quazel_S »

loxias wrote: post #206
bsaul wrote: post #114

Absolutely outstanding. Small request: for japaneese, it would be great to include a japaneese phonetic transcription of the text in western alphabet. It would help distinguish words and make it easier to learn new vocabulary..

This! I could really use more info. A phonetic transliteration for all languages (esp Mandarin and Japanese...) as well as a sort of "bouncing ball" indicating what word is being said. This is _so cool_ for an MVP. Perhaps in the beginning, it could even accept English speech and reply in the language of choice -- it's easier to build recognition first. On the whole, fantastic work. I'm curious about the audio proces…

Thank you very much! We also think about implementing a phonetic tranliteration. This could be especially helpful for unrelated (to mother tongue) languages.

Re: Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI

#230

Post by bhedgeoser »

OJFord wrote: post #81
phpisatrash wrote: post #2

It really looks cool. But, why it doesn't have English? Or meybe if it does have, why isn't showed first? People who use language learning apps are focused in learning English most of the time. Still those who speak fluently are trying to improve their speaking and listening. And the first language which appeared for me was Brazilian Portuguese which is my mother language. [Edit] I was trying the Brazilian Portuguese…

To prevent DoS from a tonne of people using it just as AI conversation buddy when they know English perfectly well? Or said another way - I think there's lots of English AI conversation bots available, they're just not necessarily marketed as 'for learning English'.

You can't train AI using another AI. If you could, these people would just run the service locally.
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