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We funded one: http://verbling.com http://verbling.com.

by pg 13y ago

mahesh_rm 13y ago
We are building a real life language service marketplace. We are Italians, with strong accents. Sometimes I am under the impression that our non being native may be a competitive advantage, mostly in terms of broader perspective over language learning. I would test if positive correlation between strong accent and lower rates of achievement may primarily have something to do with trust, more than to the ability to get understood. Telling your story as a foreigner speaker is a relatively easy task. Convincing somebody you deserve credibility, even though you talk like a native 10 years old, is a whole different pair of shoes.
- balsam 13y ago
  thank you! If you can come up with a statistical test, it should end the real debate (before it has even really started.)
bambax 13y ago
Okay, but this seems to make the same mistake as the French education system, who talks about foreign "languages" in general. But most non-English-speaking people don't want to learn "languageS" as if those were all equivalent and there was some general quality to be gained by speaking different tongues. They want to learn English, as the only international language. I want my kids to speak English not because they'll have a better mind if they do, like I try to have them learn music, but because not speaking English in today's world is like missing an eye (or more probably both). As for why English-speaking people want to learn a foreign language, I have no idea, but I suspect their motivations are wholly different. It's interesting to speak Spanish, it's mind-opening to learn Chinese, but it's not vital. So what I'm looking for is a "system" aimed at young / very young kids, specialized in teaching English (and only English). To succeed it needs to be playful, maybe addictive, not require one to already know how to read -- and in general not look or sound like anything "school-y". Somebody (was it John Holt?) said "if we taught kids how to speak, they would never learn". Yet that's exactly what we're doing with foreign languages.
- bostonvaulter2 13y ago
  I'm guessing you speak french inside the home? Have you thought about switching that over the english? That would probably be really good immersion for them.
bostonvaulter2 13y ago
How can they allow you to sign up with an email address and then require connecting G+ before allowing me to join a class? Much better to just require G+ as the login (or at least tell me up front). This conversion flow is irritating.
diminish 13y ago
I tried http://verbling.com http://verbling.com quite a few times, it seems a great idea and use of technology. Maybe Verbling's founders, would make a deal for all YC applicants. For example, X hours of free 1-to-1 accent crash course with the appropriate tutor. Or, Y hours of free courses for foreign YC founders as part of the offering.

We funded one: http://verbling.com http://verbling.com.

by pg 13y ago

We funded one: http://verbling.com http://verbling.com.

We are building a real life language service marketplace. We are Italians, with strong accents. Sometimes I am under the impression that our non being native may be a competitive advantage, mostly in terms of broader perspective over language learning. I would test if positive correlation between strong accent and lower rates of achievement may primarily have something to do with trust, more than to the ability to get understood. Telling your story as a foreigner speaker is a relatively easy task. Convincing somebody you deserve credibility, even though you talk like a native 10 years old, is a whole different pair of shoes.

balsam 13y ago
thank you! If you can come up with a statistical test, it should end the real debate (before it has even really started.)

bambax 13y ago

Okay, but this seems to make the same mistake as the French education system, who talks about foreign "languages" in general. But most non-English-speaking people don't want to learn "languageS" as if those were all equivalent and there was some general quality to be gained by speaking different tongues. They want to learn English, as the only international language. I want my kids to speak English not because they'll have a better mind if they do, like I try to have them learn music, but because not speaking English in today's world is like missing an eye (or more probably both). As for why English-speaking people want to learn a foreign language, I have no idea, but I suspect their motivations are wholly different. It's interesting to speak Spanish, it's mind-opening to learn Chinese, but it's not vital. So what I'm looking for is a "system" aimed at young / very young kids, specialized in teaching English (and only English). To succeed it needs to be playful, maybe addictive, not require one to already know how to read -- and in general not look or sound like anything "school-y". Somebody (was it John Holt?) said "if we taught kids how to speak, they would never learn". Yet that's exactly what we're doing with foreign languages.

bostonvaulter2 13y ago
I'm guessing you speak french inside the home? Have you thought about switching that over the english? That would probably be really good immersion for them.

bostonvaulter2 13y ago

How can they allow you to sign up with an email address and then require connecting G+ before allowing me to join a class? Much better to just require G+ as the login (or at least tell me up front). This conversion flow is irritating.

diminish 13y ago

I tried http://verbling.com http://verbling.com quite a few times, it seems a great idea and use of technology. Maybe Verbling's founders, would make a deal for all YC applicants. For example, X hours of free 1-to-1 accent crash course with the appropriate tutor. Or, Y hours of free courses for foreign YC founders as part of the offering.