Ask HN: Conversational AI to Learn a Language

If you have a ChatGPT subscription, set up your own GPT with prompting around your level, how you want it to respond, how to correct mistakes etc. Then you can use it for anything - Generate tests based on words you know, roleplay like ordering in a restaurant, write stories and have it correct grammar.

This is what I have to supplement my Chinese and it is incredibly helpful.

Look at the comments already - Everyone is building a simple wrapper to do this very thing but charge you $20 per month for the privelege. These are souless, most likely vibe coded garbage. Avoid.

You don't even need a subscription, just start the conversation with something like "I'm trying to learn x, I'm at a beginner skill level. Can you have a conversation with me and correct my mistakes." and it works superbly.

The Duolingo CEO copped a lot of criticism for it, but I think he is right that LLMs play a huge role in the future of education, though he probably ragebaited everyone by overselling it and calling teachers babysitters. But ChatGPT as it is now is a better language learning tool than their hand crafted app is. Rather than clicking on word blocks, you can actually have a free form conversation and get feedback like "Yes your sentence is understandable but sounds unnatural, you could try ___"

Duolingo CEO just went on record to say that all future language teaching will be AI, but physical schools and teachers will continue to exist "to provide childcare".

That is a very polarizing way to phrase it.

Luckily for teachers and schools in general, (foreign) language skills are just a small part of overall school curriculum and the higher you go the more this becomes true. LLMs not taking that part away anytime soon.