Language Transfer

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
crush
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby crush » Wed Oct 04, 2017 4:34 pm

It's really a shame, i imagine spending so much time working on this one can get bogged down and bored with the project over time, hopefully it will continue though. I'd like to see it open up and have more collaboration, perhaps training others in the process they go through when creating a course. I've been in touch with Mihalis since the very early days when there was an ad on Rapidshare (where the old files were hosted) and have always found the method great and really fun/interesting. I'll be moving to Spain this week actually and would love to get involved personally. I sent in a few hundred euros back in the early days but haven't done much else since other than spread the word. The Greek course is great, i've heard the Spanish course is great, and i hope it all continues on.

The Patreon campaign shows that currently they are receiving over $1000 a month, so not sure if it's the financial aspect or the folks getting in touch offering help/volunteering but later not following through what's getting them down. I do hope the project continues on.
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Cavesa
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby Cavesa » Thu Oct 05, 2017 11:21 am

I agree with Seneca that the FIGS were simply not a good idea, even though I was originally thinking it for different reason, but he is totally right. Especially the French and Spanish markets are overcrowded, and it is simply not realistic to think people would learn French or Spanish with LT and they say "oh, it was so cool, I'll pay to see Hebrew out!".

If you want to serve niche customers, you need to follow their niche dreams. Arabic learners had been waiting for ages for a complete course. Mandarin learners were put aside for FIGS too. If you want to get to the overcrowded French and Spanish market, you are unlikely to make it even with tons of marketing and everything. And the customers on the French/Spanish market tend to be new to language learning and therefore trusting their teachers a lot and not recognising some of the LT's best qualities. Another problem is the distinction between Introduction/Complete courses. It may be just my opinion, but I would love to see complete courses done right away and LT would be basically done with the language. This way, we've seen French and Italian jump over everything else not once, but twice. German is an exception, that was decided to get a Complete course right away. Nice. But it is getting postponed all the time, every new language moves it aside again and again.

I wondered about sending a few dollars here and there but I had a problem with the payment method, it simply didn't work for me, no idea why, but I got the same problem with another international kickstarter like website recently too. I would put more time into searching for an alternative way, if LT was actually working on courses for "not mainstream" languages. LT is a great way to get some insight and a taste for a language you are still considering and don't want to invest hundreds of euros into right away. Because we all know how much harder and more expensive it is to get high quality resources for less commonly taught languages. But FIGS are simply not that.
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crush
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby crush » Thu Oct 05, 2017 3:01 pm

Well, initially i think the reason Mihalis chose Spanish (and Greek) was because they speak those languages very well. Later other people began getting interested and French, Italian, and German (Spanish course was already done/in the works) were probably just the most requested languages. Seeing as they are the most commonly studied languages for English speakers, it makes sense. I would've preferred less common languages with fewer quality materials, too, but also considering the location of the LT "headquarters" (seemed to spend a while in Germany and now in Spain), French/German/Spanish also make sense since you have more access to native speakers of those languages. They also probably pull in more donations (though folks studying other languages might be more willing to donate).

I also don't really see the point in the introduction courses, i'd rather see complete courses from the start (and work on one language to completion before starting on another, but i suppose course creators also suffer from wanderlust). I'd also like to see more time spent on the commissioned course (Swahili), which if they are going to have more commissioned courses in the future i dunno if this is setting a very good precedent. I suppose the main obstacle is finding volunteers to help out.
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Seneca
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby Seneca » Wed Jan 17, 2018 9:07 pm

The latest from Language Transfer:
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dampingwire
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby dampingwire » Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:10 pm

Seneca wrote:The latest from Language Transfer:


Youtube says "This video has been removed by the user."
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新完全マスター N2聴解 : 94 / 103新完全マスター N2読解 : 99 / 177
新完全マスター N2文法 : 197 / 197TY Comp. German : 0 / 389

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Seneca
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby Seneca » Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:31 pm

dampingwire wrote:
Seneca wrote:The latest from Language Transfer:


Youtube says "This video has been removed by the user."

Interesting. It was around 10 or 12 minutes and basically boiled down to, he is going to Barcelona and would like $2,000 a month to continue his efforts :roll:
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Cainntear
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby Cainntear » Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:50 pm

He's uploaded a "Take 2", replacing the one he'd taken down because he felt "it sucked a little bit".

