Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me • Hacker News Board

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#71

Post by dangrossman » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 10:03 AM UTC

oelmekki wrote: post #70

A note about prices. I'm in need for such a service and thank you to provide it. But $30/month is more that what I would give. For that price, I would expect to have a human teacher to review my progression from time to time and provide advices. At $20/month, I would use the service for something like three or four month, until I decide I'm ready enough. At $10/month, I would probably consider a permanent subscriptio…

> But $30/month is more that what I would give. For that price, I would expect to have a human teacher to review my progression from time to time and provide advices.

That's less than half what it'd cost to hire a language tutor for a single hour.

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#72

Post by znt » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 10:04 AM UTC

oelmekki wrote: post #70

A note about prices. I'm in need for such a service and thank you to provide it. But $30/month is more that what I would give. For that price, I would expect to have a human teacher to review my progression from time to time and provide advices. At $20/month, I would use the service for something like three or four month, until I decide I'm ready enough. At $10/month, I would probably consider a permanent subscriptio…

This is the feedback I was looking for. I basically came up with the prices, and haven't done any pricing research.

I will very likely pull prices down with the next release.

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#73

Post by dangrossman » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 10:06 AM UTC

WA wrote: post #58

reustle wrote: post #17

I watched your intro video and have 2 points to comment on * "Can I have a spaghetti" isn't the right way to say it. Drop the "a" * Have a native english speaker read it out, not a computer generated voice (if that isn't already the plan)

Really? So why should I pay 30 bucks a month if I can go to TextEdit on my Mac, paste some text (maybe even a story) and have it read out to me for free, any text I want, forever?

TextEdit does not listen to you speak and grade your pronunciation.

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#74

Post by oelmekki » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 10:06 AM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #71

oelmekki wrote: post #70

A note about prices. I'm in need for such a service and thank you to provide it. But $30/month is more that what I would give. For that price, I would expect to have a human teacher to review my progression from time to time and provide advices. At $20/month, I would use the service for something like three or four month, until I decide I'm ready enough. At $10/month, I would probably consider a permanent subscriptio…

> But $30/month is more that what I would give. For that price, I would expect to have a human teacher to review my progression from time to time and provide advices. That's less than half what it'd cost to hire a language tutor for a single hour.

That's why I don't speak of having time with a dedicated teacher, but simply having him/her review a few items (for example, those failed again and again) and provide a short advice.

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#75

Post by Natsu » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 10:07 AM UTC

glurgh wrote: post #55

Natsu wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would accept that usage, but not "my pronunciations." The hard part for foreign speakers is that this usage is perfectly comprehensible, so it would rarely get corrected, while sounding bad to native speakers. Which is, of course, quite harmful to someone who wants to improve. And yes, I know of no simple answer as to when to use 'code' vs. 'codes', but I will say that I think that 'source codes' is probably always…

I would accept that usage, but not "my pronunciations." My filter might be a bit more lenient because I imagine an implied 'my pronunciations of some particular words" after it. I still wouldn't say it or write it but it doesn't poke me in the eye as much, especially in the middle of otherwise idiomatic-sounding casual English. So context counts as well - as do the tastes of the person reading your stuff. Someone mig…

That just makes the NY Times sound clueless. Perhaps it shouldn't, but it does.

Then again, I seem to recall some observation about the evolution of language where the less-used irregular words change more frequently, and 'source code' is not something people outside of technology discuss. But that's probably why the usage, which makes them seem like outsiders, sounds bad to me.

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#76

Post by dangrossman » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 10:10 AM UTC

znt wrote: post #72

oelmekki wrote: post #70

A note about prices. I'm in need for such a service and thank you to provide it. But $30/month is more that what I would give. For that price, I would expect to have a human teacher to review my progression from time to time and provide advices. At $20/month, I would use the service for something like three or four month, until I decide I'm ready enough. At $10/month, I would probably consider a permanent subscriptio…

This is the feedback I was looking for. I basically came up with the prices, and haven't done any pricing research. I will very likely pull prices down with the next release.

No matter what price points you choose, someone will always want to pay less. You don't want to undercharge either; a copy of Rosetta Stone runs about $500 for discs or $39/month for their online courses.

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#77

Post by oelmekki » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 10:15 AM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #76

znt wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the feedback I was looking for. I basically came up with the prices, and haven't done any pricing research. I will very likely pull prices down with the next release.

No matter what price points you choose, someone will always want to pay less. You don't want to undercharge either; a copy of Rosetta Stone runs about $500 for discs or $39/month for their online courses.

I didn't say I want to pay less. I said I want more for this price, and provided what I expect as my consumer behavior for each price range.

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#78

Post by pbhjpbhj » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 10:23 AM UTC

shibby wrote: post #26

znt wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simple really: British: http://translate.google.com/translate_tts?ie=UTF-8&q=Have%20... American: http://translate.google.com/translate_tts?ie=UTF-8&q=Have%20... I know they don't sound ideal, but this is the only distinction I can make via the resources I have.

I don't know anyone who sounds like the 'British' version I also doubt that that dialect would be preferred. It would fall under the 'Queens English' or 'received pronunciation', which, in some studies, is considered less intelligent than Yorkshire dialect - http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/apr/04/6

The "Have a wonderful" part is not uncommon but the "day" with long drawling "a" sounds super-strange to me.

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#79

Post by lewisflude » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 11:08 AM UTC

rdl wrote: post #42

I'm a native American English speaker who is also into startups (and has lived in a lot of places, communicating with non-native speakers in English, as well as my really horrible Kurdish, Pashto, Dari, French, Arabic, etc. phrases...). Observations: 1) You should fully Americanize all the spellings. It is American English people want. 2) This would be far too boring for me to stick with if it is things like "I went…

Many people who don't speak English are outside the Americas, and so it doesn't make sense for them to learn the American variation of English. However, I agree that it should be an option.

Re: Founder with an accent? Free offer from SayAfter.me

#80

Post by znt » Sat, Aug 31, 2013, 11:17 AM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #76

znt wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the feedback I was looking for. I basically came up with the prices, and haven't done any pricing research. I will very likely pull prices down with the next release.

No matter what price points you choose, someone will always want to pay less. You don't want to undercharge either; a copy of Rosetta Stone runs about $500 for discs or $39/month for their online courses.

Thanks for the input. I am a total newbie when it comes to pricing, and open to any logical advice. Maybe I can add a message to the payment page that says something like "1 month of membership costs less than 1 hour of private 1 to 1 tutoring".