Apologies in advance for the long post. I’ve been a user here since 2018, coming and going as and when I have the time, and I’ve seen a lot change since then. And while I love it, in its current itteration, I’ve come across a number of areas of confusion that I worry may also confuse and therefore deter newer users. So rather than get annoyed in my isolation, I thought I’d share them in the hope that they could work to help SSiW-er’s stay on their journey by experiencing less obstacles on the way.
(I’ve also sent this as feedback on the automagic.saysomethingin.com page, not sure if that’s the right place)
App Confusion: AutoMagic vs. SaySomethingIn and Web App
One of my main sources of confusion relates to the two different app experiences:
1. app.saysomethingin.com (also available as “SaySomethingIn” on iOS and Google Play)
- Appears to be actively maintained (last updated 5 days ago)
- Features the “Belts” progression system
- But also doesn’t have some features from the other app (i.e. “How are you feeling today” to adjust learning speed)
2. automagic.saysomethingin.com
- No dedicated iOS/Google Play app
- Includes the “How are you feeling today” feature to adjust learning speed and repetition
- Uses the “AutoMagic” branding that is mentioned on various places around the site
As a user, it’s unclear which platform is preferred or recommended. Both utilise the same learning methods but offer different features and there’s no clear guidance on which one to use in which situation/which one is recommended.
Inconsistent App Branding/Messaging
The messaging across different parts of the website contributes to this confusion:
- On this page Automagic is described as a “our new SaySomethingin app”, but it’s unclear if this refers to the OLD SaySomethingIn app that was used when the challenge course was the main version, or if it’s referring to the SaySomethingIn app that’s currently on the app store.
- On this page the SaySomethingIn app is promoted with no mention of AutoMagic as a term.
They seem to be unnecessarily competing with each other, and therefore self-cannibalising.
Lots of Learning Methods
For a new user, there may be confusion on whether they go the app route (and then which one, as mentioned before), or the challenge route.
I love that you keep access to other learning material (specifically keeping both the Old and New Course material) and definitely don’t want this to change. But with no clarity on which route is the most up-to-date/recommended, I worry it can have a sort of “kid-in-a-sweet-shop” effect, and cause choice paralysis, preventing learners from just getting on with it.
If the two apps and mp3 courses are all going to co-exist, it would be very helpful to have:
- Clear guidance and messaging on which method is preferred or most up-to-date
- Funnelling users towards the preferred method. If they want to use the other methods they still can, but removing the option for choice paralysis by leading them towards a preferred method would be helpful for a new user
- (OR) A comparison page explaining the differences and helping users choose which method they should use
Progress/Statistics Across Apps
From what I can gather, it seems that each app uses a different system/database, so progress/statistics don’t track across. Due to this I have:
- 10 hours of progress in one app
- 8 hours in the other
Effectively slowing my progress by repeating similar material, rather than advancing to new content.
This confused me a lot when I first started using the apps, as I thought there was a login issue on my end rather than the apps being different.
I understand it’s probably difficulty than its worth to merge them all together so that progress and stats are the same throughout (especially if the audio files are different across both apps), but, clarity on the preferred version and consistency of features would help with this.
Transparency
Some of my other frustrations (which I’ve noticed other users sharing in the past) I think could be resolved by more transparency in the UX of the apps:
I saw someone mention that the Skip feature is/has been worked on since I last used the app which is great. My issue comes down to the fact that I don’t actually know what it’s for? +30s -30s buttons and a timeline was very intuitive in the old mp3 course, but the “skip” and “revisit” buttons, I don’t know what they’re intended functionality is.
What am I skipping to? What am I revisiting? The last phrase that was said? The last new word that was introduced? Or are they just skipping a certain amount of time?
Some clarity in the UX of these buttons, or perhaps some small information indicators to clarify their intended functionality would be incredibly useful.
Inability to adjust progress
As someone that has completed sections of the mp3 course, or for someone with an existing knowledge of Welsh, it can be frustrating to start using the app since it starts at the start and could therefore take hours until you get to the equivalent of Level 2 or wherever you are as a learner, to get to learn something you didn’t know.
Similarly, if my progress is further on the old app (once I find out which one is the preferred version), it will take me time to “catch up” on the new one.
Being able to pick a starting point would be amazing (this was the benefit of the traditional course, you know which lesson you’re on and if you have an existing knowledge you can jump ahead, or if you come back after 2 years, you could go back a couple of lessons to rejig your memory)
Maybe?
This is just a feature suggestion, not sure what you’d think. The people at SSi have done a lot more research into learning methods than I, so ignore if not useful.
Would it be a helpful feature if you were able to select when you repeat a phrase wrong? Then the app could weight those kind of terms higher and they could repeat more often until you get them wrong less often, making the app smarter/more responsive to each user’s independent difficulties.
You would then also have a large dataset of which words/phrases are messed up more often, and you could use that data to further improve the course.
