Lesson 93 · 2 min

Practise a foreign language by chatting

A chatbot is a patient conversation partner in many languages, available any time, that never gets bored of your mistakes.

Speaking practice is the hardest part of learning a language, because you need a partner. A chatbot can be that partner for everyday topics: ordering food, talking about your weekend, a job interview.

Set the level and the rules. "Talk to me in simple Korean, A2 level. Keep your replies to two sentences. After each of my messages, correct one mistake gently, then continue."

Give it a situation to make it feel real: a hotel check-in, a call with a supplier, small talk with a colleague. Switch roles so you practise both asking and answering.

AI is very good at common languages and everyday talk. For less common languages, regional slang or formal letters, double check with a teacher or native speaker.

Do it now

A five minute café chat

  1. 1. Pick a language you are learning.
  2. 2. Paste the prompt below.
  3. 3. Chat for five minutes, then ask for a list of your three most common mistakes.
Let's practise [LANGUAGE] at [LEVEL, e.g. beginner / A2].
You are a waiter in a café in [CITY]. I am a customer.
Keep your replies short and simple. After each of my messages, correct at most one mistake in brackets, then continue the conversation.

Quick check

Why ask the chatbot to correct only one mistake per message?

Why ask the chatbot to correct only one mistake per message?

More on this

Words from this lesson

Chatbot
A program you talk to in everyday language by typing or speaking, which replies in the same way.
LLM
An AI trained on huge amounts of text to predict the next word, which lets it write, summarise, translate and chat.