Verbling: The instant way to practice and learn a language(verbling.com)
verbling.com
Verbling: The instant way to practice and learn a language
http://verbling.com/
26 comments
Where's my Swedish option? :(
This. Finding Spanish speakers for an American can't be that hard, but finding a Swedish speaker could prove much harder, they should prioritize languages like Swedish.
"Chat roulette for language learning" should be their five-word pitch.
Great idea. I've been learning French, Italian, and Spanish via lingq.com and what it's missing most is the ability to practise live with native speakers without having to schedule a call with a tutor.
It could prove a great way to practise a language, assuming they can work out a way to police it. What's to stop it filling with the type of crowd that frequents chat roulette, for example?
Great idea. I've been learning French, Italian, and Spanish via lingq.com and what it's missing most is the ability to practise live with native speakers without having to schedule a call with a tutor.
It could prove a great way to practise a language, assuming they can work out a way to police it. What's to stop it filling with the type of crowd that frequents chat roulette, for example?
No, their five word pitch should not be "chat roulette for language learning". That would imply lots of cocks speaking different languages.
I hate when a company is the something for something else. Be unique. How about Video Chat For Language Learning. Why bring chat roulette into it? Break free and then Chatroulette can become the Verbly for wanting to speak your native language to another penis.
It just seems with all of the abuse that chatroulette gets it would be smart to try and separate yourself from them.
I hate when a company is the something for something else. Be unique. How about Video Chat For Language Learning. Why bring chat roulette into it? Break free and then Chatroulette can become the Verbly for wanting to speak your native language to another penis.
It just seems with all of the abuse that chatroulette gets it would be smart to try and separate yourself from them.
Why bring chat roulette into it?
Because it's been a phenomenally successful concept that millions already understand conceptually. And because it highlights their USP -- live, instant matching of language partners -- when their competitors who use vanilla video chat services require you to schedule online conferences.
'The something-of-something-else' pattern is incredibly useful as a means of introducing new services and ideas. (My favourite is from Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon, who famously pitched the film 'Alien' as 'Jaws in space'.) Sure -- you might take on the negative elements of the service you're comparing yourselves with as well as the positive ones, but as long as you have answers for those questions (e.g. "Good question. Our community is self-policing, and we review and ban users who misbehave."), then I see little harm in it.
Because it's been a phenomenally successful concept that millions already understand conceptually. And because it highlights their USP -- live, instant matching of language partners -- when their competitors who use vanilla video chat services require you to schedule online conferences.
'The something-of-something-else' pattern is incredibly useful as a means of introducing new services and ideas. (My favourite is from Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon, who famously pitched the film 'Alien' as 'Jaws in space'.) Sure -- you might take on the negative elements of the service you're comparing yourselves with as well as the positive ones, but as long as you have answers for those questions (e.g. "Good question. Our community is self-policing, and we review and ban users who misbehave."), then I see little harm in it.
Chat roulette is not as successful as you think it is, and no - if you just say it to anyone on the streets, no one will understand what "chat roulette" is - it has a connotation of gambling or being very risky (ie the roulette thing billions of people understand conceptually, so your "analogy" will be hijacked)
Is it a platform for gambling in different languages? Is probably the response you'll get from "chat roulette for languages"
Is it a platform for gambling in different languages? Is probably the response you'll get from "chat roulette for languages"
I'm going to disagree with you there. Occasionally I watch "old media" and for a while Chat Roulette dominated both traditional and comedy news shows as well as late night.
Many people on the street know exactly what it is: penises.
Many people on the street know exactly what it is: penises.
I hate to be 'that guy with a youtube link', but I think Trey Parker & Matt Stone nailed what Chat Roulette means to most people:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gNyDZmQyeY
Probably best if Verbling doesn't associate themselves with that ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gNyDZmQyeY
Probably best if Verbling doesn't associate themselves with that ;)
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Sorry, but no, I didn't get that idea when he mentioned that 5 word pitch.
The meaning I obtained was exactly what he initially meant. A place where you can be hook up to another person in the world, but with the explicit intention of practicing a language that's foreign to one and native to the other.
