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Show HN: Learn a new language while you browse the web

ibdf 5y ago
I can’t evaluate it… I don’t use chrome anymore and I’m learning Italian, which is not available right now. It seems like a nice idea to have something like an intuitive, super charged dictionary whenever I’m browsing … but I would argue that when not at work, a lot of people use their phone to browse the internet rather than their PC. My tactic so far, to force myself to learn, is to change the system settings to the desired language, which in turn makes a lot of the apps and websites default to that language. It’s a pain to look up words all the time but on my phone I keep the reverso context app and the Google translator always at hand. On my laptop I just Google it.
becausecurious 5y ago
This looks exactly like https://jointoucan.com/ https://jointoucan.com/. I struggle to see any difference. Really surprised that you have 9000 users already. Perhaps I miss some important difference from Toucan? Funnily enough I also never heard about Toucan before. I made https://vocabboost.online/ https://vocabboost.online/ (which uses a similar idea, but for making languate tests out of webpages) and only then users told me that it was similar to Toucan.
- sova 5y ago
  Have you heard of Migaku? It is a browser extension, currently only available with a Patreon "donation" that operates in a similar manner. It looks pretty cool.
  - canadianfella 5y ago
    I would never pay for something that requires a “donation”.
  - timvdalen 5y ago
    What languages do they offer? Whatever I choose, I get "Specific content for <lang> is coming soon!"
    - sova 5y ago
      You might have better luck watching their youtube videos to find out. This one from March says English, French, German, Spanish, Mandarin (2), Portuguese, Cantonese, and I think also Japanese although he did not say as much: https://youtu.be/Z71md2rjGjE?t=494 https://youtu.be/Z71md2rjGjE?t=494
- tmm84 5y ago
  Thanks for showing the Toucan service. I'm trying to learn Portuguese and so few tools offer it.
eps 5y ago
Excellent idea, massive privacy concerns. I basically have no way of ensuring that your plugin won't leak my browsing history to you, intentionally or not. There needs to be a completely offline version of it and that will be a killer. Even if it's a paid one.
vuldin 5y ago
Looks awesome! But site doesn't work well in Firefox nor on mobile.
the2ndfloorguy 5y ago
It's good but seems like not properly working in browsers others thn chrome. I struggled to open the page clearly. Is it with me only?

ibdf 5y ago

I can’t evaluate it… I don’t use chrome anymore and I’m learning Italian, which is not available right now. It seems like a nice idea to have something like an intuitive, super charged dictionary whenever I’m browsing … but I would argue that when not at work, a lot of people use their phone to browse the internet rather than their PC. My tactic so far, to force myself to learn, is to change the system settings to the desired language, which in turn makes a lot of the apps and websites default to that language. It’s a pain to look up words all the time but on my phone I keep the reverso context app and the Google translator always at hand. On my laptop I just Google it.

becausecurious 5y ago

This looks exactly like https://jointoucan.com/ https://jointoucan.com/. I struggle to see any difference. Really surprised that you have 9000 users already. Perhaps I miss some important difference from Toucan? Funnily enough I also never heard about Toucan before. I made https://vocabboost.online/ https://vocabboost.online/ (which uses a similar idea, but for making languate tests out of webpages) and only then users told me that it was similar to Toucan.

sova 5y ago
Have you heard of Migaku? It is a browser extension, currently only available with a Patreon "donation" that operates in a similar manner. It looks pretty cool.
- canadianfella 5y ago
  I would never pay for something that requires a “donation”.
- timvdalen 5y ago
  What languages do they offer? Whatever I choose, I get "Specific content for <lang> is coming soon!"
  - sova 5y ago
    You might have better luck watching their youtube videos to find out. This one from March says English, French, German, Spanish, Mandarin (2), Portuguese, Cantonese, and I think also Japanese although he did not say as much: https://youtu.be/Z71md2rjGjE?t=494 https://youtu.be/Z71md2rjGjE?t=494
tmm84 5y ago
Thanks for showing the Toucan service. I'm trying to learn Portuguese and so few tools offer it.

eps 5y ago

Excellent idea, massive privacy concerns. I basically have no way of ensuring that your plugin won't leak my browsing history to you, intentionally or not. There needs to be a completely offline version of it and that will be a killer. Even if it's a paid one.

vuldin 5y ago

Looks awesome! But site doesn't work well in Firefox nor on mobile.

the2ndfloorguy 5y ago

It's good but seems like not properly working in browsers others thn chrome. I struggled to open the page clearly. Is it with me only?