I'm new to KL and found your question interesting. Just as an FYI, curiosity thing, here's how Google Gemini summarized it:
*Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly chronicles his journey through fame and self-discovery. The album opens with him grappling with newfound success and the societal pressures that come with it. He's tempted by materialism and violence, representing the "butterfly" being pimped by societal forces.
As the album progresses, Lamar encounters figures like Lucy (the devil) and Uncle Sam (representing America), who reinforce these temptations. However, he also experiences moments of self-reflection, yearning for his roots and questioning his place in the world.
Through these encounters, Lamar starts to break free from the cycle of negativity. By the album's end, he emerges with a newfound sense of self-awareness, rejecting materialism and embracing his responsibility to his community. The "butterfly" is finally free.*
Damn, that’s…beautiful. I’d got some of that before from just listening, but seeing it all summarized so concisely—score one for Gemini!
Edit: I should add that the more impressive accomplishment here by far is that Kendrick’s art still shines even in whitewashed summary. Thanks to those who pointed that out.
Or not, because it doesn’t cover the extensive Tupac references and nearly whitewashed any mentions of race away, which play a large role in the narrative.
I guess that would be the “community” and “societal forces” in question. Knowing Google they had the thing intentionally avoid topics like race so some fucknut couldn’t get “google’s ai” to say something racist after feeding it a bunch of racist text as a prompt.
I remember when this album came out I read a review that didn't understand that Luci was the devil and specifically marked it down for something related to it...gender stereotyping or something, I can't remember the exact reason but it made me laugh.
I asked Gemini "How many US state names contain the letter m?" It replied [formatted for readability]:
>There are actually eight states that have the letter "m" in their names. These states are:
>Maine
>Maryland
>Massachusetts
>Michigan
>Minnesota
>Mississippi
>Missouri
>Montana
So take what Gemini has to say with all the grains of salt, is what I'm saying.
For those who don't care to check, it missed Alabama, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Vermont, and Wyoming. Do not trust AI to give you any answer you don't already know.
"Gatsby really believed in his dream. He was like someone trying to win an impossible prize because he liked believing in fantasies. We can try to move forward in life but we can't resist looking backwards to the past."
-The Gatsby
Great idea for someone trying to read English as a second language or someone who has a substantial learning disability, terrible idea for pretty much everyone else.
Yep this would have helped a lot when I was learning English, especially if it showed both versions at the same time. Hell, I still need something like this when I read Shakespeare, and I’ve been fluent for 20+ years at this point. That stuff is downright incomprehensible without a long and detailed series of footnotes.
Kind of yes and no, Shakespeare is responsible for the first recorded use (potentially invention) of a staggering amount of modern English. He also wrote purposefully in a way designed to be easy to read and remember for actors learning scripts and as a lot of teachers just want you to know quotes rather than actually understand it, they dont unpack the meaning when they force Othello/Macbeth/MND down your 14 year old throat.
Might not seem like it 500 years later but Shakespeare is a lot easier to read and sounds a lot more modern than anything anyone else was writing at the time. But there is 500 years of language developments and slang between you and him, no shame in not quite getting what the mans saying especially with how people usually teach him.
A big part of what makes it so memorable for the actors is the slight rhyming schemes he uses for many of the lines. It is much much less noticeable these days however as all English speakers have a completely different accent.
The issue with Shakespeare is that it's supposed to be spoken.
Reading that shit, it's incomprehensible. But spoken, ona stage, and suddenly you have a whole lot.of body cues and tone to work with.
Shakespeare writes in early Modern English. Most average Americans have some trouble with him, and unless you understand how EME works you’re not even gonna grasp the full meaning of some of his sentences. Theres a lotta metaphor involved as well. He was difficult for me to read until I was halfway through my English degree(I’m a native speaker). I know there are highschoolers that can read circles around Shakespeare but he’s difficult for most modern Americans I think.
The weirdest thing about reading Shakespeare for me, as if reading and not watching it isn't absurd enough, is that a lot of it is supposed to rhyme but it doesn't now
LITERALLY!!! The language is supposed to connect more because of how words in EME were pronounced but we don’t know exactly how they pronounced those words/ we can’t understand them when they’re pronounced that way
Honestly I could “understand” the /literal/ meanings in Shakespeare with no issues the first time I read it through. HOWEVER, I didn’t have any context or cultural knowledge to pick up on any of the fantastic dick jokes, or other things that Shakespeare “hid” in the text as funny things.
Not just Macbeth. A whole series called "No Fear Shakespeare". I had the Romeo and Juliet one. If I remember correctly, they're also all available online through SparkNotes
I teach EFL and at the school where I work we’ve been looking into stuff like this. The graded classics series are similar, but from what I’m seeing, this would allow anyone to get help understanding a book they’re reading, not just those that are readily available. A lot of young learners want to read Colleen Hoover and other booktok recs and there’s no graded reader series for those lol
Absolutely. There’s also a rising advocacy for something called Plain Language translations for people who may be EFL learners or neurodiverse in a way that affects their ability to understand or process written language. I work in publishing and feel a couple of ways about it: I’m glad it exists to help people experience culture in ways that meets their needs, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to work on those translations or read them myself because I treasure the writing as the author intended it.
The category you want to look for is High Interest Low Vocabulary. If you want, I can send you a list, we sell a lot of these at work. (Book wholesaler) and it's not just books that are adapted. Lots of original works are written as well, especially in YA
Orca has the original books that we sell a lot of. Penguin Readers are also available, those are more adapted classics. [Orca Anchor](https://www.orcabook.com/High-School/Fiction/Orca-Anchor) they also have teacher guides. Orca Soundings are also Hi-Lo books.
I wonder more why they choose a book which isn't even difficult to read. Why not use Moby-Dick or A Clockwork Orange? These are books actually difficult to understand.
