I wish I had this tool when I started out

Hey KoreKara Squad, 

Welcome back, today I wanted to talk about something topical and relatively new for the language learning community… AI, more specifically ChatGPT. I highly suggest you play around with it if you haven’t yet. It's clear that this technology will only improve, and how language learners can make use of it is worth exploring.

💡 Tip of the week

There are a million and one possibilities when it comes to ChatGPT’s potential,  but I wanted to lay out some useful discoveries I’ve made when it comes to language learning.

#1. Explaining Grammar

Without a doubt, this has been the most use I’ve gotten out of ChatGPT. Just copy and paste a sentence you don’t quite understand and ask it to break it down for you. Because it can look at the entire sentence and not just one word at a time, it can explain how different parts interact with one another. This is extremely helpful when it comes to colloquialisms and grammar that’s a bit more nuanced and context-dependent.

You can even plug your own writings in to get feedback on your sentence structure and correct use of grammar.

#2. Vocabulary Practice

You can prompt ChatGPT to give you a vocabulary list on any topic you could think of including: JLPT vocab, engineering terminology, medical/anatomical parts, and even common words used in anime. Not only can it generate a list of words and define them, but it can incorporate them into a story it creates for you. New vocabulary incorporated into a relevant or engaging story will allow you to see them in context and get a better understanding of them. It’s also just fun reading a brand-new story created just for you.

#3. Conversation Practice (at your own risk)

This is a bit harder to recommend but it could still be useful. You basically treat ChatGPT like a conversation partner and text back and forth. Again, at your own risk. It may generate weird unnatural responses and it will most likely butcher any cultural nuances you may be trying to talk about. It’s still a fun little practice that can be used to motivate you to get out there and communicate with real people.

I’m sure ChatGPT is just the beginning of new tech and resources that will revolutionize language learning. While it’s still perhaps in its infancy, it can be a powerful tool to help you understand more nuanced, context-dependent grammar and vocabulary. I highly recommend incorporating ChatGPT into your language learning routine.

📺 Immersion of the week 

This week’s immersion recommendation is Daily Japanese with Naoko. Her videos contain simple, slow, and clear Japanese. She discusses a variety of topics and her videos have JP and English subs so you’ll never get lost. I would highly recommend checking out her content if Japanese is still hitting your ears like an impenetrable wall of sounds.

✍️ Kanji of the week

This word is made up of the words 人工 and 知能. 人工 is “human” and “craft” together meaning artificial. 知能 is “wisdom” and “ability.” When combined they mean intelligence or intellect. These component parts together mean artificial intelligence – 人工知能.

🗣️ What’s going on in the KoreKara Club?

I just hosted a club meeting last week, super fun to talk to you guys and help out where I can!

Come hang out and talk about what you’ve immersed with this week. We’re doing weekly accountability posts to hold ourselves accountable and grow together.

I’m also working on a video for the channel hopefully can get that up this month. See you guys soon!

Eric