Initially, I tried to use the automagic site (AutoMagic) to which when I press the play button, it constantly hangs on “Loading”. To ensure it wasn’t a Firefox issue, I tested it in Thorium (chromium fork), Edge as well as in Brave on my phone. All with the same issue. My account does currently have an active subscription.
In replacement, I’ve been using the web app for a few hours now (https://app.saysomethingin.com/learn) to learn Welsh. The course itself is fantastic and the methodology is brilliant. However, the app does have a few problems.
Firstly, when I come back to the site the next day, it’s skipped ahead and there are words I am unfamiliar with (I assume it just skipped the introduction of it). This isn’t too big of a problem.
Secondly, the script seems the same as automagic, and it mentions changing the difficulty. I’d love to change the difficulty but I can’t see any way to.
The skip is an ongoing issue which is being worked on. I think it’s to do with the way the app downloads packets of info, but might be wrong. I’ve seen it mentioned before that they intend to re-record the automagic difficulty bits too (I get them in the North Welsh course).
It is yes, mp3’s are being downloaded from the cloud for each section. I’m glad to hear it’s being worked on. I’m surprised they’d be intending to re-record the automagic difficulty bits rather than just implementing the difficulty scale into the app.
The plan certainly was - and I think still is - that the app/web app would itself adjust the rate at which new material is presented, based on how you use it (how often you skip ahead, or pause, or revisit). How well this works across the whole range of users is something I can’t judge as an individual user, but that decision explains why the automagic difficulty bits are not relevant.