Did you get the post-prediction idea from a scientific journal article, and if so could you provide a link?
Request for some critique on our startup
21–30 of 41 posts
Re: Request for some critique on our startup
#22I personally think it's the wrong approach to learning a language. Plain memorization is not how languages are learned. There is a lot of context and structure that must be learned that isn't apparent in the lessons (just listen to someone with a foreign native language speak English. They will construct sentences with English words but will do so incorrectly. They are putting them together how they would if they were using their own language's words).
I certainly think this is a problem ripe for hacking, but I think the application won't stick. What I've seen so far is a decent supplement to a traditional course for those who want to broaden their vocabulary repository, but not (IMO) a complete way to learn a language.
Another note: What about for people who already know a portion of a certain language? Maybe you could implement a test that checks where they are and provides lessons accordingly.
Re: Request for some critique on our startup
#23If I want to learn english, a page full of it with big fancy words is not going to help. Need to simplify the verbage throughout the site.
Re: Request for some critique on our startup
#24I wanted to try Italian, because I speak it fluently, but it's not on the list.
Re: Request for some critique on our startup
#25Don't require users to sign up. Let the users start the process and then decide whether or not to sign up. I don't like having to type in all that information just to try out a service.
Couldn't agree more.
Re: Request for some critique on our startup
#26Don't require users to sign up. Let the users start the process and then decide whether or not to sign up. I don't like having to type in all that information just to try out a service.
You're right. I'll do this as soon as I figure out how to!
Re: Request for some critique on our startup
#27The site looks very wordy. Even if you're in the business of teaching language, you're users still don't want to see that many words on one page. Try breaking up all your benefits into separate pages like a tour. I really like the idea and the interface once you get logged in, although I don't really like the background color, except for the purple on the bottom of the front page
Well, the idea now is just to describe it. Later we'll make it more imagey, with a video tour and all that on the front page
Re: Request for some critique on our startup
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the first stress test, and looks like Django on webfaction is not holding up too well! Or maybe just my poor coding :)
I noticed that it took some time to process each answer. If I had made this, I would probably have loaded the answers and image URLs for each lesson only once, in a single JS file (preferably a static file). Then you would not have to connect to the web server for each answer. And try to keep the user's progress in a cookie if it's possible. Make the login optional if a user wants to save their progress permanently.
Yes, I probably should preload all the answers for the questions. However, we store the mistakes the user does, so the server has to be contacted each time anyways. And sending back to the server will be useful for later when we mix in sentences and all that.
Re: Request for some critique on our startup
#29OK, ruthless criticism ahead! It lists 6 languages, plus "other languages", but won't let me even see what the others are without registering. ("Hi, Joe's Repair Shop." "Hi, can you replace the clutch on a '96 Volvo?" "Let me get your name and number before I answer that." "...") The flowers that overwrite the words on the top-right of the page are kind of annoying. The "help", "about", "staff", etc., links are all 4…
Thanks for the criticism. Well, just try it out. 30 words is just two lessons a day - I think people underestimate the power of repetition in learning. 30 words is easy if you do two lessons a day. Yes, the text stuff is not completely done yet, it still references parts that are not online yet. That's why we have the 404s still.
Re: Request for some critique on our startup
#30Front page is too busy. While base color scheme is nice and consistent, whoever decided on help/blog/login colors must be shot. Do the same to whoever spelled "this is the fastest .." all in lower case and highlighted with lime background. Selecting German and clicking on Start brings me to the page featuring a photo of dude wearing what looks like an Afghani hat. Also bunch of text is in bold - this is really annoyi…
You're right, I do need to do design work. But it's tough to be good at programming and at design too!