Character.ai (also known as c.ai) is a wildly-popular AI platform that allows users to chat with artificial versions of their favorite celebrities, historical figures, and AI-created friends. It’s taken the world by storm, as people find new and creative ways to use the platform.
Sure, there’s roleplaying games and storytelling. But you can also use your c.ai time to improve your own language skills! That’s why in this blog, we’re going to take a look at how to use Character.AI to learn a new language.
The Basics of Character.ai
Character.ai is a popular platform, that provides users with an immersive and interactive experience that gives them the ability to explore, learn, and create conversations in ways that can now push the boundaries of traditional AI chatbots.
In some ways, it’s very similar to AI systems like ChatGPT and Claude 2, but the focus on interaction between fictionalized AI personalities and fabricated celebrities makes it shine.
Through the platform’s character creation section, users have the ability to build their own AI characters to interact with, design their own personal avatars, and then take Character.AI with them wherever they go via the mobile apps on their smartphones.
This is why many users have engaged their AI characters in roleplaying and storytelling scenarios, to interact with different personalities, such as historical figures and celebrities, or simply to have entertaining real-time conversations with the AI. Meanwhile, others have confessed to using them for therapeutic purposes and emotional connection.
We’ve talked a lot about it, see our articles:
- Character.ai Guidelines: Your Essential Handbook for Engaging with AI Characters
- How To Make A Character.ai Character: Unlock the Secrets to Crafting Digital Personalities!
- How To Make A Group Chat On Character.AI
But when it comes to using Character.AI for educational purposes, what better way could there be to learn a new language than with your own AI chatbot to help you improve your vocabulary, or even be your very own personal pocket translator and foreign speaking companion?
You can even use your character to practice common circumstances when visiting another country! For example, you could use Character.ai to practice going to the train station in French, renting a car in Spanish, or practice ordering a meal in Italian.
How to Use Character.ai to Learn a New Language
In order to learn a new language using Character.AI, all you need to do is follow these simple steps:
Create Your Bilingual Character
You will have to create a new AI character that is able to speak in the language that you want to learn, as well as your own language. If you haven’t already opened an account, then you can do so by clicking here.
In order to create your bilingual AI character, you’ll need to define its attributes with a description, which can be long or short, and will help people understand your character, especially if their name is ambiguous.
For our bilingual AI character, the attributes will have to include the Portuguese language with dialects, not just standard English.
But first, we need to add a greeting for our AI character:
Hi, I am Joao from the Algarve. I can help you to learn and practice conversational Portuguese.
Next, we will have to add Joao’s attributes, so we have to click on the Edit Details (Advanced) button on the bottom right of the screen.
Before we set the attributes, we also want our Joao to have a face, so we clicked on the Create Image button and added the following:
Joao is a Portuguese 27-year-old male who likes surfing and playing guitar in his spare time.
Then we let the AI to work its magic:
Now that we had our Joao avatar set, it was time to add our character attributes, which included the character voice that we chose from a default list, and our long description:
I work as a PR executive in Lisbon, but my passion is surfing, having grown up in the Algarve. My English is excellent, because I use it in my job and I taught myself to play Beatles songs on my guitar as a kid. That is why I’m also happy to act as your translator and help you chat with native Portuguese speakers. I’ll explain what they’re telling you in English and afterwards, you tell me how to respond and I’ll give you that in Portuguese, which will help you to learn my language better.
We added a translation attribute to our AI character, Joao, as part of the function. The translator definition includes a conversation with a hypothetical third party.
Note that when creating your AI character with attributes for another language, it will begin the conversation in that language. You can also use a mix of languages in your attributes and definition if you want to your AI character to use multiple languages in their responses.
And now you’re ready to engage in conversation with your bilingual AI character in the desired language, which gives you the opportunity to practice your language skills, and learn in a unique and interactive way while also having some fun.
Practice Real Speech with Your c.ai Friend
When using Character.AI to help you learn a new language, the platform gives you the ability to exercise your language skills with real speech. This will enable you to have real-time conversations with your bilingual AI character, as well as practice speaking the language that you’re learning.
