Should I Build It Should I Build It
18 Jul 2025
Artificial Intelligence

I want to build a platform that helps to practice communication / ...

...speaking. For examples pitch, presentstion, sales call etc. so serious of input field will be there and user will get the cheatsheat in different format. Plus another fetaure to pratice live with AI persona

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Freemium

People love using similar products but resist paying. You’ll need to either find who will pay or create additional value that’s worth paying for.

Should You Build It?

Build but think about differentiation and monetization.

Your are here

You're entering a space with a good amount of activity, as indicated by the 12 similar products we've found. This also means that there's competition to consider, however, high engagement suggests a real interest in solutions that help people practice communication skills. The core of your idea, focusing on practicing communication and speaking skills via AI personas, aligns with existing market trends. Given that we've categorized your idea as 'Freemium', it's essential to understand that users may be hesitant to pay upfront. Your challenge will be to figure out what specific value you can offer that users are willing to pay for, or to identify a paying segment, such as teams. Differentiation is key in a crowded market; how can you stand out and provide unique value that compels users to choose your platform over others? The comments from similar products suggest that accuracy and language support are critical, so make sure to address these areas.

Recommendations

  1. Focus on a specific niche within communication skills initially. Instead of trying to cover everything (pitches, presentations, sales calls), select one area and build a highly polished, effective practice tool. This will allow you to gather targeted feedback and refine your AI personas more effectively.
  2. Since people resist paying upfront in the freemium model, make the initial free experience incredibly valuable. Give users a taste of the full potential without paywalls blocking core functionality. Think of a 'wow' moment that hooks users and makes them see the long-term value.
  3. Carefully consider your AI persona design. User feedback on similar products emphasizes the need for realism and human-like interaction. Invest in high-quality voice models and natural language processing to create genuinely engaging practice partners.
  4. Prioritize accuracy in speech recognition and language processing. Based on feedback from similar products, this is a critical area for improvement. Consider incorporating context-based language models to better understand user intent and provide more relevant feedback.
  5. Explore team-based pricing models. If individual users are hesitant to pay, consider targeting companies or teams that need communication training for their employees. Offer group discounts or enterprise features to incentivize adoption.
  6. Given the criticism around UI from similar tools, invest in a clean, intuitive user interface from day one. Make it easy for users to navigate the platform, select practice scenarios, and receive feedback. A seamless user experience can significantly increase engagement and retention.
  7. Address security concerns related to voice phishing and data privacy. Clearly communicate the measures you've taken to protect user data and prevent misuse of the AI personas. Transparency is essential for building trust.
  8. Actively seek user feedback and iterate on your product based on their suggestions. Launch a beta program with a small group of users and gather their input on everything from AI persona realism to feature requests. Use this feedback to continuously improve your platform.
  9. Create premium features that focus on personalized feedback and advanced analytics. For example, offer users the ability to upload recordings of their practice sessions and receive detailed analysis of their performance. Charge extra for deeper insights and improvement suggestions.

Questions

  1. What specific communication scenarios are most underserved by existing practice tools, and how can your platform address those needs in a unique and compelling way?
  2. How will you balance the realism of AI personas with the need for constructive and actionable feedback, ensuring that users feel supported and motivated to improve?
  3. What key performance indicators (KPIs) will you track to measure the effectiveness of your platform, and how will you use those metrics to guide your product development decisions?

Your are here

You're entering a space with a good amount of activity, as indicated by the 12 similar products we've found. This also means that there's competition to consider, however, high engagement suggests a real interest in solutions that help people practice communication skills. The core of your idea, focusing on practicing communication and speaking skills via AI personas, aligns with existing market trends. Given that we've categorized your idea as 'Freemium', it's essential to understand that users may be hesitant to pay upfront. Your challenge will be to figure out what specific value you can offer that users are willing to pay for, or to identify a paying segment, such as teams. Differentiation is key in a crowded market; how can you stand out and provide unique value that compels users to choose your platform over others? The comments from similar products suggest that accuracy and language support are critical, so make sure to address these areas.

