Hacker News in Slow Italian • Hacker News Board

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#21

Post by hugs » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:12 PM UTC

lakySK wrote: post #18

hugs wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love this for French. How do you want to handle modifying the code for other languages on GitHub? A new separate project fork per language, or a pull request to the current one? Slightly problematic that "Italian" is in the top level project name if it's going to be configurable for other languages. Also, add a tip jar somewhere so we can chip in!

Good question! Haven't thought that far ahead :D I'd be happy to rebrand it if there's interest. The main issue is that generating an episode is around $3 roughly (~$1 on GPT4 APU, ~$2 on text-to-speech). So doing a daily episode in multiple languages might be a bit costly. But if there's enough interest, I might be happy to fund it to get it going for a bit and see how it ends.

For the free sample, maybe run it once a week on Sunday? (But gate the daily feed behind a paywall?)

Either way, I'd be happy to fund a few weeks of a French version right now!

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#22

Post by lakySK » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:17 PM UTC

hugs wrote: post #21

lakySK wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question! Haven't thought that far ahead :D I'd be happy to rebrand it if there's interest. The main issue is that generating an episode is around $3 roughly (~$1 on GPT4 APU, ~$2 on text-to-speech). So doing a daily episode in multiple languages might be a bit costly. But if there's enough interest, I might be happy to fund it to get it going for a bit and see how it ends.

For the free sample, maybe run it once a week on Sunday? (But gate the daily feed behind a paywall?) Either way, I'd be happy to fund a few weeks of a French version right now!

Those are not bad ideas and suggestions at all! Thanks!

Let me see if I can get a French episode generated for you today or tomorrow and if you like it, I'm happy to send some more your way :)

What is your level of French?

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#23

Post by CamelRocketFish » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:21 PM UTC

lakySK wrote: post #19

CamelRocketFish wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep I’m also a beginner but I haven’t found anything similar to this project. In terms of learning materials I found classes that follow the CEFR system (A1, A2, B1 etc) have been more helpful than Duolingo and also this free resource https://www.languagetransfer.org/

Heard great things on Language Transfer and started listening to it. I've mostly been doing Duolingo, recently some tutored classes on Preply. Trying to get to a level where I can converse with my Italian partner. And I think GPT has tremendous potential for this. Seen a few projects exploring this besides mine. Can't wait to see where it goes. It would be a shame if we can't figure out some great ways to use the new…

Agreed! Especially how easy it would be to have a bot that is aware of your vocabulary level and slowly introduces more vocabulary the more you interact with it.

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#24

Post by lakySK » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:27 PM UTC

CamelRocketFish wrote: post #14

lakySK wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm, good point. Perhaps I need to use a different podcast platform for that. Might look into that! Are you learning Italian as well? What have you tried so far?

Yep I’m also a beginner but I haven’t found anything similar to this project. In terms of learning materials I found classes that follow the CEFR system (A1, A2, B1 etc) have been more helpful than Duolingo and also this free resource https://www.languagetransfer.org/

If you want, DM me on https://twitter.com/LukasPlatinsky and I can send you a link to try a POC for a language-learning text adventure game. The main concept is to tell a story through conversations with NPC chatbots. Would be curious to hear feedback or any suggestions on how it could be graded to increase the complexity of the language over time.

It's briefly mentioned on the site as well: https://hn.lingually.ai/#two

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#25

Post by hugs » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:30 PM UTC

lakySK wrote: post #22

hugs wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the free sample, maybe run it once a week on Sunday? (But gate the daily feed behind a paywall?) Either way, I'd be happy to fund a few weeks of a French version right now!

Those are not bad ideas and suggestions at all! Thanks! Let me see if I can get a French episode generated for you today or tomorrow and if you like it, I'm happy to send some more your way :) What is your level of French?

I'm A1 in French and got there primarily with Duolingo, a little Pimsleur... and lots of beginner audiobooks. Also a fan of RFI's "Easy French Newspaper" daily podcast, but yeah, it would be so much more interesting to have a tech-focused version of the concept.

On that note, another suggestion: Offering a mobile-friendly readable transcript to go along with the audio. (RFI does this.) Reading along with the audio is my preferred way to "listen" to French audiobooks.

Also, presenting the transcript in a readable form is another way to gate content behind a log in and/or upsell. Of course, yeah, would rather it all be free, but your costs are real!

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#26

Post by loloquwowndueo » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:41 PM UTC

hugs wrote: post #16

lakySK wrote: post #2

Let me know in here if there is a particular language you'd like to see for this! Not gonna lie, the costs run in order of dollars per episode, so if you are keen on listening to this, let me know, otherwise it would be a waste of money :)

I would love this for French. How do you want to handle modifying the code for other languages on GitHub? A new separate project fork per language, or a pull request to the current one? Slightly problematic that "Italian" is in the top level project name if it's going to be configurable for other languages. Also, add a tip jar somewhere so we can chip in!

In the meanwhile, try this to train your ear and practice French with current news using easy vocabulary (they do speak very clearly, worked wonders for me when I was learning).

https://francaisfacile.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/journal-en-françai...

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#27

Post by user7894635 » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:45 PM UTC

lakySK wrote: post #2

Let me know in here if there is a particular language you'd like to see for this! Not gonna lie, the costs run in order of dollars per episode, so if you are keen on listening to this, let me know, otherwise it would be a waste of money :)

Would love to hear Russian! Been working on it for awhile but similarly struggle to converse

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#28

Post by hugs » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:47 PM UTC

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #26

hugs wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love this for French. How do you want to handle modifying the code for other languages on GitHub? A new separate project fork per language, or a pull request to the current one? Slightly problematic that "Italian" is in the top level project name if it's going to be configurable for other languages. Also, add a tip jar somewhere so we can chip in!

In the meanwhile, try this to train your ear and practice French with current news using easy vocabulary (they do speak very clearly, worked wonders for me when I was learning). https://francaisfacile.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/journal-en-françai...

I do that already and love it. :) But would like to listen to more things in French besides updates on foreign wars and elections.

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#29

Post by hyperkewb » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:51 PM UTC

user7894635 wrote: post #27

lakySK wrote: post #2

Let me know in here if there is a particular language you'd like to see for this! Not gonna lie, the costs run in order of dollars per episode, so if you are keen on listening to this, let me know, otherwise it would be a waste of money :)

Would love to hear Russian! Been working on it for awhile but similarly struggle to converse

same here.

Re: Hacker News in Slow Italian

#30

Post by tehrob » Thu, May 25, 2023, 10:58 PM UTC

lakySK wrote: post #2

Let me know in here if there is a particular language you'd like to see for this! Not gonna lie, the costs run in order of dollars per episode, so if you are keen on listening to this, let me know, otherwise it would be a waste of money :)

European Portuguese from Portugal!