We study the vocabulary. We drill the grammar. We
understand a lot of what we hear. But we often don't speak
the languages we're learning. Even worse, we usually don't have an untiring, kind tutor, who
is also an expert on most topics on Earth, speaks every language, and charges pennies per hour.
But what if we did? Watch.
Q: How much does this cost?
A: I'm shooting for options in the $3 to $10 range that will enable hours and hours of study, ideally replacing the least productive early parts of certain courses, and flattening the language learning curve on international trips.
Q: How is this possible?
A: I've been asked this by people who have a very high threshold for technology-related disbelief. To be honest, no one is really sure! The reasoning and linguistic capability comes from the GPT group of models (OpenAI API). Then there is an exchange betweeen state of the art speech reconition and synthesis technology. There's also coding etc., and a lot of that in turn is powered by AI models. I maybe wrote 30% of the code, and AI models are responsible for the rest.
Q: Who are you and why did you make this?
A: I [link] am a language enthusiast and software engineer in San Francisco, California, originally from San José. I made this to learn Italian at a hackathon in late January, 2023. I'm amazed by how well the technology works, and how useful it has been to me, and want to share the fun with other language learners.
I think the coming wave of applications in this area has potential to vastly improve student outcomes. I also see opportunity for instructors to extend their reach, and get learning roadblocks out of the way before and between classes. Contact 'brian' at this domain by email if you'd like to discuss.