Recommendations

  1. Focus on a specific niche within communication skills initially. Instead of trying to cover everything (pitches, presentations, sales calls), select one area and build a highly polished, effective practice tool. This will allow you to gather targeted feedback and refine your AI personas more effectively.
  2. Since people resist paying upfront in the freemium model, make the initial free experience incredibly valuable. Give users a taste of the full potential without paywalls blocking core functionality. Think of a 'wow' moment that hooks users and makes them see the long-term value.
  3. Carefully consider your AI persona design. User feedback on similar products emphasizes the need for realism and human-like interaction. Invest in high-quality voice models and natural language processing to create genuinely engaging practice partners.
  4. Prioritize accuracy in speech recognition and language processing. Based on feedback from similar products, this is a critical area for improvement. Consider incorporating context-based language models to better understand user intent and provide more relevant feedback.
  5. Explore team-based pricing models. If individual users are hesitant to pay, consider targeting companies or teams that need communication training for their employees. Offer group discounts or enterprise features to incentivize adoption.
  6. Given the criticism around UI from similar tools, invest in a clean, intuitive user interface from day one. Make it easy for users to navigate the platform, select practice scenarios, and receive feedback. A seamless user experience can significantly increase engagement and retention.
  7. Address security concerns related to voice phishing and data privacy. Clearly communicate the measures you've taken to protect user data and prevent misuse of the AI personas. Transparency is essential for building trust.
  8. Actively seek user feedback and iterate on your product based on their suggestions. Launch a beta program with a small group of users and gather their input on everything from AI persona realism to feature requests. Use this feedback to continuously improve your platform.
  9. Create premium features that focus on personalized feedback and advanced analytics. For example, offer users the ability to upload recordings of their practice sessions and receive detailed analysis of their performance. Charge extra for deeper insights and improvement suggestions.

Questions

  1. What specific communication scenarios are most underserved by existing practice tools, and how can your platform address those needs in a unique and compelling way?
  2. How will you balance the realism of AI personas with the need for constructive and actionable feedback, ensuring that users feel supported and motivated to improve?
  3. What key performance indicators (KPIs) will you track to measure the effectiveness of your platform, and how will you use those metrics to guide your product development decisions?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 12
  • Engagement: High
    • Average number of comments: 11
  • Net use signal: 14.5%
    • Positive use signal: 24.7%
    • Negative use signal: 10.2%
  • Net buy signal: -1.4%
    • Positive buy signal: 4.8%
    • Negative buy signal: 6.1%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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Hello HN,Excited to share my new project, a site for rehearsing conversations with any emulated person, powered by ChatGPT. Originally inspired by my daughter's idea, we built a tool that simulates scenarios from chats with a crush to job interviews, aiming to boost confidence and reduce anxiety.You can create any persona you want to interact with, whether a celebrity or someone you know personally. Essentially, you are just creating custom prompts for ChatGPT and we add in a little extra to try to ensure it behaves the way you would want. You can share your AI personas with other users or keep them private.Although I'm not a trained developer by any stretch of the imagination, I dove into programming this completely solo...well actually, with ChatGPT as my tutor. The logo was also generated by a Stable Diffusion based model.Give it a try at practicetalking.net and share your thoughts! Hoping this tool will help you prepare for real-life conversations more effectively.Looking forward to your feedback!

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I built an AI language teacher to get you speaking

