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
Get a daily language-learning story from Gemini
On Hacker News, one learner has Gemini write a daily story about something that happened on that date in history, using A2-level language, with a transliteration, vocabulary list and grammar tips, emailed to him around lunchtime.
Write a short story in [LANGUAGE] about a historical event that happened on [TODAY'S DATE]. Use only [LEVEL, E.G. A2] grammar and vocabulary. Then give me: a transliteration (if it uses a different alphabet), a vocabulary list from the story, and two grammar tips based on it. Vary the opening sentence each day.
Polish your writing in another language with DeepL Write
On Hacker News, one user said DeepL Write helps improve their self-described lousy German by showing a better way to write what they came up with.
[PASTE YOUR TEXT IN THE LANGUAGE YOU'RE LEARNING]
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.
Reference: WIRED