Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Understandable English Podcast.
Today we are going to be talking about using AI, Artificial Intelligence, so in short, computers to learn English as a second language.
Specifically, I am going to be talking about a tool called ChatGPT, which has become very popular in the last few months.
Traditionally, learning a new language is a difficult task, but with the development of new technology, English language learning has become easier than it ever has been.
Today, we are going to be looking at how you can use ChatGPT, a free AI tool developed by OpenAI, to speed up and help you with your English language learning journey.
So what is ChatGPT?
It really is like a chatbot.
You can type text to it like questions or general conversation and it will think and respond to you with the best possible answer that it can find from the internet.
And the technology is very scarily good.
It can often sound like a real person.
And that brings us to the first point.
You can use with this tool to have real time conversations with an AI chat bot.
AI has developed so much in the field of conversation and ChatGPT is particularly good at this.
You can open it up and start a simple conversation, asking it questions and making general conversation.
This provides a safe and supportive environment for learners of english to test their writing and grammar skills, to look for mistakes, as well as getting real time feedback without the fear of being criticized or feeling embarrassed.
AI chatbots can really be your language learning buddy or friend in the crazy world we are living in today.
So I just want to add that ChatGPT is completely free to use.
You should look it up online, give it a Google search, that is ChatGPT.
You simply have to sign up for an account and you can get started with asking it questions and talking to it.
It works in lots of different languages, but I want you to use English when you communicate with this tool.
The second point it is really great for is actually grammar corrections and feedback.
It isn't perfect, but in general it is pretty fantastic at correcting English grammar and spelling.
You can simply input some text or some work that you've done and ask it to correct the text and explain the mistakes.
If you don't understand a mistake that you've made or a certain grammar rule, you can ask ChatGPT to explain grammar rules, give examples of grammar in context or simply explain something that you don't understand.
This tool is getting better every single day with grammar and with the English language.
And even how it is right now is nothing short of very impressive.
The tool is also great for vocabulary.
When you don't understand a word, just ask it, what does this word mean?
And put the word and it will explain.
You can then ask, give me some example sentences with this word.
Another great use for this tool, which I have noticed when studying Russian language, is asking it to make text for translation.
You can ask a chat GPT to write a text in English at your desired level, the level that you want.
For example, in your native language.
You might ask write me a text in English at B1 level for me to translate.
It will then produce a text in an instant.
You can translate it as you understand it and ChatGPT will give you the correct translation and explain anything that you don't understand.
The key is to ask lots of questions.
If you don't understand a word that it says, ask it.
If you don't understand a grammar point, ask it.
It's really great at this kind of conversation or dialogue.
Another really great point is the cultural context.
This tool is not only great for producing and understanding language, it's also really useful for cultural context.
You can ask the AI about any cultural questions.
You might have both language-based and general questions.
It can be wonderful for explaining and learning idioms or simply understanding what food is popular in a country.
Why not try asking ChatGPT to write you a text about the culture of a country you are interested in?
Not only will this give you an interesting text to translate, but it will teach you something new along the way too.
I think the best part about this sort of technology is that it is completely free and accessible from any device with internet access.
It's almost like you can have a free digital teacher available when you want it, anytime and anywhere.
However, do note that sometimes the program can be unavailable due to a high number of users currently online.
But don't worry, most of the time it will be back up and working within about an hour.
I think in general, when we talk about the future, artificial intelligence and technology will be so big with language learning and it is only going to get better and better.
Every day and every week it is developing, it is improving, it is getting better.
And I can only imagine how good it is going to be in five years, for example.
It's crazy.
Even language translation and translator tools are so much better today than they were five or six years ago, when I was using them.
They get better by learning from the content that is on the internet.
And with every day and every minute, there is more and more content from these tools to learn from.
I would be interested to hear what you think about artificial intelligence.
I really can't say that word right today for some reason.
And how you think the future of technology will improve or affect language learning.
And since a lot of these tools are free, I don't see why we shouldn't give them a try and see if they work for us.
I am sure that you will find something interesting with ChatGPT for learning English.
Whether it is just trying a basic conversation or asking it to explain some words, it is surprisingly good for just talking, to try and message it and say like hey, how are you tell me how you work?
What is the weather like in the United Kingdom today?
Ask it any question that is on your mind or you want to know the answer to.
It will reply and you can ask it more questions.
It's a fantastic way for practicing questions as well as general conversation.
I hope this episode was useful or interesting for you.
Give ChatGPT a try and I would love to hear your feedback and opinions on what you think.
Did you find it helpful?
Do you think it's a good tool?
And will you use it in the future?
Thank you for listening.
I hope you have a fantastic week and I will see you all in the next episode of the podcast.
Goodbye.