07 Jun 2023 Languages Artificial Intelligence

Hello Hacker News,When learning foreign languages, I made the most progress by speaking them throughout the day, every day. So I made a site where you can *speak* to an AI language teacher to practice both listening and speaking.# The product*What I have now:** Multilingual speech recognition: You can ask a question in English and get an answer in your target language. * Feedback on your grammar. * Suggestions: See examples of what to say next to keep the conversation flowing. * Speed: Choose a lower speed for beginners or a faster one for advanced levels. * Translations: Click to see a translation into English (or another language). * Role-playing: Practice real-life situations. * Available to learn American English, British English, Australian English, French, Spanish from Spain, Spanish from Mexico, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Russian, and more.*What I'd like to add:** More Situations/Characters/Customizations: A "Creator mode". * Feedback on your pronunciation. * Text-based responses (Type or click – would feel like a "Create Your Own Adventure" book!) * A dictionary. * Phonetics: Zoom in and repeat a sound to help you hear phonemes and words more clearly. * …and so much more!…# The startupBeen working on this for 6-7 months now.I love this project and got lots of laudatory comments about it, but still find it hard to make it take off. 31% of people come back to it, traffic is growing through word of mouth with language teachers in schools or Telegram or private intranets sharing it with others. So that's nice. But nice words alone don't pay the bills.My goal is to achieve enough growth to cover costs, which would then allow me to focus 100% on the product (currently it's more like 50% of my time). But I'm not there yet.A challenge I see is that most places forbid self-promotion. So I'm just not sure how on Earth I'm supposed to have a product take off. I could pay for ads, but I use AdBlock everywhere so this feels out of character. I'm a big fan of Pieter Levels (@levelsio on Twitter) because he's doing things solo, so I'm trying to emulate the same kind of success. But it seems that something is missing.What features would you find most useful? How can I better market this without resorting to ads?Thanks for reading! If you've got thoughts or ideas, I would love to hear them.Cheers, Fabien

The Show HN product, likely a language learning tool with speech-to-text features, has received mixed feedback. Users appreciate the concept and find it valuable, especially for practicing speaking alone. However, there are significant concerns about the accuracy of speech recognition, particularly with non-native accents and mixed languages. Suggestions include improving context-based language models, adding structured objectives, and partnering with language schools. Some users experienced issues with specific languages like Spanish and Bosnian, and there's a desire for more language support and better pronunciation guidance. Positive notes include ease of use, potential for partnerships, and the usefulness of the chatbot for practice.

Users criticize the product for poor speech recognition, especially with non-native accents, leading to misinterpretations and frustration for language learners. The voice-to-text feature is deemed finicky and inaccurate. There are complaints about the lack of support for multiple languages and dialects, insufficient language learning features like structured objectives, translation, and pronunciation feedback. The app is considered slow, with a confusing interface and inadequate instructions. Some users suggest alternative products, and there are concerns about potential security vulnerabilities.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lph

This is outstanding. And the limitations of its speech recognition are actually a feature - it forces me to really concentrate on pronunciation. Now do Mandarin and take my money please :)

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

Thank you . A friend's been asking for Mandarin for a while, time to deliver on my promise to add it! Will try to get it ready within 24 hours of posting this.> And the limitations of its speech recognition are actually a feature - it forces me to really concentrate on pronunciationI appreciate the positive comment! People complaining about the limitations of speech recognition make a valid point, but there's an ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM of language education that I feel needs to be addressed:Language classes ignore speaking for the most part. Speaking time is ultra-limited. Phonetics are introduced super late (or never). And text is used as a form of baby-sitting to the detriment of listening (which is really –literally– backwards because the natural order of picking up a language is as follows: 1. listening 2. speaking 3. reading 4. writing.)There's a cost to it: most people develop a fear of speaking and a confusing accent.We can see the current limits with speech recognition and say that it and the products that use it are no good. But this feels like throwing the baby with the bathwater.Or, we can seize it as an opportunity to improve one's accent. (Spent thousands of bucks on accent training, this is much cheaper! )(I do plan to improve speech recognition as tech matures (fast), but there's an opportunity for improving one's accent here that would be too bad to miss.)

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

Hey, thanks for the input and happy to have a healthy debate!I'm a bit confused though:> all the input I got was some lines of textDidn't you hear the audio? Or what else were you expecting? I've experimented with the length of answers a bit and people are put off by long answers.·I think people overcomplicate language acquisition. Or at least here's my two cents from learning four foreign languages to fluency and now seeing my kids grow up trilingual. There's a natural language to learning a language:1. Listen 2. Speak 3. Read 4. WriteForeign language education has been switching the first two with the last two and keeps wondering why the majority of learners have such thick accents. (Meanwhile, kids who grew up with YouTube sounds great.)You need input to observe and 'pick up' the language. But you need experience to grow confident and fluent. No speaking practice means no confidence speaking. e.g. if you never spoke on the phone after years of learning you're likely to get cold sweats on your first phone call for work.Time and motivation play a big role. You just cannot squeeze the equivalent of years of learning as a kid into a couple of months (usually before giving up) as an adult. Making language rewarding (which means seeing progress and having fun) is critical.·Now my observation is that people just don't talk much in most classes and that people should be able to learn foreign languages in the most natural way possible: conversations (listening and speaking.) It's somewhat ironic that ARTIFICIAL intelligence is now enabling this.I'll put my money where my mouth is: I'm still working on the product and when it's ready will use it to learn a language FROM SCRATCH :)

