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Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

lairner.com

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Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#21

Post by darkwater »

loveparade wrote: post #12

A bit off-topic, but it's interesting how the first thing I check now is whether this is a vibe coded app (which it seems to be) or something that had serious effort put into it.

Define "effort".

I mean, "effort" to me in this context is what the creator of $project thinks it is worth their time. Don't you agree? If you want to learn a new computer language yourself, vibecoding will probably not help you. If you want to create something to scratch your itch, and spend time and mental effort in getting it polished, isn't that effort? It is not automatic, even with vibecoding, getting out a good app/site that solves a need in an elegant, functional manner for the user.

Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#22

Post by thunfischtoast »

It's always a good initiative to build something on your own.

Then again, it's also good to not lie to your users.

Your courses are AI-generated and not curated by experts.

I tried the French beginner course, using German as my base language. The very first items were:

1. Hallo (hello) > Bonjour (I think salut would be better)

2. Guten Morgen (good morning) > Bonjour

Then it asked me what Bonjour means, and selecting Guten Morgen is wrong, correcting me to Hallo. Then it asked me what Bonjour means again, this time Guten Morgen is correct.

So yeah, good initiative, but please just tell me what it is and don't lie.

Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#23

Post by casey2 »

stronglikedan wrote: post #14
[deleted] wrote: post #10

[deleted]

> It is surprising how many waste time on Duolingo. It's not a waste of time if one enjoys it. Not everyone has the same goals, and Duolingo proves that a great many people enjoy their model.

Presumably if one uses a styled "language-learning app" and are shown testimonals saying something like "I used X and learned language Y" then they are using the app with the goal of learning the language.

Also the poster was clearing trying to say "If that is there goal, they are wasting their time." Why misconstrue them so heavily?

Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#24

Post by amadeuspagel »

Tried this with german as native language and greek as language I want to learn.

First question: Wie steht es um Ihr Greek?

Greek is obviously the english and not the german name of the language. But "Wie steht es um Ihr Griechisch?" wouldn't be grammatically correct either.

Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#25

Post by barrell »

andsoitis wrote: post #2

Any chance you’ll add Maltese?

Għadni kemm bdejt nitgħallem il-Malti! I'm using my own app, and I don't want to link it here given it's someone else's launch post, but you can find many links in my profile. But if you're a self-directed type of learner, I've been making sure it works well with Maltese :)

Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#26

Post by Throaway1982 »

stronglikedan wrote: post #11
nickjantz wrote: post #4

I watched the demo. It looks like a clone of duolingo. Can you do a better job of explaining how this is different? What features does it have that duo doesn't. How does the app push you to those features vs just falling into the same pattern as duo? You say you learned Turkish with lairner. What level of fluency did you achieve? Are you able to take in native content with full comprehension? Edit: I'm not trying to…

> Are you able to take in native content with full comprehension? Only a very small percentage of people that learn a language that is not their native language can achieve that.

???? that is called fluency

Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#27

Post by rafamct »

JoelMcCracken wrote: post #13
dyauspitr wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost certainly, but that’s no reason to immediately discount it.

I'm less worried about the "vibe coded" than "vibe-language-learning" Though I do think there is vast potential for such things, it needs to be approached judiciously.

From trying it out, it's definitely vibe created because both the pronunciation and wording it provides in a language I know are wrong.

Duolingo (at least for the same language) has correct pronunciation and grammar/words, even if it's not a good way to learn.

Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#28

Post by moralestapia »

graypegg wrote: post #16

> I learned Turkish with lairner itself Honest question, how? If this is a side project so you're presumably the person making the courses, and you didn't speak Turkish before, how did you make a course that taught yourself Turkish? > We work together with some institutes of endangered languages to be able to teach them on our platform. I assume this is how? Are you a platform for these institutions to provide Duolin…

>How can you go to if you haven't been there before.

Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#29

Post by srejk »

As an learning (and conversational) Khmer speaker, I tried the Khmer module.

It's an absolute disaster in both romanization of Khmer characters and pronounciation. Simple words like 'arkun' are pronounced _very_ incorrectly and the romanization is incomprehensible.

Re: Show HN: I speak 5 languages. Common apps taught me none. So I built lairner

#30

Post by TulliusCicero »

dyauspitr wrote: post #7
ranger_danger wrote: post #6

70 languages from one guy? Was this vibe-coded?

Almost certainly, but that’s no reason to immediately discount it.

Actually, it kinda is? Who's verifying that all the lessons are teaching actually correct info, instead of bullshit?
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