Speechling discussion

Ask specific questions about your target languages. Beginner questions welcome!
Kraut
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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby Kraut » Fri Dec 11, 2020 12:27 am

Axon wrote:
Kraut wrote:Here is some more feedback on your recording:
...


In einer Einführungsveranstaltung wird über die Evaluierung der Lehre an den Universitäten gesprochen. Der Diskussionsleiter, Herr Rankler, stellt die Internetportale “meinprof.de” und “spickmich.de” vor. Auf beiden Internetseiten können Studierende und Schüler Noten für Professoren und Lehrer geben. Eine Diskussionsteilnehmerin meint, dass dies sowohl für die Studierenden als auch für die Lehrenden viele Vorteile habe. Sie möchten sich auch dazu äußern. Der Diskussionsleiter erteilt Ihnen das Wort.

https://vocaroo.com/15Qd8zMCUFBm

Wann hast du zuletzt ein Insekt getötet?

https://vocaroo.com/156lAG5XBLDz

Without diverting this thread too much toward my German abilities as of a year ago (when these recordings were made), here are some examples of free responses marked "No corrections needed." Clearly there is halting speech, self-correction, and accented German to be found, but those apparently didn't bother my tutor in these cases. Of course, she never offered content or structure suggestions, just pronunciation, grammar, and word choice corrections.


It's clear that they can't give you this for free.


- pronunciation of "ö" in "möchte": you do pronounce the "ö", but it could be more rounded

- "Ich möchte meiner Kollegin zustimmen, dass" : better make no dass-Satz, because you run into a word order mistake here : must be "dass solche Webseiten viele Vorteile bieten"

- I would call a fellow student "Kommilitonin"

- better "Vorteile bieten", not "Vorteile ANbieten"

- "dieser oder jener": I hear "jeder"

- "Professor". "fess" gets the stress, not "or"

- zu seinem Kurs immer zu spät kommt, seinen Kurs immer zu spät beginnt

- "wissen, bevor er den Kurs besucht": ein Student besucht einen Kurs, nicht der Professor, der den Kurs abhält, also "dann wird man das wissen, bevor MAN den Kurs besucht"
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jackb
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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby jackb » Fri Dec 18, 2020 7:33 pm

I'm leaning towards subscribing to Speechling. Does anyone know the source of their sentences? Or at least how they were chosen?
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jackb
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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby jackb » Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:55 pm

I asked Speechling and they said the sentences are "property of Speechling". There was no more detail, but my question was pretty straightforward. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but there it is.

If anyone else is looking to subscribe, all subscriptions are 20% off until the end of the year.
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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby Ccaesar » Wed Dec 23, 2020 8:58 pm

jackb wrote:I asked Speechling and they said the sentences are "property of Speechling". There was no more detail, but my question was pretty straightforward. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but there it is.

If anyone else is looking to subscribe, all subscriptions are 20% off until the end of the year.


That sounds good, discount we like :D
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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby lingua » Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:53 pm

Did you let Speechling know of your problem with the tutor? It's possible you could have switched to someone else else though I don't know how many tutors they actually have per language. My experience with Italian and German is that they are very specific about where I went wrong and they repeat the errant word 1-2 times.
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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby jackb » Tue Jan 05, 2021 1:03 pm

I agree with going to Speechling, but I'd go to the tutor first if you haven't already. They may not know that you are unhappy with the quality of feedback.

If you do contact them, please let us know how they respond. I'm interested to know how (if) this gets addressed.
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Cavesa
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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby Cavesa » Sun Jan 10, 2021 10:06 pm

You are paying for a service and giving feedback makes it better. There is no other way for Speechling to find out something wasn't ok with some of their tutors.

The tutors are paid enough to make them want this job. So, they should care about the quality they deliver.

I'm not buying much the "charity" aspect. They are a standard freemium in every way, perhaps they shouldn't paint themselves as a charity. The main valuable part is sold, with just a tiny sample offered for free every month. That is not a criticism of the product, and they probably have some good intentions too. But it's not as if you were criticising a real charity company in my opinion.

I understand your choice, I just don't find it too logical.But it's definitely kind of you.
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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby lingua » Sun Jan 10, 2021 10:39 pm

Cavesa, in the US a non-profit is a type of organizational designation. It doesn't mean it's a charity. It just means they may be partially or fully tax-exempt if they meet the necessary federal IRS rules. I'm not an accountant so I don't know the specifics. In some cases the state they're registered in may have additional benefits in regards to taxes.
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Super Challenge 2022-23:
DE: books: 0 / 2500 film: 1654 / 4500
IT: books: 3065 / 5000 film: 5031 / 9000
PT: books: 2921 / 5000 film: 5010 / 9000

Output Challenge 2023:
IT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 84 / 3000
PT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 0 / 3000

PT: Read 100 books: 28 / 100

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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby jackb » Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:50 pm

The way they mention their non-profit status leads the reader to believe they are a charity though. Usually, companies in it only for the tax status hide it away. The NFL (the multi-billion dollar American football league) was a non-profit until a few years ago.

@pinkyslippers
I would suggest working with your tutor. You have 6-10 weeks left of subscription time, depending on when in March your subscription runs out. You can get a lot of feedback in that time. It's also interesting that you want more specific criticism from your tutor but you aren't willing to give it.

Anyway, enjoy your next app-flit!.
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Cavesa
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Re: Speechling discussion

Postby Cavesa » Tue Jan 12, 2021 1:51 pm

lingua wrote:Cavesa, in the US a non-profit is a type of organizational designation. It doesn't mean it's a charity. It just means they may be partially or fully tax-exempt if they meet the necessary federal IRS rules. I'm not an accountant so I don't know the specifics. In some cases the state they're registered in may have additional benefits in regards to taxes.


Yes, I see that, but what I mean is mostly their marketing strategy "we are trying to make learning free for the poor", which is not that rare in the language learning world. A normal freemium product, which is however portraying itself as a charity.

I am happy for them getting any tax benefits, but I don't like how this kind of PR affects the consumers. Right in this thread, we see a learner with a legitimate quality of service concern, who simply doesn't want to bother them out of kindness of heart, because who would bother a company trying to help the poor and probably not even paying the tutors right because of it (let's not forget that any tutor not happy with their pay but capable of good work can simply go work elsewhere, they are not enslaved). It's the same principle as with the Duolingo, which many people defend like "it is a poor company giving the poor around the world free language education", while Duo is 1.5billion dollar company, earning a lot on ads.

Speechling is a very good service, I like their work, they are bringing something new, valuable, and needed to the market. They are indeed not a charity and that is absolutely ok, they are a freemium service. But their chosen presentation is trying to play on people's kindness, and every customer should realize that and not let it affect their legitimate expectation of getting good service.

jackb wrote:The way they mention their non-profit status leads the reader to believe they are a charity though. Usually, companies in it only for the tax status hide it away. The NFL (the multi-billion dollar American football league) was a non-profit until a few years ago.

@pinkyslippers
I would suggest working with your tutor. You have 6-10 weeks left of subscription time, depending on when in March your subscription runs out. You can get a lot of feedback in that time. It's also interesting that you want more specific criticism from your tutor but you aren't willing to give it.

Anyway, enjoy your next app-flit!.


It is not about their taxes. It is about their PR. That's what is making the charity impression. The texts on their websites talking about making learning free for many people and so on. Most people (me included) have no idea what is their tax situation and couldn't care less. But the PR is working and sometimes not in fortunate ways.

I totally agree with the other point though. Constructive criticism needs to go both ways. When I had an issue with a tutor (who was wrongly using the feedback tool), it got solved immediately and it was great.
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