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rokkitmensch

I have wanted this for years. Kudos.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jjkeddo199

Getting English translation is a good idea, but it should be "hold down 5 seconds" to reveal -- Allowing it to be shown instantly might actually slow language learning. Users should be allowed to struggle a few seconds first (struggle === learning) before translating.Alternatively, it might be nice to be able to translate only individual words. If I understood 60% , inferred 35%, and was clueless about 5% of a foreign text, I think I'd end up learning more by using the smallest amount of translation possible and only translating the word I was stuck on.It would also be nice to see support for more widely spoken languages. Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and Hindi could be your killer apps -- If supporting non-latin text is a bottleneck, you could launch these languages in beta with some features disabled!Overall, great product OP! This is definitely good enough to start charging for. Spending 5 minutes a day speaking Spanish is a very appealing idea for me. As silly as it sounds, I'd try selling door to door (in person) for the first few users. I think that could be much more effective for early stages. You should also consider adding a intermediate tier for people in lower income countries.I will keep your site bookmarked -- I tested it for Spanish, but the language I really want to learn Arabic. If you can add Arabic language support, I will be the first person to sign up!

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jjkeddo199

Hello, generally, Arabic is taught with two accents in language schools: Formal "Fus-ha" Arabic, and Egyptian dialect Arabic (most common by far). If you can add both here, I will go ahead and sign up for premium membership. :)

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=erezsh

I like it a lot, good job!If I could make one suggestion, add a way to input text using the keyboard. Yes, I want to practice talking, but the voice-to-text is still far from perfect, and it makes it awkward. It often mishears things, and sometimes thinks I speak other languages that I don't even know! Maybe also add a way to say that "this isn't what I meant to say", and give me the choice of the top 3 highest ranked interpretations.Also, one feature I think would help a lot, is if the bot was a bit more active, like quiz me, comment on the errors I'm making, and build "lesson plans" so that I can focus on the topics, instead of having to think what questions I should ask.Having said all that, what you already have is a really great start! I signed up and looking forward to check it again in a month or two.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=tinyhouse

Really nice! I tried Russian. A few comments. (Also please add Hebrew and Arabic)- The level was too high for me and I wasn't sure how to ask the teacher to ask me something simpler. She did say something about talking slower but my problem was with not understanding specific words. (OK, I see now that the text can be translated so that should help)2. The suggestions assume you can read the langue but often it's not the case when one learns to speak. I don't see a translation option for the suggestions (adding pronunciation might help; can be English text)3. It's a bit slow. I totally understand why but I think in order for users to have long conversations, speed is crucial.4. I would be happy to pay for something like this. I think it could make sense to target kids. Many parents, me included, would be happy to pay for their kids to use something like this. I'm assuming Doulingo are going to add something similar but don't let that distract you. Great job!

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=dangwhy

This is amazing. I tried coffeshop with Spanish and worked great. I wouldnt mind paying subscriptions for this like i do for duolingo. Congrats!

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

Yes, definitely want to add something in those lines, where the AI detects your level and adapts in more than one way.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=spaceprogrammer

Amazing! Great Site. would love it if you add Turkish

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rokkitmensch

> my response synthesis skill is severely under-developedA million times this. I can read at pretty much an 18 year old level, but i can barely synthesize at a 14 year old level, and this is where i need pushing.> speech to text shouldn't generate text which is outside of the practice languageAnother take: the speech recognition is too good with my sloppy banlieu french. I need this to spot my mistakes and make me practice correcting myself. I said "chuis something-or-other" and it correctly parsed my intention to say "je suis", but i want that pointed out to me. also my wife corrected me from the other room on "toi" vs "tu" and Giglish just glossed over the mistake.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=willsmith72

