Glossika Product Updates

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
User avatar
Axon
Blue Belt
Posts: 775
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:29 am
Location: California
Languages: Native English, in order of comfort: Mandarin, German, Indonesian,
Spanish, French, Russian,
Cantonese, Vietnamese, Polish.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5086
x 3288

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby Axon » Wed Nov 08, 2017 4:52 pm

Have you all read Mike's latest posts on the Glossika blog? https://glossika.com/blog/tag/glossika-blog-english/

I think they present new evidence for the new Glossika being much more than what we can see, while at the same time reinforcing the general idea that Michael is really bad at communicating his vision.

He's been interested in Taiwanese Aboriginal languages for some ten years now or more, but he's kept that relatively under wraps since re-inventing his internet brand around 2014 or 2015 with the deletion of his Youtube channel. Anybody else remember "18 languages in 4 months?" He doesn't do that kind of stunt anymore.

But these languages clearly hold an important place in his heart, and you can see with all the free languages on the new platform that he really does want to share this stuff with the world instead of sitting and counting his money.

I freely admit that his syntax post is beyond me, but it also shows that there's a lot under the hood of the new Glossika that he's talked about only in vague terms like "AI." I mentioned before that the old list of 3000 sentences could be divided into sets of five to ten sentences for each syntactic pattern. Now the AI does some mumbo-jumbo statistical analysis to decide which syntactic pattern to show you next, helped along by your ratings. I'm positive that this is better for learning than just going through the list of sentences. I think 2000 reps would be a better free trial than 1000 reps for deciding this, I was pretty convinced of the efficacy around 2000.

He's absolutely jumped the gun in releasing this product in an unfinished state and canceling all the old products so soon. He's critically misread much of his existing fanbase, and he has no idea how to talk to them either in public or private. He's quickly frustrated by people who haven't spent the time to decode his messages or who won't trust his method innately. These are personal flaws that, from what I've read in his writing going back twenty years, have never changed. It's a great mystery to me that someone who has lived abroad for so long, learned to speak to so many people, and has a creative mind and strong work ethic can still be such a jerk.
15 x

User avatar
Beharrlich
White Belt
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2015 3:06 pm
Location: Ohio
Languages: English (N), German (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3607
x 93

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby Beharrlich » Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:42 pm

Axon wrote:He's absolutely jumped the gun in releasing this product in an unfinished state and canceling all the old products so soon. He's critically misread much of his existing fanbase, and he has no idea how to talk to them either in public or private. He's quickly frustrated by people who haven't spent the time to decode his messages or who won't trust his method innately. These are personal flaws that, from what I've read in his writing going back twenty years, have never changed. It's a great mystery to me that someone who has lived abroad for so long, learned to speak to so many people, and has a creative mind and strong work ethic can still be such a jerk.


It is certainly an interesting problem. I'm honestly intrigued by the new Glossika, but the price point coupled with his attitude towards his customers basically insures that I won't sign up. As much as a product might interest me, if the main salesman is openly being a jerk with customers, I'll go elsewhere.
2 x

MacGyver
Yellow Belt
Posts: 95
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2016 12:36 am
Languages: .
x 173

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby MacGyver » Wed Nov 08, 2017 10:50 pm

Axon wrote:He's absolutely jumped the gun in releasing this product in an unfinished state and canceling all the old products so soon. He's critically misread much of his existing fanbase, and he has no idea how to talk to them either in public or private. He's quickly frustrated by people who haven't spent the time to decode his messages or who won't trust his method innately. These are personal flaws that, from what I've read in his writing going back twenty years, have never changed. It's a great mystery to me that someone who has lived abroad for so long, learned to speak to so many people, and has a creative mind and strong work ethic can still be such a jerk.


Yep. He seems to expect/assume everyone just knows what he is talking about.

The new Glossika is still very much beta with lots of bugs and functionality that is still 'coming soon'. I am still at a loss with regards to the business model. All languages, what percentage of people want access to all languages, all at once?

