A WIRED writer practised Japanese with ChatGPT's voice mode for a month before Tokyo, role-playing ordering food and small talk. By week three key phrases began to stick, and asking for more detailed feedback stopped it praising his mistakes.
Be a strict but friendly [LANGUAGE] tutor. I'm a beginner travelling to [CITY] in [WEEKS] weeks. Today, role-play [SCENARIO, E.G. ORDERING AT A RESTAURANT]. Correct my pronunciation honestly and don't tell me I did well unless I really did. End with the five phrases I should practise.
Replace the [PLACEHOLDERS] with your own details before you send it.
How to try it
- Ask for a strict tutor; the writer found the default was too flattering.
- Do short, regular sessions focused on one real situation at a time.
- Before you go out, practise the one or two phrases you’ll need next.
More learning use cases
Turn your ‘read later’ pile into a short audio summary with NotebookLM
An XDA writer fed NotebookLM the links from about 30 old 'read later' bookmarks and generated an Audio Overview. The 15-minute discussion pulled out the key ideas and showed which three articles were worth reading properly.
These sources are articles I saved to read later about [TOPICS]. Group them by theme, give me the three or four big ideas they share, and tell me which [NUMBER] articles are most worth reading in full and why. Point out any that mostly repeat the others.
Revise for an exam from your own notes with NotebookLM
Preparing for an engineering physics exam, one student uploaded lecture notes, PDFs and study material to NotebookLM. Because answers were grounded in his own sources, he could ask for explanations, chapter summaries and practice questions, and trace answers back to his notes.
Using only my uploaded notes, explain [TOPIC] simply, then give me [NUMBER] exam-style questions on it, starting easy and getting harder. After I answer, mark my answers and point me to the part of my notes that explains anything I got wrong.
Learn a language through the lyrics of songs you love
One learner's favourite use of ChatGPT's voice mode is learning German through a favourite song's lyrics, asking it to explain each word and correct his pronunciation.
I want to learn [LANGUAGE] by understanding the lyrics of '[SONG]' by [ARTIST]. Go through it a line at a time: explain what each word means, point out any grammar worth knowing, and then listen to me say the line and correct my pronunciation.
Reference: WIRED