There is no shame in piggy-backing anyway, wasn't even someone famous who said: "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Not saying that chatroulette is a _giant_ per se, but what they did in so few days was, well, a giant achievement (news, users, concept).
The meaning I obtained was exactly what he initially meant. A place where you can be hook up to another person in the world, but with the explicit intention of practicing a language that's foreign to one and native to the other.
There is no shame in piggy-backing anyway, wasn't even someone famous who said: "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Not saying that chatroulette is a _giant_ per se, but what they did in so few days was, well, a giant achievement (news, users, concept).
"I hate when a company is the something for something else. Be unique."
At the risk of appeal to authority:
"In fact, I explicitly tell YC startups to explain themselves to investors as "the x of y" whenever possible."
-pg
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1216008 http://www.paulgraham.com/investors.html (see point 14)
At the risk of appeal to authority:
"In fact, I explicitly tell YC startups to explain themselves to investors as "the x of y" whenever possible."
-pg
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1216008 http://www.paulgraham.com/investors.html (see point 14)
investors!=consumers
"The x of y" can be okay for consumers too, but only a select few brands are familiar to mainstream consumers. e.g. " Facebook for businesses" or "Google for real estate" work.
Penis aside, ChatRoulette too obscure for most people and especially a long time after its peak.
"The x of y" can be okay for consumers too, but only a select few brands are familiar to mainstream consumers. e.g. " Facebook for businesses" or "Google for real estate" work.
Penis aside, ChatRoulette too obscure for most people and especially a long time after its peak.
"I hate when a company is the something for something else. Be unique."
While I'm with you on the concern with the tainted associated, I couldn't disagree more with the above sentiment. Conveying something in a few words incredibly powerful and incredibly hard... Starting with something your audience is familiar with is an incredible asset.
It doesn't cheapen the movie "Alien" to pitch it as "Jaws on a spaceship". (hat tip to the book "Made to Stick").
While I'm with you on the concern with the tainted associated, I couldn't disagree more with the above sentiment. Conveying something in a few words incredibly powerful and incredibly hard... Starting with something your audience is familiar with is an incredible asset.
It doesn't cheapen the movie "Alien" to pitch it as "Jaws on a spaceship". (hat tip to the book "Made to Stick").
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Jake from Verbling here. Thanks for this feedback. Really appreciate it. Many users are reporting switching from other sites once they've gotten the first few phrases down and want to practice with real native speakers. Talking to real people seems to serve as an extra injection of motivation.
Re. abuse: Verblings make accounts and that carry a crowdsourced reputation. We can see how well-liked our users are based on how their conversation partners rate them. Users with serious abuse reports filed against them are investigated and, if substantiated, kicked out.
Re. abuse: Verblings make accounts and that carry a crowdsourced reputation. We can see how well-liked our users are based on how their conversation partners rate them. Users with serious abuse reports filed against them are investigated and, if substantiated, kicked out.
Great idea, but you really need Japanese :)
How do you investigate the abusers? Do you record the video?
We haven't seen any serious abuse yet.
If we get any report, we look at what type of abuse was reported, whether other users have reported the same potential abuser, and follow up with each of the users involved individually in Verbling itself and/or by email.
Never ever ever describe your own pride and joy by naming another product or company, regardless if they're a competitor or not.
This is very cool. Especially for ASL.
Heard about this a while back. Still waiting for them to support other languages.
Just tried it out -- exactly what I was looking for. In less than a minute I was practicing Spanish with a nice fellow from Mexico. Superb idea.
I'm Jake Jolis, one of the Verbling founders. Happy you found a good place to practice Spanish!
Just for reference, biggest countries right now are USA, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and U.K.
Just for reference, biggest countries right now are USA, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and U.K.
Jake, congratulations for the idea and the execution. Sometimes the simplest idea is the one that changes the world. By the way, is there any reason why I can't connect from Spain? It is stuck on the "connecting" screen :(
Aha, in the beginning as we grow our user base, we're scheduling sessions--three times per day now. You'll see the session times announced in your local time to the left of the video screen.
Just log on during the next session, which is at 9 PM in Spain. Just to make sure, would you mind shooting me an email at [email protected] from the email account you signed up with? That way, I can take a look to make sure everything's the way it should be.