And this talk of companies paying for it? I am sure if a business is paying for an employee to learn Chinese, because they need Chinese to speak with their Chinese counterparts, they are not going to be interested in also paying for French, German, Japanese, Bengali etc at the same time.
5 x

Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby Speakeasy » Wed Nov 08, 2017 11:10 pm

In Defense of the Jerk

A quick tour of the online dictionaries yields definitions of “jerk” that we would all easily recognise: a contemptibly obnoxious person, a person who is not well-liked or who treats other people badly. So, why would I offer a defence of a jerk? Well, my life experience informs me that ...

Most often, jerks are truly unaware of their obnoxious behaviour. Yes, they may have been told that they are jerks a thousand times during their lifetimes; however, they have never internalized this information and, therefore, remain (truly) unaware of the fact that others genuinely believe them to be obnoxious.

Educating a jerk as to their disagreeable behaviour (that is, bringing them to the point of recognition along with the assumption of some level of personal responsibility) would represent a serious challenge for most psychologists. A determined resistance to outside information that does not conform with their world-view is, in fact, part of their jerkiness. Now then, we’re all human and few of us take pleasure in being wounded by criticisms that touch our very nature. So, why should jerks be more open to such criticism than the rest of us? They’re not the problem, we are!

As for most of us, jerks truly mean well. For many of them, “doing the right thing” (as they define it) is much more important than doing what is popular, fashionable, or agreeable to others. To them, “going along, to get along” represents the lowest possible order of hypocrisy. It is better to be beaten and crushed for one’s convictions than to surrender to such venality.

Jerks do not decide to be jerks, they are born jerks. They have no self-awareness of their condition and they refuse to be educated as to their behaviour (because they are truly incapable of internalizing and assuming a level of responsibility for their nature). They suffer genuine and deep emotional pain for the ostracism that results from their behaviour. Most often, they don’t make the connection between their behaviour and the reaction of their critics and, for those that do, they are incapable of either changing their nature or seeking out help.

So, what can we do? I think that we’re all old enough to realize that confronting them will neither help them nor get us what we want from them, n’est-ce pas? Perhaps a little compassion, a little coaching, a little coxing, and a bit of nudging might help. Generally, though, this should come from someone they already trust. Oh, and a lot of patience!

‘Time for my nap!

PS: Feel free to treat me as jerk for having posted this.
6 x

User avatar
reineke
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3570
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 7:34 pm
Languages: Fox (C4)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6979
x 6554

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby reineke » Thu Nov 09, 2017 12:34 am

"A Map to the Syntax of All Spoken Languages
Reading"

If you're having trouble falling asleep this one's a winner.

https://glossika.com/blog/a-map-to-the- ... languages/

The bottom third of the post gets to the point:

Block quote:
"It is precisely these groupings into "patterns" that enable humans to communicate fluently in any language. Mastering these sets of patterns enables the human to manipulate sentences, and therefore ideas. Mastering more granular "vocabulary" enables the human to expand expression and speak ever more precisely."

Campbell :
" This is how Machine Learning works as well. Pattern recognition at low granularities pass through more convolutions until more and more detail is added to the machine's "understanding". In other words, we have taken the methods by which machines learn and reverse-engineered human language to discover the underlying patterns that drive fluency and expression in humans. This is what the Glossika algorithms deliver on our training platform. "

Learn like a xhild machine?
4 x

Xmmm
Blue Belt
Posts: 821
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 1:19 am
Languages: ru it tr
x 2221

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby Xmmm » Thu Nov 09, 2017 7:05 am

Michael Campbell is an eccentric individual. This is clear from his videos.

He is also a visionary. This is clear from original Glossika, and from the whole AI thing. Maybe his vision is nuts, maybe his vision has taken a fatal wrong turn ... but I don't think you can deny that he's a visionary.

Think about it for a second. People hate on Michael Campbell but everybody likes that LanguageTransfer guy. Why? He does MT clones, and even then he spends half his time redoing French or Italian or German instead of all the oddball languages. And his business model doesn't work, so he begs for money and tries to guilt trip people who use his "free" product without donating. Personally, I hate that kind of thing. Just sell it to me for crying out loud.

Michael Campbell is providing an innovative product. I own the old product in Russian, Italian, Indonesian, and Icelandic. Maybe ten years from I will use the magic AI machine for Manx and one of those Chinese dialects that no one in the world provides resources for ... except Michael Campbell.

