What's your honest opinion on Ingolingo? | Hacker News Reader

What's your honest opinion on Ingolingo?

ingolingo.com

13 pointsess26 comments

I like it (the web site and the "feel" of the product-- didn't try the product, but I'd like to).

I'd get a copywriter to review your site (one who specializes in persuasive writing for the web). The value prop is clear, but if you're selling language, you ought to nail your message. Phrases like "quickly gain thousand+ words", "ingolingo is the steroid of learning language", and "When he's not practising martial arts, he's at a social event talking with other clever people" are awkward.

While I like it, the design feels a tad soft/feminine (why the flowers?) - what are the demographics of people who want to learn new languages? Might be interesting to ponder color psychology... Is the design/color selection based off of what you guys like? Or what the target audience will respond to? I dunno the right answer, but it's worth pondering.

Out of curiosity, why isn't the app web-based? You probably have access to these stats, but I'd be interested in how many referrers you got from YCNews and what percentage of them downloaded your app and tried it? I bet that percentage would double if it was web-based.

It's nitpicky, but I'd adjust your brown link color in the footer... Hard to recognize as a link.

Hi guys, this is my new application, finally released to the world. It's a word trainer with a few unique things thrown into it.

I'd appreciate some honest criticism - what you like and what you don't like. This is the first draft, and I realize there is still a long way to go before getting it perfect!

Thanks! Mark.

Download? Hrm... not easy to try out... Windows only? Woops, you lost me, and I was actually kind of curious, as I need to learn some German.

Yeah, and even if a client-based app is necessary, I wouldn't advertise that it's a 10-minute download.

On the internet, that sounds like an eternity.

Don't take this the wrong way because I'm downloading the software and I'm interested (I really don't normally bother dling stuff): how on earth did you conceive this as a desktop application? Seriously. Its begging to be a web application, begging for it.

(Oh and now its installing .NET grrr)

I was put off by the grandiose claims (and the download!). I know it's the way these things are normally written, but you should at least substantiate what you can. Like the "ten times" bit. 10X Compared to what?

Otherwise, I love the website design, and it seems very interesting. I'll try it out as soon as I can find Windows.

I'm currently learning German by reading comics, which is pretty good at providing some form of positive feedback, as well as image clues. I'm curious to see if that can be improved.

Yes its an important point. But you'll need users to be able to prove that. Its ok to lie a bit initially I think :)

Once you lose credibility...

If the product isn't trash...its ok. I don't think most people will try 5-7 language learning products before they chose one. As long as it works they'll end up recommending to others.

to put it another way, dont start off on the wrong foot.

I agree with davidw--you've already lost me (a Mac user) as a customer. Unless there's some special feature I'm missing, there's no reason this shouldn't be a web-based application.

The web version is under development. The web version is more complex because it also uses the unique features that the web has to offer. So it will be out in a few weeks.

However, we are planning on selling the desktop version traditionally, and since it is more straightforward to develop, we decided to do things backwards and launch our Web 2.0 application as a desktop application first of all.

If you want to get info when the web version is done, add yourself here: http://www.ingolingo.com/lists/

I look forward to trying the web-based version.

By the way, your hosting provider is a little slow when the site is accessed from the USA under its current load.

blocked by mimesweeper (my workplace's firewall) for adult content.

Sorry. I'm just not that impressed. When I saw the web site, I was excited by the prospect of a "better" language teaching tool. But the UI is pretty bad and I'm doubtful of some of the claims you make.

For example, you mention that you teach the "most common" words first. I tried learning a little French, and two of the first few words were bucket and farm. Seriously, I think "Donde esta la biblioteca" was more useful....

for your desktop version, offer free content updates for 1 year. That way early users wont feel ripped off because they paid money for initial content.

Looks interesting, my girlfriend is actually trying to learn French since we plan to move there, but being Windows only means we can't use it. I don't believe in making everything a web app, but in this case it would seem ideal... is there a reason you chose to make it a Windows app?

chinese olympics are near. you might have a market there.

Yes, we're launching in China in a few months. Our focus is on the non U.S market, particularly Asia, but also Europe on some specific things.

You'll need some hardcore marketing and sales..probably distribution as well. Any expertise in that ?

How are you going to deal with piracy? I have been in Thailand for about half a year. While I was here I had a lot of software ideas to help Thai kids learn English. But, the licensing of high-quality language materials to embed into the software is expensive, so I cannot give it away for free. Yet, most of the Thai people I know think the idea of paying for software is laughable (literally).

Also, from what I know, most people in Asia only have access to computers in internet cafes. Isn't that problematic for you?

I'm assuming there have been many scientific studies done on how people acquire language. It would be nice to have language training software that took into account the scientific findings. You quote a bunch of statistics, but there are no sources on where they came from.

There is another language learning program that uses a similar method: RosettaStone http://www.rosettastone.com/

[disclaimer: I work for RosettaStone but do not represent them]

Maybe it's just me, but it might be nicer to have the example on the website translate to something that's a little more polite than "bitch".

Looky here, somebody speaks French i see...Hehe, I recognised the same translation on the front page. I am sure it is a common word but it would be nice to change that indeed. So it does not offend anyone.

I love it. Great work guys.

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