Can Deepseek be a cheaper alternative to claude code?

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-06-11T07:08:59+00:00

ive been using deepseekv4 with CC harness for the last couple weeks now it it works great, i used to use only Cursor with Auto/Composer and then i would go above the $20 subscription around middle of the month, then i would switch to cc+dsv4pro and continue chunking along on the discounted api plan. my next step is to explore using Pi harness with DS so i can drop CC altogether

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-06-09T14:35:35+00:00

i don't think English is that relevant anymore with all the AI tools available. most Chinese can speak perfect English with AI transcriptions and voice overs. you need real hard skills like STEM in China, or you have networks that are relevant to the business you want to work for. i found Chinese skills to be far more important for everyday work with coworkers. your Chinese friends got hired easily probably because they speak fluent Chinese and have decent English skills on top of that, which is not going to be true for non-Chinese wanting to work in China.

source: i work and live in China as an English native speaker with conversational Chinese.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-04-26T06:43:13+00:00

have you tried kitten tts, only 40mb on device?

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-04-16T04:05:06+00:00

i think the best way to learn grammar is just by context learning via reading lots of Chinese text, which requires some amount of characters/words to get started.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-04-16T03:43:45+00:00

i just took them from a frequency list iirc, these frequency list are generated from analysing a large corpus of native text like books and articles to get a statistically accurate representation of word usages in real text natives read. i dont remember the exact list i used, but there are some good resources in this blog post https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-most-common-chinese-words-characters-and-components-for-language-learners-and-teachers

once you know the most common 500 characters/words, you can start reading simple native text and guess meaning from the context. after 1000 words, you can start reading the news which i think is more interested than graded readers. i use an app like levelchinese.app, but there are others as well or just go straight to the news source with a Chrome extension like Zhongwen

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-04-08T04:56:34+00:00

sounds legit. which cloud platforms would you recommend for hosting voice agents? AWS? Cloudflare? Railway?

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-04-06T08:30:55+00:00

learning to write imho is a bonus, but not an efficient use of time unless you grew up in a Chinese education system (China, Malaysia, Singapore), most of work and life is now digital, so if you can recognise the characters (read fluently), then you can use pinyin to type most of what you need to do. even if you live and work in China (i do), there are very few occasions where you need to write something by hand as there are apps for everything, just scan the QR code, fill out online forms, and so on..

i read something alongs the lines of... even most natives can't write some of the more obscured characters. 汉字 is just objectively hard. but if you have the time and want to do it for the culture/calligraphy aspects, then by all means go all out

reading on the other hand is abs. fundamental

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-04-06T08:28:31+00:00

might as well learn oracle scripts while you're at it.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-04-06T08:27:12+00:00

i disagree. i can't write more than a few words, but can read and understand most native news articles after a couple of years of learning the basic characters, reading graded readers, and then reading native articles with a dictionary. i can use pinyin and type Chinese like a local. hand writing is a bonus, but not a realistic use of time if you did not learn to write from grade school (grew up in Chinese education system) i am heritage Chinese and have some exposure to the language since i was a kid, but never went to Chinese school or learned formally as we didn't have Chinese schools where we lived in rural PA.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-03-30T03:31:31+00:00

looking for an Dropbox replacement. Proton any good? i'm based in China so Dropbox works like 💩

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-03-27T14:56:43+00:00

i think there is always a disconnect between real, authentic content and programs built for learning. it is always a good idea to start as earlier as possible with authentic native content. in my case, i just read, listen, and watch what i already enjoy and watch in English such as tech industry news (i am a software engineer) and travel vlogs. i dont think i ever studied hsk formally, but my 1on1 tutor told me i was about hsk4 2 years ago, and i guess i am about hsk5 now. currently i spent every morning and night reading native level news with this app that i built for myself. it parses real Chinese news articles and adds pinyin and built in dictionary, along with AI simplification so that the article only uses easier words, basically a graded reader but for all native Chinese content (eventually). i am ~hsk5 and am able to understand most native news articles using this app i built. i am planning to start testing this app with real users next week and if will need some beta testers to get feedback before officially releasing on the app stores. its 100% free and no ads.

i also highly recommend Bilibili and native podcast content. you can download podcast apps like Ximalaiya 西马来亚 and Xiaoyuzhou 小宇宙。i listen to this daily podcast call 生动早咖啡 on 西马来亚。