"The customer is always right" is not true. The first thing they teach aspiring entrepreneurs is the Pareto power law. Fire the 20% of your customers that are your biggest nuisances, and you eliminate 80% of your problems. Simple.

I don't morally vet every person I do an arm's length transaction with. Neither do you. Ever buy a book on Amazon from a third party seller? Maybe they are running a meth lab in addition to selling used books. How would you know? Why would you care? If Michael Campbell is a bonafide jerk, are you seriously not going to buy his product? You think corporate CEOs who sell you your food, your insurance, your gasoline are sweet wonderful people?

If Mr. Campbell is not a nice person and the LanguageTransfer guy is a nice person, should I toss my Glossika and do LanguageTransfer Indonesian instead? Oh wait, there is no LanguageTransfer Indonesian ... well, at least there's French!
10 x

Ещё раз сунешь голову туда — окажешься внутри. Поняла, Фемида? -- аигел

User avatar
IronMike
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2554
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 6:13 am
Location: Northern Virginia
Languages: Studying: Esperanto
Maintaining: nada
Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
x 7265
Contact:

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby IronMike » Thu Nov 09, 2017 7:34 am

Xmmm wrote:I don't morally vet every person I do an arm's length transaction with. Neither do you. Ever buy a book on Amazon from a third party seller? Maybe they are running a meth lab in addition to selling used books. How would you know? Why would you care? If Michael Campbell is a bonafide jerk, are you seriously not going to buy his product? You think corporate CEOs who sell you your food, your insurance, your gasoline are sweet wonderful people?

If Mr. Campbell is not a nice person and the LanguageTransfer guy is a nice person, should I toss my Glossika and do LanguageTransfer Indonesian instead? Oh wait, there is no LanguageTransfer Indonesian ... well, at least there's French!

Actually, I do. It's called customer ratings. I buy books from Amazon all the time from 3rd party sellers. Even if their price is way lower than the next seller, if their customer rating is low, or if they have even one negative review, I'll read farther and most probably not buy from them. Same on eBay.

The difference in this case, which makes your analogy not quite right, is that Michael has freely expressed his "business model" in the FB group that many of us belong to. So, in essence, we know if he's "running a meth lab in addition to" Glossika. Add to that the fact that Michael hasn't shut up his sycophant Stu, who isn't helping Michael's "business model" and it certainly isn't getting me to change my mind about his new model.

While I agree that "the customer is always right" is not true, what I do think is true is "the polite customer is always right." And from what I've read in that FB group, so far, is that all Michael's customers have been very polite and supportive of him, and he and his best-buddy Stu have been anything but polite.

I like the Glossika system. But I also like owning the product. That's why I have 15,000+ songs in my iTunes and don't subscribe to Apple Music. Michael's old model "had" me by tempting me with languages on sale that I might study in the future. That's how I got Lithuanian/Latvian combo and the Spanish fluency package. I haven't even listened to them yet, but someday I might. And guess what? When I do, I won't have to pay any money and login to his website to get to the reps. I'll simply add them to my iPod and go walk the dog.
13 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

User avatar
IronMike
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2554
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 6:13 am
Location: Northern Virginia
Languages: Studying: Esperanto
Maintaining: nada
Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
x 7265
Contact:

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby IronMike » Thu Nov 09, 2017 7:36 am

Andy E wrote:
MacGyver wrote:He basically said shut up people, companies will pay for this product, who cares about individual language learners.


I particular liked this statement....

Individual in this context meant single disgruntled customers that use up large amounts of resources with their demands, yet don't add much to the business as a whole.

The problem is single disgruntled customers leads to multiple disgruntled customers that take their unwanted demands elsewhere.
Result: business goes down the toilet.

