paint-brush
Easy Ways to Learn a Language With ChatGPTby@raheelnajmi
1,410 reads
1,410 reads

Easy Ways to Learn a Language With ChatGPT

by Raheel NajmiOctober 15th, 2024
Read on Terminal Reader
Read this story w/o Javascript
tldt arrow

Too Long; Didn't Read

With ChatGPT, learning a new language is something that comes naturally.
featured image - Easy Ways to Learn a Language With ChatGPT
Raheel Najmi HackerNoon profile picture

Let’s be real.


We’ve all, at least once, had this uncanny urge to sign up for a language-learning course.


Apparently, we do spend hours watching the videos thinking that we will ace it; however, when we try to speak to a native speaker, it often feels like we are trying to speak Mandarin to a Chinese person. In just a matter of minutes, keeping up a healthy conversation becomes a low blow, putting us in a completely awkward situation.


Struggling with speaking a language? Don’t know what to do? Well, you should try learning it through ChatGPT. If you’re one of the many individuals wondering, “If only I had someone who could be a better mentor in explaining to me the nuances of speaking my favorite language,” Well the answer is simple, and it’s ChatGPT.


With ChatGPT, learning a new language is something that comes naturally.


We all tend to feel shy, time and again. And, if there’s one thing, nobody wants to feel embarrassed especially when they are practicing something like - a new language.


At times, we feel a thing or two, probably when we are communicating with an actual person in real-life. But with ChatGPT, learning a new language becomes a lot easier.


In fact, the new ChatGPT advanced voice mode is much better and a lot easier to work with.

Is ChatGPT Capable of Teaching Me How to Speak a Different Language?

Believe it or not, ChatGPT is how you can choose to speak any of the 95 different languages. ChatGPT gives you the perfect opportunity to simulate human-like interaction when speaking any of the languages of your choice. It’s like having a decent conversation with a friend, only this time, your friend is none other than ChatGPT.


ChatGPT holds significant command in teaching you any of the 95 languages that it’s an expert in. You can choose to speak German, Spanish, French, Chinese, Albanian, Portuguese, Russian, Bengali, or any other language of your choice.


ChatGPT will speak it in the exact same tone, and it will sound so natural as if you’re speaking with a native from one of the hometowns. It’s contextually rich, a lot more linguistically nuanced, and offers a more interactive form of tutoring.


It’s just so much better than the average human.


Here’s the interesting bit, ChatGPT is not only limited to typing a message. With the ChatGPT mobile app, you can now speak with the algorithm, and it will respond with all the nuances. You get more room to practice and do stuff that otherwise must have taken hours or even days. You can best focus on tasks that require more attention.


Irrespective of whether you’re someone searching for a task to learn a new language, or you’re an advanced learner, ChatGPT offers you well-detailed learning with great examples. You can also leverage useful exercises & achieve much more.

Easy Ways to Learn Your Favorite Language with ChatGPT

If you want to start learning a new language, the first thing you need to do is find out what language you’re interested in speaking. Now, find a decent course online and get clear on the basics. You can either do it on your own by following a YouTube channel, or you can hire a tutor to help you with speaking it.


After all, you just need to grasp enough accuracy so you can best understand and establish a decent enough conversation. Once you're familiar with the basics, the next step should be to move to the more advanced stage of achieving fluency.


And here’s where ChatGPT steps in.


Start with setting a few linguistic goals, design a custom learning path, and get started. And here’s the best part, you become your own judge.


To start, you simply need to give ChatGPT some system information.


Add:


“Hello ChatGPT, I am interested in learning a [Target Language]. Let’s start with the introductions, I want to give you a better idea of my requirements. I want you to tailor responses accordingly. My current level is of a Beginner and my objective is to achieve the basic understanding and fluency of speaking the [Target Language]. My goal is to improve my speaking skills, learn the basic vocabulary, and master the grammar rules. Please take note and make sure all future conversations are done based on the following details.”


This will set the path for your GPT bot to understand what you require. Now, you begin with the basic prompting, to make your experience streamlined & interesting.

Establishing Real-Life Conversations

So what’s it like, when you want to speak a new language?


Ask anyone, and they will tell you how they would love to achieve fluency.


This is exactly what ChatGPT offers.


