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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

#121

Post by emursebrian »

Hadjimina wrote: post #82
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.

Last year, I traveled to Colombia and spent a couple of weeks there. To brush up on my Spanish before the trip, I hired a tutor that lived near where I was staying. Besides being tutored, I was able to get suggestions on getting around, places to sight-see, where to get the best street food, places to avoid a night, etc.

Sure, an AI could provide some of that but it is only going to be as comprehensive as the set of data it was trained on or what it could look up online. My tutor even offered to show me around when I was visiting. An AI will not be able to replicate that.

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

#122

Post by Quazel_S »

losteric wrote: post #56
Quazel_S wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you already try out the guided mode? If not you can always switch in a conversation on the top left chat settings, by pressing on the cogwheel and then switching to guided. Hope this is something that could help you!

There’s definitely a gap for going from zero to something. The guided conversation is too many words at once, it’s overwhelming. I immediately see a prompt to assemble two sentences from a list of words I don’t know without translations or hints. It’s the opposite problem of Duolingo drilling the same phrase a dozen times a day.

You actually can use the translator too in the helpers section.

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

#123

Post by Quazel_S »

merci_merci wrote: post #69
Hadjimina wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice! Well not nice since you're a bit stuck, but nice since we have heard of this issue but never were able to reproduce it. Can you click on the "check status" button? Does that fix the issue? Before being forwarded into the app did you open a website that had some text like "Your email is now confirmed"?

The "Check Status" button shows a loading indicator and then nothing happens. When I click the link in the email it brings me directly to the app, but just to the same screen I was on previously ("Verify your email to continue"). I had an account previously (before the rename) and I'm using it to log in. Maybe it's something to do with that?

Please send a message to yo@univerbal.app, so I can help you out?

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

#124

Post by vintermann »

schoen wrote: post #91

To what extent do you encounter hallucinations of foreign-language grammar (or vocabulary)? It looks like one person here is complaining that the application has hallucinated a non-existent verb form in one context. That would be my biggest fear about using a language model for foreign language study ... being taught something wrong or significantly unidiomatic (perhaps by example), and then having to unlearn it late…

It would be surprising to me if it consistently made this error. It may well correct you (and contradict itself) if you later used the word incorrectly. A human tutor might be less likely to make a mistake, but they would probably also get it wrong more consistently if they did.

As usual with language models, I think the key is to learn to live with their limitations as well as their strengths.

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

#125

Post by Quazel_S »

webappguy wrote: post #85

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 Chi…

you can always get the translation of the full message by pressing the icon on the right side of the chat bubble :)

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

#126

Post by Quazel_S »

apatil wrote: post #87

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.

You can actually set the chat settings to automatic recording and even decide after how many seconds of not saying anything, the message should be automatically sent. Just check out the chat settings on the top right ;)

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

#127

Post by Quazel_S »

nox101 wrote: post #108

feedback followed the link. tried to sign up. something about the form design is incompatible with chrome's password management since chrome didn't recognize I was signing up managed to sign up. Confirmed. page is broken in mobile (on chrome iOS on iphone 15 pro). could not scroll dowb tried the app. typed in my email and the clicked I forgot my password. app hated me because it made me type my email address again ev…

Sorry for the inconvenient experience. We hope to get another chance and you'll have a much better experience in our app.
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