Here's how I responded to Stu:

Speaking as one of Stuart Jay Raj's "single disgruntled customers," I'll point out that I have spent more than $300 on the packages I've bought, and was prepared to buy more (all the Celtic and a triangulation package and Esperanto if it ever came about) before this new model came around. So sorry I've taken up so much of Michael and Sheena's "large amounts of resources with [my] demands" and "don't add much to the business as a whole." I'm just a silly customer with some spare $$. BTW, how long have you been working for Glossika customer service, Stuart Jay Raj?
6 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

User avatar
Beharrlich
White Belt
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2015 3:06 pm
Location: Ohio
Languages: English (N), German (intermediate)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3607
x 93

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby Beharrlich » Thu Nov 09, 2017 2:27 pm

Xmmm wrote:I don't morally vet every person I do an arm's length transaction with. Neither do you. Ever buy a book on Amazon from a third party seller? Maybe they are running a meth lab in addition to selling used books. How would you know? Why would you care? If Michael Campbell is a bonafide jerk, are you seriously not going to buy his product? You think corporate CEOs who sell you your food, your insurance, your gasoline are sweet wonderful people?


I think that's an oversimplification of what I and some other people are saying. Do I expect every person I buy something from to have a clean history and always do what I find to be morally "correct"? Of course not. But I do expect them to behave nicely. It's sort of a social contract. I have no delusions that amazon.com is staffed 100% by nice people, but I do expect them to treat me with respect when I contact them with a problem. It's similar to my work. I work in IT, and frequently find myself fixing a problem that someone created by doing something (quite frankly) stupid. Do I say that, though? Of course not. I'm polite, I do my work, and make sure my "customer" is happy. If I didn't behave this way, I would lose my job.

The way I see it, if the CEO of a company is going to be active on social media, his #1 role in that regard is PR. I don't really care how visionary a product is - if the guy behind it is taking to Facebook to insult and argue with his customers, my interest in his product is going to drop like a ton of bricks. shrug
6 x

Xmmm
Blue Belt
Posts: 821
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 1:19 am
Languages: ru it tr
x 2221

Re: Glossika Product Updates

Postby Xmmm » Thu Nov 09, 2017 6:06 pm

Beharrlich wrote:I think that's an oversimplification of what I and some other people are saying. Do I expect every person I buy something from to have a clean history and always do what I find to be morally "correct"? Of course not. But I do expect them to behave nicely. It's sort of a social contract. I have no delusions that amazon.com is staffed 100% by nice people, but I do expect them to treat me with respect when I contact them with a problem. It's similar to my work. I work in IT, and frequently find myself fixing a problem that someone created by doing something (quite frankly) stupid. Do I say that, though? Of course not. I'm polite, I do my work, and make sure my "customer" is happy. If I didn't behave this way, I would lose my job.

The way I see it, if the CEO of a company is going to be active on social media, his #1 role in that regard is PR. I don't really care how visionary a product is - if the guy behind it is taking to Facebook to insult and argue with his customers, my interest in his product is going to drop like a ton of bricks. shrug


How many people refused to buy Apple products because of Steve Jobs's personality? I think he was fortunate to live before the time of in your face social media.

And corporate phone goons are always very polite: "I'm sorry, but it's our policy to do exactly the opposite of what you need us to do. Have a nice day!"

The thing is ... Glossika is a unique product. There are some very knowledgeable people who are highly skeptical that it works at all (that is a separate and much more interesting topic, I wish we had a thread for that). But it seems like it's a pretty big fad at the moment because it's directed straight at the obvious weak spot in most people's language learning routines.

Now, some people have said "well, I'll just make my own version using free resources." And they tend to report back, "well after 200 hours of effort I have something kinda working, but it doesn't seem to be as good as Glossika."

And others have said "well, I'll just wait for a competitor to clone it." Which is fine if you're waiting for FIGS or CJK and you don't mind waiting. But Glossika is also unique in the sense that Campbell, for all his abrasiveness and sharp elbows, doesn't seem to be a profit-maximizer. What rational competitor is going to undercut Glossika with a better product available in Manx, Sorani Kurdish, Latvian, Georgian, and Icelandic? What rational competitor has plans to roll out Ilocano and Scottish Gaelic?

"Business is business" ... if Campbell has something I want for sale at a reasonable price, I'll buy it. If he wants to insult me, he may ... and I will ask him how he knows Bono's optometrist ...
7 x

Ещё раз сунешь голову туда — окажешься внутри. Поняла, Фемида? -- аигел


Return to “Language Programs and Resources”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests