It is often said that the best way to learn a new language is through conversation with native speakers. I don’t have a native Spanish speaker to hand, willing to sit through my butchering of their language, but Babbel might have the next best thing.
Babell, one of the many language learning apps out there right now, has unveiled a new feature simply called ‘speak’. Currently in its beta testing version, this feature puts you into direct conversation with an AI.
What is it like?
As I mentioned above, my Spanish-speaking ability is below average. I have spent time learning it on apps on and off for the past couple of years, with most of that knowledge now gone.
With that in mind, I didn’t have the highest hopes for being dropped into a conversation. Luckily, these conversations range from basic to more advanced. I started off with ‘say hi to your neighbor’.
This had three tasks for me to complete:
- Greet your neighbor
- Say how you’re doing
- Ask your neighbor how they’re doing
When you jump into a conversation, Babell starts off the chat. Despite being an AI-generated voice, it sounds realistic, adopting a clear accent, which is important for learning pronunciation.
For each part of the conversation, you can ask for it to be slowed down, repeated, or translated into your own language. You can also ask for a hint if you’re not sure what to say.
The goal here is simply to speak back. The AI does alter itself to whatever you say. Which can be both good and bad. It allows for natural conversation flow, but it will also follow you if you go wildly off topic, or it will ignore the issue if what you're saying makes absolutely no sense.
The app will also automatically correct whatever you’re saying into Spanish (or French or German or whatever). If your pronunciation is off but close enough, it won’t tell you, but it will just input the phrases anyway.
Each conversation is a simple back and forth. It is a nice system, offering a conversational learning style, without the pressure of a real person watching you bumble about trying to think of an answer.
These conversations are pretty short, lasting for five or six lines each before the AI wraps things up. Then, you’re greeted with a page listing all the new words you’ve learnt and a score of how many of your tasks you have completed.
Each conversation is pretty short, lasting for five or six lines each before the AI wraps things up
Despite still being in the early stages, there are quite a few conversations to try, spread out across different categories. Some felt more complicated than others, but they were mostly fairly straightforward.
You’re not going to be experiencing complicated conversations or unpicking complex ideas — it's mostly just introducing yourself and asking simple questions in return.
I did find that some of the conversations started to feel repetitive. I seemed to just be having similar conversations but with different scenarios, which could impact how engaged a user would stay with the app over a longer period of time.
What I would like to see added?
Like a lot of AI tools, it's too forgiving
This kind of AI voice technology is growing in popularity. Companies are using them to teach public speaking skills and how to complete a good interview. It was only a matter of time before it made its way into the language learning community.
In many ways, it's a great feature. It provides clear Spanish-speaking voices for you to hear, allows for a conversational learning style, and offers assistance where needed, but doesn’t force it on you.
However, like a lot of AI tools, it's too forgiving. You aren’t measured on your pronunciation or even your ability to have a conversation. You can reply incorrectly in a conversation, or quite frankly, say whatever you want as long as it is in the right language.
At one point, my mispronunciation of a common phrase went from a polite greeting to a complete rambling phrase, which the AI just completely ignored.
This is just a beta version, however. Hopefully, in the future, we’ll see Babell develop the technology further, creating an AI that is more willing to be critical of your performance.
While there are improvements that need to be made, I’m hopeful that this is the future of language learning. Maybe I’ll finally actually be able to learn a language. Or I can at least convince myself that it is true.
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