The_Terrible_Humbaba

@The_Terrible_Humbaba@beehaw.org

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The problem with GIMP⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Off course, that’s fair. This was a while ago, but I believe my point was more generally about whether to rename an existing popular application. I think it’s commendable that you make that effort to protect the kids you work with.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The problem with GIMP⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Plenty of words have multiple meanings, but I rarely think of them when I’m using a word to mean a specific thing. I know the meanings of gimp, but I never think of them when using GIMP; perhaps because it’s capitalized and I always assumed it stood for something (and it does).

  But anyway, and more importantly than that, what you describe is a problem that you might run into with any word.

  A small subset of the world population can view it as an insult, but for the vast majority it means nothing. Sort of like the word “negro” in Spanish, which some English people take offense to when they hear it. I even searched “gimp” in 3 different search engines, and the first 2 to 5 results were always the GIMP. Most people have no other concept for the word.

  Let me put it this way: you say you’d favor Kira, but how do you know that there aren’t some kids in Egypt, or Russia, or someone else in the world, that take offense to the word “Kira”?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Duolingo Fires Translators in Favor of AI⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The podcasts and other media consumption will probably be what you will get most of the benefit from in the long term, and something like Anki and Duolingo I think are good complements for that.

  Any alternatives to Duolingo that I think would be worth replacing it, would have to be something that is more focused on the specific language that you are learning, i.e. Nicos Weg for German (and I don’t personally know any for Italian, sorry). Most other general language learning websites/apps would probably be running into the same issues and limitations as Duo, and which one to use depends most on personal preference; however, there is one I’ve heard of called Italki (there may be more) which basically acts as a language exchange app, where you connect talk to people who natively speak the language you are learning, and they can give you input. I’ve never tried it, but I’ve heard good things.

  Other than that, you have certified online/in person courses, but obviously those are not as convenient as Duo, and they cost money (probably more than a Duo subscription).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Duolingo Fires Translators in Favor of AI⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is frustrating, but it has always happened been an issue; and the more you advance in the language the more it happens, because fewer people have found the problem and reported it. It’s a human problem that comes with not considering every possibility when creating an exercise. I’d imagine that using AI (in addition to humans) would actually help reduce cases like this, since they could be detected before users run into them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Duolingo Fires Translators in Favor of AI⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s a bit over the top, in my opinion. I’ve tried plenty of courses, and Duolingo is pretty good to get a hang of the basics of a language.

  I’d say, in my experience, the hardest part of learning a language is getting started, and I feel Duolingo is perfect just for that. To get deeper knowledge and become more comfortable, one should probably switch once they start feeling more comfortable with the alphabet (if there is a specific one), and with the basic vocabulary and grammar.