When using Character.AI to help you learn a new language, the platform gives you the ability to exercise your language skills with real speech. This will enable you to have real-time conversations with your bilingual AI character, as well as practice speaking the language that you’re learning.
Your AI characters can also act as language tutors by providing exercises, teaching language rules, and even correcting your spelling and syntax, which can be helpful when learning any language.
Here, we started by asking Joao to give us a basic tutorial on how to introduce ourselves in Portuguese:
Hello Joao, I want to introduce myself to someone in Portuguese. What should I say?
And this is how Joao responded:
Interacting with your AI character allows you to chat with them in the language you are learning, so that you can practice and improve your language skills in a conversational setting.
By leveraging the capabilities of Character.AI, you can immerse yourself in the language learning process, practice speaking, receive tutoring, and engage in conversations to enhance your language skills.
What Else Can Character.ai Do For Language Learning?
To effectively use your Character.AI bilingual chatbot for language learning, consider interacting with other AI characters for more language practice.
If you engage in conversations with other AI characters to practice real-time speech and improve your language skills, it will make for a more immersive approach, and just like being in the country where the language is spoken.
Engaging in conversations with your AI character bot will give you a convenient and accessible way to practice the language that you’re learning, which will be especially helpful for more advanced levels.
That’s because it allows for continuous practice and isn’t as intimidating as being in a classroom of people.
By following these tips, you can effectively leverage Character.AI to learn a new language, practice your speech in real time, and engage in conversations to enhance your language skills.
Popular Languages For Learning With Character.ai
Many users are already using Character.AI to great effect to learn the language of their choice, due to the platform’s use of supporting multiple languages and dialects, and the fact that the AI character bots are able to switch languages during conversations, as well as provide translations.
English as a Second Language (ESL)
It should come as no surprise that many who have English as a second language are using Character.AI to brush up on their grammar, expand their vocabulary, and practice their conversational skills in the language.
Other Popular Languages and Dialects
Language learners are also utilizing Character.AI to study and improve their German, Spanish, French, and even Japanese language skills, because of the versatility of the platform.
Character.AI is currently able to support languages and dialects, including the above as well as Italian, Dutch, Turkish, Russian, Indonesian, and Chinese, allowing for learners to create characters that can respond in different languages, making it a versatile platform for language learning.
While there isn’t a dedicated language learning community or forum on Character.AI, users have discussed using the platform in this way on platforms like Reddit, highlighting the potential benefits of interacting with AI bots for language mastery.
In addition, Character.AI has been recognized by Redditors as a powerful learning tool that can be used to not only expand their vocabulary, and practice conversational skills, but it also gives them an interactive and immersive way to improve their foreign language proficiency.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Character.AI is a versatile tool that can be used for a variety of language learning tasks, particularly for practicing conversations. Here are some examples of how you can use Character.AI for language learning:
Role-Playing Conversations
As an example, you can create a scenario where you interact with your AI character in a specific context. For instance, you could simulate a conversation asking your character to be an AI barista in a café to help you order drinks by specifying how you want them made.
You could also interact with various AI characters that speak the language you want to learn in text adventure games.
Practicing Vocabulary and Grammar
Use Character.ai to practice specific vocabulary and grammar constructs. For instance, you could get your character to help you practice the language by using simple, introductory words and phrases. They could also provide translations where necessary if you’re struggling.
For instance, just like we did in our example, you could have a conversation with your character that translates your sentences into another language, helping you understand how sentences are structured in that language.
Remember, the effectiveness of these tasks will depend on your level of proficiency in the language you’re learning and the complexity of the conversations you’re having with your AI character.
Final Thoughts
Character.ai has already emerged as a dynamic and versatile AI chatbot tool for various purposes, including learning languages, because of the way it offers an immersive experience that goes beyond traditional language learning methods.
The platform’s unique feature of creating personalized AI characters with distinct attributes and personalities provides users with a novel approach to language acquisition. Its ability to support multiple languages and dialects widens its appeal, making it suitable for learners across diverse linguistic backgrounds.
Of course, like many other LLM systems, Character.ai characters will sometimes hallucinate, providing you incorrect information or translation. This is always a danger with any automated translation system. But if you stick with it, you should be able to recognize and work around these errors.
Good luck, buena suerte, veil gluck!
