Show HN: I built this to talk Danish to my girlfriend – works with any language
Especially in those cases, I used to give up and translate the entire message from English, which kind of defeats the purpose and interrupts the learning process.
So I started prompting GPT. I’d write my message with wildcards or notes for the parts I didn’t know, and it would return a corrected version. That worked well, but reusing the prompt each time became tedious.
So I built a wrapper around it.
Now I can type in the target language, mark unclear parts with curly braces {like this}, and get an instant corrected version with explanations. I also added a history feature so I can review what I got wrong, and I plan to build more on that soon (eg. summary of areas or words to review).
This app is for language learners who want to practice writing without feeling insecure about mistakes or breaking their flow by switching to a translator.
I hope you find it useful!
I've done a lot of research into LLM translation for my product[0], and I'm currently working on a deep translation service that provides reliably human-level translations.
I don't know what model you're using, but GPT-4.1 is probably the best for your use case - it's in the top few % for nearly every language, and has a low standard deviation, while also being relatively low latency and low cost.
[0] https://nuenki.app
But, besides not being able to use your site due to the errors mentioned by other posters, both the examples on your website give me pause:
The example input "Kan you hjelmpe mig {yesterday}?" reads to me as "Can you help me yesterday?", but that's just a nonsense sentence and an odd choice for an example. The word for "help" is also misspelled, but presumably that would get corrected.
And the suggestion of "Jeg vil gerne handle i morgen" for "Jeg vil gerne go shopping i morgen", instead reads to me as "I would like to act tomorrow". A more idiomatic translation would be "Jeg vil gerne købe ind i morgen".
It's a little better, but I would never expect anyone to translate "shopping" to "købe ind". "købe ind" is about getting groceries for the week, shopping is about walking the strip and dreaming of buying random clothing. As a native speaker I'd be less surprised if the you just used the borrowed word "shopping" directly. Basically "Jeg vil gerne shoppe i morgen".
"walking the strip and dreaming of buying random clothing" is "window shopping"
"I'm going shopping" with no other specifics would normally mean "for groceries" or other general household supplies, though.
It's not restricted to European languages. 贝果 is bagel, just sounded out phonetically, and 三明治 is sandwich.
Idk if there's anything super odd about it.
Of course, English is the worst offender of loan words. As someone else said somewhere, "[English doesn't] just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
Gung ho, monsoon, filibuster, herbivore, vacation, etc etc etc. Thousands upon thousands of loanwords.
Just to say it's not uncommon at all to have languages influence each other.
[1]: https://www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/why-english-doesnt-use...
In the meantime, I am at work, so I don't think I can add the rate limiting now... but thank you for everyone for the input!
the core idea here is really cool, and the UX is (or seems like it would be) impressive - no need to select a language, for instance.
Good luck getting it back on its feet!
I also really like the name.
Maybe add a language selector such that the AI has a better context of what language the user is interested in.
Quick feedback, the idea sounds interesting to me and I wanted to learn more. Feature request: more examples, or cached examples that would still work if the server crashes.
(Why doesn't ChatGPT make something like this, essentially plugins, for their web interface? You make a script with macros and put that on a "Marketplace" and people can run it... would remove the need for setting up a whole nother website just to wrap around prompts)
... Now for the hard challenge - try and speak Danish :)
Yeah, separating themselves from those “dirty” immigrants
It comes across as a refusal to immigrate. It means that what you care about is that you are no longer living "at home," rather than caring about assimilating with your new home.
It's like going to a new place and identifying yourself as an "emigrant" instead of an "immigrant."
"Patriation" is about giving away authority so that the other country assumes authority. "Expatriate," then, would be that authority of the old country no longer applies, with no acknowledgement of your new circumstances.
Oh here's a good one; what if you got married, divorced, and married again? You would be an ex-husband or ex-wife, and it would be entirely appropriate for someone to refer to you as such in certain contexts, but it would be really off-putting...especially to your new spouse.
