Duolingo vs. Chinese Ebooks on Amazon Kindle

Duolingo

Duolingo is an app and website designed to help people learn languages in a simple and engaging way. It’s free to use, though there are paid options that remove ads and offer extra features. The lessons are short and interactive, with exercises that involve matching words, listening to sentences, speaking, and translating. A green owl named Duo acts as the app’s mascot—offering encouragement when you stay on track and reminders when you don’t. The platform offers a wide range of languages, from widely spoken ones like Spanish, French, and Chinese to less common choices like Welsh, Hawaiian, and even fictional languages like Klingon and High Valyrian. Lessons focus on practical, everyday communication—like ordering food or asking for directions—though you’ll occasionally encounter quirky sentences that are memorable in their oddness. Duolingo adapts to your progress: if you’re struggling, it slows down; if you’re doing well, it introduces more challenging material. There are game-like...

Chinese Ebooks on Amazon Kindle

That's right, the Kindle can a great tool for learning Mandarin. You can download a free Chinese dictionary called CC-CEDICT. Then you can tap on any word to get the English translation and the pinyin. There are plenty of Chinese ebooks you can find online for free or purchase on Amazon. I used this method earlier this year to read a few chapters of Harry Potter and now I'm reading The Three-Body Problem by ‎Liu Cixin.

Reviews

Reviewed on 1/27/2025

I love Duolingo but I don't love the ads. There are too many of them and they completely kill my flow :(

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    Drops is a language learning app that focuses on teaching vocabulary through quick, visual-based games. The idea is to make learning feel more like playing, with short sessions you can fit into your day. Instead of grammar-heavy lessons, it leans on matching words with pictures, swiping, and tapping to help words stick in your memory. The app covers over 40 languages, from common ones like Spanish and French to less common ones like Hawaiian and Ainu. You get common, everyday words and phrases to start with—things you’d actually use in conversation. It’s built for people who want to learn at their own pace, and there are features like reminders and streaks to keep you coming back. Drops keeps lessons short—usually five minutes—so it’s easy to squeeze in some learning while waiting for coffee or riding the train. There’s a free version with ads and limits on daily use, or you can pay for Premium to get rid of ads, unlock all content, and use it offline. Overall, it’s not going to teach you complex grammar or how to hold a full conversation right away, but if you’re looking to build your vocabulary in a fun, no-pressure way, it does the job.

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    2.ThaiPod101's Live YouTube Channel

    Learning a new language is hard, you need a lot of repeated exposure to the same words to make them stick. Here's the trick I use. I open ThaiPod101's live channel and let it run in the background while I do something else. For example, I can have it open while cooking dinner or tidying up. Even if I look at the screen only occasionally, I still get the benefits of being repeatedly exposed to Thai vocabulary. This works particularly well in combination with other learning methods. If you have a smart TV or a Chromecast, you can even play it on your TV instead of regular TV channels. The channel runs 24/7 and replays ThaiPod101 lessons.

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    3.Italki

    Italki is a platform connecting language teachers, mostly native speakers, with students. You can book, pay, and schedule your classes directly through their website. The classes are one on one, just you and the teacher, and conducted over a video call. I used Italki successfully before going to Thailand for the first time. My wife who is Thai gave me an Italki gift card. There are plenty of teachers to chose from and the rates are affordable. You'll pay anywhere from $10 to about $20 for a class.

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    1.Australian Citizenship Tests

    The Australian Citizenship Tests app is a tool that helps you get ready for the Australian citizenship test. It’s made to be simple and easy to use, giving you practice questions, full-length tests, and helpful study materials. The questions are based on official resources, so you’ll get a good idea of what the real test is like. You can use the app on your phone or laptop, and there’s no limit to how many practice tests you can take. The app tracks your progress, so you’ll know which topics you need to work on. There’s also a demo with audio explanations if you prefer listening while studying. The app was created by Jogi, an independent developer who originally built it to help his wife prepare for her test. He noticed there weren’t many good resources available, so he decided to make one that’s clear, useful, and easy for anyone to use. Many people have found the app helpful. Users from different countries—like Sweden, Iran, Vietnam, Brazil, and Pakistan—say it made studying less stressful and boosted their confidence. Over 3,000 people are currently using it, and the platform has recorded thousands of answered questions and practice tests taken. There’s a 7-day free trial, and if you’re not happy with it, there’s a money-back guarantee. To qualify for that, you’ll need to complete all the practice tests in the app. The prices are in US dollars, and your personal information is kept secure. If you want, you can also check out their blog for study tips, test-day advice, and information about Australian history and culture.

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    1.ChatGPT

    ChatGPT is still the best AI in 2024. I use it for coding pretty much every day and occasionally for one-off tasks and recipes. It's worth the $20/month fee.