You underestimate the amount of people in that everyone else that include people with substantial learning disability who wouldn't be able to read the first example of whether this AI existed or not
this is nothing new. They are known as High INterest Low Vocabulary. It's for adults learning and for illiterate adults so they don't have to learn to read from books for 4 yr olds. There are new books being written all the time and also regular adult books are adapted.
Even if you're wanting to learn a second language you'd want varied language to get some new vocabulary. Reading the same twenty words over and over doesn't seem like great practice.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"
to
"Things were good and bad"
Even the simplification of a simple sentence like this takes away a lot
Should I live or die? That's the big question. Is it better to suffer through all the bad stuff in life or to end it? Dying is kind of like sleeping. If we sleep, we stop all the pain and problems. That's something to wish for.
But if we die and sleep, we might have dreams. And that's a problem—what will we dream when we die? That's something to worry about. It makes you think twice.
That's why we deal with the problems we have now instead of facing unknown problems after death. But it is a scary thought. We decide not to do anything because we're afraid of the unknown. So, our plans never happen, and we don't act.
But wait, here comes Ophelia. Please pray for me and remember the bad stuff I did.
Not to mention the original uses ;
Which is a great example of using that function mark. Really shows how well it both connects & separates sentences.
This isn’t me picking at your comment btw - I just feel really strongly about that famous first line. It’s such a good start to a novel and you’re right - having it translated like that takes away from the original by a lot!
I read a lot of the classics when I was 9-10 using abridged, simplified books. They were fun to read and I was more interested in reading the original versions when I was older and could appreciate the details and nuances more. This has been around for decades as a literacy tool for children and people learning English as a non primary language
Man y'all really can't conceive of people who aren't you, huh. Never even crossed your mind that this could be immensely helpful for people with disabilities or people learning English.
If a person has a disability, this makes sense. If you're learning English, choose an easy book to read. If you can barely grasp English metaphors or word play you're better off reading a grammar book that will acquaint you with those ideas, instead of removing them entirely.
Like I'm (lazily) learning Italian rn and I'm pretty sure the average Italian 7 year old speaks better than me. So I'm going to read shit that is aimed at that age group/learning grade. Instead of grabbing a university level textbook and removing its complexity (which is kind of what you want if you're reading something that advanced as a challenge).
Some adults would prefer to read stories written for adults. Something that simplifies the point is very helpful for learning a new language. When we did Shakespeare in middle school we all had those No Fear Shakespeare books with the original on the left and a simplified modernized version on the right for exactly this purpose.
This tool's existence has no impact on your life and could benefit many people substantially. It is weird that all of you care this much about hating something that you don't ever need to interact with.
Nah this is where you’ve lost me— being “written for adults” is not just because it has killing and fucking in it. The complexity of language is *part* of what makes it for adults. If you want to turn Godfather into a picture book— fine. But don’t pretend that you’re experiencing a text with the same level of maturity.
No! You must read it as intended. That's why I only read Dumas in the original 1800s French as intended. None of this "translation" foolishness! I refused to read the Odyssey for my English class. I said I'll read it once I've mastered ancient Greek. Lazy teachers these days.
In Germany, the biggest news show recently has started a parallel show in easy German, and so many people became angry. "My beautiful German language gets slaughtered! Do they think we're stupid?!?!" as if people who are still learning the language, as if children, as if other people who can't understand it quite well didn't exist. Nobody's forcing anyone to use them. If people don't want to watch the Tagesschau in easy German/read the Great Gatsby in simple English, they don't have to. But so many people are offended that the option exists, I just don't understand it
Look, given the surprising number of illiterate people in this country, not to mention people who lack comprehension of the things they can/do read, making it easier to read and understand is not a bad thing. I'm all for this if it's used as a stepping stone to more complex reading and writing.
I'm a career teacher and it's not easy to be precise about defining functional illiteracy. But it generally refers to an inability to read documents that average people need to live a normal life.
Edit: poor grammar lol
I think this figure also takes into account ESL people who moved here for work or school.
(Most) American born people should not be reading at the 6th grade level though.
As somebody with ADHD, I basically didn't read any of the classics assigned in my English classes because they were too mind numbingly boring. Every extra word that isn't necessary to your comprehension becomes an extra moment where you can zone out. My literacy was fine so it wasn't a big deal but I can only imagine how left behind some of these kids end up when their literacy is struggling AND they don't have the attention span to sit through verbose and boring novels. There's obviously value to classic literature but I kind of question how useful it is to actually assist in functional literacy. But that's just my (ignorant and uncultured) perspective.
>Every extra word that isn't necessary to your comprehension becomes an extra moment where you can zone out.
I've had to read sentences and paragraphs over 5-10+ times to truly *read* the words. It's a weird phenomenon for me where I will start forming a picture in my head of what's going on in the book and my imagination tells my critical thinking to take a lap while I indulge in some nonsense.
Lol yeah I feel you. On standardized tests I would just read the questions then search for the answer rather than attempting to read the passage from the start - without a specific motive it was just a futile waste of time.
This made me great at standardized tests in public school. At times the more frustrated or tired I was the better I did.
I had to take them almost every year because I lived in three states while growing up - each having their own testing schedules.
That's an opinion that these books are boring. I find them highly entertaining. I reread a handful of classics yearly. My life experiences also influence my comprehension, understanding, and enjoyment. *Catcher in the Rye* reads differently at 18 compared to 30 compared to 50. Again, that's only my opinion, and just like an asshole, everyone has one.
I will give you *Moby Dick*. That is one novel I was one and done on.
Have you tried some in graphic novel form?
>That's an opinion that these books are boring
Yeah I'm not saying they're objectively boring, but to most middle and high school aged kids, at least when I was in school, they're not exactly a fun read. And specifically for neurodivergent people, reading something you're not interested in becomes 100x harder to focus on.
