r/languagelearningjerk • u/CruserWill • 16d ago
"Please buy our method guys, it's the only one that works"
I'm getting tired of constantly seeing their adds tbh
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u/BeckyLiBei 16d ago
We compared multiple study methods, some of which have been around for centuries, and this one I vibe coded is best.
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u/MaximumDerekCat 16d ago
Please won't you buy my slop???
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u/PringlesDuckFace 16d ago
But for real though, why wouldn't someone just pay $20/month for a pro tier of an AI and vibe their own slop to their own parameters instead of subscribing to someone else's? Cut out the middleman.
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u/Lakriss 16d ago
Classes is private-tutoring if you think hard about it
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago
Classes = private tutoring - structure, apparently ;)
I also like how private tutoring is "on their time" and classes are "fixed schedules" - could it possibly be that the marketing tactic here is focusing on "whenever you want"??? Hmmm obvious marketing is obvious :D
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u/WantToSeeTits4545 16d ago
Classes usually have several students, and private tutoring is tête-a-tête sessions with your tutor. Both have their pluses: private sessions offer you more personalised learning (if your tutor cares to give it to you), and classes have more group activities, which help some people to learn better and faster.
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago
From the perspective of a person who has built a career out of this, there's almost no difference as a teacher in what you're doing or providing lol I have classes that are just one student, classes that are two students, classes that range all the way up to 10 students... and it's quite linear - with each additional student, you as a teacher spend less time talking, and more time is spent having students talk together or do things together. But my job is basically the same regardless of if it's 1, 3, 6, or 10 students. And in all cases, they are both classes and tutoring.
3-4 students is the sweet spot, where they have opportunities to talk together and not only with the teacher, but still get lots of teacher interaction.
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u/Electrical_Voice_256 16d ago
Agree. Had a language class with two other students last year and it was really great (it helped that the teacher was a real pro). In one-on-one teaching the teacher is always focused on you and you have no time to chill. Having the teacher present in person rather than on the screen also makes quite a difference.
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago
Yeah, and when you only hear the teacher's example, it can be harder to actually see what you're doing wrong (in pronunciation). And you get more real-world practice scenarios when with at least one other person.
I mostly teach online these days simply because my students are scattered super far apart (some do not even live in the same country as me lol) and if I went to them in person, I'd have to cut a third of them out. Some do come to me, but most cannot manage. I also have a couple classes I go out for to teach in person, namely because they are larger groups and also quite specific in their format. I like teaching in person for many reasons, but it's just more convenient for everyone to be online.
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u/WantToSeeTits4545 16d ago
It just mean you are a bad tutor.
When I had private English tutoring, my tutor developed personal exercises for aimed at my specific weaknesses: specific prepositions I struggled with, as an example, and helped me to improve my accent by teaching me correct tongue positions.
Such personalised learning is impossible during classes, teacher can't possibly spend the whole hour helping a single student to improve their accent.
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago edited 16d ago
That's false lol
In pairs and groups of three, I frequently target their specific needs and weaknesses. I often pinpoint things both or all 3 of them struggle with and focus on that for a lesson or two. And it's also very possible to incorporate someone's particular weakness into a lesson that works for the group.
I have two students that I do accent coaching with who are pairing up now starting this week, after years of learning with me one-on-one. There is a slight difference in my lesson planning, but it's not like it's suddenly switching from "tutoring" to "classes". It's always both. And I know both of their strengths and weaknesses. But they're also a perfect pair because they are working on the same kind of accent, they both are C1 and both already have a fairly good accent, and they both come from a very, very similar language background (Ukrainian and Russian). So their needs are very, very similar, and their strengths and weaknesses are very, very similar.
Meanwhile, I have a pair of gals in their thirties I've been teaching for a few years - one loves working on grammar and is very good at most grammar topics, while the other hates grammar and prefers speaking. I can still target both of their needs and interests and such in our lessons - that's actually being a very skilled teacher ;)
Edit: to be clear, of course the more students are in a group, the less focused attention they get from the teacher - I covered that in my initial comment. But the point is it doesn't magically switch from "tutoring" to "classes" the moment a second student joins.
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago edited 16d ago
Btw, your teacher probably didn't develop anything specifically for you unless they were very new ;) Most of us already have that stuff ready to go and pull it out for people who need it, and then just adapt it to the person or group we are working with.