Imagine introducing yourself as an "ex-husband." If you're with a bunch of your ex-wife's old friends and associates, then it might make sense to introduce yourself this way under some circumstances...but usually, even then, it would be far more polite and in better taste to introduce yourself in some other way.
Much better to clarify your former relationship only when it's pertinent, and maybe even then "we lived together for awhile" might be a gentler framing. Otherwise, you are simply drawing attention to your divorce, and to what purpose?
All immigrants are emigrants, and vice versa. You have to emigrate from someplace in order to immigrate somewhere.
I'm attempting to pin down why some people might feel that someone calling themselves an "expat" has some negative connotations for the expat. It doesn't have anything to do with the correctness of any of the terms involved.
To say it a different way, I think people find it distasteful because it focuses on the political shapes you no longer are bound to, rather than who you are "now." It's normal to celebrate your cultural heritage, but it's kind of odd to focus on your status as a non-member of your former state.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Whenever I type something in Spanish you translate what I think I meant into English, point out my mistakes if any, and also respond with the corrected sentence
A translation to standard spoken danish would be jeg vil gerne shoppe i morgen.
[0] https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=shoppe%20
https://github.com/RickCarlino/KoalaCards
(You must add cards before accessing writing)
Also, not sure if you're getting hugged to death but I'm getting this in the interface but not seeing any network failures.
``` Unable to process correction
Error processing your text. Please try again. ```
Next, I want to say I don’t understand these llm “apps”. I tried this in ChatGPT with the minimal prompt (that you can keyboard shortcut) “fill in curly” and it gave me exactly the correct full sentence plus even better alternatives.
Why would I use a separate app?
In general why would I use any of these separate apps vs my included ChatGPT that I’ll have a button away with included unlimited subscription
It's not about whether you'd use it or not. It's just so that people have something to build, managers have tasks to distribute, and the machine can keep on turning.
ChatGPT just has a text input and output. They can't build ChatGPT to have the perfect UX for every single eventuality. TLDR - UX, convenience, and ease of use.
Does it work in Tojolab'al (Mayan language spoken by 70,000 in Chiapas)?
I get mildly irked by apps saying they work in "all/any" language. Obviously, it works in whatever languages ChatGPT "knows". Although for marketing, I understand the former is easier to say.
fwiw - ChapGPT acts like it knows these kinds of low-resource languages, but it's difficult to tell how much of it is just hallucinating. (I am trying to do work in this area).
- I try to actively write something and when I hit a wall, I try in other languages: the important in this part is to get the text flowing from me. Eg, "du could har hjælpe mig, når jeg called du" (trying to write in Danish, "you could have helped me when I called you")
- I then paste it on ChatGPT and ask for a C2-level correction with explanations on vocabulary and grammar, and translations into a few other languages. Eg, my prompt would be """ "du could har hjælpe mig, når jeg called du"
correct to c2-level and explain grammar and vocabulary. give related examples. then translate to German, English, French and Italian. """
This is incredibly helpful to do everyday, especially if you are also learning passively by reading/studying by yourself. By the way, for those curious, here's how ChatGPT would correct the sentence: "Du kunne have hjulpet mig, da jeg ringede til dig." Interestingly, it assumed I meant "called" as in, "telephoned" (not my original intention). Translating into other languages helps you spot and get a sensibility for such cases.
As an aside, for me the most challenging part of learning Danish is the pronunciation. It's beautiful, but it doesn't map out too easily to written words :)
As a Dane, all I have to say is; lol
How has it been since you been using your tool?
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_num...
If it didn't work for German and I said "Doesn't work for deutsch", would you hear the pretentiousness?
You haven't used a dictionary (app)? Put the word you want in, then use one of the options in your Danish sentence and continue.
though right now maybe you reached an api limit or something because any french i type comes out with an error
That withstanding, surely having the user select what their target language is, would help with processing and accuracy? It's a one time lift for the user, and would ensure I'm definitely getting back my target language, not a dialect or totally different (norwegian/swedish come to mind immediately)
I will try also that, it seems a good idea.
And good luck with your Danish learning journey :)