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Launch HN: Issen (YC F24) – Personal AI language tutor

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Re: Launch HN: Issen (YC F24) – Personal AI language tutor

#131

Post by runarberg »

I tried a 20 minute conversation, as a beginner Japanese learner (mid-to-high A1).

My first problem was setting my native language truthfully to Icelandic which seemed to confuse both me and the AI tutor. We spoke together in Japanese but asking how to say a word in Japanese but giving the Icelandic word didn’t quite work, giving the word in English worked much better.

Now as a beginner I don’t think this service is right for me. It is very hard to have a conversation—even a basic one—at my level and I didn’t actually learn that much as I wasn’t able to say anything. I did however learn that I need to practice creating sentences on my own, and I need to practice speaking, but honestly I would much rather do that via structured exercises from a textbook then from an AI tutor (or a human tutor for that matter). I have been skipping those exercises in the textbook that I use, so I guess having that 20 min conversation did indeed help me realize what I need to focus on. So I guess thanks for that.

A more useful feedback from a beginner’s perspective. Taking your time between sentences is something you can do with an AI tutor which you can‘t do with a human tutor, so I recommend you add stuff like dictionaries and grammar keys which beginners can look up before starting the next sentence.

I would also like to see some basic note-taking, or even message drafting, such that you can type in a draft before you start speaking your next sentence. I don’t think intermediate speakers would need these as they can just ask the AI tutor during the conversation, but for beginners it is nice to have some written materials as you practice.

Re: Launch HN: Issen (YC F24) – Personal AI language tutor

#132

Post by AndyKelley »

It's very cool, I'm enjoying playing with it.

Feedback: The tutor pronounces some obvious things wrong that contradicts the words. Two examples: 気滅の刃 - it pronounced 刃 wrong despite the furigana being correct. It also kept pronouncing は as "ha" even when used as topic particle in more complex sentences. Edit: also observed 使い方 pronounced "saifou" - no idea what's going on there. It was in a mixed english-japanese message.

I think I would pay for this if I wasn't worried about learning mispronunciations or errors.

Oh, more feedback: focus the app on the conversation with the tutor and leave the memorization to Anki - just let us export those words we struggle with to CSV or something so we can import into existing vocab workflows.

Re: Launch HN: Issen (YC F24) – Personal AI language tutor

#134

Post by carstenhag »

mpeg wrote: post #126
carstenhag wrote: post #121

Haven't tested the functionality yet, but some feedback: - the name is bad. Issen? I (German, Spanish speaker) don't know how to pronounce it. - use correct flags. Catalan speakers will be rightfully pissed when you use the Spanish flag for their language. - in a language learning focused app, it is not acceptable to have a badly translated app. I'm using it in German and while the intro does not have typos, I can te…

Catalan, the language, does not have a flag. As a native speaker (of a dialect) who is not from Catalonia I would much rather the language be represented by the Spanish national flag. Although people from Andorra might also not love that. Languages and flags don't mix well.

I am not sure if I got you, are you aware of the cultural/political issues around it? There's no flag for the language (as it's used at many places), but almost everyone will be happy with a commonly known flag they can identify with. A Valencian will be fine with a Catalunya flag :)

Re: Launch HN: Issen (YC F24) – Personal AI language tutor

#136

Post by ghostpepper »

I also use chatGPT to translate phrases idiomatically and to ask questions about etymology, synonyms, homophones etc. I'm not sure I would want the entire language-learning process to be driven by talking with an AI so maybe I'm not the target audience for this app but these are the places where I think an AI can be uniquely useful in language learning.

I recently discovered www.lingq.com and it's by far the best language learning tool I've tried. The concept is that each learner brings the content they personally want to engage with - so it allows you to import articles, podcasts, and videos and then read them in your target language but translate words you don't recognize on the fly. It tracks the words you know and the ones you are learning automatically, and allows you to test yourself with flashcards based on the words in the content you care about.

This is great because if you just want to read eg. French articles about cybersecurity, you will quickly start to pick up the domain-specific words.

The problem is that the site is quite buggy, and needs a lot of UX/UI polish. I get the sense it's a small team, but they've been around for over a decade and it's still not polished.

I don't want to use an inferior clone of Anki, I just want deep integration with Anki. I want importing content to be as painless as possible, including subscribing to podcasts.

My ideal language-learning tool would be something like LingQ with all the bugs fixed and features implemented, and with AI integrated in the places it makes sense, not as the primary means of engagement with the app.

Re: Launch HN: Issen (YC F24) – Personal AI language tutor

#137

Post by celebdor »

mpeg wrote: post #126
carstenhag wrote: post #121

Haven't tested the functionality yet, but some feedback: - the name is bad. Issen? I (German, Spanish speaker) don't know how to pronounce it. - use correct flags. Catalan speakers will be rightfully pissed when you use the Spanish flag for their language. - in a language learning focused app, it is not acceptable to have a badly translated app. I'm using it in German and while the intro does not have typos, I can te…

Catalan, the language, does not have a flag. As a native speaker (of a dialect) who is not from Catalonia I would much rather the language be represented by the Spanish national flag. Although people from Andorra might also not love that. Languages and flags don't mix well.

All the areas where Catalan is spoken as a mothertongue:

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alghero

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balearic_Islands

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyr%C3%A9n%C3%A9es-Orientales

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencian_Community

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragon

All of them share the coat of arms of the crown of Aragon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_the_Crown_of_A... . Thus using the "four red pallets on a gold background" represents all the speakers in different European countries.

Re: Launch HN: Issen (YC F24) – Personal AI language tutor

#138

Post by dbuxton »

sirodoht wrote: post #96
anavat wrote: post #20

Thanks for working on this! Language learning really needs a breakthrough. Now, I tried the web app and chose to learn Greek as a beginner. And while I had better experience with your app than with ChatGPT or Gemini voice modes, I still got lost 5 minutes in because the AI tutor doesn't seem to have a plan for me, nor does it "see" my struggles. For example, after asking me about a hobby, it gives me a long sentence…

Funnily enough I said my native language is Greek but then it responded with an error and reset my onboarding guide. Then, I lied that my native language is English, which worked. But now it calls me Anton, rather than the name I said I have!

I also got Anton. Looks like something's hard coded - or maybe a caching issue?

Re: Launch HN: Issen (YC F24) – Personal AI language tutor

#139

Post by Twey »

carstenhag wrote: post #121

Haven't tested the functionality yet, but some feedback: - the name is bad. Issen? I (German, Spanish speaker) don't know how to pronounce it. - use correct flags. Catalan speakers will be rightfully pissed when you use the Spanish flag for their language. - in a language learning focused app, it is not acceptable to have a badly translated app. I'm using it in German and while the intro does not have typos, I can te…

Also on the controversial flags side: using the British flag to represent Welsh
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