TEDxCMU -- Luis von Ahn -- Duolingo: The Next Chapter in Human Computation

[ymseagull]

I admire his idea. but since I'm japanese, I'd like to help digitize japanese old books...

Are you guys all in English speaking countries??

I think reCAPTCHA should be localized in each countries.

I'll call Google japan!!

[29boby]

DuoLingo in action - watch?v=VP71aB08G_M

[29boby]

If you want to see DuoLingo in action - watch?v=VP71aB08G_M

[luiguimas]

Interesting and nice design, but I prefer "Studystream" by FAR!

WOW! That's impressive, fun and I don't need to do boring translations to learn for free :P

Check their video in NYC BigApps3.0 site.

[ken1noob]

So... what happens if we all type one word correctly and for the other put, I don't know, pie? Won't the computer feel confident that every word in the book is pie?

[fallofshadows]

@ken1noob Like he said, you never know which word in the captcha is the one the computer knows, and which one is the one the computer doesn't know. So yes, you could sit around doing captchas until you finally guess the right word and input false information for the other, but it would take thousands upon thousands of people doing this to alter the word. Plus, most people won't do that: they want to gain access to the forums they're signing up for, not mess up some large project.

[christletine]

@fallofshadows It's very obvious which one is the word from the NYTimes archive and which is the captcha. (You do not have to type the NYTimes word to have your input accepted!) The captcha is wobbly and the other word is usually totally readable, or it's a number or an equation (probably explaining why the OCR is having trouble with it). Why is the entire world doing work for the New York Times? Maybe we would rather choose a different newspaper archive to transcribe.

[OceanderTethyseus]

so now instead of every person wasting 10 seconds per captcha, they're wasting 20 seconds per captcha.

[sweedey]

I think you might be the most brilliant person I have ever known!! Wow.. this is so impressive!

[zetztato]

and he's from my country Guatemala proud of it

[Fronika]

@zetztato You think he should be ashamed?

[zetztato]

@Fronika nope

[harut1230]

Absolutely perfect!

[03vaquita]

People like him are the reason why I feel more proud every day of being Guatemalan. People just see bad thing about my country but the truth is that Guatemala is full of beautiful things and people. Keep the good work Luis!

[ciudaddeplata]

proud of you fellow Guatemalan

[SheltaPavee]

That's why I always type first word and use "f..k" for the second :)

[IoriYagamiOroche]

amazing

[deshkanna]

very nice and smart initiative! .. Congrats

[DMcGification]

so when do we start counting kittens instead of spelling obtuse words??

[johncoreys]

Orgullo guatemalteco exportado al mundo! Este chavo es un genio. Al fin recibi mi invitacion para duolingo y he aprendido mucho aleman en tan solo 1 semana! Gracias Luis por tu aporte a la humanidad, seras recordado por todos los tiempos por trabajo. QUE NIVEL!

[gnossticc]

Amazing idea to use a little effort from each of us to digitiza books...

[gnossticc]

He always starts his lectures like this...boring, boring. he is a genius in technology but not a good speaker.

[willgrifffin]

why cant i freakin do it? its not working

[The0powerful0llama]

@willgrifffin slowly, they are letting people in to beta test...

[mcallava]

Well, if you watched the video you will remember this part in which he says that, being this a free tool, learning would be at the reach of everyone. But hese people probably can't even afford a computer. True, poor people has very little to do with (and benefit from) this.

[mcallava]

Not too convinced about the final quality of a non-professional translation... and about the "fairness" of this innitiative: poor people might not even have a computer or internet connection at home.

[tblumberg39]

@mcallava why? its intuitive and free.

[ConlangFan]

@mcallava What do you mean poor people, poor people have nothing to do with this?

[gnossticc]

@mcallava Translation is a very complex work of art. I don't think computers can handle that. Even experienced people have trouble translating and putting the right" flavour" in a traslation...WHo knows, maybe we'll have a computer genius who can put together software that can mimick humans this way?

[Fronika]

@gnossticc Don't hold your breath!

[Kruskot]

Duolingo is an amazing idea. !! I wanna join : )

[bendonahower]

Amazing ideas here.

I'm wondering if, however, you can translate with a similar confidence as people using machines if you were to use different applications that are based on different technologies and trust the responses that are the same just as confirming the correctness of the human translation with other humans.

[golddustwoman27]

Give this man a nobel prize....knowledge is a gift!

[warppipedream]

@pepo1984 not to say you are wrong about duolingo not working, but you being a language teacher both gives and takes value awa from your opinion, since you know about this stuff but also have a vested interest in it not working so you can keep your job...