Eh I disagree. It's not perfect, but that's just about expectation management. Users don't expect voice-to-text to be perfect - in fact, the past 10 years shitty experiences have been the norm. I think it depends on the level of mistakes the transcribing makes, but that's only going to improve with time with advances in AI and as the product evolves (using the context of the conversation like you say would be a great start).Even in its current state this is an awesome product. There are so so many people in the world learning a language, and one of the hardest parts is practicing after you stop learning (like you leaving Spain). People like that will really love something like thisIn future especially to be able to cater to people who are still learning, it should be feasible to use a similar product to train and correct people's pronounciation.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

And, well… "glass half-empty or glass half-full?"Speech recognition is far from perfect but even then it's incredibly useful. It CAN be infuriating (or downright hilarious). Hell, it's infuriating when occasionally a (human!) waiter switches to English after I mangled a sound in Hungarian, even though I'm C1/advanced in the language.Problem or opportunity? Like someone else pointed out, the limitations of speech-to-text can be turned into an opportunity to improve one's pronunciation. It's getting extremely good for native speakers. As foreign speakers it's a chance to improve.In any case, I'm sure I can add a layer or two to the code to reduce misunderstandings. This is actually exciting!p.s. as mentioned in the OP, feedback on pronunciation is planned (actually in the works).

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=IanCal

Whisper takes a prompt as well, it would be a good idea to try that out.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

It does and that's indeed Whisper I'm currently using. I do have mixed feelings about it:- On the one hand, it performs well in so many cases… and having multilingual support built-in is great! - On the other hand: there's actually NO OPTION to Whisper to recognize just two languages (you either recognize ONE language or ANY language with it, which can cause issues depending on one's pronunciation and the language at hand.)Will definitely turn OFF multilingual speech recognition by default, because the huge majority of negative reactions in this thread stem from this.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=hn_throwaway_99

Great job! I just played with it and really liked it.In terms of "getting it to take off", I'd suggest partnering with some language schools first. For example, there is an Alliance Francaise in my city and most decent-sized cities in the US. The difficulty, of course, is that a lot of language schools may have valid fears about AI replacing them, but I think it would be a nice tool to add as an adjunct to human-taught lessons. For example, could imagine a "teacher view" of this, where you let the teacher set up the original conversation prompt to mirror whatever individual lesson is happening in their class. Could even make this part of homework where the teacher could then ask students to role-play with it for homework and make individual student's responses available to the teacher.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=hn_throwaway_99

> There's not even speaking time in language classes and it's been like this for decades.That's not even the only issue. I took some strictly conversational classes for a while, but the problem is that it's one teacher with 5-10 students, so most of the speaking and conversing is done with people who suck as bad as you do at the language! The thing I really liked about your site (and just some of my own practicing that I've done with ChatGPT) is that I really get to converse with solely a dedicated "fluent" speaker.Again, thanks and great job!

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

That is true and I never really understood this 'babysitting' approach to language education (as in: language classes too often feel like they're designed to keep kids busy, while the goal should be to use the language.) Talking to a mirror would work better than a lot of language class activities I can think of.Will try to build on this positive, thank you!

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

Hey! Thanks for the feedback!> I think there are a few places where you need to fine tune your prompts, at least for Korean language learningCan you expand on this one, please?> I also wish there was a drill mode that is less open endedI have something similar to a drill mode in my previous product (to learn English) and people use it 1-3 hours a day. Want to incorporate it into Gliglish, just didn't get around to it yet but you make me realize I shouldn't wait!Is your project KoalaSRS?