And thanks for the kind words!
Just log on during the next session, which is at 9 PM in Spain. Just to make sure, would you mind shooting me an email at [email protected] from the email account you signed up with? That way, I can take a look to make sure everything's the way it should be.
And thanks for the kind words!
One thing that doesn't appear obvious to me is the level of proficiency required (if any) to get started. I suppose that could be an expectation to be set by the community, but is it feasible for someone to make Verbling their first stop on the way to learning a new language?
Jake from Verbling here. So far, most of our users are at the intermediate to advanced level, though we've got a bunch of beginners as well.
For beginners, we've built beginners conversation topics to provide some initial Spanish context to get you started. Click the "Beginner" button once you've got a native speaker on the other end.
My co-founder Mikael actually knew zero Spanish before the summer but just started using Verbling to learn (and get feedback). He's now very conversant, at the stage where I can hear him use phrases that real Spanish speakers would use in everyday life, which is often very different from what they put in textbooks.
For beginners, we've built beginners conversation topics to provide some initial Spanish context to get you started. Click the "Beginner" button once you've got a native speaker on the other end.
My co-founder Mikael actually knew zero Spanish before the summer but just started using Verbling to learn (and get feedback). He's now very conversant, at the stage where I can hear him use phrases that real Spanish speakers would use in everyday life, which is often very different from what they put in textbooks.
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Yep, there's not really a good explanation of what beginner/intermediate/advanced means. Also it seems interactions are rated--- meaning what? Ability of speaker in said language? Interestingness of speaker? Whether they are normal?
Jake from Verbling here. Beginner/intermediate/advanced refer to the different levels of conversation topics available to users.
You can click through all of them while you're in a conversation, so you're never "stuck" in any of the categories. Specifically, at the beginner level, you're exposed to mostly the present tense and beginner's vocab. At the advanced level, you'll see some conditional tense and more advanced vocabulary, for example re. politics, culture, technology.
Re. ratings: We simply ask you, "How was your conversation?" Based on whether you superlike/like/dislike, we can pair you up with that same native speaker more often, at the same rate, or never again.
Hope this helps!
Re. ratings: We simply ask you, "How was your conversation?" Based on whether you superlike/like/dislike, we can pair you up with that same native speaker more often, at the same rate, or never again.
Hope this helps!
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There is another site where you can do this. They actually take you teach you the language. http://www.livemocha.com/
Another language learning tool by the creator of Captcha:
www.duolingo.com
check out a description at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQl6jUjFjp4
www.duolingo.com
check out a description at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQl6jUjFjp4
Yeah but it was announced a few months ago in this presentation a no real news from it (i've subscribed as soon as possible to the mailing list)
No news yet and their twitter feed is dead silent. They are only offering a couple languages initially as well (with no Japanese in sight)
So it's language exchange partners, but over the internet.
Pretty neat, but I'd definitely worry about audio quality. If you live in a multicultural city with a couple universities, the real-life version is easy enough to set up.
Pretty neat, but I'd definitely worry about audio quality. If you live in a multicultural city with a couple universities, the real-life version is easy enough to set up.
And for the ones that don't have the financial ability to pay a top rated course?
I think this service enables self taught people with enough tools to march forward on their quest to learn a new language.
I think this service enables self taught people with enough tools to march forward on their quest to learn a new language.
You don't need to pay for a top rated course to find someone who's trying to learn your language and vice versa, and meet up with them in person when you live in a multicultural city as the parent said, with universities where there are lots of young people eager to learn.
I love how www.livemocha.com handles this.
Someone should make a codecademy of langauages.
This is a really cool idea that I can definitely see myself using. A few ideas that
would make it even more awesome (for me):
More languages would be great.
Let me specify the level I currently know a language at. For example: I'm not a native speaker of ASL, but I can get through a conversation. I'd be a great partner for an ASL beginner but not for someone advanced.
More languages would be great.
Let me specify the level I currently know a language at. For example: I'm not a native speaker of ASL, but I can get through a conversation. I'd be a great partner for an ASL beginner but not for someone advanced.
Hi, I'm Jake, one of the Verbling founders. Thanks for this feedback!
