LangSeed
Learning and science
language learning
SHOW HN2025
How HN took it
4 positive, 5 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 2 critical, out of 12 comments about the project. Thread score +0.14.
Idea: 4 for, 1 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Great idea that mirrors how children learn language
From 3 comments
This is quite a great idea, as a native Chinese speaker, i want to say this is the way very similar how we learned Chinese when we were kids. On the other hand, the Chinese…
englishcat on HNThis is genius! I love it.
closetkantian on HNThis is extremely interesting, great idea. Really both thumbs up. Looking for more ideas/lifehack approaches to learning via LLMs.
nubg on HN
Useful for full immersion and vocabulary building with LLMs
From 1 comment
As a fellow Mandarin learner - this is super cool! Intuitively makes a lot of sense for the "full immersion" component of language. I love to see exciting uses of AI for language…
bisonbear on HN
Objections
Model sometimes produces awkward phrasing or grammar errors, especially in Chinese
From 2 comments
Thanks for the questions. Very fair concerns. Take all of this with a fairly large pinch of salt; this is still an experiment. 1. How does it know which words I already know? It…
simedw on HNCool idea! You mentioned the model struggling with Chinese a bit. Have you tried any Chinese models, e.g. DeepSeek or GLM? I imagine they probably have a lot more Chinese in the…
andai on HN
Site is hard to use on mobile and lacks prepared texts
From 1 comment
This site sucks on mobile. can't upload full text files? why no prepared texts to start reading right away?
gamander on HN
Requests
Support for replacing most text with known words, leaving unknown words in English
From 1 comment
checked out the tool and think it's a cool idea! one piece of feedback though - I actually feel like the inverse product would be more helpful for me. What I mean is replacing…
bisonbear on HN
Support for more languages
From 1 comment
How hard would it be to add new languages ?
mog_dev on HN
Questions
How does the system know which words the user already knows?
From 1 comment
Interesting concept! Think this would be quite cool to explore. Personally am very interested in language learning concepts / apps. My first concerns though: 1. How can the…
bryanhogan on HN
Which models handle Chinese well, such as DeepSeek, GLM or Kimi?
From 2 comments
Cool idea! You mentioned the model struggling with Chinese a bit. Have you tried any Chinese models, e.g. DeepSeek or GLM? I imagine they probably have a lot more Chinese in the…
andai on HNI have personally had success with using Kimi for Chinese creative writing making the same assumption that Moonshot, as a Chinese company, has more/better Mandarin language…
bisonbear on HN
Is decoding done by logit bias or token blocking?
From 1 comment
As a fellow Mandarin learner - this is super cool! Intuitively makes a lot of sense for the "full immersion" component of language. I love to see exciting uses of AI for language…
bisonbear on HN
Alternatives named
Pimsleur
From 3 comments
There's a language learning method where you just listen to audio, until you develop a basic familiarity with the language. (Then learn reading and writing later.) You listen to…
andai on HNPimsleur is awful for Mandarin. I wish I hadn’t wasted my time on it.
cblum on HNAs someone who did most of Pimsleur Spanish and Mandarin (and did a single unit in various other languages), and has since continued learning these languages (I'm currently…
bpev on HN
Anki flashcards
From 2 comments
I recently changed all my language flashcards to be like this. Anki is probably the best option. I have the field with the Hanzi, but just configure my cards not to show it at…
SuperNinKenDo on HNAs someone who did most of Pimsleur Spanish and Mandarin (and did a single unit in various other languages), and has since continued learning these languages (I'm currently…
bpev on HN
Graded readers and simplified texts like Easy Chinese
From 2 comments
This is a simplified version: Journey to the West in Easy Chinese by Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang. Otherwise, I would definitely have waited a bit before biting off something…
simedw on HNAs someone who did most of Pimsleur Spanish and Mandarin (and did a single unit in various other languages), and has since continued learning these languages (I'm currently…
bpev on HN
Dreaming Spanish and comprehensible input methods
From 2 comments
To add a bit more to this: AJATT (all Japanese all the time) later evolved into MIA (mass input approach), which then became Refold. The gist of those methods is mass input +…
cblum on HNThere's a language learning method where you just listen to audio, until you develop a basic familiarity with the language. (Then learn reading and writing later.) You listen to…
andai on HN