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rickcarlino

> Is your project KoalaSRS?Indeed it is! Very much a work-in-progress though, whenever my work schedule has a moment to spare.> I have something similar to a drill mode in my previous product (to learn English) and people use it 1-3 hours a day. Want to incorporate it into Gliglish, just didn't get around to it yet but you make me realize I shouldn't wait!I look forward to trying it in the future. I'm a fan of tools that let me just "plug in" and immerse for a solid hour via short drills. I wish there was a GPT-enhanced tool like using Anki, but for vocab drills and speaking practice. This was my main motivation for working on KoalaSRS> Can you expand on this one, please?Absolutely! When I tried the bakery scenario, I used the Korean word for "bread" but it got misinterpreted as "bell". It's not solely a transcription error (my pronunciation could use a little touch up), but I'm curious if you're using OpenAI's Whisper? If so, implementing a dynamic/context-aware prompt might improve the accuracy, and even overlook minor pronunciation glitches. I've done some tinkering in this area during my own experiments and saw some promising improvements. I'm not sure if you're using Whisper or if you've tweaked your Whisper prompts based on context, but I thought I'd mention that experience to see if it helps you tweak things a bit.Thanks for your reply. If you ever feel like diving deeper, don't hesitate to reach out. I absolutely love discussing language learning software. I've shared some of my thoughts on my blog and in the KoalaSRS README as well, so feel free to take a peek if you're curious!

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=caitlinface

Very cool. I've been trying to learn Spanish off and on for years, and this was super easy to try. Love the fact that you can use it without even signing up.I wonder if you could look into partnering with some existing language tools? I might also look into telling schools about it directly, to help speed up the word of mouth.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rokkitmensch

I'll second this. Consider writing prompts for the LLM that push it towards asking questions of the user, evaluating their responses, and offering corrections and asking them to repeat themselves.This is an interesting prompting problem, let me know if you want to collaborate. I'm not in the language space, but would gladly riff with you on the topic to improve Giglish and improve my own thinking on the topic.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

Hey, thank you for the feedback!1. Would having translations of the suggestions help? I obviously want to add them (along with their pronunciations), but have had to do other things first.2. Like I said in the OP, I want to add an option to type and click.Need to share something: I've taught English for decades and learned four foreign languages and the biggest mistake I've seen others and me do is to read too much and speak too little. Students who study a language for years before speaking develop apprehension and bad habits that take years to fix.Wanna strike a balance between the need/encouragements to speak and the flexibility to use a tool however one wants to use it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=chankstein38

1. Definitely, I think that'd help a lot! 2. Looking forward to that! I had read that portion but wanted to support the desire for it!I appreciate that! I do have a lot of trouble with that but I also tend to mostly be a text-based communicator if I can help it lol

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

Hey! Thank you for taking the time!1. Wanna go full-in on customization. Right now you can customize by telling the teacher what you want to talk about, but I can imagine in the near future the AI figuring where you stand and adapting as you go along. Matter of (coding) time.2. You're right. I will add translations and audio to the suggestions. Something more urgent always came up but your feedback helps prioritize this.3. Could you expand on this? Do you mean in terms of waiting for the answer? I've experience slowdowns when OpenAI is over capacity but generally it works well. Do you mind sharing where you used it from (country)?4. Thank you, this is encouraging.Super excited about all this!

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=somethingsome

Seems a very good idea.As I'm really not fluent in the language I'm learning, it would be super useful to me to be able to click on any word in the dialog to see it's translation, no need for grammar or complete sentences, only the words I don't know!

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

There's a translation button. Should I make it more prominent?I'll also add voice and translations to the suggestions provided on every screen.It's also a matter of learning style... I don't speak a word of Portuguese or Bosnian, but diving into those was a lot of fun! Language learning can be seen like a detective game and it's super exciting then.In any case, will definitely try to accommodate more learning styles and personality types.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jjallen

Very cool can’t wait to try it. I’m curious about offering Bosnian which basically no language apps do.Was it just easy to offer or is there more of a connection.My wife is Bosnian and I have learned some over the years.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=saasxyz

incredible. As a non native speaker, I always want to improve my speaking skills. And I also thought of building something using AI. But you have nailed it. Kudos.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

Thank you! Turkish (along with Japanese and Chinese) has been on my mind for a while. If I know people will use it, I'll add it. Will try to add Turkish within 24 hours.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=sk55

I wanted to try it in Hindi, but it was unavailable. Would love to play around w/ it in that language.I love the idea though!