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    43.Exam Samurai

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    52.iColoring

    iColoring creates and prints custom coloring pages for free with the AI coloring pages generator. Key Features 1. Text to color: iColoring turns text into unique coloring pages, generating distinctive coloring books for creative projects and educational institutions. 2. Design by AI: By inputting specific text, users get their coloring page with specified designs. This allows personalized messages or themes to be seamlessly integrated into the artwork, enhancing the overall experience. For instance, generate coloring pages featuring a specified logo for children in your educational institution. Benefits 1. Save more time: When you need to do a lot of similar designs, it helps you save a lot of time, especially for batch work or non-high quality work. 2. Generates more ideas: When designers run out of ideas, iColoring provides them with more inspiration and direction. Use Case 1. Help users quickly create coloring pages when their creative inspiration is exhausted. 2. Generate a coloring book with a specific theme for education.

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    50.Lisapet.ai

    Lisapet.ai is the next-level AI product development platform that empowers teams to prototype, test, and ship robust AI features 10x faster. Key Features - Best-in-class AI Playground: Swiftly test and iterate your prompts. Reduce the hassle of prompt prototyping. Our best-in-class AI playground makes the workflow faster, saving you time and effort in designing prompts. - Test-driven prompt engineering: Evalute and measure quality across large data sets. Build a collection of test cases to find the best prompt/model combination across different scenarios Benefits - Save Time: Cut down manual testing and free up your team to focus on shipping features. - Increase Confidence: Automate your testing to ensure reliable AI behavior before deployment. - Optimize Performance: Easily identify the best-performing prompts through side-by-side testing and real-time analytics. - Collaborate Seamlessly: Share progress with stakeholders and incorporate feedback directly within the platform. - Reduce Costs: Monitor token usage and optimize spending with detailed cost breakdowns. Use Case - Rapid Development of AI-Powered Features: Equip your product teams with tools to build, test, and launch AI-powered features without bottlenecks. - Scalable Prompt Engineering: Automate testing and validation to save time and reduce errors in prompt design. - Collaborative Testing: Enable cross-team collaboration by sharing reports and integrating feedback seamlessly.

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    53.RabbitHoles AI

    RabbitHoles AI is an app to have AI conversations on an Infinite canvas. Each node on the canvas is a conversation. Multiple conversations can be connected to share context, along with adding other data sources like Pdf files, youtube videos, etc Key Features - Multiple Chats On Canvas: Have multiple connected chats with AI on the same canvas. - Unlimited Canvases: Create unlimited canvases - Latest Pro Models: Chat with all the popular LLM models from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok (xAI) - Bring Your Own Keys: Bring your own keys. Everything is stored locally - One-Time Purchase: Pay only once and use the product forever Benefits - No loss of context: As a side effect of branching chats, you control the length of the conversation; this prevents loss of context - Spatial Conversation: Learn/research faster on a whiteboard like canvas - Non-linear chats: Our brains don't think or learn linearly, so why should our chatbots be linear? - Multiple LLMs: Get different perspectives from multiple LLM models - Single Window: For every rabbit hole you go into, you stick to one infinite whiteboard that allows you to go deep into intellectual exploration Use Case Advanced AI Users can get what they want out of AI by having long explorative conversations with different AI models on an infinite canvas. There'll be less repetition, copy/pasting, and loss of context as you can: 1. Create branches of the conversations 2. Keep multiple conversations on a single canvas 3. Mix and match various chats to share context

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    5.Dynamiq

    Dynamiq the operating platform for building, deploying, monitoring and fine-tuning generative AI applications. Key features: 🛠️ Workflows: Build GenAI workflows in a low-code interface to automate tasks at scale 🧠 Knowledge & RAG: Create custom RAG knowledge bases and deploy vector DBs in minutes 🤖 Agents Ops: Create custom LLM agents to solve complex task and connect them to your internal APIs 📈 Observability: Log all interactions, use large-scale LLM quality evaluations 🦺 Guardrails: Precise and reliable LLM outputs with pre-built validators, detection of sensitive content, and data leak prevention 📻 Fine-tuning: Fine-tune proprietary LLM models to make them your own Benefits: ⛑️ Air-gapped Solution: Dynamiq specializes in enabling clients that manage highly sensitive data to leverage LLMs while maintaining ironclad security thank to stringent security controls. 🕹️ Vendor-Agnostic: Through integration capabilities, our clients can build GenAI applications using a variety of models from providers such as OpenAI and have the flexibility to switch to other providers if needed. 🧲 All-In-One Solution: We cover the entire GenAI development process from ideation to deployment Use cases: 🏋️ AI Assistants: Equip your team with custom AI assistants that streamline tasks, enhance information access, and boost productivity 🧠 Knowledge Base: Build a dynamic AI knowledge base with our platform that streamlines decision-making, enhances productivity and allows employees to spend less time navigating through extensive company documents, files, and databases 🎢 Workflow Automations: Design powerful, no-code workflows that leverage your enterprise's knowledge to enhance content creation, CRM enrichment, and customer support.

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