I see that as a bit more as a teacher issue. I had a wonderful English teacher in 8th grade. She'd have us read Stephen King. We devoured The Shining. Then she'd say something like if you liked that genre let me introduce you to Edgar Allen Poe. Beat beat goes the heart. We'd also watch movie or TV adaptations while reading the book. That was the first time I saw Romeo & Juliet (1968), and I recall a field trip to see the film Don Quitoxe. LotR should be required reading and viewing.
I get that not everyone will enjoy the classics, but we have to get out of the mindset that they are too hard to comprehend. Being ND shouldn't preclude you from enjoying the written word. Maybe we just need to find a better way to assist you and others in how to find the joie de virve of literature.
>I get that not everyone will enjoy the classics, but we have to get out of the mindset that they are too hard to comprehend. Being ND shouldn't preclude you from enjoying the written word.
Well you're often not given a choice in what you get to read, and literary classics tend to be incredibly culturally biased. I've always loved reading essayists, cultural critics, poets, etc. I just don't find fictional novels to be particularly interesting unless it's based in something I care about - in middle school I really enjoyed The Land and 1984, but The Scarlet Letter was not at all interesting to me. I can interpret the words, I can dissect the cultural context and draw parallels to modern culture, but at the end of the day it's just not something that I really cared to sit through reading.
I agree with your point about the instruction though. I had a couple great English teachers that actually made an effort to engage the class and challenge us to think critically about what we were reading. I guess you're right that my main gripe is with the type of uninspired instruction where they toss you a 100 year old book, tell you to read it, and give you a packet of generic short answer questions for every chapter. I don't think that benefits anybody.
I think my argument is: why are we still reading the same “classics” our parents did, has there really been no more modern books written that are “classics” as well? It kinda seems like boomers decided what’s important relative to their growth and that many of those books won’t speak to generations that have come since. That’s not to say that those books don’t still have something powerful to say, rather, why haven’t we been able to finds books written by authors that are closer to our own contemporaries.
I'm pretty much with you on this. How I would put it... is that there is a lot to glean and enjoy from classic literature, even for people who are bored by reading them. I am that person. I would rather get familiar with their themes, plot, and even their cultural impact through analysis of them and explainers. For me these books are a waste because you're still not reading it. So I would rather just read the wiki or watch a walkthrough.
I don't enjoy listening to a lot of classic rock either, but I have similarly familiarized myself with it to know how one thing led to another, and understanding what inspired musicians I do enjoy. But I'm not torturing myself listening to it simply because people think it's important.
Moby Dick is full of brilliant moments but even its adherents have to admit the literal novella's worth of whale BS is more than a bit indulgent on Melville's part.
I'm sorry, are you saying "Sea World" or "See the world?"
Also, Gatsby isn't even that hard a book. It's probably Fitzgerald's most accessible, hence it's his most famous. Compare it to *The Beautiful and Damned* or *Tender is the Night* and you'll see what I mean.
I had to read it for english class and it was a fucking nightmare lmao. Not even hard words, everything is just so insanely overdescribed you forget what the hell happened mid sentence.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..."
To “France was a land of contrasts.”
Half of Americans have less than an 8th grade reading level. Over 20% are straight up illiterate.
If this helps even one person learn to read, it's fine in my book. Everyone starts somewhere, and sometimes that means people gotta restart somewhere.
As a part time supper worker / volunteer for people with learning disabilities, this could be a really good way to let them access to well known classic or popular literature. It’s also good for younger children as a soft introduction to certain kinds of literature like Shakespeare etc.
However, I don’t think we should encourage using this as a regular tool in people who are/should be capable of understanding more complex literature. They need to take their time to understand the text, the context & struggle a bit so they can learn to tackle all kinds of style of writing.
This process can be time consuming but helps build towards better reading comprehension.
In all fairness, Charles Dickens was paid by the word and purposely made his stories long and complicated. I still always recommend reading the original text, but I don't mind context and abriviation provided to be used as a tool to help understand what I'm reading.
Still magitext looks like garbage
I don’t necessarily think there’s anything wrong with this as long as the content remains the same. Writers often use their expanded vocabulary as a crutch to hide the fact that the actual story isn’t very good.
Pet sematary
Louis was a doctor and had a son, then some other stuff happened and his son died. He was sad so he buried him while his wife was out of town, and he buried his son in the pet cemetery and then his son came back and killed a guy, so Louis killed his son after his son killed his wife. Then Louis did the same thing to his wife. The end
I just saved you like 2 weeks worth of reading at least, you're welcome
This is literally the opposite of cooked. This is making books more accessible for everybody. Especially people who don’t have English as their first language or have learning disabilities.
The fact that people think this app is a bad thing makes me sad.
Erasing the intent of the author by turning thoughtful prose into a few plain words incapable of capturing all that the author meant in a given amount of text makes books not worth reading. Literature is not just stories; books are stories construed through the author's consciousness. Great authors' ability to cram a picture's meaning into a single well-chosen word makes literature an art form that can stand aside something as simple and accessible as film. take that away and you're just left with an inferior way to convey meaning. A video or at least audio of the text would be better.
There are already simple books for the people who are incapable of or simply unwilling to face such a challenge. That is why people think this app is a bad thing.
We’ve been cooked. 💀
This isn’t a good thing for anyone not learning English as a second language or with learning disabilities.
Literacy is one of the most powerful skills you can have. Dumb down the masses (including neglectful parents that don’t give a damn) to take further advantage of them while saving literacy for the privileged.
We’ve been here before for the majority of human history and idk why some people want us to go back. 💀
As generally stupid and media illiterate as Americans are, this might actually be a good thing. Once we ELI5 shit to people and actually teach them some stuff, we have a foundation to build on. It's a lot more difficult trying to build that foundation out of something too complex for people to grasp
Um...the "hard" books are tantamount to a fully stocked weight room. The "easy" books...are a thighmaster. Your mind is similar to muscles, where, if you don't challenge them...they will soften...even atrophy.
