☎️ I'm too tired to look for Korean friends

Life is busy and I want to keep practising speaking

Dear reader,

I feel tired these days, but last weekend I tried new apps to practise speaking Korean. I wanted to share my favourite with you.

To make it short: the official ChatGPT has a “phone call” mode. Yes, the free version. You speak into the microphone, and it answers without any button to be pressed or text to be typed.

They listen, process and answer without delay. I can pause the microphone as needed and leave voice mode at any moment.

I’m not sure when they added it, but I cannot believe I missed it. They call it voice mode and it works great. It’s like back and forth voice messaging, with so little delay it actually feels like you’re having a conversation.

The voice and TTS feels real and is actually nice to listen to. The voice recognition seems to be using AI, because it’s smarter than my phone’s built-in dictation. The UI is smooth and frictionless. It generates a script you can go back to at any time. Overall, I had a lovely time practising with it.

You can try it yourself by downloading their app on your phone. On your downloaded ChatGPT app (Android or iPhone), you just have to tap the headphones button to get started.

---

How have you been? I’ll be catching up on your comments and posts this week. Let me know if you know more chill apps I can use for language learning when I’m tired!

Best,

Lou

✍️ Dear language learner

Learn your target language with useful phrases! Here are a few to translate to test yourself. If they’re relevant to you, you can add them to your notes or spaced-repetition system.

🌱 Beginner

I will call you after work.

🌿 Intermediate

I can’t talk to the phone right now.

🌳 Advanced

I’m practising holding longer conversations to go into deeper topics.

Thank you for reading “I heard from Lou”. It can be hard to find people who share your passion for learning. If you have friends who might like this letter, let them know.