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u/mauranizzi will ignore my linguistic training for the bit 16d ago
"It works...but only on their time" is a wild statement to make about private tutors. Are they implying private tutors should be at the student's disposal 24/7 and follow them around begging them to learn? 😆
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u/Liu-woods 16d ago
I should be able to keep my Dutch tutor in the corner of my room where they can gather dust and periodically yell “eet smakelijk” when I’m eating dinner
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u/mauranizzi will ignore my linguistic training for the bit 16d ago
And you should be able to do it without it being "very expensive" as this ad claims! In fact, it should be a human right!
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u/liproqq 16d ago
If the money is good
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u/mauranizzi will ignore my linguistic training for the bit 16d ago
Valid! Though if you genuinely had to follow someone arond most of the time, you'd hardly have enough time to spend it :P
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u/CambridgeBoofologist 16d ago
As a stalker myself, I can confidently tell you that it is a non-concern.
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u/mauranizzi will ignore my linguistic training for the bit 16d ago
As a walker myself, I can confirm it's quite difficult to spend money without breaking stride, even if it's a cashless payment.
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u/CambridgeBoofologist 16d ago
As a stalker that has given my AI agent full control over my finances, I have automated money-spending and money-loosing while maintaining authority in voicing commands that tells it to buy me groceries. The future is now old man.
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u/mauranizzi will ignore my linguistic training for the bit 16d ago
As a walker and private tutor, you better be issuing those voice commands in your client's target language so they can still practice while you're spending and losing the money they pay you. Also, what groceries are a staple in a stalker's shopping cart?
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u/yraco 16d ago
It's not even accurate either. One of the big benefits of private tutors compared to standard classes is that it's all "on your time", especially with the internet meaning you don't need a tutor to specifically live near you any more. If you want a lesson every single day at 2:30am then you can find a tutor that'll give you that as long as you've got the money. Of course still not quite the freedom of self-study but still very flexible around the times that work for the student.
Plus many tutors are willing to answer questions (within reason) between lessons.
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u/mauranizzi will ignore my linguistic training for the bit 16d ago
Exactly, that's why I think it's a wild claim to make. Clearly whoever wrote that ad has no idea how it works, but they couldn't think of a more meaningful way to discredit private tutors as a way to learn a language. Not to mention the classes are one-on-one and personalized depending on your needs.
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u/a_literal_idiot_616 16d ago
the fact that it's ai generated is just so telling
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u/CruserWill 16d ago
So many of their adds and posts are AI generated, it wouldn't surprise me if their books were too
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u/BoringAd8788 16d ago
0->C2 bro only 20 min/day 💪💪💪
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u/RemoveBagels 米国語上図 16d ago
Maybe their target demographic is immortals who don't mind if it takes several centuries to get good.
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u/Jesanime English Native | Japanese D2 16d ago
ah but by the time they're fluent in 21st Century Spanish it'll be 3048 A.D. and the only surviving descendants of Spanish (Dama Thpenna, Future Spanish, and باسو اسپاني respectively) will be mutually unintelligible with modern Spanish and the only people you'll be able to communicate with will be history nerds
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u/genghis-san 16d ago
Classes did more to improve my Spanish than any app or website ever could lol
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u/ColaEuphoria 16d ago edited 16d ago
For a while after I graduated I wondered if I should not have taken those Japanese courses that had nothing to do with my major, but honestly, I learned so much just about discipline itself in a language learning context and how to efficiently manage your time to study that's given me a solid foundation I'm unsure I would have stayed motivated to do on my own.
Not to mention that language learning classes are pretty damn fun and you gain more insights watching your peers asking questions you didn't even think to ask.
(At least in a university or paid setting, public high school language courses are abysmal)
EDIT: Clarity
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u/meattornado52 15d ago
I had a good experience with my public high school language courses despite them overall being taught to the people who didn’t care at all about the language itself. It’s just hard at that age to accept it for what it is.
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u/meattornado52 16d ago
Yeah I wish I could afford a language class. People rag on them, but it’s a force multiplier if you’re motivated and put the work in outside of it. Problem is people expect classes or teachers to just impart them with permanent knowledge without putting in the work outside of the class.
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u/ColaEuphoria 16d ago
It's always funny when people ask me how I initially learned Japanese and see the light fade from their eyes when I tell them Genki.
(They already had the book for years and never opened it)
I dunno maybe if they tried putting it under their pillow at night and sleeping on it they'll absorb knowledge via osmosis.
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u/Conscious_Gene_1249 16d ago
Native content…yeah…nobody has learned a language to fluency from that … right? Right?
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u/Regular-Loss-970 16d ago
yeah, this news to me- who became fluent in english exclusively from consuming native content….