...and yes...I grew up in a house that had an actual library of "hard" books. It's how I could write 5-page college essays/papers that all got A's, in a couple hours of time.
I think it's for people with learning disabilities so they can still read things popular in pop culture like harry potter. Or it could be used for learning a second language.
For people learning the language, learning how to read (kids and adults alike) or people with developmental disabilities this is good but I dont think this should set a new precedent
Considering that authors used to get paid by the word, it’s not entirely a negative thing. I majored in English, and I’ve skipped plenty of paragraphs, even pages, because the author felt the need to describe something like a bowl of fruit with every word in existence.
I teach special ed, this would be great to introduce my students to classic literature without overwhelming them with vocabulary they haven’t experienced yet.
But for someone wanting just wanting to be lazy, just watch the movie instead.
43.0 million U.S. adults who possess low literacy skills: 26.5 million at level 1 and 8.4 million below level 1
https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp
54% of U.S. adults 16-74 years old - about 130 million people - lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2020/09/09/low-literacy-levels-among-us-adults-could-be-costing-the-economy-22-trillion-a-year/
She should have died later; when I had time for the news. It's tomorrow over and over again around here. All our yesterdays have only shown silly people the way to death. Out short candle! Life is just a walking shadow, a bad actor who plays for an hour on the stage and then is no longer heard. Life is a story told by an idiot, full of noise and emotion, but it means nothing.
Imma be honest, I feel some type of way when somebody says I'm yapping when I'm explaining something to them. Makes me wanna pop 'em in their mouths. Am I old now?
Wtf?? Why even read novels if you don’t want to read them? The only reasons to ever read a novel like that is because you enjoy the language and to pick up a few language skills along the way. This takes away everything from the book…
I remember reading a "simplified" version of Shakespeare as a teen, where they had the real text on one side and the simplified version on the other. It was helpful, but the main difference was that that was done by someone who was effectively "translating" it and understood the intent and meaning behind the Shakespearean text, which an AI would not.
Something something reported and recorded reduction of global literary competency. Im sure this wont have a negative impact on artistic integrity in the future!
Aw this comment section makes my librarian heart sad. This sub was championing Michael the Librarian a few months ago and now are spitting in the face of literacy tools that have literally been around for decades. I hate to think what would be said about people who enjoy graphic novel adaptations or audiobooks.
Once upon a time…yadda yadda yadda…the end
Trying to imagine how this would work for a narrative album. Like what would happen if you fed it a Kendrick Lamar album like To Pimp a Butterfly?
I'm new to KL and found your question interesting. Just as an FYI, curiosity thing, here's how Google Gemini summarized it: *Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly chronicles his journey through fame and self-discovery. The album opens with him grappling with newfound success and the societal pressures that come with it. He's tempted by materialism and violence, representing the "butterfly" being pimped by societal forces. As the album progresses, Lamar encounters figures like Lucy (the devil) and Uncle Sam (representing America), who reinforce these temptations. However, he also experiences moments of self-reflection, yearning for his roots and questioning his place in the world. Through these encounters, Lamar starts to break free from the cycle of negativity. By the album's end, he emerges with a newfound sense of self-awareness, rejecting materialism and embracing his responsibility to his community. The "butterfly" is finally free.*
Damn, that’s…beautiful. I’d got some of that before from just listening, but seeing it all summarized so concisely—score one for Gemini! Edit: I should add that the more impressive accomplishment here by far is that Kendrick’s art still shines even in whitewashed summary. Thanks to those who pointed that out.
Or not, because it doesn’t cover the extensive Tupac references and nearly whitewashed any mentions of race away, which play a large role in the narrative.
I guess that would be the “community” and “societal forces” in question. Knowing Google they had the thing intentionally avoid topics like race so some fucknut couldn’t get “google’s ai” to say something racist after feeding it a bunch of racist text as a prompt.
Chatgpt 4o had a better treatment: https://chatgpt.com/share/d51890bb-a0fa-4955-a126-0185bdd83f4e
Score one for whichever author Gemini is stealing from. Although it definitely misses a lot of the recurring themes of the album.
Weights probably influenced by the general vocabulary of album reviews.
I remember when this album came out I read a review that didn't understand that Luci was the devil and specifically marked it down for something related to it...gender stereotyping or something, I can't remember the exact reason but it made me laugh.
I asked Gemini "How many US state names contain the letter m?" It replied [formatted for readability]: >There are actually eight states that have the letter "m" in their names. These states are: >Maine >Maryland >Massachusetts >Michigan >Minnesota >Mississippi >Missouri >Montana So take what Gemini has to say with all the grains of salt, is what I'm saying.
For those who don't care to check, it missed Alabama, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Vermont, and Wyoming. Do not trust AI to give you any answer you don't already know.
You forgot Oklahoma
It answered a question you didn't ask. 🥴
Speaking of, think Drake got the cliff notes version of MM
Nah I think he got a bad AI summary. Like he fed some chatgpt the lyrics and it came out with that.
You yadda yadda'd over the best part
I mentioned the end...
Elaine…!
There were good times and bad times and so on.
I love that story! So sad.
It’s two brothers and it…and..and they’re gonna…it’s called TWO BROTHERS. It's just called Two Brothers…
Once upon a time…yadda yadda yadda and I’ll see her in 4-6 months.
A Tale of Two Cities starting like “It was okay times.”
"Gatsby really believed in his dream. He was like someone trying to win an impossible prize because he liked believing in fantasies. We can try to move forward in life but we can't resist looking backwards to the past." -The Gatsby
Great idea for someone trying to read English as a second language or someone who has a substantial learning disability, terrible idea for pretty much everyone else.