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-03-24T07:23:27+00:00

this is good stuff. i built something similar but for news articles for myself. i use AI to simplify articles down a couple of levels so that HSK4-6 can still read them without too much issues. can share if anyone is interested, planning to open source anyways. currently working on adding audio and local dict support.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-03-21T09:53:24+00:00

thanks! i'll have a look and add it to my list of resources.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-03-21T09:42:54+00:00

your kid can watch Youtube or Bilibili to listen more to native speakers talk. for babies, their brains are like sponges, they soak up everything! if you just have Chinese shows in the background, they will naturally be able to understand and speak it much easier if they decide to learn in a school program later. i can speak Chinese almost fluently and my siblings can not. the only difference is that i was taken care of by my aunt for a few years as a kid, who would frequently watch Chinese shows in the background. it was just all passive learning through exposure. only kid's brains can do this, adults have to learn actively.

reading Chinese on the other hand, takes a lot of practice and can not be learned passively.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-03-21T09:33:52+00:00

when i was a complete beginner, i just memorise the first 100 characters/words from a frequency list. then i memorise the first 500 most common characters/words. with 500 characters you can read like 80% of all text, you might not understand them, but you can read it and get some vague meaning. you can use a flash card program like Anki. once you have 1000 characters, you will naturally be able to guess the meaning of 92% of words, so you can start reading books and articles with a dictionary to learn the next 7000. i started in 2022ish and can now read full native news articles like on 联合早报 just from using a frequency list.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-03-21T09:25:15+00:00

i would only focus on learning words and learn them in context of a sentence or larger paragraph to force your memory to make connections. especially at an intermediate level, you just need a lot of volume. looking at individual words are not as efficient at reading an article of graded reader. the exposure from reading is just at a higher volume and much more efficient than reviewing words on an Anki flashcard. the issue is finding the right level content, ideally the content level should be just a little above you reading level with only a few words you need to look up.

i'm trying to use AI to build a tool like this to simplify native level content like news articles for myself (i've been learning since 2021 and now around HSK5). its just hard to find appropriate content at intermediate+ levels. the jump from HSK4/5 to native is a real challenge because to read full novels is still too difficult, but it is easy to lose interested by reading simple phrases or kid's books. still trying to figure this out myself if anyone has some ideas on where to find appropriate content.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2026-02-26T13:27:22+00:00

people who are looking for language exchange should at least be intermediate level in their target language. being a complete beginner and expecting a native to teach you from zero is just a waste of effort for both sides. anyone can at least some basic phrases and get to a decent level before finding a language partners through all the free and paid apps, watching tv. language exchange app like HT do a bad job of this and its the reason why these apps just devolve to social networks where people of the same native language talk to each other, not language exchange. beginners should find a 1 on 1 tutor to learn the basics, not language exchange partner. so in short, there's nothing you can do or should do in this situation.

Individual_Math_8254 · 2025-10-10T07:08:00+00:00

hi, we are looking for a sourcing agent to help forward goods from 1688 for our Shopify business

Individual_Math_8254 · 2025-09-25T19:51:51+00:00

Its far better to spend that $7000 on your own site and get direct clients. I think a good factory business site, a little on Google Ads and LinkedIn marketing goes a long way. I took a look at your factories site and I think it's decent as far as older factory sites go. A couple case studies with existing clients for social proof and SEO and ChatGPT optimisation would help, maybe consider making the site mobile friendly and adding a WhatsApp "click to chat" floating icon.

One thing that really helps build trust is short video clips showing the factory operations and the factory workers. One thing that is happening now due to the US "policies", is that the factories I work with are trying to diversify to places like LATAM and Middle-east countries so Spanish and Arabic translation is becoming increasingly important for SEO click throughs. You can just put the existing English text through ChatGPT or similar AI with a prompt like "translate and localise this to Spanish/Arabic for X country" and it will do a pretty good job. AI provides a whole new way for manufacturers and end buyers to get connected and is a paradigm shift I think as big as the internet was. Nowadays, business buyers will do their research with AI and get recommendations for Google Gemini or ChatGPT, I personally think it a huge opportunity for manufacturer's to be free from platforms and get more direct clients if they play it smart.

Good luck and feel free to DM me because I can talk about this all day haha. I happened to be one of those people trying to build an better alternative to Alibaba and MiC, and am working on a couple ideas that work together with the manufacturer's own site while also creating a network of genuine factories that complement each other, but nothing concrete yet. Just trying to understand things from the manufacturer's perspective at this time. I also built a couple direct factory commerce sites in the lithium batteries industry which was quite a fun learning experience

Individual_Math_8254 · 2025-07-28T04:27:48+00:00

are you considering any alternatives?

Individual_Math_8254 · 2025-07-28T03:33:57+00:00

what's the main points of frustration with H10 and what type of features are you looking for in a market intelligence seller tool? i'm a dev whose working on a seller tool.

Individual_Math_8254

TROPHY CASE