aphanon_meme ([personal profile] aphanon_meme) wrote2014-01-06 12:26 am

part 347 dimensions of sight and sound

and of mind. Do do do do do do do do do do do.

How was your end-of-December-into-January time, meme? Did you make any New Year's resolutions? Or light a candle in your window in the hopes that Himaruya would update again instead of leaving us behind like an 19th century light house keeper's wife whose husband has gone off to sea? ... Did you?

Enjoy part 347!

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desuraven: (ARGUING ON THE INTERNET)

Re: Livemocha + Duolingo tl;dr

[personal profile] desuraven 2014-01-18 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
/diff obviously but

The reason Duolingo is set up the way it is, is because it's not a language learning software. That's what the general public uses it for, of course, but what we fail to understand is that we're not the consumer we're the product.

Duolingo is a translation company, they're paid to translate documents for cheap and use their learners to do it for them for free. When you start a language what you're doing is translating tiny bits from wikipedia and such that they present to you. This is how they know the answers and train you to put in the answers they want. The higher you go the more you get texts from their clients, just a sentence or two of course, but they splice together all the answers to all the sentences to get an "ideal" translation.

They get paid, the client gets their work translated for cheap because they only have to pay the agency for their work, and you...well hey you learned a new language :D


Seriously Duolingo pissed me the fuck off.

Re: ITT: Favorite Hetalia fanart

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
I'M SORRY IT WAS TOO LONG AGO AND THEY WERE NEVER SOURCED WHEN POSTED

Re: Livemocha + Duolingo tl;dr

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my, I didn't know that! What weird Wikipedia articles have things like "the man is red' though? Or do they just piece together nouns, verbs, etc?

That's really :|
desuraven: (Default)

Re: Livemocha + Duolingo tl;dr

[personal profile] desuraven 2014-01-18 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
They don't disclose their sources (obviously, or else it would break client confidentiality at the higher levels) but the way it started was by translating all of English wikipedia into Spanish so I assume that's where the majority of the early sentences come from? The weird ones I have to guess come from blogs or some public domain stuff though you're right lol.


AND IT IS I tried it and got fairly far, but once I had to research it I stopped right away. Ugghhh.

Re: Livemocha + Duolingo tl;dr

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
I remember hearing recently that they partnered with Google or somesuch to do this, but it was only a few months ago if that, and I had no idea that influenced the way that it "teaches" languages.

Very disappointing! :(

Re: ITT: Favorite Hetalia fanart

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
Delicious, greasy 100% American great white shark soup.

Yum
desuraven: (Default)

Re: Livemocha + Duolingo tl;dr

[personal profile] desuraven 2014-01-18 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
It was always their philosophy, the guy who created it was the same one who created recaptcha on the principle that "people should be doing something with their time." Only now instead of analyzing books while proving you're not a spam bot it's translating documents while learning a language. The deal with Google will probably only make it worse lmao.

It is :c
diplopod: (Default)

Re: Livemocha + Duolingo tl;dr

[personal profile] diplopod 2014-01-18 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
Yep, that's pretty much exactly what I've heard from other people about Livemocha. It's a shame. It wasn't an awful place to start if you wanted to learn the basics. Definitely not worth it if it's full of creepers, though. ;3;

Aw, and that's too bad about Duolingo too. But I suppose if it gets people interested enough, they'll go looking for other, more advanced resources to keep studying after they've finished with it. Although ideally that wouldn't be necessary...

But come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a single language site out there that's really good for learning languages on its own. A lot of them are great as supplements, but none of them seem to go beyond a basic level and they all try to keep the lessons exactly the same from language to language, and that just hinders them really. It's too bad, because an app or website that actually taught and explained languages well (and went beyond the super basic stuff) without being completely boring would be so useful. ;3; ...Still wouldn't beat having an actual teacher and immersing yourself, but still helpful.

ITT: what are you working on?

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
or even, what are you thinking of working on?

or heck, if you're like me and lazy/writerblocked, you can simply vent about how you're not working on things but wish you were. wah.

Re: ITT: what are you working on?

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
working on some den/ned that was supposed to involve some passing back and forth of a cigarette during sex, but it's gotten kind of derailed. and it's in tthat pre-smut slump that stories seem to get where you can't get the characters past the yakking and into the boinking. plus i feel like it could use a stronger core than just "denmark likes the d". bleeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh.


but when i finish, it'll be the last old wip i need to clear out and i can go tackle some fresh projects


maybe get a side of history going with my smut, aw yeeeeeeaaaah.
fredlig: (beautiful words from an ugly soul)

ooc

[personal profile] fredlig 2014-01-18 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
I will them all.

If you can find the jade monkey before the next full moon.
Edited 2014-01-18 02:39 (UTC)

Re: ITT: what are you working on?

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
I want to write a book

I don't know what though

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
Womyn? Wymen? Wymyn?

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
Ended up sleeping in, which annoyed me because I'm desperately trying to become less of a night owl. Other than that, day has been alright. Went to my former workplace to pick up a paycheque and sign some paperwork. Also went to the bank, finally. Purchased some Biscoff spread (mother wanted to taste what the difference was between that and Trader Joe's Cookie Butter).

Hoping to get some schoolwork done later today also, but that depends on whether I can muster up the willpower or not. ...I may or may not end up doodling, drabbling, gaming, or reading instead. OTL

+1!

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
Traditional black is my favourite, but the other varieties aren't bad.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Which clean-shaven nations would look good with facial hair?

ITT: Post a pic of your OTP!

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
Any pic.

If it's non-Hetalia, post it alongside your favorite Hetalia pair!

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
All of them.

Especially Liechtenstein.
bunniofthemoon: now with 700% more dicks in butts ([TRAVEL]: 700% done)

[personal profile] bunniofthemoon 2014-01-18 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
For some reason I wonder how Canada would look with a bit of fuzz going on
Russia with a bears
Maybe Denmark with a beard too

Re: ITT: what are you working on?

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
A ridiculous crossover of ridiculousness. I'm more of an artist than writer, so I've been working on character designs and trying to figure out which characters fit which roles and how to tailor the outfits to match. Somewhat stumped on how to get the plotline going, but I'm trying (and mostly failing).

I should be working on cosplay since the upcoming convention is in less than three months, but I'm having difficulty mustering up the energy to scour clothing shoppes and the like for the pieces I need, and other stores for the materials to make modifications and accessories. I've already received the wigs that I ordered, so I don't know what the hell I'm waiting on.

OTL

Re: ITT: Post a pic of your OTP!

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
Image

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
hetalia

update

up….date….







AU in which the nations are stuck in hetahalloxmas for all eternity

they keep trying to escape their fate but no

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
it's like groundhog day only the day never actually ends

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
/twilight zone music

/hetaweenmas zone music

(Anonymous) 2014-01-18 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
china

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