[boneyarsebogman]

I must agree - while this is a fantastic idea, I hope there is some form of voice recognition built into it, because otherwise you will not know how to speak the words.

[pepo1984]

I write as a professional and experienced ENG-FRE-ESP language trainer.

Learning a language using translation is not useful, at least not for the learner. The days of translation to learn a language are far gone. We learn via cognitive processes, communication, interaction, meaningful situations & practice, not by translating. People will not learn a language this way, forget it, the only party benefited will be the companies & most probably Google, not the poor people who can't afford courses

[LuxrayIsEpic]

I am going to learn German.

[waynerad]

What was the Javascript question?

[StellaArnitasg403]

hehe ich wiege 300 kilo

[starkiller1]

I was with him right up until the "unfair" business model of charging people for something. What an idiot.

[856P83]

@starkiller1 He does not say that charging people for something is unfair. What he meant by "unfair" is that at the moment, rich people have easier access to education (i.e. learning a language). In fact, in his project, people are also charged, but you pay with your time (and work), not with money.

[LuxrayIsEpic]

@starkiller1 I feel he mis-phrased that a little bit. Maybe he mean't that it was expensive and not in the reach of 3rd World Countries. Also $0 vs $500 is very nice.

[shitscheissemerde7]

1 translator is getting worried for his job

[losgudieles]

Felicidades sr Luis von Ahn, un Orgullo para Latino America, siga creciendo y dandonos productos con tanta utlidad para la Humanidad...



[SamuelJohn3ailey]

He sounds a bit like someone really clever I know.

[JPsSwag]

grandioso este senor brillante de Guatemala soy de Chile y vivo en Miami. C

omo registrarse en los cursos de ingles?

[tzitzikas2004]

This might work as a way to "read" a language, although I am highly skeptical about that as well. Language is much more than just a collection of words. To claim that you can "learn" a language this way is at best illusory. What about listening, speaking and orally understanding the language?

[wesrawr]

@tzitzikas2004 I was thinking along the same lines, though I am optimistic. From a reading/writing only perspective, it can at the very least help lay a foundation for one attempting to learn a new language. For myself when learning a new language, Subject-Verb-Object order and sentence structure were my biggest issues; I feel that this format would prove much more useful for at least myself, and proper pronunciation and emphasis can be studied once one has a grasp on the larger picture.

[wesrawr]

@wesrawr In addition, there simply is not enough released information about the project yet to fully know its capability's and limitations. I would enjoy using something actually relatable when learning another language.

[tzitzikas2004]

@wesrawr actually, subject-verb-object is one of the easiest aspects (and probably most "visible") to learn. What about other aspects such as aspect, mood, etc.? I have taught myself to read a language just by reading, but I have had to supplement it with systematical grammatical descriptions... This may be a great supplement to learn and practice a language, but from there to claim that you can "learn a language" this way seems like a big step.

[tzitzikas2004]

@wesrawr If people get bored with Rosetta Stone after a month, I predict they will be bored with Duolingo after 2 weeks... Rosetta Stone added a live instructor to its latest Totale version thus recognizing the fact that learning to speak a language requires oral interaction with another human (and not just machines). Many texts contain very bad samples of language, many times not written by native speakers. Must be careful with selection of texts as well if program is to teach correct forms.

[Josepy2u]

@tzitzikas2004 while learning to speak/listen might be difficult in English, other languages such as Spanish (I'm told) have much more regular pronunciation, making it easier to learn.

[tzitzikas2004]

@Josepy2u Have you ever heard people speak a foreign language with a terrible or laughable accent? Unless people are exposed to the pronunciation of a particular language, they will not learn to pronounce it so as to be understood by native speakers. Even in Spanish what you write is not always pronounced the way you write it.

[omma911]

Is there a page where you can help translating more directly? I don't see that many captchas throughout the week.

[gnossticc]

I admire Luis, but hey he always starts his lectures this way which is kind of boring.

[SomoshiphopRadio]

He is From GuayeMaya! is The Mayan Gene .

[adrimar7891]

I think Duolingo will be a great tool to educate people around the globe... education brings progress to nations, never take education for granted my friends.

[PCtube7]

El Gobierno y el Pueblo de Maguana, les felicitan, les desean éxitos y les dan la más cordial bienvenida!!!!

[jozze100]

I see some translators ranting about his idea. I am not a native English speaker myself but write specialized articles on a daily basis. My point is, do not be skeptical to change the way things are.

[jessg05]

Just saw his interview on CNN .. this guy is seriously a genius!!