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

Hey! Thanks for the balanced feedback, all totally valid.(1) I'm self-directed in my learning and always knew what I wanted my teachers to do, but everyone's different. Definitely going to add more choice of content (and not just roleplay.) I have a very structured and successful program to learn English and will try to adapt what works well in it to Gliglish.(2) You're right! The speech recognition and LLM layers are separate. I actually do have data about the quality of pronunciation, I'm just not using it yet. It's a matter of adding a layer to handle it. Basically, all the building blocks are here and I need to get them to play nicely together.(3) It's the same issue as with ChatGPT on which it's built. Part of the progress will come from OpenAI or similar endeavors themselves, part from further checks on my end as in (2).I just don't share your pessimistic view about the future of such tech though (well, if I did I probably wouldn't have started the whole thing! ) Once you put ChatGPT into a corner, there's usually no hope of it getting back on track. BUT with clear context and prompts on things it does well it's just incredibly useful! Again, is the glass half empty or half full?As for this use case, there's tremendous value in being able to practice. Just talking to oneself in the mirror or journaling in a foreign language is already super productive and this is it… on steroids.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=fabiensnauwaert

Yes, one step at a time :) Definitely high on the list, pronunciation is very dear to my heart.

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Aoi Speak - Practice languages with AI and real people

04 Nov 2023 Languages Artificial Intelligence Education

Pair up with AI and real people for real-time voice communication to practice and rapidly improve your language speaking skills.

Aoi Speak's launch on Product Hunt received positive feedback. Users congratulated the team and expressed excitement to try the product, praising the concept of AI language practice and its flexibility. Many see it as a valuable tool, especially the option to practice with AI or other users, filling a gap in the market. Some users suggested UI and feature improvements. One commenter sees Aoi Speak as a potential competitor to Duolingo. Others mentioned they intend to use Aoi Speak to practice specific languages like French.

The product launch received criticism for its unattractive user interface. Additionally, some users felt the combination of AI and human practice might be too ambitious for the product's current stage.

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Talkio AI - AI powered language training app for the browser

25 May 2023 Languages Artificial Intelligence Education

Talkia AI is a language training app for the browser that uses AI technology to help you improve your oral language skills. Talkio has more than 400 tutors with unique artificial personalities offering an immersive language learning experience.

The product launch received positive feedback, with users describing it as exciting and awesome. One user congratulated the team and suggested offering a free trial without requiring a credit card upfront. Overall, the comments indicate a positive reception to the product.

Users are critical of the upfront credit card requirement, suggesting a free trial instead to encourage adoption and reduce user hesitation. This is the primary point of criticism.

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Platform to practice job interviews using AI

20 Sep 2023 Artificial Intelligence Hiring Career

Users appreciate the quick interview process and good feedback, but there is interest in incorporating technical questions, especially related to AI.

Users criticized the product for having an inaccurate English proficiency rating and for lacking technical questions in its current offering.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jdwg

Just took the interview for the Senior JavaScript Developer position! (I'm not actually a js developer, but this was the closest I could find)- It was very nice to have "two minutes from now" offered as an interview slot - Interviewer: "Can you tell about a time you used typescript in a project" Me: "I've only used typescript in personal projects, writing little games to play remotely with my family." - Interviewer: "Can you tell about a time you demonstrated excellent collaboration at work?" Me: "I worked closely with two other people when building product at my last company. I was the data science/ml expert, ..." - Interviewer: "Can you tell me your English language proficiency?" Me: "Very proficient." - Interview over after about 3 minutes! No technical questions at all, sadly. - A results email was sent to my inbox within a minute or two....RESULTSHighlights: Good collaboration skills, Experience with AIKeypoints: Has only used TypeScript in personal projects, Demonstrated effective collaboration and initiative, Comfortable with EnglishOverall Score: 68%English Level: B2Looks pretty good! Agreed that a senior js dev should have some real experience with TypeScript.But wait, what does B2 mean?Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party.Hm. I am a native English speaker, and there are two levels above B2. This is a pretty big miss.But overall, the process was so quick and painless that I'd certainly do it again, just for the chance to practice giving my canned responses to standard behavioral-type questions.

