Show HN: Become fluent in a language by practicing with an AI Tutor | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Become fluent in a language by practicing with an AI Tutor

tutorlily.com

4 pointsvinpalumbo8 comments

Hi everyone!

After recently moving from Toronto to Montreal, I was trying to become more fluent in French.

I downloaded a couple language learning apps, but quickly realized that it wasn’t helping me hold a conversation in everyday situations.

I then downloaded some language exchange apps, but it was difficult to keep the conversations going with different time zones, and my language partners weren’t always properly correcting all my mistakes.

So finally, I got a real tutor but it quickly became expensive, and I couldn’t just practice anytime, like on the bus every morning.

So I built Tutor Lily, a mobile app chatbot to help language learners like me become fluent by practicing real-life conversations with a friendly AI companion, who corrects and explains all your mistakes, making personalized tutoring both affordable and always available at your fingertips!

But this is just the beginning, I have many interesting ideas that I hope to launch in the coming months to enhance Tutor Lily's capabilities.

Excited to see what you guys think, and get all your most honest feedback!

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OK, honest feedback - not to be confused with criticism:

You've done a lot of work and I hope the app got your French up to speed to satisfy Quebec! Watch out for "you have such a lovely accent" (said in English) - it's not really a compliment. Montreal is a great city but the roads really suck, way more than Toronto. At least there is a good subway system to get around the city.

The route capture of repeatedly reloading the home page to prevent the back button working cleanly is super annoying. If that's not intentional, it needs fixed and, if it is intentional, I'd remove that as it's a horrible dark pattern that is hostile to your customers.

There is no list of languages taught - I see some flags but no idea if that's the native language I'm supposed to speak already or if it is the only languages it teaches. What if I'm interested in learning a language without a flag shown? I have no idea if it is offered or not until I go through the signup process (or watch your video).

Cost isn't clear either at the start of the signup. Hiding pricing (as a menu item) until part way through signup rather than putting it right there clearly at the start of the process is a huge turn off. I'm not signing up to some mysterious app without being told the key conditions (like how much it costs) before I start.

Why should I use this app when I can sign up to any of the available AIs for a little more that can do the language tutor thing plus answer lots of additional things for me in other domains? I see it does speak the text - are there other value adds over using a regular AI ?

I like your attitude in fixing the problems you experienced with the tutor approach and failings in other apps. That's the attitude that helps things improve and I do wish you success and look forward to an update post on how things go.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. This is the kind of feedback I'm looking for! :) I'll address those point by point, and ask for clarifications when needed

1. Montreal roads are horrible indeed!

2. Fixing the back button is in my top priorities, good catch.

3. My landing page does mention that there are 18 languages available, but I should make it more explicit like in my app store descriptions where they are all enumerated

4. As a baseline, I copied other popular language learning app's pricing strategies. Since it's a Freemium model, I don't want to show Pricing until the Free limits have been attained, or else people might think there is no Free option. Could you clarify when and how you would display the Pricing?

5. Right now, it speaks the text, it translates the text, you can speak to it with your voice, it explains every single mistake word by word. Basically, the UI is better suited for language learning specifically. Later, you'll be able to create flashcards from new words you learn, and much more.

6. Thank you for your encouragement and feedback!

When I try the app, tapping "sign in with google" gives an error:

You can't sign in from this screen because this app doesn't comply with Google's secure browsers policy. If this app has a website, you can open a web browser and try signing in from there.

Thank you for letting me know! It's weird because I have 10K+ downloads on Android and it's the first time I'm hearing this issue. Will investigate!

It's great. And this is my first comment in HN. After messaging with Tutor Lily 15 messages.

Wow, seriously?! Thank you so much! :) Any feedback or suggestion for things you'd want to see in the future on my app?

Would be nice to know the languages on the website before signing up!

The supported languages are enumerated in the app store descriptions, but I'll make it more explicit on the landing page too. Thanks for your feedback!

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