[marioaae]

Luis von Ahn is from Guatemala

[MentalError07]

Sure, you can learn to read or write, but you don't learn to pronounce/speak the language correctly.

[Kgeorge86]

lol its usually obvious which word is known by the computer and the one that isn't, so ive been writing only the word that is known

[ottarification]

@Kgeorge86 why?

[Kgeorge86]

@ottarification Well i didn't know reason for 2 words, so i just wrote one because its easier, and its obvious the difference from the checked word and the fake word just by the formatting, which ones not like the other.

[symbolt]

You can learn a language for FREE in many ways online, including options where you have human teachers.

[symbolt]

This talk includes a very common misconception: translators don't have to be bilingual, and being bilingual does NOT equal being able to be a translator. There are a lot of skills you need to have to be able to translate. BTW a bilingual is a person with two first languages (growing up with two languages)>

[marbar1230]

This guy is smart and comic at the same time....nice! Great job!

I`m very good to figure out where the accent of a person come from, but from this guy its kind confusing. France, Spanish????

[judarell]

@marbar1230 Spanish. He is from Guatemala (and happens to be my cousin).

[zzpegg]

"... the most exploited outsourcing country out there' I love this guy.

[nayomiekapur]

cheeky monkey! enslaving us humans :-P

[michi1526]

from a Guatemalan.. to the world :) proud!

[pdcomedy]

Brilliant.

[Domenica845]

since I am a translator I had to laugh a lot. It's not so easy to translate, especially in the early period of learning a language. I did not believe him everything. But he's can funny and some stuff is really wild!

[thereddeviladani]

Thumbs Up if Ashton Kutcher Sends you Here.

[Glenn9oo]

àshton kutcher tweeted :O

[TruthSurge]

So, you're planning to take the current size of the web and multiply that by several hundred JUST so people from one language can access a page in another? doesn't sound like the thing to do, IMO. I'd think a realtime translation that gives the page TEMPORARILY in RAM to the user would be the best solution EVEN with some slight errors in grammar and syntax. This guy hasn't thought through the simple ramifications of his idea.

[TruthSurge]

Get 100,000,000 to oust the current govt and you'd accomplish a LOT more than digitizing books.

[shadow3brigade3SBX3]

de Guatemala a el Universo...

[GFAethna]

This video was on youtube 'Human Computation' 2 years ago and its the exact same one? o.o

[hasenj]

I want in !!!

[figuemoino]

ARRIBA GUATE!!



[VanXIInX]

They have little time till the fall of United States.

[jamesmcbennett]

Great Talk, great dream! Put this on TED.com.

[tabilicula]

how many zero's in a check motivate von Ahn to do such useful apps?

[test123ok]

BRILLIANT ! awesome use of technology

Yo, my nizzle, can you pass me that shvisle !

[bsphil]

I've heard that intro before! It's the Game Over song in Final Fantasy 13.

Youtube video id: rUEkWd8mSkg

[LoopuleasaIonut]

why is this not on TED Global?

[Deaume]

beta launch in 3-4 weeks ? It has been 11 weeks and nothing so far D:

[getalife768]

The Cheat!

[MasterHigure]

There's a catch-22 on duolingo, though... You need to know english well enough, which is not a given on the internet.

[JonNilsRussell]

@MasterHigure ... ya, I'm pretty sure that they realized this might be an issue...

[Deaume]

@MasterHigure I think if you speak German/Spanish (or French I think they're adding it now) you can translate into English to learn English

[KarnmanGT500]

BRAVO

[alexicon89]

This guy rules.

Srsly.

[Shift8YawnsShift8]

This guy is great, and it is a great idea and will probably work well, but it may not work as well as he had expected; recaptcha is something that was forced upon people, whereas this is voluntary...

Also, who will translate duolingo into other languages so it can be used by more people?!

[ryzaere]

What a boss.

[skadflaksguate]

a great Guatemalan genius!!!

[Pytho7]

the cheat!

[Maggie12791]

This is the most interesting video I've seen in a while. Really amazing.

[jakjawagon]

Severin Hacker is the best name ever. It sounds like something from a Matrix/Harry Potter crossover.

[frank1544]

If duolingo actually works, Von Ahn should be recognized as one of the greatest problem solvers of the technology era.

[3Rton]

@frank1544 WEll expect, as he said, that he didnt create it.

[rydelldark]

@frank1544

It is working now..

[Rozax]

I'll be sending this video to all of my language and humanistic studies professors. This is so invaluable.

[zungr]

Wow! Easy to see why von Ahn is a MacArthur Genius Grant awardee. His works are world changers.