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Spellar - Personal Speaking Copilot

05 Dec 2023 Languages Artificial Intelligence

Hey, HN!I'm Artem, CPO & co-founder of Spellar AI. Today, I'd like to share our journey while developing a tool designed to enhance English communication skills using AI technology.My experience in an international workplace was a key factor in developing Spellar. After passing my job interview in English, I faced difficulties with daily conversations. I tried using scripted answers for meetings, but it wasn't effective. This motivated me to create a solution to make learning languages simpler and more approachable.At Spellar AI, we've focused on developing features that address language learning challenges and communication struggles. These include real-time chat assistance, personalized feedback, practice sessions tailored to individual needs, and a key point on how to answer the question: "Why should I return to this application?"Reflecting on the founding of our company, it was a hell of a journey.We developed the Beta version of our macOS app in just 1.5 months, aiming for a launch in early September. Navigating Apple's App Store review process can be challenging, so imagine our astonishment when we got approval just 5 hours before our marketing campaign kicked off!Originally named Speechy AI, we launched our Beta and quickly rose to the top on ProductHunt. The user feedback was invaluable, revealing that while people loved the app, they were unsure about its long-term value. This led us to focus on completing the user flow and enhancing tech aspects.Our initial success also brought unexpected challenges. We achieved an excellent ranking on Google. However, we soon faced legal hurdles from a wedding company with the same name. It was a significant oversight on our part. The company, noticing our lack of trademark, registered it themselves and then sent us a legal notice, demanding a response within five days to avoid court proceedings. That weekend was intense, filled with learning and strategizing on how to handle the situation. Fortunately, we found experts who helped us navigate the complexities and reach a settlement on our terms. However, this meant we had to do a rebranding.In the last 3 months, we've diligently worked to prevent any future legal issues. We established companies in both the U.S. and the UK, secured trademarks, and redesigned the app to ensure a seamless user experience, complemented by advancements in our voice analysis technology. On a lighter note, we briefly considered setting up in any country with an internet connection.But another lesson was right around the corner: the importance of meticulous marketing planning and timing. We set a deadline for the new release and announcements, but our process of obtaining an Enterprise Apple account took longer than expected. Since we had a beta version on a personal Apple account, we couldn't launch it publicly and then migrate users to the new app later. Unfortunately, we encountered unforeseen delays and had to move the launch date and marketing plans not once, but three times. It was a frustrating experience, but we learned the importance of adaptability and being prepared for unexpected challenges.When our company account was finally ready, we faced a technical roadblock with Apple: due to Apple's policies, we were required to release a new app with the same name and metadata. This forced us to migrate our existing users to the new app. We made it (again) just 7 hours before starting the marketing campaign.Imagine facing all these challenges and not giving up on the product you're working on. What ignited our passion was being featured on multiple platforms, witnessing the growth of active users, and receiving feedback from upcoming users every day.We see Spellar as a major step in AI-powered language learning and I'd love to hear your thoughts on our product. Thank you for your time, will be glad to discuss the topic

Developed AI tool for English communication, faced legal and technical challenges.

Uncertainty about app's long-term value.

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Play AI - The voice interface of AI

29 Apr 2024 Artificial Intelligence Audio API

PlayAI is a new real-time conversational voice AI platform for creating human-like voice agents. It makes conversations contextual, handles turn-taking, interruption, voice energy and emotion modulation for natural, fluid, and human conversations in real-time.

PlayAI is receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback for its realistic and human-like conversational AI, intuitive voice interface, and responsiveness. Users praise the natural conversations, speed, and improved vocal models. The Restaurant Staff template is specifically highlighted. Some users are experiencing mic recognition issues and find the speed slightly too fast. Questions are raised about API pricing, language support (Spanish), and comparisons to Vapi. Users are excited to try the tool, check it out, and integrate it into their workflows. Congratulations on the launch are common, and there's positive feedback for individuals like Hammad.

Users expressed concerns about voice customization, specifically requesting a voice template resembling Carmen's. Integration with diverse languages and dialects was desired. Technical issues were noted, including microphone recognition problems and a slightly fast processing speed. Questions were raised about security measures against voice phishing. Spanish voice search functionality was also requested.

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