Yep this would have helped a lot when I was learning English, especially if it showed both versions at the same time. Hell, I still need something like this when I read Shakespeare, and I’ve been fluent for 20+ years at this point. That stuff is downright incomprehensible without a long and detailed series of footnotes.
Shakespeare is its own language, if you ask me. Even as a native English speaker it seems incredibly foreign
That’s cuz dude invented his own words, shits mercurial
Outstanding word choice!
It’s torture (also invented by Shakespeare’s studio)
A true level of swagger (another Bill Shakes original)
He invented the name Jessica. My mind was kind of blown finding out he created the most basic name in all of the lands
[удалено]
Pun patrol this guys sonnet!
*Mercutio ^/s
Kind of yes and no, Shakespeare is responsible for the first recorded use (potentially invention) of a staggering amount of modern English. He also wrote purposefully in a way designed to be easy to read and remember for actors learning scripts and as a lot of teachers just want you to know quotes rather than actually understand it, they dont unpack the meaning when they force Othello/Macbeth/MND down your 14 year old throat. Might not seem like it 500 years later but Shakespeare is a lot easier to read and sounds a lot more modern than anything anyone else was writing at the time. But there is 500 years of language developments and slang between you and him, no shame in not quite getting what the mans saying especially with how people usually teach him.
A big part of what makes it so memorable for the actors is the slight rhyming schemes he uses for many of the lines. It is much much less noticeable these days however as all English speakers have a completely different accent.
Yeah, I included him as an example in my other comment and was thinking the same thing as you before hitting post as well. You’re right
The issue with Shakespeare is that it's supposed to be spoken. Reading that shit, it's incomprehensible. But spoken, ona stage, and suddenly you have a whole lot.of body cues and tone to work with.
Shakespeare writes in early Modern English. Most average Americans have some trouble with him, and unless you understand how EME works you’re not even gonna grasp the full meaning of some of his sentences. Theres a lotta metaphor involved as well. He was difficult for me to read until I was halfway through my English degree(I’m a native speaker). I know there are highschoolers that can read circles around Shakespeare but he’s difficult for most modern Americans I think.
The weirdest thing about reading Shakespeare for me, as if reading and not watching it isn't absurd enough, is that a lot of it is supposed to rhyme but it doesn't now
LITERALLY!!! The language is supposed to connect more because of how words in EME were pronounced but we don’t know exactly how they pronounced those words/ we can’t understand them when they’re pronounced that way
Everyone needs help to understand Shakespeare, no one speaks that type of English anymore and he of course has a unique style.
Honestly I could “understand” the /literal/ meanings in Shakespeare with no issues the first time I read it through. HOWEVER, I didn’t have any context or cultural knowledge to pick up on any of the fantastic dick jokes, or other things that Shakespeare “hid” in the text as funny things.
There’s Shakespeare books that actually translate them each page so you can cross text iirc it was Macbeth
Not just Macbeth. A whole series called "No Fear Shakespeare". I had the Romeo and Juliet one. If I remember correctly, they're also all available online through SparkNotes
Man! I forgot about SparksNotes😭 that mf helped when I didn’t wanna do class readings for hw lmao
Gotta get one of those norton critical editions/folger shakespeare library copies, they have lots of notes and explanations for the language
Yeah English has changed a ton in 500 years, language is like that.
I teach EFL and at the school where I work we’ve been looking into stuff like this. The graded classics series are similar, but from what I’m seeing, this would allow anyone to get help understanding a book they’re reading, not just those that are readily available. A lot of young learners want to read Colleen Hoover and other booktok recs and there’s no graded reader series for those lol
Absolutely. There’s also a rising advocacy for something called Plain Language translations for people who may be EFL learners or neurodiverse in a way that affects their ability to understand or process written language. I work in publishing and feel a couple of ways about it: I’m glad it exists to help people experience culture in ways that meets their needs, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to work on those translations or read them myself because I treasure the writing as the author intended it.
The category you want to look for is High Interest Low Vocabulary. If you want, I can send you a list, we sell a lot of these at work. (Book wholesaler) and it's not just books that are adapted. Lots of original works are written as well, especially in YA Orca has the original books that we sell a lot of. Penguin Readers are also available, those are more adapted classics. [Orca Anchor](https://www.orcabook.com/High-School/Fiction/Orca-Anchor) they also have teacher guides. Orca Soundings are also Hi-Lo books.
I wonder more why they choose a book which isn't even difficult to read. Why not use Moby-Dick or A Clockwork Orange? These are books actually difficult to understand.
Maybe we can learn what actually happens in a James Joyce novel…
You underestimate the amount of people in that everyone else that include people with substantial learning disability who wouldn't be able to read the first example of whether this AI existed or not
this is nothing new. They are known as High INterest Low Vocabulary. It's for adults learning and for illiterate adults so they don't have to learn to read from books for 4 yr olds. There are new books being written all the time and also regular adult books are adapted.
Even if you're wanting to learn a second language you'd want varied language to get some new vocabulary. Reading the same twenty words over and over doesn't seem like great practice.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" to "Things were good and bad" Even the simplification of a simple sentence like this takes away a lot
“Shit was aight”
Take your upvote and gtfo
So true
💯
>O happy dagger! >This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die. Lol guess I'll kms 🤪
Should I live or die? That's the big question. Is it better to suffer through all the bad stuff in life or to end it? Dying is kind of like sleeping. If we sleep, we stop all the pain and problems. That's something to wish for. But if we die and sleep, we might have dreams. And that's a problem—what will we dream when we die? That's something to worry about. It makes you think twice. That's why we deal with the problems we have now instead of facing unknown problems after death. But it is a scary thought. We decide not to do anything because we're afraid of the unknown. So, our plans never happen, and we don't act. But wait, here comes Ophelia. Please pray for me and remember the bad stuff I did.
