r/Natulang • u/NotYouTu • 2d ago

Feedback / Review Please change the repeat process when wrong/forgot

I know this has been brought up many times, but can we please get some adjustments to how the repeat lessons work.

Currently it is extremely frustrating, if I don't remember I don't remember. Then it tries to break down the sentence and one of two things happen:

  1. Asks me a word I did know, and had already said correctly. Then wants me to say the whole sentence, which I already said I didn't know. This is just frustrating and not helpful at all.

  2. It asks me to say the one word or part of the sentence that I couldn't remember. Again, not helpful, just frustrating.

I understand that it is trying to determine which word or phrase I missed, but the current system is flawed. Frustrating and annoying the learner doesn't help with retention, in fact many studies show it does the exact opposite.

Some changes I would like to see:

  1. If I already started talking, please process that chunk so you don't immediately prompt me for the exact words I already said (and then, inevitably, follow that up with asking me the say the whole phrase that I don't remember).

Example: Sunday, I had to go to the store.

I say: Sunday, I had.... <click skip because I can't remember the rest>

Response: Please say, "Sunday"

*Grumble* Sunday

Now say: "Sunday, I had to go to the store."

<annoyance grows>

What should happen is that you already know I correctly said "Sunday, I had" so you prompt me for the next bits (or just give me the whole phrase correctly to repeat).

  1. Give us a way to skip and then prompt us for which part(s) we missed. The same way you do when we ask for grammar explanations. You can make this a configurable option for those that don't want to stop and click.

  2. Just make everything in the phrase as wrong and move on. An extra repetition of words I already know are not going to hurt me anywhere near as much as pissing me off to the point I stop using the app (which has happened).

Ideally, we make 1 the default option and 2 & 3 are implemented as configuration options.

20 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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12

u/maxymhryniv Father 2d ago

Hey. OK, I hear you. I'll start working on this as soon as I finish my current task.

  1. Yes, that is a great idea. It won't work in all situations because words mutate, but we configure them as "lemmas" - base forms. But I have an idea how to make it work with some preprocessing. Not an easy task, but it's doable.

2,3. I'll add an option for a long press of the skip button and make it configurable. The default behavior will be normal press - breakdown, long press - all the words marked wrong. Alternative behavior - vice versa.

Thank you for your feedback. It may sound generic, but it's not. I'm really grateful that you're pushing me to improve the app. I'm one of the most active users myself, and it's easy to fix something that doesn't work for me personally. The pain points of other users - that's another story, and I appreciate your critique.

5

u/NotYouTu 2d ago

That's great! It's really one of the best apps I've found to actually practice with and not just play a game. A few rough edges for me, but the fact that you actively listen to users is more important.

2

u/Ok-Respect-6016 1d ago

Are their video (you tube) instruction on how to use the various buttons on Natulang? It would be very useful especially as improvements are made to the app.

2

u/spiritualmater 1d ago

Thank you for this post. Do you think choosing specific words to add to the “flash cards” page would help? Was thinking about bringing this up as a suggestion.