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Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

#81

Post by Tistron »

I am curious to try it, but I can't get it to work (trying the free web one in chrome on macOS. The console is full of errors, a lot of them this:

    @firebase/app-check: FirebaseError: AppCheck: ReCAPTCHA error. (appCheck/recaptcha-error)
and then also this:

    Access to fetch at 'https://europe-west1-nextjs-yak.cloudfunctions.net/updateProficiency' from origin 'https://chat.univerbal.app' has been blocked by CORS policy: Response to preflight request doesn't pass access control check: No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource. If an opaque response serves your needs, set the request's mode to 'no-cors' to fetch the resource with CORS disabled.

Re: Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

#82

Post by Hadjimina »

emursebrian wrote: post #79

As the founder of a startup focused on language learning, I am really interested in how AI could improve the experience. At this stage, I think it is pretty far off from being useful as a conversation-partner/tutor replacement. I agree with most of your assessment on tutoring, but replacing the human and emotional connection with a person isn't something that will be easily replicated (or at all!) with AI. I've been…

The personal relationship is a tricky bit and definitely plays a huge role in tutoring. There are already AI apps out there that try to mimic a human like relationship (e.g. https://replika.com/) but it's unclear how/if this type of relationship also works for tutoring.

Re: Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

#83

Post by Hadjimina »

Tistron wrote: post #81

I am curious to try it, but I can't get it to work (trying the free web one in chrome on macOS. The console is full of errors, a lot of them this: @firebase/app-check: FirebaseError: AppCheck: ReCAPTCHA error. (appCheck/recaptcha-error) and then also this: Access to fetch at 'https://europe-west1-nextjs-yak.cloudfunctions.net/updateProficiency' from origin 'https://chat.univerbal.app' has been blocked by CORS policy:…

Yeah, we should probably clean up the logs. However, I was unable to reproduce the issue. Can you send a recording to me and then I'll investigate philipp@univerbal.app

Re: Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

#84

Post by Tistron »

Hadjimina wrote: post #83
Tistron wrote: post #81

I am curious to try it, but I can't get it to work (trying the free web one in chrome on macOS. The console is full of errors, a lot of them this: @firebase/app-check: FirebaseError: AppCheck: ReCAPTCHA error. (appCheck/recaptcha-error) and then also this: Access to fetch at 'https://europe-west1-nextjs-yak.cloudfunctions.net/updateProficiency' from origin 'https://chat.univerbal.app' has been blocked by CORS policy:…

Yeah, we should probably clean up the logs. However, I was unable to reproduce the issue. Can you send a recording to me and then I'll investigate philipp@univerbal.app

done

Re: Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

#85

Post by webappguy »

I tried with the Chinese in the app and a lot of times at timed out, or went exceedingly fast, I see the snail, but it might seem like cart before the horse to do full Chinese sentences for a beginner. Maybe not and this is proven I'm not sure, but I can say that you act needs some slight tweaks, especially always the pronunciation over top of the Chinese characters. What's the point of serving a chat bubble with Chinese characters to a person that is just learning Chinese? Maybe even the English translation below the Chinese characters and the Chinese pronunciation above. This has huge promise though

Re: Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

#87

Post by apatil »

I've used chatgpt itself as a language tutor a bit but this is nicer. I like the inline suggestions that don't break the flow of conversation.

Portuguese speech to text is flaky. This may be partly attributable to my pronunciation, and chatgpt has the same issue.

I'd love to have a hands free mode that's suitable for use while doing chores or driving.

Re: Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

#88

Post by mrtesthah »

Hadjimina wrote: post #74
bricee98 wrote: post #67

I like the idea, but when I started practicing some Spanish, I noticed it gave me incorrect grammar advice (it claimed that the subjunctive form of “creer” is “creen” - it was right that the subjunctive was needed, but that would be “crean”). That makes me nervous to use it for a language that I know less well like Korean because I won’t be able to tell if the grammar feedback I’m getting is accurate. If there’s a wa…

We're using LLMs and good ol'ML. These systems are never going to be 100% accurate. Then again humans are also not 100% correct and we're working hard on ironing out the kinks like the one you just discovered.

If you can't make any promises as to the quality of what you're offering, then how can you reasonably expect people to pay for it? At the end of the day you need to be able to tell consumers what they can reasonably expect from your product in terms of its capabilities and accuracy.

Re: Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

#89

Post by wolverine876 »

Hadjimina wrote: post #74
bricee98 wrote: post #67

I like the idea, but when I started practicing some Spanish, I noticed it gave me incorrect grammar advice (it claimed that the subjunctive form of “creer” is “creen” - it was right that the subjunctive was needed, but that would be “crean”). That makes me nervous to use it for a language that I know less well like Korean because I won’t be able to tell if the grammar feedback I’m getting is accurate. If there’s a wa…

We're using LLMs and good ol'ML. These systems are never going to be 100% accurate. Then again humans are also not 100% correct and we're working hard on ironing out the kinks like the one you just discovered.

It could be somewhat embarassing for someone who trusts the app and then says the wrong thing to another human. As an off-the-cuff idea (not because you haven't already thought deeply but because I hate to find a problem without offering a solution), maybe use videos of real speakers for basic instruction, then the AI for responsive lessons, etc.?

As you no doubt have considered, but if you define you mission by the tool (AI) and not the outcome (accurate, faster language acquisition) you'll have a great tool and lesser outcomes. Whatever you prioritize, that's what you'll get! :)

Re: Launch HN: Univerbal (YC W23) – Language learning with a conversational AI tutor

#90

Post by wolverine876 »

This looks very interesting and I wish you guys the best. One suggestion - a nitpick usually that I wouldn't write, but because it's a language product, you want to give the right impression of your language skills:

In English, uni-, the prefix, means 'one'. For example, unidirectional doesn't mean 'all directions', it means 'one direction'. [0] The name of the app means something like 'one language' or 'one word'. Again, normally, who cares? But this is a language service and people need to perceive you as authorities on language whom they will trust. I read the name and thought, 'well maybe they are great programmers but they aren't using serious linguists'.

You might want omni-, such as Omniverbal, 'all words'; or ambi-, Ambiverbal, 'both words' (reflecting both languages, the learner's native language and the one they are being taught, and 'ambidextrous' - able to use both hands equally well). Both sound like fun words to me (but I'm not in marketing!).

[0] People sometimes think of uni- as all, I think because they think of the Universe and universal (from which I assume 'Univerbal' is derived). Perhaps another way of thinking of universe / universal is meaning 'the single complete thing' or 'the single thing containing everything'.

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