Article: Can AI Bots Teach You French?

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Although the vast majority of the US remains monolingual, a growing number of Americans speak two or more languages. According to the US Census Bureau, 20% of the people in America speak at least two languages. Part of the growth in multilingualism stems from immigration and increasing globalism. People learn a second language for many reasons, such as connecting with a different culture, increased opportunities at work, managing a multilingual workforce, improved brain health that comes from learning and using a new language, and the hopes of a better travel experience abroad interacting with hotels, restaurants, store clerks, and transportation providers. A research report from the University of York in Toronto, Canada, in 2007 determined that bilingualism staved off the symptoms of dementia by four years compared to monolingual individuals. (nih.gov) Subsequent research over the past decade and a half supports these findings. 

Students learning a new language in a monolingual culture face a significant challenge. According to a review from Yale University, immersion remains the most effective way to acquire a new language. (Yale.edu) As a baby learns language, she connects sounds, images, and emotions to words through experience and continuous repetition. Such an experience for older learners cannot happen in their monolingual cultures. Therefore, the best way for adults to acquire a new language would require immersion in another culture where the learner must communicate in the second language, read local newspapers, and watch television without subtitles to embrace the new language fully. Going to the market and speaking with locals about everyday matters helps to cement the language for learners and create fluency.

However, such deep immersion may be too expensive or impractical for most people. Fortunately, decades of research into effective language learning techniques have produced additional techniques for learning a new language. One such method, association, involves the student connecting words in her native language and words in the new language they want to learn. For example, connecting the word “computer” in English to the French word “ordinateur” engages cognitive processes and memory. Many language programs use this technique, even employing images and words. Additionally, having to speak and respond to questions or have conversations can prove difficult for students just starting. I remember being in school and having to listen to tapes of a discussion with pauses to respond.   

Such techniques had such an artificial quality that did not represent a conversation; however, advances in artificial intelligence have opened up new ways to get more of an immersive experience without leaving the country. The following represent just a few options to try and expand the language learning process. Smartphone assistants such as Apple’s Siri have language settings, and with just a change in the settings, you can practice your new language with Siri or your maps app. Also, home smart speakers such as Amazon’s Alexa have a function in the ”Skills and Games” settings to provide foreign language lessons while working or relaxing around the house. For a much more interactive experience, a number of companies offer chatbots to help one learn a new language with conversation for beginners in many different languages. For example, CharacterAI has a tool called HyperGlot that will hold a conversation either through text or voice in many different languages. (character.ai)  The instant response time makes the conversation more fluid and provides the challenge of responding as if speaking with someone.

Learning a new language has many benefits, from seeing a different culture in a new light to improving one’s heath and memory. Still, the best way to learn through immersion can prove too costly or impractical. Fortunately, technological advances now provide semi-immersive experiences from smartphones and smart-home assistants listening and responding to you in another language. This type of emersion can go even further with the new language chatbots. Although they do not have the whole experience of speaking with a human in real-time, the chatbots have the time and patience to practice a new language any time, day or night.

Dr. Smith’s career in scientific and information research spans the areas of bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, toxicology, and chemistry. He has published a number of peer-reviewed scientific papers. He has worked over the past seventeen years developing advanced analytics, machine learning, and knowledge management tools to enable research and support high-level decision making. Tim completed his Ph.D. in Toxicology at Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of Washington.

You can buy his book on Amazon in paperback and in kindle format here.