Hi HN, For over two years I've been working on an App to learn languages (currently French, Italian and Spanish), together with my partner, a language teacher. I think it is finally ready to share with this community!The idea is to introduce vocabulary and grammar whilst you read eBooks in your own language. I've found that it is easier to remember vocabulary 'in context' and with regular repetition. Plus you don't have to carve out dedicated time for language learning. Other apps require you to build a habit around various exercises or ‘games’, whereas lots of people already read books.From testing with early users so far it's proving effective for building a basic understanding of a language and quickly getting to the point where you can read and broadly understand text in the target language. It’s even better in combination with other apps that help with listening/speaking like Pimsleur.There were lots of technical challenges making this. It turned out to be (reassuringly) hard to get accuracy to an acceptable level, requiring a rabbit-hole into machine translation. There was a lot of testing required to optimise the engine that chooses the translations to show and to reduce the friction when reading books. And the backend to support uploading books is a beast in itself. I’d love to share details if there is interest.Roadmap- Accuracy - 100% accuracy is the target, but at present there can be errors. Feedback from users will be important here so that accuracy issues can be generalised and solved at scale. Errors can be reported within the app - please do so if you spot anything!- Dynamic difficulty - rather than have a progression of difficulty levels I’d prefer to introduce vocabulary and grammar automatically in response to user progress, balancing against the friction of seeing unfamiliar words. There’s a lot ‘under the hood’ to manage this today, but plenty of room to improve.- More practice features - to reinforce vocabulary/grammar and support writing, listening and speaking.- Better eBook support - improving the formatting of eBooks within the app and providing more methods for finding good books to read.Use of AI- LLMs provided a step change in accuracy and have enabled a feature that explains translations and grammar to the user- vastly improving the utility versus a year ago.- I believe apps like this, which use AI to enhance or scale functionality rather than simply acting as a wrapper over APIs, will be the major beneficiaries as LLMs improve.Take a look, and let me know your thoughts or questions!
The Show HN product, a language learning app, received mixed feedback. Users praised its free audio courses, effectiveness in learning phrases for travel, and ease of use. Some achieved notable language milestones using the app or in combination with other methods. Criticisms included slow vocabulary acquisition, lack of grammar focus, and questions about translation accuracy. Users compared it to other methods and apps, with some preferring alternatives like Anki or Fluent Forever. Technical issues such as non-availability on Firefox, region restrictions, and Play Store errors were also mentioned. Suggestions for improvement, requests for more languages, and integration with other platforms were common.
Users criticized the Show HN product for lacking polish, being unpopular, and potentially teaching poor grammar. There were concerns about differentiation from competitors, unclear business models and pricing, and limited language and regional support. The app was also noted for not being available on certain platforms, having usability issues, and not including desired features like e-reader integration. Some users found the concept unoriginal and were disappointed with the content selection and translation quality.
