EDIT - This ISN'T a post about debating if AI has a place in language learning. If you don't like AI or want to use it as a tool, please just pass on this post. Different strokes for different folks and all that. It's a bit childish to come in here and argue and downvote everyone who doesn't agree with you.

This post is for those who don't just outright hate AI, of course. And I'm also really talking about major languages, the ones that AI will have more than enough material in to be good.

As AI has gotten increasingly better in the past weeks, months, years, I am wondering what are the best AI tools for language learning right now. I am NOT saying that some AI tool can completely replace all traditional forms of language learning. I do believe that it can speed it up though.

With that said:

Where I am most interested in the value of AI is for conversation practice and for at-need instant correction of syntax. My (native Spanish) partner and I talk to chatGPT already in both English and Spanish for just random stuff (like fixing some mechanical problem) and we'd both rate it as pretty near flawless, even if the accent isn't so casual. And sometimes I checked some really weird or particular syntax with chatGPT in Spanish in text and I wasn't sure it's answer was right, but every time my partner said it was.

So, is it worth it to get a particular tool or app, or does it make more sense to just spin up GPT convos to chat with in target languages? What are we trying nowadays, what are we thinking? I want to re-enter the world of language learning after a big hiatus with both refreshing my Brazilian Portuguese (I was probably C1 a few years back) and starting to learn French (TL) from zero, so two very different goals. For PT, I think I'll just dive into chatting and watching stuff again, reading and writing a bit. For FR, I clearly need some structured way to learn, so it'll be more complex than that. I wonder if AI-driven courses are really of higher value yet, or not really.

Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

I really only use AI for things like anki card creation and analyzing texts to see if they're in my ideal difficulty range via tools like notebooklm. Conversation practice, grammar tips etc I don't think it's really there yet?

👎👎👎

any apps that are actually made specifically for language learning require a subscription at which point u might as well hire a human tutor

No.

Huge fan! Still got problems for sure but it's wild to see how much machine translation has improved in my lifetime

Nice. What are you using?

That's interesting, which ones have you tried? I definitely see a lot of value in grammar tips for Spanish and Portuguese from gpt, it's never done me wrong. I haven't really tried conversation practice yet because I'm deliberating between normal gpt or a specialized app like natulang or langua. I'm still shopping around basically.

I use Remind Cards to learn Estonian because there is not much application to learn Estonian.

Improvements are happening rapidly and I think those that are just vehemently rejecting AI as unhelpful (usually based on principle, I imagine) are going to miss out on it's effectiveness.

There is a 'Language Transfer' inspired GPT that was created which I've found to be very helpful ; basically works like the audio course but can obviously correct you and tailor prompts to make it harder for you etc etc.

I have tried various trials of other conversational AIs etc but I'm not advanced enough in my TL to comment on it's utility really.

I'm excited for the future though. I think we are going to end up with super personalised AI language teachers and it's going to be extremely helpful.

These "AI" tools fundamentally dont nor can grasp the concept of language. They can help as much as they can feed you critically incorrect information that will fly right past you as a begginer to whom it looks correct enough

It's a slippery slope technology to learn anything, it has no concept of doubt, everything it transmits to you is with full confidence and professional tone.

These tools dont have a concept of time and long-term progression (or long term memory) either, especially on free models. And if youre willing to pay for learning a language, AI should be at the bottom of your resources

I mean the cost is just not equivalent. I'm still shopping tools (hence the ask), but Langua is unlimited monthly plan for $30. I'd say it's hard to find a reliable tutor on italki below $15/hr, and that's fair because that's a human who needs to survive. I'd still say there's a place for human tutors, but the sheer hours of conversation practice you actually need far outpace what they can provide. And 'talk to natives' is great advice only after a certain level, nobody actually wants to suffer through an A1-B1 conversation with somebody.

Competent human tutors are far more expensive than AI.