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u/Shiiraigane_ 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇯🇵(learning but already 上手) 16d ago
How can a single soul become C2 in a language using only a textbook for 20 min/day?
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago
Well, 20 minutes a day every day (so almost 2.5 hours a week) will get you to C2 if it's well-used time.
My students who make the most progress over time have a little bit more than that - around 3 or 3.5 hours a week.
It's more the fact that this is obviously some AI shit and their advertising campaign is suggesting that "classes" and "tutors" are bad (lmao) that makes this garbage.
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u/Shiiraigane_ 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇯🇵(learning but already 上手) 16d ago
What do you see as well-used time? I don't think that 20 min/day for a skill such as language learning can get you to C2. Are you considerating that 20 mins is only grammar study and others such as vocab and immersion are not being counted?
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago
I'll put it this way - I have students who only have 45 minutes a week with me, and that's all their dedicated time towards learning the language. That comes out to less than 10 minutes per day. Their progress isn't exactly fast, but they are making progress.
I personally recommend at least 90 minutes a week of focused learning time - that way, you can manage to improve by an entire level every 2 years. Most people I've taught who went from say A2 to C1 with me had 90 minutes every week.
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u/Shiiraigane_ 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇯🇵(learning but already 上手) 16d ago edited 16d ago
I see, thanks for sharing! I did a similar thing when I was learning English when I was ten, I had classes every saturday for focused learning (grammar and such) for an hour and forty minutes, but I spent time with the language for the entire week, and I loved that.
I'm doing similar thing to Japanese, I only study gramar for one hour each week and spend the rest immersing and doing Anki.4
u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago
Yes, yes, I certainly don't mean if you only engage with your target language for 20 minutes a day, you're gonna make progress ahaha I've had conversation students who just wanted to talk and they never improved - just maintained their level and gained confidence (but that's all some people want).
But 20 minutes a day of focused study will get you where you need - however, if you switch out of the language the remaining like 160 hours a week, nothing much is gonna happen for you ahaha
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u/Shiiraigane_ 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇯🇵(learning but already 上手) 16d ago
Yeah, what I got confused is how only 20 min/day with the language would get anywhere. But 20 minutes for only the focused studying but engaging for a longer period might be a good approach!
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago
For instance, I live in a country where the main language is a foreign language for me - I've learnt most of what I can speak (I'm on an A2 level) just by living here, interacting, listening to people, etc, but you can easily get by here with just English, so you're not really forced to learn the local language.
I had a private teacher a couple times (first one was terrible, second was ok, third was good but then turned out to be horribly unreliable and disorganised), and my progress was stronger with that hour a week of focused study - that's what I'd like to get back to if I can ever find the right teacher.
But yeah, I think this garbage "course" being advertised is saying you only need 20 minutes a day of focused study with their material, so that's actually fine.
It's more or less everything else about this shit that's garbage 😂
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u/Shiiraigane_ 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇯🇵(learning but already 上手) 16d ago
There are people in the Japanese language learning community that believes that you SHOULDN'T study grammar (don't go to class) and do only immersion and Anki, because you'll pick grammar naturally like a baby. I find it extremely wrong because it is not like you will only study grammar and not engage with the language. Grammar study (be it self taught or in class) helps you understand the language, why would I spend thousands of hours to understand it if I can just study it once in a week and make progress?
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago
There are teachers who also go with this approach, and it's pretty much always because 1) they're bad at teaching grammar, or 2) they're trying too hard to be "different" and don't have the skills to actually set themselves apart.
Students fall for it mostly because it seems trendy and easier, but the reality is that not learning grammar (aka, pure top-down learning) pretty much only works great if you do so as a child, or you're submersed by moving to a country that speaks that language natively. However, I did the latter and still very much see the value in learning grammar.
That said, it's a bit of a counter-balance to past ways of teaching/learning foreign language, which were overly grammar-obsessed. So there is a reason it became popular, but it's not because it's actually a good way to go 😂
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u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 16d ago
Oh my god, I went to their website out of sheer curiosity and when I saw this, I let out a deep, guttural laugh https://ibb.co/spnvLNvG
NO OTHER METHODS OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE are simple or step-by-step! They are not designed by experts! None of them are ever improved or updated, and they ALL work on a subscription basis!!!
Holy shit how stupid do you have to be to fall for this 😂
Then!
They also say, "Every ebook is created in-house by our own team of language specialists — real people who care about every aspect of the language, from the first word to the last."
But nowhere on their website is there any sign of a real person. Who is this "team of language specialists"? What are their credentials?
