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Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

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Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#321

Post by mrheosuper »

dehugger wrote: post #320
EdiX wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I speak three languages and I'm learning a fourth. Don't study grammar, ever, it's a waste of time. Grammar rules always fall into one of two categories: the ones that are so obvious that you would have learned them after two examples anyway or the ones that are too vague and complicated to be useful. For an example of the latter look up people making flowcharts for the subjunctive or for the ga/wa distinction. Or, f…

You walk onto a train. You climb into a car. Whether it's [in/on] depends on what verb "get" is replacing. I don't know if there's a name for this kind of rule or if it's just a vague implicit thing.

why not "walk into a train" ?

Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#322

Post by sandinmyjoints »

hbn wrote: post #314
sandinmyjoints wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious if you have tried (or heard of) spanishdictionary.com? I work on it, and our users seem to like it and find it effective. The name is a bit misleading—started out as a dictionary but now has a full curriculum up through a couple years of college Spanish. We don’t really do any paid marketing (or any other kind for that matter) so I’m always curious about whether people have heard of it.

I use spanishdictionary.com (both the app and website) all the time for when I forget a word or conjugation, I really like it for that. The fact that when I type in a word in either language and hit enter, it goes straight to the page for the definition and translation to the other language is great UX (i.e. not dumping me to a search results screen, or making me toggle between languages) I think it got me to try out…

If you tried the lessons more than a couple years ago, it may be worth revisiting. I hear you about the marketing stuff. FWIW, if you create an account (totally free, no CC needed or anything like that), you will see less of it.

Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#323

Post by hbn »

sandinmyjoints wrote: post #322
hbn wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use spanishdictionary.com (both the app and website) all the time for when I forget a word or conjugation, I really like it for that. The fact that when I type in a word in either language and hit enter, it goes straight to the page for the definition and translation to the other language is great UX (i.e. not dumping me to a search results screen, or making me toggle between languages) I think it got me to try out…

If you tried the lessons more than a couple years ago, it may be worth revisiting. I hear you about the marketing stuff. FWIW, if you create an account (totally free, no CC needed or anything like that), you will see less of it.

I'll give it a shot, thanks!

Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#324

Post by eigenspace »

mrheosuper wrote: post #321
dehugger wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You walk onto a train. You climb into a car. Whether it's [in/on] depends on what verb "get" is replacing. I don't know if there's a name for this kind of rule or if it's just a vague implicit thing.

why not "walk into a train" ?

I couldn't tell you why this is a rule, but at least to my Canadian English speaking ears, if you said "Joe walked into a train", I'd think that Joe walked across some train tracks and was struck by the train, not that he boarded it.

Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#325

Post by dehugger »

mrheosuper wrote: post #321
dehugger wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You walk onto a train. You climb into a car. Whether it's [in/on] depends on what verb "get" is replacing. I don't know if there's a name for this kind of rule or if it's just a vague implicit thing.

why not "walk into a train" ?

Because you "walk into" things and get hurt. Like walls, or trees. The notable exception is buildings, or less tangible things like a spotlight.

Trains, ships, and busses are a weird kind of middle ground between on/in.

Thinking about it, I believe the principal difference is if there is something significant (more significant than the roof of a train) above your head? It seems to be very subjective and though, any time I think I've gotten it figured out another example/edge case comes out.

Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#326

Post by card_zero »

dehugger wrote: post #325
mrheosuper wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why not "walk into a train" ?

Because you "walk into" things and get hurt. Like walls, or trees. The notable exception is buildings, or less tangible things like a spotlight. Trains, ships, and busses are a weird kind of middle ground between on/in. Thinking about it, I believe the principal difference is if there is something significant (more significant than the roof of a train) above your head? It seems to be very subjective and though, any t…

In drugs, on only my socks.

Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#327

Post by jamager »

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #99
zdragnar wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning a new language to any degree of proficiency requires motivation. It's easy to start and hard to continue if you're not willing to put in the effort. There's a valid argument to be made that gamification helps to provide that motivation, but the argument doesn't hold up if the users aren't actually becoming proficient by using the app. In other words, gamification isn't inherently bad, but their motivations d…

It requires habit more than motivation. I was bored during covid and started Japanese and four years later im still keeping it going. I lost my motivation multiple times during those years (because good god what an ridiculous language coming from a European one), but my habit kept me going until i found my motivation again.

Exactly. For projects taking multiple years, eventually motivation will run dry. Good habits is what compels you to do the thing when you don't feel like doing the thing.

Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#328

Post by next_xibalba »

djeastm wrote: post #267
next_xibalba wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Duolingo is techno fascism? I looked up the definition as: > authoritarian rule, often involving the fusion of state and corporate tech power, where technology is seen as the driving force of the regime and used to consolidate control, suppress dissent, and erode public trust. I’m trying to connect the dots between the above and Duolingo.

I think they're going for the idea that it's an addictive mobile app engineered by a 23 billion dollar publicly-traded company ostensibly meant to help people learn but focused nowadays on extracting money as fast as possible. It's not like it's a local school helping out students.

OK, sure, but that seems a very far cry from "techno fascist".

Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#329

Post by codr7 »

90s_dev wrote: post #159
codr7 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're going to drag Linus and Stallman into this, at least read up on your history. A commercial Unix or Lisp Machine was quite a bit more expensive than $15/month. They both got shafted by companies that couldn't care less about anything beyond profit. It's part of the ugly side of capitalism, fuck people and fuck the world.

[flagged]

If putting people in that box makes you happy, go for it.

Personally, I don't do -isms and I don't fit well into boxes.

Re: Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails

#330

Post by finolex1 »

slt2021 wrote: post #223
dotancohen wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If an LLM can teach me a language, why wouldn't I go straight to the source and use GPT or Claude and customize it to my exact needs. Because the "customize it" part is not trivial. That is the value add for most people who can not do that customisation themselves. That said, I've found LLMs to be terrific if the goal is to learn the rules of language's grammar. But to actually learn to speak the language, find Hel…

someone will leak the system prompt for Duolingo and thats it - all their moat is just a single git leak away. you cannot build a moat with LLMs, so there is no value in using any service that is wrapper around the chatpgt

I'd love to see someone build Duolingo with a single system prompt. By HN standards, no one would be paying for Character.ai, Cursor, Windsurf, or dozens of others tools because they could just call the ChatGPT API themselves.
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