Finding The Button That Makes AI Easy for Language Learners

Real-life story of how I helped my Spanish learning friend turn a ChatGPT language learning fail into a fun success, and what I’d recommend for you if you want to learn with ChatGPT too.

AI is everywhere these days, but using it for language learning still feels very hit-and-miss. Does anyone need another “AI Tutor” that’s just a flashcard in disguise? I say NO, and there are better ways.
In this post, I’m sharing exactly what happened when my friend tried to practise Spanish with ChatGPT…and what actually worked.

Meet Jenny, a Real Life Spanish Learner

If you’ve ever thought “I’d love to practise speaking a language right now” but there’s no patient speaker around, you’ve got company. True story: My friend ran into exactly that problem while visiting me recently.

My jet-lagged, yet adventurous US friend Jenny’s travelling around Europe, and she came to visit me a few weeks ago. While we were hanging out, she mentioned she wanted to practice her Spanish for the trip.

Now, I’m the friend who’s got a whole website about learning with AI. I’m eager to make good impression with something cool and fresh!

Trying to Learn Spanish with ChatGPT

I thought let’s try speaking with ChatGPT!

Her first reaction was unsure: “But you can’t talk to ChatGPT can you?”

Me: “Oh yes, and it will know the language you’re speaking. Give it a try!”

Phone out, wifi on, app downloaded. After some fumbling for the right button to press, we were off.
“Hola, hablame en Español”

ChatGPT was ready to fire back:
“¡Si claro! [a huge wall of fast spoken words]”

The answer came back immediately, but it was faster than Daddy Yankee in Despacito (you know the bit). Her face said: “I love you but maybe Duolingo was fine actually.”

The problem: AI isn’t magic on its own

She tried to slow it down, but it was hard to figure out how.
She asked simple questions about flights, and ChatGPT responded with more speedy TED Talk-length answers.

I looked at my friend, who appeared close to throwing her phone at my head, as if I’d personally invented this crappy AI app. “AI Language learning” was quickly unravelling into a waste of time.

In that moment I had to turn things around, and QUICKLY.

AI Language Club saves the day

I opened the AI Language Club library and we picked the Travel Planner tutorial.

Within minutes, we were using ChatGPT to research her next Portugal trip, practising Spanish while exploring Portuguese road signs and phrases. Now she was laughing, chatting, and actually enjoying herself.

"This is actually fun! So glad I had you here to help."

(Yay, friendship success!)

What You Can Take Away From Our AI Language Lesson

Most of us have AI tools right there in our pockets.

But to turn them into useful language practice, you need a plan. It’s not useful to say something like “hey, talk to me in German”, but with a few tweaks things get a whole lot easier.

• Whenever you can, start your interaction with a very clear goal or scenario, for example:

  • Travel planning or restaurant research

  • Finding a recipe for authentic breakfast in your target country

  • Creating a story or song lyrics

• Give AI tools like Gemini or ChatGPT very specific instructions: tell it which language to use, how fast to speak, at which level, and how short to keep the answers.

• Start with learning activities that already work for you, and introduce AI gradually. For example, I like to do fill-in-the-gap practice and now I sometimes use AI tools to help me come up with extra ideas for the gaps.

With a bit of planning, AI can open up a mind-blowing new learning experience for you.

On the blog: Why AI Works for Language Learners & 3 Prompts to Try Now

What’s Your Language Learning Superpower?

Over on the AI Language Club website, we’ve put together a quiz to help you find your special language skill and show you how to bring in AI to speed up your study results and try fresh ideas.

👉 Curious? Check out the language superpower quiz here.

4 Techniques for Switching Your Brain into Language Mode

Have you ever heard of a phenomenon called "Priming"? Priming is what psychologists call it when your brain adapts to the environment around it without you realising. For example, you might automatically walk slower in a nursing home than you do in a gym. The brain helps your body to adjust, and this also affects your memory and even your confidence and the whole way you interpret situations.

How Priming Helps You Turn on Your Brain

Priming is largely unconscious, but now that you’re aware of it you can also use it to your advantage when learning languages. The idea is to switch your brain into “language mode” and use cues from your environment to help you get into the right zone.

Want to learn more about how to be a productive language learner?

©morethanmaths on Flickr

How Subtle Prompts Help You Stay in The “Language Learning Zone”

When I was a German tutor, I’d teach many people in their lunch hour. They would stay in the office at their English-speaking workplace, close the door and open up Skype to start chatting German with me.

In those situations, I’d commonly noticed that it took them a lot of time to warm up, relax, and start chatting away. Having thought about the learning environment and what it means for your performance, I came to the conclusion that these students need to make a brain switch from work mode to learning mode.

In this article on Wired, the author describes how a mere glance at the native speaker will prompt them to blurt out native words.

The different role you need to play as a language learner.

And there’s more at play than just the language you’re speaking.

Many people who work in management or office-based roles are in an environment that looks a bit like school, but demands a completely different behaviour. “Professionals” don't just go out and try things. They are expected to control their creativity and maintain a professional image at all times.

When you think about the good mindset for language learners, it's a contrast: You'll do well if you can combine curiosity, discipline and a complete disregard for embarrassment!

How to Start Switching Your Brain Into a Different Mode

Switching up a part of your environment can help you become a better learner, with simple prompts that take seconds to implement.

Try out some ideas that learners and teachers can use to make priming work in the right way:

1. Listen to Target Language Songs and Watch Movies

I will not promise you that watching an awful lot of films in a foreign language will magically beam fluency into your mind.

The real benefit of surrounding yourself with the target language is that you stay engaged with it and develop knowledge of the country. In terms of the priming benefit, it will work magic. Plus, you get to do it while putting your feet up or driving.

2. Find a Suitable Slot in Your Schedule

Schedule your learning sessions for the right times. For example, I like doing my chatting in Spanish on the drive back from Zumba - partly because the Spanish lady is captive in my car, partly because we've just spent an hour having fun and dancing around. Others also swear by having a nice glass of wine to relax or using breathing exercises.

Another great tip is to create a learning corner in your home - somewhere quiet, free from distractions and full of positive associations. 

©zazzle.co.uk

3. Visualise Your Life as a Successful Language Learner

School classroom teachers have known for a long time that putting up posters and displays around the classroom can get pupils in the right state of mind for learning. They don't have to be written in the foreign language, but just reminders of what's great about the country you're learning about.

Take a tip from this and create your own language learning displays full of things that interest you about your language. They could be recipes, tickets from old trips, tourist brochures or printouts from the internet. I particularly love vintage posters.

You can find more inspiration on my Pinterest boards for German, French and Russian. 

4. Warm Up in Your Target Language

In my teaching role, I try to start my lessons off easily with some smaller warm-up activities like asking students how they are or offering them a drink.

Recently, I received the great tip that using the same warm-up activity every time for regular students is actually helpful - here I was worrying people would get bored, but the learner's perspective was that knowing "what's coming" allowed them to prepare and feel confident at the start of the lesson. That puts every learner in the right state of mind for success.

A Festive Take on Using Your Environment as a Study Aid

Click here for my article on learning a language at Christmas (even if you don’t celebrate it)

First published July 2013. Last updated December 2021.