You want to immerse yourself in the language, and this can be best achieved when you use a more authentic tone of voice; one that’s unachievable without ChatGPT.


To access ChatGPT, you need to sign up at the Open AI website.


Now, simply download the app and have a conversation. Start with typing in the message or hit the microphone icon and start speaking. Narrate your everyday experience out loud, and start briefing the details. Share all the information that you wish to share. And the best part, it’s not going to be a one-sided monologue.


Just ask ChatGPT by throwing reflective questions to further reinforce your skill.


Here’s a prompt that you can use:


“Hi ChatGPT, I want to practice my [Target Language]. However, I would like you to simulate a real-life conversation with a local. It’s easy, I will narrate an experience to you in my own language and would like you to ask me questions about it. To keep the conversation going, I want to start with describing specific experiences, my morning commute, my workplace shenanigans, the plot I have thought about writing my book, etc. But, consider me a person who’s conversation shy, so when I share my routine, I want you to interject with questions to make the conversation engaging.”


Develop Vocabulary

To gain a better command of any language, it’s important that you get familiar with its vocabulary. Learning vocabulary can be tricky and when it comes to speaking a different language, you don’t want to go the usual way. Back in the day, we created flashcards, and they are so 20th century. You need to have a more immersive experience, one that’s interactive and fulfilling.


Start with memorizing a list of words.


Let’s assume that you’re traveling to a new country, and you’re not sure what terminologies they usually use to converse. You want to sound fluent when talking to a local, and this can be best achieved by feeding your GPT a specific prompt:


“Hi ChatGPT, I want to expand my vocabulary in [Target Language]. I am traveling to [Country] for the first time. I will describe what I see and do, and you will introduce new vocabulary words & phrases that best compliment the situation. Assuming that I am a traveler, I might not be that well versed in speaking the language, but I want to sound like I am someone who knows. Please, offer thorough explanations & use correct examples to assist me in understanding and learning new words.”

Playing Detective With Sentences

We all love to play detective from time to time.


The experience is quite enthralling, one that goes a long way. But what if you could play detective with your sentences? To achieve it, you will need to develop a strong understanding of the sentence structures which will allow you to best engage your target audience. With ChatGPT, you can achieve it more proficiently.


Just feed ChatGPT with a prompt where you ask them to immerse themselves in a detective hunt. Let’s say, you tell ChatGPT that you want to play detective.


Add the following prompt:


“Hello ChatGPT, I want to improve my understanding of sentence structure in [Language], by going on an immersive detective adventure.

Create a hypothetical scenario, one where you and I will go on a clue hunt.

Start with breaking down the different sentences. Help me break them down to uncover meanings and different grammatical components.

Provide clear explanations and examples of each element.”


Setup a Master Plan

We all have goals and without goals; we can’t achieve anything… even if it’s as simple as learning a new language.


This can be best achieved if we can follow an overall structured plan.


And for that, we need an overall structured plan. This can be best achieved when you have a personal trainer or a mentor guiding you along the way.


After all, you don’t want to find yourself stuck randomly in situations where you have to go through exercises every day.


You need a plan! A program that’s specifically designed for yourself; one that systematically stacks up on your capabilities.


You want to achieve big, over time.


Well, you will have to give ChatGPT another useful prompt:


“Hi ChatGPT, I would like to create a structured learning plan for [Target Language].

But I don’t want to invest much, I simply want to work with 20% of words which I can use in 80% of the everyday speech. Here are a few details to create this plan:

  • Total duration I want to study - for example: 3 months.
  • Hours I dedicate per day - for example: 1 hour.
  • Specific areas I want to focus on - for example: speaking skills, vocabulary or grammar.
  • Interest & hobbies - for example: traveling, cooking or music.

Create a structured plan so I can maximize my learning and improve my progress.”

Concluding Thoughts

Learning a new language doesn’t have to be a challenging task especially when you have the right tools at your disposal. With ChatGPT, you can transform your language-learning experience into an interactive & engaging journey.


Whether you’re just getting started or looking to refine your fluency, ChatGPT offers personalized conversations, vocabulary-building exercises, and real-time feedback to help you reach your goals.


So why wait? Start practicing with ChatGPT today, and unlock a whole new world of linguistic possibilities!