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Best language learning resources? (Besides Duolingo) (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Jennie@lemmygrad.ml to c/comradeship@lemmygrad.ml

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I made it my NYR this year to learn a second language and while I picked Russian at first I switched to Spanish for a few different reasons. I've been using Duolingo for about 6 months now but have gotten to the point (I'm around A2 if not very early B1 fluency) where I just don't find it very helpful on its own anymore and the new stuff I learn just doesn't stick to my mind as good anymore.

I'd like to start incorporating other resources into my learning (which was the plan from the start) but have no idea where to start. I've incorporated note writing as well as flashcards into my learning as of a couple months ago, as well as trying to hold basic Spanish conversations with other people, but this is only really effective for perfecting what I've already studied.

To anyone who learned Spanish or really any language, do you know of any other resources for learning the language?

Gracias.

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[–] amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

So, I don't know about Spanish specifically (I've been focused on Mandarin myself), but I do have an idea you can try, that I've been experimenting with. There's an app called Tutor Lily and one called Univerbal, and both make use of a combination of AI text generation / languages models (for one side of a conversation) and some kind of "corrections" to point out mistakes in grammar or that kind of thing. Both have a form of trial or free use before you have to pay for anything (though with Univerbal, you might have to sign up for the full trial and then cancel in your store subscriptions if you don't want to get charged after it ends).

I haven't tried these for long yet, but I'm liking Tutor Lily more so far for just basic chatting and writing a message in the language every now and then during a day. And the main benefit I find is in getting me to use the language more flexibly vs. the set examples that course-based apps tend to have. In this way, one thing I do sometimes is I'll go find a grammar rule I learned in the past, then try to make use of it in the chatting app, within the context of the conversation. I reach for Google Translate a fair bit during this, as my understanding of Mandarin is still limited, but I know enough that it's not too painful.

The one main caveat here is, LLMs (large language models) can "hallucinate", as in confidently BS on things. Presumably, these apps are designed to try to confine the output to some degree and are (hopefully?) specially trained on grammatical corrections and the like to make them more accurate. But I still take it and its corrections with a grain of salt when conversing with it. So it's not something I'd recommend for someone new to a language who is very dependent on correct info, but at the level you're at, it might be a helpful supplementary thing.

Edit: Just noticed you said you have ADHD. I recommend trying this approach all the more in that case. I'm pretty confident I have ADHD too and the interactivity of this approach helps me stay engaged with it.

[–] Jennie@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This is an idea I've played around with although I haven't used this particular app. I used ChatGPT as well as a bot called HyperGlot on Character.AI but I will have to check this one out too since it seems specifically focused on language learning. Thanks for the suggestion.

[–] amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Np, hope it helps (and feel free to let me know how it goes, I'm curious to know if it works for anyone else). And yeah, I remember trying CharacterAI briefly in the past for language learning myself; main difference I find with this type of setup, is 1) The corrections are "on the side", not organically part of the conversation itself, so you have the main conversation which the AI is focused on and then you have suggestions/corrections you get if you say something its evaluation thinks has incorrectness for that language. 2) Both apps have forms of conversation where they can be more unguided in terms of what you talk about and have "roleplay" type of scenarios that are a little more structured for practicing specific kinds of things. For example, I was just doing a little talking with a "roleplay" on Tutor Lily called "explaining symptoms to a doctor."

So if I compare it to trying to learn through just any LLM, point 1 seems to be the most significant difference. Since technically you could already get an LLM to roleplay most things, albeit with more effort than with these apps' scenarios. But getting corrections on the side while talking to an LLM seems to be a more specific engineering/design thing that goes beyond LLMs alone. I might try to ask the creators and see if I can get an answer, but I'm unclear still on whether these apps are powering the corrections purely through an LLM itself or some other kind of AI evaluation with it.

[–] Jennie@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, this sounds a lot better. Am excited to give it a go. Funnily enough I have also recently started practicing medical terms/speaking to a doctor in Spanish lol.

[–] amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 months ago

Lol, that is a funny coincidence. Hope you enjoy it!