#and for this I deeply apologize

[too-fond-to-be-fearful]

Been thinking recently about the goings-on with Duolingo & AI, and I do want to throw my two cents in, actually.

There are ways in which computers can help us with languages, certainly. They absolutely should not be the be-all and end-all, and particularly for any sort of professional work I am wholly in favour of actually employing qualified translators & interpreters, because there's a lot of important nuances to language and translation (e.g. context, ambiguity, implied meaning, authorial intent, target audience, etc.) that a computer generally does not handle well. But translation software has made casual communication across language barriers accessible to the average person, and that's something that is incredibly valuable to have, I think.

Duolingo, however, is not translation software. Duolingo's purpose is to teach languages. And I do not think you can be effectively taught a language by something that does not understand it itself; or rather, that does not go about comprehending and producing language in the way that a person would.

Whilst a language model might be able to use probability & statistics to put together an output that is grammatically correct and contextually appropriate, it lacks an understanding of why, beyond "statistically speaking, this element is likely to come next". There is no communicative intent behind the output it produces; its only goal is mimicking the input it has been trained on. And whilst that can produce some very natural-seeming output, it does not capture the reality of language use in the real world.

Because language is not just a set of probabilities - there are an infinite array of other factors at play. And we do not set out only to mimic what we have seen or heard; we intend to communicate with the wider world, using the tools we have available, and that might require deviating from the realm of the expected.

Often, the most probable output is not actually what you're likely to encounter in practice. Ungrammatical or contextually inappropriate utterances can be used for dramatic or humorous effect, for example; or nonstandard linguistic styles may be used to indicate one's relationship to the community those styles are associated with. Social and cultural context might be needed to understand a reference, or a linguistic feature might seem extraneous or confusing when removed from its original environment.

To put it briefly, even without knowing exactly how the human brain processes and produces language (which we certainly don't), it's readily apparent that boiling it down to a statistical model is entirely misrepresentative of the reality of language.

And thus a statistical model is unlikely to be able to comprehend and assist with many of the difficulties of learning a language.

A statistical model might identify that a learner misuses some vocabulary more often than others; what it may not notice is that the vocabulary in question are similar in form, or in their meaning in translation. It might register that you consistently struggle with a particular grammar form; but not identify that the root cause of the struggle is that a comparable grammatical structure in your native language is either radically different or nonexistent. It might note that you have trouble recalling a common saying, but not that you lack the cultural background needed to understand why it has that meaning. And so it can identify points of weakness; but it is incapable of addressing them effectively, because it does not understand how people think.

This is all without considering the consequences of only having a singular source of very formal, very rigid input to learn from, unable to account for linguistic variation due to social factors. Without considering the errors still apparent in the output of most language models, and the biases they are prone to reproducing. Without considering the source of their data, and the ethical considerations regarding where and how such a substantial sample was collected.

I understand that Duolingo wants to introduce more interactivity and adaptability to their courses (and, I suspect, to improve their bottom line). But I genuinely think that going about it in this way is more likely to hinder than to help, and wrongfully prioritises the convenience of AI over the quality and expertise that their existing translators and course designers bring.

#alright getting off my soapbox now #apologies if this is not particularly coherent - i was very much working through my thoughts as I was writing #but yeah tl;dr i am not huge on LLMs especially for language education and am deeply disappointed by the way things are trending #anyways if anyone knows any learning tools that are similarly structured i'd appreciate the recommendation #being able to easily do a little bit of study on a regular basis helped me a lot and i've yet to find anything similar #duolingo #language #language learning

[kaiiyoshii]

I silly i draw silly nilly

#guilty gear #guilty gear fanart #guilty gear strive #ggst #baiken #anji mito #i just be making stuff #i dont double chrck what i draw anymore so if theres mistakes #i deeply apologize for it #kaiiyoshiiart

[anatomical-puppet]

EIGHT FOOT VERTICAL STRETCH

#im sorry mobile users if this takes up like a 110% of ur dash he is so lanky tallguy to me 💔💔 #i deeply and humbly apologize for Do You Love The Colors Of The Gavin-ing you #ace attorney #klavier gavin #aa4 #ajaa #puppet scribbles

[thatswhatsushesaid]

#mdzs shitposting #god i deeply apologize for the quality of some of the screenshots #my bandwidth blows tonight but apparently i'm too impatient to just. wait. and get better screenshots #anyway i think they sort of work with xue yang's whole fuck-you energy #also i know i've used those screencaps or very similar ones for jgy and nhs memes before #but they're so memeable and anyway these are my barbies i'll meme them as much as i want

[voilaammayi]

when john and sherlock start accidentally but blatantly flirting with each other at the end of the 12th episode and I can sense the faint smell of building up romance:

#sherlock and co #a few more situations like that and I swear I’ll die on spot #I treasure them deeply in my heart #may I remind that they were flirting while still actively pinning the suspect to the ground after chasing and outsmarting him #the poor guy had to step up and ask them to shut up #he couldn’t take it anymore there were too many little hearts floating in the air around the boys #I truly apologize for the person I’ll become due to this podcast #john watson #sherlock #sherlock holmes #goalhanger #goalhanger podcasts #johnlock #the blue carbuncle #the blue carbuncle pt1 #sherlock & co

[blotomical]

bottom text

#traditional art and I don't get along well... #I apologize deeply for the crusty camera quality #genloss #genloss fanart #genloss art #generation loss #generation loss art #generation loss fanart #fanart #ranboo #ranboo generation loss #genloss ranboo #gl ranboo #glitch #art #traditional art #ranboo fanart

