I've been trying to improve my English with ChatGPT for a few months now. I have it correct my texts and we chat in English, but I get the feeling it's not really helping me much with pronunciation. Do you guys use AI tools for languages? How do you do it?
For pronunciation, it's true that ChatGPT alone is pretty limited, you gotta combine it with other stuff. Personally I do a fair bit of English but mainly because I read American mechanics forums and watch YouTube videos about repairs, so it forces me to listen to it regularly. What you can do is use ChatGPT to generate texts, then use a tool like Google Translate or something specialized to listen to the pronunciation out loud. Or you can ask it for dialogues about topics you're interested in - I'd ask it for conversations about engine problems or stuff like that - and then you read it out loud trying to follow the rhythm.
The real thing for pronunciation is really regular practice and listening. I'd recommend combining ChatGPT with podcasts or English YouTube channels about your interests, it makes learning way less boring. For example I like watching guys talking about birdwatching in English or American mechanics explaining their diagnostics, and that's where you really hear how it sounds. For corrections, yeah ChatGPT is useful, but also try to interact with real people if you can - forums, Discord, online communities. That's where you're gonna really progress, because you'll learn how people actually talk, not just perfect grammar.
You're right that ChatGPT alone isn't enough for pronunciation, it's basically a written tool at the end of the day. What I see with my patients who are learning languages is they tend to neglect the phonetic side and it's a shame because you work that like a muscle, literally. If you really want to make progress on that, you gotta combine it with something like Speechling or Forvo to listen to native speakers say the words, and ideally you record your own voice to compare yourself. ChatGPT can give you context or explain grammar to you, but for pronunciation you need real audio feedback.
What intrigues me about your approach is that you get your texts corrected. That's useful but it's pretty passive as a process. In my opinion, what works better is when you create content yourself on subjects you're actually interested in. I've been reading a ton in English for years now, mostly gardening and physio articles, and that's how I pick up the terminology. ChatGPT can help you write posts about your passions and fix stuff, but it's gotta come from you, not just be an exercise. And honestly, finding a conversation exchange partner, even online, it's incomparable for actually practicing. Bots are cool for getting the basics down but a real person is gonna ask you questions you didn't think of.
I'm not really in agreement with the idea that ChatGPT is truly limited for pronunciation, I mean it depends on how you use it - you can ask it to give you specific sentences and then check on YouTube how it actually sounds, or use Google Translate which reads it out loud for you. Me personally I don't really have the time with firefighter shifts, but what I'd do is combine that with English podcasts or videos about stuff you like, like ice fishing or whatever, rather than just correcting texts.
The thing that really makes a difference is listening to people who actually talk - YouTube videos without subtitles, podcasts, Twitch streams about electricity or aquariums depending on what you're into. ChatGPT for corrections is cool but you gotta combine it with that or you're just working on your written grammar, not your ear.
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