131–140 of 376 posts
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There's AI slop (or hastily human generated slop, hard to tell) in Duolingo so I won't advocate for its quality, but I've been trying to use several different flagship models for language learning (with a native speaker on speeddial to fact check things) and they get stuff wrong a lot. LLMs are absolutely not ready to be your sole source for language learning. They seem perfectly competent at communicating in whateve…
> LLMs are absolutely not ready to be your sole source for language learning. > They seem perfectly competent at communicating in whatever language you want These two sentences contradict; that's the only thing you want for language learning. > but for example, explaining grammatical concepts of one language in another language they have been surprisingly incompetent at in my experience Doesn't matter.
Would you call a competing word processor "Libre Word"?
Is it acceptable to just copy their everything if you just add the word libre?
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> traditional "keep learning all the different grammar combinations first" approach That's not better than Duolingo, no. Duolingo is OK initially (especially if you need to learn a new alphabet), but then quickly move on to * https://www.languagetransfer.org/ (will give you a good understanding of the principles of the language but without feeling like a grammar book) * https://www.pimsleur.com/ or similar audio cour…
I've used Pimsleur on and off for a while and it's great, because even with sporadic usage I can still more or less remember what I learned and most of the time I just need a bit of a refresher in terms of using the right case or conjugation so I don't get I/you/they/it mixed up. Hours into Duolingo I'm repeating total nonsense like "the man is a boy" and "the turtle has green pants," but with Pimsleur, after the sam…
Having trouble understanding why you thought it was acceptable to steal their business name, and concept, and software application design. Would you call a competing word processor "Libre Word"? Is it acceptable to just copy their everything if you just add the word libre?
You don't know about LibreOffice, really? Your post is so ridiculously ironic I'm having trouble determining if it's satire.
Having trouble understanding why you thought it was acceptable to steal their business name, and concept, and software application design. Would you call a competing word processor "Libre Word"? Is it acceptable to just copy their everything if you just add the word libre?
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> and most classrooms (I know there are exceptional curriculums and exceptional students) don't prepare you to actually speak to people Is this really how language lessons are taught in US high schools? I've learned English and French in high school, and we were forced to speak all the time. * Read a story together (who's reading aloud is frequently switched), then the teacher asks questions about the story and picks…
We did do those kinds of things. For example, speaking with a partner or having to give a 5 minute talk to the teacher on something. The problem is that it's grossly inefficient time-wise, and the content of "conversations" was always very, very simple. "Hi my name is _, I like the color _, My hometown is in _, how are you today?" Is not a real conversation. It's boring and most students learn the vocab for the upcom…
Yup. Motivated students learn the language in the classroom (+ self-study) just fine. Unmotivated students don't, but they are not motivated anyway.
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> ... target language ... > your native language already have them It seems like there is a strong underlying understanding that learning a new language is done from a source language towards a target language. The book I am referring to argues that learning a language is about embodying that language - ie. it is not an intellectual task. The most natural embodiment og a language is speech. This is fundamentally anot…
I did not at all in any way mean to say that learning a language should be from a source language towards a target language. Quite the opposite really. I completely agree with the statement ".. embodying that language - ie. it is not an intellectual task". That matches my own anecdotal experiences, at least. What I wanted to say was that even though babies can hear and differentiate between all the sounds of every la…
It sucks how Duolingo has gotten so much worse over the years. It used to be great when it had the grammar notes and discussion forums and comments, and you could actually finish the course and have some recognition. Now it's just all too game-like and all based around maintaining streaks rather than learning. Unfortunately some other apps have started to copy this model too like HelloChinese.
The reason is the App Store (and Play Store) value things like DAU (as a proxy for "quality"), IAPs (because they get a cut), no real interaction (too risky), etc. The end result is "real language learning" doesn't align with "launching a top mobile app". This is also the reason none of games are hard (can't let people uninstall) and nothing unique shows up anymore (it's impossible to compete) Source: Did mobile dev…
Couple that with the Indiana Jones boulder chase known as the Target API Level Requirement plus needing to log in every six months or risk getting your Google Dev account permanently deactivated and then needing to relaunch all of your apps under a new namespace.
A handful of apps I use come from small companies (5 to 40 employees) who should not have a dedicated mobile dev on their payroll. The apps do not pose a security risk (as they don't use internet/network features) and don't need to be updated as they are feature-complete. One such company just pulled all of their free apps and now has a contractor charge users for worse functioning redesigns.