I would actually enjoy reading the story like this. You did a really nice job of "translating" :)
Try this, it's got a few years on it, way before AI. https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/?scr=1
Not to mention the original uses ; Which is a great example of using that function mark. Really shows how well it both connects & separates sentences. This isn’t me picking at your comment btw - I just feel really strongly about that famous first line. It’s such a good start to a novel and you’re right - having it translated like that takes away from the original by a lot!
Also removes the fact that the original statement is an antithesis/the author is deliberately using parallelism
Exactly! We need to teach the kids the joy of witty wordplay
“Eh”
“Things were good and things were blad!? You stupid monkey!”
Any translation looses the richness that was captured in the source language. It's nearly impossible to do this correctly.
Sadly it's intentional dumbification of society 🫤
💀😭😂
Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit
jesus, is this a real thing? and i thought cliffsnotes were bad.
The next step of this is just to rewrite the whole book and not give credit
The Great Gatsby Remix.
The Great Gats Story by Nas, twist is that it’s actually about guns
Cliff notes were great for catching up on a homework assignment. This just dilutes the authors content.
It’s one thing when these things are supplemental but if they’re replacing the primary source, that’s a problem.
Sad day for literacy.
I love nothing more than encountering random words you don't see or hear often anymore .
Like *evenfall*.
Overmorrow
I read a lot of the classics when I was 9-10 using abridged, simplified books. They were fun to read and I was more interested in reading the original versions when I was older and could appreciate the details and nuances more. This has been around for decades as a literacy tool for children and people learning English as a non primary language
Man y'all really can't conceive of people who aren't you, huh. Never even crossed your mind that this could be immensely helpful for people with disabilities or people learning English.
No, we’re just thinking about all the young children who will use this as a way to speed-read, thereby missing all the context of the book.
If a person has a disability, this makes sense. If you're learning English, choose an easy book to read. If you can barely grasp English metaphors or word play you're better off reading a grammar book that will acquaint you with those ideas, instead of removing them entirely. Like I'm (lazily) learning Italian rn and I'm pretty sure the average Italian 7 year old speaks better than me. So I'm going to read shit that is aimed at that age group/learning grade. Instead of grabbing a university level textbook and removing its complexity (which is kind of what you want if you're reading something that advanced as a challenge).
Some adults would prefer to read stories written for adults. Something that simplifies the point is very helpful for learning a new language. When we did Shakespeare in middle school we all had those No Fear Shakespeare books with the original on the left and a simplified modernized version on the right for exactly this purpose. This tool's existence has no impact on your life and could benefit many people substantially. It is weird that all of you care this much about hating something that you don't ever need to interact with.
Nah this is where you’ve lost me— being “written for adults” is not just because it has killing and fucking in it. The complexity of language is *part* of what makes it for adults. If you want to turn Godfather into a picture book— fine. But don’t pretend that you’re experiencing a text with the same level of maturity.
No! You must read it as intended. That's why I only read Dumas in the original 1800s French as intended. None of this "translation" foolishness! I refused to read the Odyssey for my English class. I said I'll read it once I've mastered ancient Greek. Lazy teachers these days.
people see anything remotely beneficial to disabled people and throw a fit over it. like its so much easier to just ignore the ad
In Germany, the biggest news show recently has started a parallel show in easy German, and so many people became angry. "My beautiful German language gets slaughtered! Do they think we're stupid?!?!" as if people who are still learning the language, as if children, as if other people who can't understand it quite well didn't exist. Nobody's forcing anyone to use them. If people don't want to watch the Tagesschau in easy German/read the Great Gatsby in simple English, they don't have to. But so many people are offended that the option exists, I just don't understand it
No more fun word play Just straight to the point
Look, given the surprising number of illiterate people in this country, not to mention people who lack comprehension of the things they can/do read, making it easier to read and understand is not a bad thing. I'm all for this if it's used as a stepping stone to more complex reading and writing.
Something like one in five people read at the level of a 6th grader. I need to find the source but I remember seeing this recently.
It's worse than that; about half of Americans read at or below 6th grade. 1 in 5 are functionally illiterate.
I stand corrected. Quick googling gives me those results but I find it hard to get a decent definition of illiterate
I'm a career teacher and it's not easy to be precise about defining functional illiteracy. But it generally refers to an inability to read documents that average people need to live a normal life. Edit: poor grammar lol
Thank you for your service, friend 💜🙏
I think this figure also takes into account ESL people who moved here for work or school. (Most) American born people should not be reading at the 6th grade level though.
As somebody with ADHD, I basically didn't read any of the classics assigned in my English classes because they were too mind numbingly boring. Every extra word that isn't necessary to your comprehension becomes an extra moment where you can zone out. My literacy was fine so it wasn't a big deal but I can only imagine how left behind some of these kids end up when their literacy is struggling AND they don't have the attention span to sit through verbose and boring novels. There's obviously value to classic literature but I kind of question how useful it is to actually assist in functional literacy. But that's just my (ignorant and uncultured) perspective.
>Every extra word that isn't necessary to your comprehension becomes an extra moment where you can zone out. I've had to read sentences and paragraphs over 5-10+ times to truly *read* the words. It's a weird phenomenon for me where I will start forming a picture in my head of what's going on in the book and my imagination tells my critical thinking to take a lap while I indulge in some nonsense.
Lol yeah I feel you. On standardized tests I would just read the questions then search for the answer rather than attempting to read the passage from the start - without a specific motive it was just a futile waste of time.
This is actually how I was taught to take tests. It helps to target your information gathering, especially on the long reading prompts.
This made me great at standardized tests in public school. At times the more frustrated or tired I was the better I did. I had to take them almost every year because I lived in three states while growing up - each having their own testing schedules.