We are planning to launch more language combinations in the future, though Spanish-English is the only one currently active. As we scale, we can allow users to impose filters such as "I want to talk to advanced speakers only."
Sounds like Colingo: http://colingo.me/
There is another great resource:
http://www.fluentin3months.com/language-hacking-guide/
You can subscribe to his blog for free is really interesting.
Check the complete site out.
You can subscribe to his blog for free is really interesting.
Check the complete site out.
"sign language" should be labelled as ASL if that's what you meant. There are hundreds of sign languages.
Bummer...no French (yet)
This sounds stupidly superficial, but the page is configured (apparently) in such a way that sharing it on FB gets you a blank for title/descriptor/image...YEah, I know, superficial. But I wanted my friends to know about it and you know what they say about click-through rate for articles w/images...
This sounds stupidly superficial, but the page is configured (apparently) in such a way that sharing it on FB gets you a blank for title/descriptor/image...YEah, I know, superficial. But I wanted my friends to know about it and you know what they say about click-through rate for articles w/images...
Definitely not superficial. Sorry for the long delay, but this now fixed. Thanks for the pointer. Let us know if you have any additional feedback.
how about Indonesian?
For a quick demo, Verbling was tried out on local TV in Texas
http://www.the33tv.com/about/station/newsteam/kdaf-verbling-...
Is it just me, or do the two faces paired in each image on the homepage all look oddly similar?
If the software were to enforce this, I wonder if I would have a more enjoyable/didactic/narcissistic experience speaking with my Chinese mirror-image...
If the software were to enforce this, I wonder if I would have a more enjoyable/didactic/narcissistic experience speaking with my Chinese mirror-image...
This is great! I would love to see school districts be able to sign up entire classes and be matched with foreign classes. This feature would be a potential source of revenue. Free for anyone to use, but added features for paying schools: class matching system, teacher moderation, statistics, etc.
A "Teach for America" friend has recently been tasked with building a small Midwestern charter school's first Spanish program. One of the biggest challenges for her is finding ways to immerse students in the language with a lack of resources and a tight budget. This certainly seems like a quick, inexpensive and appealing way to get students engaged. I'll see if she can provide feedback.
I've thought about this idea many times, and one idea I have had that I haven't seen verbling talk about---perhaps it doesn't make sense yet with only English + Spanish---is to run on a credit system rather than matching you up with an 'opposite'.
So, if I want to learn spanish, rather than trying to find me a spanish-speaker wanting to learn english for a 50-50 conversation, it just matches me up with a spanish-speaker wanting to learn _anything_, and I burn credit talking to them. Later I can earn credit by speaking to a _anything_-speaker wanting to learn english.
If you think through that system lots of cool ideas come out, especially if you attach a monetary value to the credit---like people only earning credit and cashing it out (tutors), or people only spending it, and injecting cash into the system (impatient/rich people).
Anyway, Verbling guys, you may have already thought of this, but if not, I've been thinking about it for quite a while, hit me up if you want to chat more about it.
So, if I want to learn spanish, rather than trying to find me a spanish-speaker wanting to learn english for a 50-50 conversation, it just matches me up with a spanish-speaker wanting to learn _anything_, and I burn credit talking to them. Later I can earn credit by speaking to a _anything_-speaker wanting to learn english.
If you think through that system lots of cool ideas come out, especially if you attach a monetary value to the credit---like people only earning credit and cashing it out (tutors), or people only spending it, and injecting cash into the system (impatient/rich people).
Anyway, Verbling guys, you may have already thought of this, but if not, I've been thinking about it for quite a while, hit me up if you want to chat more about it.
I know I'm not the only person to say this, but I kind of prefer the (original) implementation created by LiveMocha at http://www.livemocha.com/
It's an interesting concept, but I'd think the video part would be more of a distraction, honestly. The best language-learning idea I've ever seen was a foreign-language MOO/MUD. I worked on one at the University of Bergen (Norway). You can find a paper on the German-version here: https://bora.uib.no/handle/1956/1286
She wants to work on her Hindi skills in exchange for English, but after spending a year in India she is certain she will be mercilessly hit on.
My guess is that women in general will be uncomfortable having 10-minute chats with random men.