He's sitting at $1610 a month from 339 patrons, which I think is pretty good going -- people are paying $50 a year for... something. An undefining "something" that may or may not be of use to them.

I mean, he's clearly a well-intentioned guy, and looking at the website he's managed to do quite a bit in the last few years, but I still have no idea what he's going to do in the coming years, and that's what I would be paying for.... or rather I have a vague idea from the voting graph, and I can see that he's unlikely to produce anything that would interest me either personally or as a charitable public service in the near future.
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Cavesa
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby Cavesa » Sun Jan 21, 2018 3:12 pm

I was seriously considering paying. I tried, and when I was refused due to some problem with my card, I was trying to find a way, before giving up.

What do I no longer wish to contribute?

I don't mind contributing to a good cause, good quality courses for less popular languages, even if I don't directly and immediately profit from it (or even at all, it is great there is a Swahili course even if I don't have any plans to learn it). Awesome resources to learn a language you need, usually for more personal reason than being forced to by school. Living in an area with more languages (like Cyprus), moving abroad, wanting to understand your neighbours with a different native language. All these needs are being neglected by the mainstream language teaching industry. But the FIGS are not that. There are already tons of resources, LT is just contributing to the inequality. German is a language I am learning, but the course is unlikely to never get finished, that is another point. I don't mind waiting, I do mind false promises. I don't mind his choice of some projects to work on and to refuse others, that is his right and a good course of action actually, but I like to be told openly. It is different to say: "choose any language" and then postpone those you don't like indefinitely, and to say "hey, these are the five languages I would like to make courses for before considering others, vote for any of the five".

I tried the first 10 or so lesson of Arabic and liked it, I considered learning it seriously instead of some others. LT would be extremely helpful for such a project, as Arabic lessons are harder to come by then for example Russian ones, and there are fewer resources, which are also more expensive. One of the reasons to give up: it is not a Complete course. That would be much more attractive, as I'd be quite sure to learn enough to make the future switch to a real course (book+audio) easier. The Arabic learners have been waiting for a long time, and I suppose a lot of the Patreon contributors could be the Arabic learners. They were overrun by the FIGS. And considering the not too functional distinction between Introduction and Complete courses, they were needlessly skipped by French and Italian twice, I suppose that is rather discouraging.

And now, we were told that the lack of money will lead to bad quality audio just from the workshops. I get it you need money to make high quality content in high quality form. But just lowering the quality in the middle of something is not a good course of action.

LT is a great idea. I would love to contribute, I could afford one or two dollars per month even as a student, but I would need to see the purpose clearly. If Mihalis focused on actually finishing some projects (I wouldn't mind even if the priority project was the already commisioned Swahili that isn't dependent on Patreon) and kept the quality instead of promising to finish five courses, with low quality audio from workshops, (right now French,German,Swahili,Arabic,Mandarin) and several separate projects (books, cards, courses about the courses).
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Cavesa
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby Cavesa » Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:01 pm

One thing I forgot to add and which might make my post sound a bit different:

I am not trying to put down Mihalis' work. What he has already done is great. But considering the last year or two of his work, I simply don't think he'll deliver the results I'd like to see. Not even if he gets 2000 or 3000 euros per month.

Partly, it is not his fault, there is only so much one person can do. And getting coworkers for this project, who would meet his expectations, must be hard. But it is partially his planning.
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Cainntear
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Re: Language Transfer

Postby Cainntear » Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:31 pm

Cavesa wrote:German is a language I am learning, but the course is unlikely to never get finished, that is another point. I don't mind waiting, I do mind false promises.

But that's another reason the FIGS focus is so maddening to me. The people who are voting for FIGS are clearly all willing to wait, which seems to suggest they're not actually that serious, because they could have just gone out and learned the language in the meantime -- there are plenty of good resources out there that they could use (many of the paying supporters would have been able to buy the full MT course in their chosen language with what they've put into LT so far).

It leaves the proposition as ludicrous.
Reach into your pockets to pay for a course in a language chosen by people who probably won't even use it, and never actually get something that you want.
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