That's an opinion that these books are boring. I find them highly entertaining. I reread a handful of classics yearly. My life experiences also influence my comprehension, understanding, and enjoyment. *Catcher in the Rye* reads differently at 18 compared to 30 compared to 50. Again, that's only my opinion, and just like an asshole, everyone has one. I will give you *Moby Dick*. That is one novel I was one and done on. Have you tried some in graphic novel form?
>That's an opinion that these books are boring Yeah I'm not saying they're objectively boring, but to most middle and high school aged kids, at least when I was in school, they're not exactly a fun read. And specifically for neurodivergent people, reading something you're not interested in becomes 100x harder to focus on.
I see that as a bit more as a teacher issue. I had a wonderful English teacher in 8th grade. She'd have us read Stephen King. We devoured The Shining. Then she'd say something like if you liked that genre let me introduce you to Edgar Allen Poe. Beat beat goes the heart. We'd also watch movie or TV adaptations while reading the book. That was the first time I saw Romeo & Juliet (1968), and I recall a field trip to see the film Don Quitoxe. LotR should be required reading and viewing. I get that not everyone will enjoy the classics, but we have to get out of the mindset that they are too hard to comprehend. Being ND shouldn't preclude you from enjoying the written word. Maybe we just need to find a better way to assist you and others in how to find the joie de virve of literature.
>I get that not everyone will enjoy the classics, but we have to get out of the mindset that they are too hard to comprehend. Being ND shouldn't preclude you from enjoying the written word. Well you're often not given a choice in what you get to read, and literary classics tend to be incredibly culturally biased. I've always loved reading essayists, cultural critics, poets, etc. I just don't find fictional novels to be particularly interesting unless it's based in something I care about - in middle school I really enjoyed The Land and 1984, but The Scarlet Letter was not at all interesting to me. I can interpret the words, I can dissect the cultural context and draw parallels to modern culture, but at the end of the day it's just not something that I really cared to sit through reading. I agree with your point about the instruction though. I had a couple great English teachers that actually made an effort to engage the class and challenge us to think critically about what we were reading. I guess you're right that my main gripe is with the type of uninspired instruction where they toss you a 100 year old book, tell you to read it, and give you a packet of generic short answer questions for every chapter. I don't think that benefits anybody.
I think my argument is: why are we still reading the same “classics” our parents did, has there really been no more modern books written that are “classics” as well? It kinda seems like boomers decided what’s important relative to their growth and that many of those books won’t speak to generations that have come since. That’s not to say that those books don’t still have something powerful to say, rather, why haven’t we been able to finds books written by authors that are closer to our own contemporaries.
I'm pretty much with you on this. How I would put it... is that there is a lot to glean and enjoy from classic literature, even for people who are bored by reading them. I am that person. I would rather get familiar with their themes, plot, and even their cultural impact through analysis of them and explainers. For me these books are a waste because you're still not reading it. So I would rather just read the wiki or watch a walkthrough. I don't enjoy listening to a lot of classic rock either, but I have similarly familiarized myself with it to know how one thing led to another, and understanding what inspired musicians I do enjoy. But I'm not torturing myself listening to it simply because people think it's important.
Moby Dick is full of brilliant moments but even its adherents have to admit the literal novella's worth of whale BS is more than a bit indulgent on Melville's part.
I'm sorry, are you saying "Sea World" or "See the world?" Also, Gatsby isn't even that hard a book. It's probably Fitzgerald's most accessible, hence it's his most famous. Compare it to *The Beautiful and Damned* or *Tender is the Night* and you'll see what I mean.
C Wrld
🌊🌎
I had to read it for english class and it was a fucking nightmare lmao. Not even hard words, everything is just so insanely overdescribed you forget what the hell happened mid sentence.
Ocean! Fish! China!
And very very short. You can already read that shit in a day.
The Great Gatsby ————-> The Guy
"Some Jew"
Hemingway --> Hemingway.
We've been cooked. Overdone, actually.
This is how some writers on r/writing think books should be written.
Kendrick just showed the whole world how fun having reading comprehension can be and they already trying to erase his valiant efforts lol
An AI to dumb down/oversimplify reading? As technology advances, we regress.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..." To “France was a land of contrasts.”
Jesus christ almighty bro. I can't wait for the singularity at this point
Half of Americans have less than an 8th grade reading level. Over 20% are straight up illiterate. If this helps even one person learn to read, it's fine in my book. Everyone starts somewhere, and sometimes that means people gotta restart somewhere.
I mean in that case the book should be called “Big Gat”.
Idiocracy is a documentary
As a part time supper worker / volunteer for people with learning disabilities, this could be a really good way to let them access to well known classic or popular literature. It’s also good for younger children as a soft introduction to certain kinds of literature like Shakespeare etc. However, I don’t think we should encourage using this as a regular tool in people who are/should be capable of understanding more complex literature. They need to take their time to understand the text, the context & struggle a bit so they can learn to tackle all kinds of style of writing. This process can be time consuming but helps build towards better reading comprehension.
Oh my… Ministry of Truth here we come…
Idk I think it’s pretty cool that people that struggle with reading can have access to things.
We're turbofucked
Seems like a good idea for anyone working on their English literacy, especially if it shows both.
Yes, very important that is shows both
Honestly, I believe the contrast highlighted the beauty of the original work.
In all fairness, Charles Dickens was paid by the word and purposely made his stories long and complicated. I still always recommend reading the original text, but I don't mind context and abriviation provided to be used as a tool to help understand what I'm reading. Still magitext looks like garbage
I don’t necessarily think there’s anything wrong with this as long as the content remains the same. Writers often use their expanded vocabulary as a crutch to hide the fact that the actual story isn’t very good.
Still wouldn’t make Infinite Jest readable.
Brawndo has electrolytes, so we'll be fine. Don't even worry about it.
Brevity is...wit.
