My 4 Favorite AI Tools For Language Learning

All of which are now integral parts of my learning toolbox

Image created with Dall-E 3

Language Learning just keeps on getting more convenient.

As more and more people try to convince us AI will render language learning useless, it keeps giving me more reasons to learn languages.

Still, I’m in my early thirties so I need some analog along. I can’t consider myself as “learning a language” if I don’t have a single book, textbook, or notebook about it.

I know that’s a strange requirement but it’s still there.

But, as you probably already know, I’m also a sucker for a good AI tool that’ll help make my life easier. So here are my four favorites. No time to waste, let’s get the obvious one out of the way first.

ChatGPT

You knew it was coming before you even started reading. ChatGPT is a no-brainer for anybody using AI tools. And as a user of GPT-4, there are even more reasons to use it.

Many people have talked about using ChatGPT to learn a new language. It can be a teacher, a tutor, a language partner, a “native” friend, and so much more.

How to Get ChatGPT to Follow Directives

I’ve used it to create stories, explain grammar patterns, teach me related vocabulary, simplify or complicate texts to study, and even translate stuff.

With GPT-4, I’ve even had fun creating images reflecting images or stories I was studying and—the other way around—asked DALL-E 3 to explain a picture I had uploaded.

ChatGPT is a must.

Or at least a tool like it is. After all, recent reports say that Claude 3 is a better option than the free version at least. And it seems the new Pi.ai is too.

• Pros:

  • An assistant with quick and personalized answers

  • Tons of tips online on how to use

  • Full-audio conversations possible on the app

• Cons:

  • Likely to be upstaged at any time

  • Can provide false facts so complicated topics might need verification

  • Can be difficult to make sure directives are followed

ElevenLabs

I had tons of fun with this tool in October when I got a one-month premium subscription for a dollar. ElevenLabs allows us to get realistic audio for pretty much any text in quite a few languages, and even with our own voice if we want it.

So I cloned my voice and got some audio in a few languages.

These are the Chinese and Spanish versions of the same text:

Once my premium month finished, I stopped using it thinking 5,000 monthly characters was not enough and I’d likely get frustrated if I couldn’t get the audio I wanted.

Well, I’ve now been using the free version for almost a month, getting recordings only for sentences I write in my notebook. I’ve tried a few voices but ended up with this deep one that’s easy to understand and not too far off my pitch either.

I use the audio from ElevenLabs to practice shadowing—ie. repeating out loud sentences over and over to get the flow and pitch right—during study sessions. Then, I listen to them in the background while I walk outside or do mindless tasks.

It’s scary to think we’re only at the beginning of such tools and the quality is already that good. But it’s also such a useful tool to get to hear our target language for free and improve without any potential shame of mistakes.

That’s why I love ElevenLabs.

• Pros:

  • Hundreds (thousands?) of voices available, of all style

  • 5,000 characters for free per month

  • Almost instant audio version for any text entered

  • Possible to download the mp3 version of the audio

• Cons:

  • Can change to an Americanized accent for long texts

  • Only 5,000 characters for free per month

  • Impossible to clone own voice for free

  • No app

And yet, even if I love it, I’ve now also been using another audio-creation tool for a few weeks.

Suno

I’ve never dived deep into Suno but I’ve mentioned it, mostly when I spoke about Copilot.

A Few Compelling Reasons to Use Copilot as a Language Learner

Suno, from the outside, is not anything near a language-learning tool. It’s an AI that creates songs from a prompt. Great. But how’s that gonna serve us learners?

You know you’ve listened to songs you loved on repeat.

Well, it turns out there’s a custom creation section where you can set your own verses and chorus. Prompt it with a style you enjoy and you’re ready to hear a song made for you specifically.

You could be listening on repeat again and again to sentences you want to master, words you struggle with, or even grammar patterns that won’t stick.

That’s why I now combine Suno and ElevenLabs to truly engrain in my brain the most important sentences I write in my notebook in Chinese.

Here’s one song I got when I asked for a “traditional Chinese folk mellow” song and entered some sentences from the New Practical Chinese Reader book:

And here’s a random song I got by asking for “An upbeat rock song in Chinese from Taiwan (Traditional characters) using the word "雖然" (“although”) multiple times.”

Isn’t that the dream?

• Pros:

  • Creates two songs each time so you’re bound to have one you at least slightly enjoy

  • Custom version to choose the specific lyrics

  • Accessible from Microsoft’s Copilot app/website

• Cons:

  • Only 50 credits per day (5 requests = 10 songs)

  • Creates songs in English if the language is not properly requested

  • Less customization possible from the Copilot app/website

Perplexity

This one has been part of my toolbox for about a year but I only started to use it daily when I switched browsers to Arc Browser in February. I saw I could set Perplexity as my main search engine instead of Google so I tried.

Is it perfect? Far from it still. There’s a lot to improve but it still ranks higher than most other tools because it’s integral to my daily life.

It’s a search engine we can talk to. Answers also include links to their sources and we can ask follow-up questions.

Now, every time I press Ctrl+T to open a new tab, I can directly type a question and Perplexity opens with the answer.

But that’s not it!

Perplexity also has an extension we can open on any page to ask questions about that page and, in particular a “summarize” button which is great for verifying understanding.

Oh, and we can also ask it to summarize in other languages!

• Pros:

  • Especially good for answers about facts since it gives sources

  • Its extension works wonders on most pages

  • 5 “Pro” searches per day, for which Perplexity will search “better” and ask questions if the request is unclear or needs more detail

  • App available

  • Possible to create “collections” (folders) of conversations on specific topics

• Cons:

  • Not great for long conversations

Final thoughts

There they are, the tools I can’t seem to get enough of.

I’m no expert in either of them but they’re all part of my language-learning toolbox now. Is there one you use a lot that I didn’t mention? Which is it and how do you use it?

Cheers for reading!
Mathias