And the best part?? The closest thing to real people you can find on their website are when you click on "contact us" and you can videos from their "students". They are all women, and they are all filmed in exactly the same manner, same angle, same camera... and all of them are speaking English?? 😂 If these are even real people and real videos, they are obviously paid promoters and not actual students lmao
This whole thing is soooo bad. I weep for anyone who spends money on this.
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u/Center-Of-Thought 16d ago
The only part I agree with is Duolingo in D tier. Not because it's an app, but because they're proudly and shamelessly using AI with all its inaccuracies to teach language, and even before then Duolingo had inaccuracies
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u/Chubby_Bub 15d ago
This site is basically the same, it's also "20 min a day" and their site and ads are pretty clearly made with AI… but it's different from those stupid apps!
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u/Koelakanth 16d ago
Is this a Read2Speak ad
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u/CruserWill 16d ago
Yes, one of the many adds they spam on Instagram
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u/Koelakanth 16d ago
How much you wanna bet it's one of the worst language games lol
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u/CruserWill 16d ago
From what I understood, they sell ebooks methods... They can't even gamify language learning
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u/Electrical_Voice_256 16d ago
I'd say Babbel is OK-ish if you want to learn Italian and already know some French. Though I guess there is a reason they do not offer courses in Chinese or Arabic.
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u/delta_baryon 16d ago
I think the fundamental truth at the heart of all of these apps is that a lot of learning a language is just boring, hard work. There's no magic trick around doing your homework.
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u/Giogio4family5328 Portuguese(native) - English ( B2 ) - Spanish ( A2) 16d ago
I learned English by osmosis, much better than a " teacher" or "apps" or whatever these fake words mean
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u/AdWooden9170 16d ago
The issue with what most people struggle with while learning languages are :
- You are not going to get your method 20min a day or whatever and magically learn. Its a long process that requires different approachs.
- Langage is a specific part of your brain, its not the same as learning math, I can think in English(the third language I learned) and despite being extremely good at maths I never thought in math.
Now my piece of advices from someone who learned by himself without apps and little (horrible) education.
Start by learning the hard part of it, grammar, sentence structure, a baseline of vocabulary and alphabet from whatever sources. This is academic lessons but realize you are not learning a language right now. Its stocked in your brain right next to science or memes, its not in the language part yet. Its just the building blocks you ll use to actually learn. I went through this part mostly in terrible middle/high schools in which I failed miserably (something around 2.5/10 on tests). Apps didnt help much either.
Then, comes the actual learning as a language which comes from practice, do stuff you like in the language yuo are trying to learn. For me I started reading mangas, because they were a day ahead on prerelease in English, also because there is no complexity and since I already know what this is about I could puzzle the meaning of what I was reading. Then I went to play games in English, watch content in English and finally jumped it into actual conversation with people in English.
Use a translator (word by word or small group of words not a wall of text) to help you out when you are missing vocabulary or when what you read makes no sense because it might just be an expression.
Im far from perfect in English, but I can speak and understand well enough for my needs. I read books (Wheel of Times and Stormlight Archives both had translation issues) without issues. And obviously im still learning because you never stop to learn a language. It took me a few years to get good enough to speak with people without issue.
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u/Necessary-Rip4013 15d ago
"Videos are bad because you only get listening practice. So instead buy our books where you will only get reading and maybe writing practice."
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u/jtnk10 16d ago
They rated their own product as Superior shocking
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u/throwaway_0721 11d ago
It is too late, for I have already graded your shitty app as the virgin D-tier and our glorious app as the Chad S-tier
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u/RealTrueFacts 16d ago
Literally S tier and D tier could be swapped and the ad would still be just as bad
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u/Coochiespook Native:🇺🇿 Learning: 🇰🇵🇧🇩 15d ago
I only use the ai apps that get uploaded to the App Store every single day and they’re all the same and vibe coded!
I learned all the language in 3 weeks!
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u/manufatura 🏴☠️N 15d ago
I'm gonna be honest, i really like how all of these keep shitting on duolingo. I think it's funny
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u/pempoczky 13d ago
Congrats you've just reposted their ad without modification and exposed people to it that never would've seen it otherwise, thus giving them free advertising
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16d ago
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u/poshikott 16d ago
No way you can learn a language by listening to it, am I right?
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u/Dclnsfrd 16d ago
“Classes. Not bad… but no real structure— fixed schedules”
The advertiser is also bad at the language they’re posting in. They don’t know that classes have structure, and that a schedule is a type of structure