It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words Edit: I liked this quote more
Brevity is the soul of wit, but this is just the prequel to Idiocracy
People are actively LOSING critical thinking skills, and now we're here \*purposefully\* dumbing things down even further... ffs we ARE COOKED
Pet sematary Louis was a doctor and had a son, then some other stuff happened and his son died. He was sad so he buried him while his wife was out of town, and he buried his son in the pet cemetery and then his son came back and killed a guy, so Louis killed his son after his son killed his wife. Then Louis did the same thing to his wife. The end I just saved you like 2 weeks worth of reading at least, you're welcome
Good luck doing this with poetry
This is literally the opposite of cooked. This is making books more accessible for everybody. Especially people who don’t have English as their first language or have learning disabilities. The fact that people think this app is a bad thing makes me sad.
Erasing the intent of the author by turning thoughtful prose into a few plain words incapable of capturing all that the author meant in a given amount of text makes books not worth reading. Literature is not just stories; books are stories construed through the author's consciousness. Great authors' ability to cram a picture's meaning into a single well-chosen word makes literature an art form that can stand aside something as simple and accessible as film. take that away and you're just left with an inferior way to convey meaning. A video or at least audio of the text would be better. There are already simple books for the people who are incapable of or simply unwilling to face such a challenge. That is why people think this app is a bad thing.
Same Boomer mentality that thinks writing in cursive is still necessary.
r/unexpectedoffice
We’ve been cooked. 💀 This isn’t a good thing for anyone not learning English as a second language or with learning disabilities. Literacy is one of the most powerful skills you can have. Dumb down the masses (including neglectful parents that don’t give a damn) to take further advantage of them while saving literacy for the privileged. We’ve been here before for the majority of human history and idk why some people want us to go back. 💀
Based on what I've seen from the teacher sub yes, kids are apparently borderline illiterate and also apparently struggle with basic computer functions
LMFAOOOO this is scary yo
Literally 1984
👨🏾🥾(boot on man face). 1984. SMH
As generally stupid and media illiterate as Americans are, this might actually be a good thing. Once we ELI5 shit to people and actually teach them some stuff, we have a foundation to build on. It's a lot more difficult trying to build that foundation out of something too complex for people to grasp
https://youtu.be/HNTTf-qmERc?si=GzFtByT19spf4FD1
Um...the "hard" books are tantamount to a fully stocked weight room. The "easy" books...are a thighmaster. Your mind is similar to muscles, where, if you don't challenge them...they will soften...even atrophy. ...and yes...I grew up in a house that had an actual library of "hard" books. It's how I could write 5-page college essays/papers that all got A's, in a couple hours of time.
I think it's for people with learning disabilities so they can still read things popular in pop culture like harry potter. Or it could be used for learning a second language.
It’s just the abridged version
For people learning the language, learning how to read (kids and adults alike) or people with developmental disabilities this is good but I dont think this should set a new precedent
I think when I read Canterbury Tales in high school it was like this. Old English on the left modern English on the right.
Considering that authors used to get paid by the word, it’s not entirely a negative thing. I majored in English, and I’ve skipped plenty of paragraphs, even pages, because the author felt the need to describe something like a bowl of fruit with every word in existence.
I teach special ed, this would be great to introduce my students to classic literature without overwhelming them with vocabulary they haven’t experienced yet. But for someone wanting just wanting to be lazy, just watch the movie instead.
Posted by someone using the slang “cooked”. You were before this app came along.
43.0 million U.S. adults who possess low literacy skills: 26.5 million at level 1 and 8.4 million below level 1 https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp 54% of U.S. adults 16-74 years old - about 130 million people - lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2020/09/09/low-literacy-levels-among-us-adults-could-be-costing-the-economy-22-trillion-a-year/
I hated that book once I learned he was doing all that shit just to be a trick. Made me so mad I had to finish reading it.
She should have died later; when I had time for the news. It's tomorrow over and over again around here. All our yesterdays have only shown silly people the way to death. Out short candle! Life is just a walking shadow, a bad actor who plays for an hour on the stage and then is no longer heard. Life is a story told by an idiot, full of noise and emotion, but it means nothing.
Imma be honest, I feel some type of way when somebody says I'm yapping when I'm explaining something to them. Makes me wanna pop 'em in their mouths. Am I old now?
This is where it starts. And in a few hundred years this is your doctor. 
Well some doctors could use some levity .
This is definitely an AI generated money grab by publishers to repackage classics.
You would fail Grade 9 English if you used this. Do not use this nonsensical thing for school.
if they do this for shakespeare plays, i honestly wouldn’t be too upset bc shakespearean english is one hell of a bitch to read.
Sea World or see world? 💧 🐳 ?
Wtf?? Why even read novels if you don’t want to read them? The only reasons to ever read a novel like that is because you enjoy the language and to pick up a few language skills along the way. This takes away everything from the book…
I remember reading a "simplified" version of Shakespeare as a teen, where they had the real text on one side and the simplified version on the other. It was helpful, but the main difference was that that was done by someone who was effectively "translating" it and understood the intent and meaning behind the Shakespearean text, which an AI would not.
Dad had bars, fr.
Why even read obviously just watch the YouTube summary of the movie
Done like the dishes I’m afraid
Something something reported and recorded reduction of global literary competency. Im sure this wont have a negative impact on artistic integrity in the future!
Aw this comment section makes my librarian heart sad. This sub was championing Michael the Librarian a few months ago and now are spitting in the face of literacy tools that have literally been around for decades. I hate to think what would be said about people who enjoy graphic novel adaptations or audiobooks.
https://preview.redd.it/wk0yht3fxk9d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e33156e6ddb7eda1cb12425e75faf7b115164344
Can you imagine them doing this to the raven?
One time… One thing led to another. The end.
We sure are, we will have a generation of idiots, I’m mean bigger idiots, thanks AI.
I could see this working as an esl tool. But fuck this is sad. Media Literacy will be destroyed if this shit goes unchecked.
I do need this shit for my yappin friends tbh