[kyouka-supremacy]

One last thread. Hoshikawa illustrations that reference other Harukawa bsd illustrations (1/3)

#Not going to tag everyone obviously. This is going to be long I deeply apologize to everyone who follows me #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd beast #sango harukawa art #shiwasu hoshikawa art #mine #q. #29/06/23 #For people on computer: J to skip to the next post #For people on mobile: I'm sorry #LONG POST #← The most important tag

[squeakadeeks]

i havent seen another human being in 7 days

#cosplay #my cosplay #gbf #granblue fantasy #apologies for the redundant caption between social media platforms #as is indicated I Am Going Deeply Insane

[peacockrulz]

Ok just wanted to drop an idea for a nuzi art. N but with roller skates while Uzi is on his back pointing at where he should skate to, he is holding her by her legs,they are just zooming past suprised Khan with angry heart Nori on his head.

(Alao what if N uses his wings to gain speed with the rollers?? 🤔)

he was a sk8r boi,,,,, (Bonus doodle under the cut)

[Requests are closed (while I catch up!)]

I have NO CLUE how to draw these wings KLSDJFSLKDJF

#HI I DEEPLY APOLOGIZE FOR THE DELAY #I got super fcking burnt out last weekend from family junk and had little free time x_x #so sorry this is alot simpler than the others i've been posting. Just need some time to get myself back in the groove of things :] #hope you understand ;; #murder drones #serial designation n #uzi doorman #khan doorman #nori doorman #biscuitbites #n x uzi #yknow the tags

[phonoix]

Me, now that the Shadow and Bone season 2 teaser trailer came out:

#shadow and bone #i deeply apologize for the person i am and the one i will become once the show airs #you have a few months to put me down #alina starkov #the darkling #mal oretsev #nikolai lantsov #genya safin #tamar kir bataar #tolya yul bataar #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #matthias helvar #I'M GOING INSANE OVER THIS

[theaceofarrows]

#the owl house #luz noceda #toh luz #willow park #toh willow #vee noceda #toh vee #gus porter #toh gus #amity blight #toh amity #toh hunter #camila noceda #toh meme #gus and hunter enabling each other<3<3 #i deeply apologize for the quality #editing this took me so long

[tyresdeg]

logan sargeant | friday | jeddah 2024

#i wrote a paragraph about kissing him in the tags and then deleted it ur welcome #logan sargeant #f1 #saudi arabian gp 2024 #peter fox/getty #* #i deeply apologize for the quality but it��s this or ai #i tried the whole overlay thing and it just pissed me off lollll

[luuxxart]

“you will always remember me, will you not?”

#cancer tw #death tw #i deeply apologize if this is how you found out but I wanted to make a tribute #Ferdinand is my absolute favorite fire emblem character and its extremely devastating to hear the man who #quite honestly brought him to life and delivered such iconic lines is gone now #i remember seeing Maruki’s concept art and knowing he was gonna be a fave from the start #but he absolutely became my fave of all P5R when I heard his voice #i hate that this is the first time im drawing him on this blog… it shouldn’t be the last though. i will try to draw Ferdinand more often too #even though it was announced yesterday im still relatively at a loss for words #Billy Kametz will be deeply missed #persona 5 Royal #persona 5 #fire emblem three houses #fire emblem warriors three hopes #fe3h #p5r #ferdinand von aegir #takuto maruki

[happystarzarchive]

as much as i adore plargos i love their pre-relationship dynamic because its just like

((inspired by that art made by my dear mutual @divine0 ))

#the world of mr plant #twomp #plargos #eye love you #i would tag this as suggestive but . nothing is being suggested here . it is being shouted into a megaphone #my art #if ashur sees this i apologize Deeply

[a-wisebear]

wolffe, describing the void: yep yep

fox, grey hairs at 5: yup yup

cody, too numb at this point that he's smiling: yip yip

rex, wanted to ask about jetpacks and cody adopted him into their group: THE MAN WITH THE WHA-

#listen LISTEN the fake sense of calm when anxiety is crushing you and start seeing things in your peripheric vision #that's just before the void oki #commander wolffe #commander fox #commander cody #captain rex #the clone wars #tcw #star wars #i deeply apologize to the girl we adopted at campus BUT she didn't leave!!

[pisshandkerchief]

the obvious double standard with which we as a society treat amab nonbinary people and trans women who don't fit the level of feminity that they're expected to is actually disgusting.

#I see it every day in the way my gm (and closest friend at work) is constantly misgendered without anyone apologizing #but everyone uses the correct pronouns for me and quickly corrects themselves if they mess up. #I see it in the way my nonbinary dad #couldn't be friends with women in our old homeschool group #without rumors being constantly spread that they were just trying to get in the women's pants. #I see it in the way my mom was disgusted and disturbed by discovering my dad's early forays into crossdressing #but is proud of me for being my authentic self. #I see it in the way my dad is still scared to wear a skirt despite frequently expressing a desire to #for fear of being seen as “an ugly man in a dress". #I see it in the way my theatre director is constantly called they or he despite clearly having she/her pronouns on her email. #I see it in the way my mom refuses to use the correct pronouns for my dad even though they are out to her #and constantly “forgets” my gm's pronouns even though I've used they/them for them for months. #deep down I know if I was born with a penis my mom would think of my transness much differently. #when “women” embrace masculinity they are seen as empowered at best and at worst as victims of the patriarchy. #confused little girls who don't know any better. #when “men” embrace feminity they are seen as predators. traps. manipulative freaks. #I see it every day. It's so deeply ingrained in our society it seems like there's no escaping it.