AI Guides › Workbench
By Nigel Guy · 8 min read
The usual way to "practise" a language with AI is to open a chatbot, type "let's speak French", and then make small talk about the weather until one of you runs out of ideas. It feels productive, but you are not rehearsing the conversation you actually dread, such as the pharmacy counter or the landlord's phone call. And most chatbots are too polite to tell you that you have been getting the same verb wrong for twenty minutes.
The rule: practise one named scene at a time, with a clear goal and a set way of being corrected. If you haven't decided both before you start, you're making conversation, not practising.
The mechanism is the Scene Card: five lines you fill in before any session, whichever tool you use.
| Line | What you write | Example (hypothetical) |
|---|---|---|
| Scene | Where you are and who you are talking to | A Lisbon pharmacy, an impatient pharmacist |
| Goal | What must be true when the scene ends | You have bought something for a child's cough and know the dose |
| Must-use | Three phrases or structures you want to drill | "Preciso de…", asking about dosage, asking whether it's suitable for a child |
| Level | Basic, intermediate or advanced, and your speaking speed | Basic, slow |
| Correction | When you want to be corrected and how | One correction after each of my turns, short, in English |
The Correction line is the one most people leave out.
Everything below is £0 at time of writing. Availability depends on your country and app version, so check before you build a routine around any of it.
| Tool | What it does | Cost / free tier | Best for | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Translate Practice | Lets you choose a level, then gives you listening and speaking scenarios with an AI partner; you can also describe your own scenario | Free, in the Translate app for Android and iOS | Beginners who want structure and a daily habit | Limited beta. English speakers can learn only French, German, Portuguese or Spanish |
| ChatGPT Voice (Free) | Real-time spoken conversation in your target language | Free plan gets "limited access" to GPT-Live-1 mini; OpenAI doesn't publish a number | Speaking practice, natural interruptions | Daily allowance isn't stated and may change. It corrects you only if you ask it to |
| Claude voice mode (Free) | Spoken or typed conversation, with text and voice in the same chat | Available on the Free plan; counts toward your normal usage limits | Roleplay plus a written debrief afterwards | Non-English voice support is in beta |
| Little Language Lessons (Google Labs) | Three browser experiments: Tiny Lesson, Slang Hang and Word Cam | Free at labs.google/lll | Vocabulary preparation before a scene | An experiment, so it can change or be withdrawn. It gives you lessons but doesn't hold a conversation |
Google's help page gives the route as follows. Open the Translate app, tap Practice, then Get started. Choose your display language and the language you are learning, pick Basic, Intermediate or Advanced, describe why you are learning, and tap Start practicing. You then choose a recommended scenario or write your own. A Listening activity has you tap the words you hear. A Speaking activity has you talk with the AI to complete set tasks, and hints are available when you get stuck.
Put your Scene Card's Scene and Goal lines into the custom scenario box. Google has also added daily streaks. A separate Pronounce button, which gives feedback on how you say a translated phrase, launched on Android in the US and India for English, Spanish and Hindi. We could not confirm that it has reached the UK, so don't count on it.
The catch is that you can't change how Practice corrects you. For that, use a general assistant.
Both tools will play any scene you describe, in most major languages, and correct you in whatever way you choose. Setup:
Type the prompt below before you start speaking. Fill in the square brackets from your Scene Card:
You are a patient language partner and tutor for [TARGET_LANGUAGE].
Roleplay this scene with me: [SCENE — place, and who you are playing].
My goal by the end: [GOAL].
My level: [BASIC / INTERMEDIATE / ADVANCED]. Use vocabulary and speed to match,
and keep each of your turns to one to three sentences.
I want to practise using: [PHRASE_1], [PHRASE_2], [PHRASE_3]. Steer the scene
so I need each one at least once.
How to run it:
1. Stay in character and speak only [TARGET_LANGUAGE] while in the scene.
2. After each of my turns, if I made a mistake, add one short line starting
"Fix:" that gives the corrected sentence, then a reason in [EXPLANATION_LANGUAGE].
Correct only the single most important error per turn. If I made no
mistake, say nothing about it.
3. If I'm stuck for more than one turn, offer a hint, not the full answer.
4. End the scene once my goal is achieved or after [NUMBER] of my turns.
Before we start: if any bracket above is blank or unclear, ask me about it
instead of guessing. Then confirm the scene in one sentence and open with your
first line in character.
Fill in: the target language, your Scene Card lines, the language you want explanations in, and a turn limit (eight to twelve is a sensible session).
Once the scene ends, switch to text in the same chat. Both tools keep the context, so you can ask for a debrief:
The scene is over. Using only what I actually said in this conversation:
1. List up to five recurring mistakes, each with my original wording, the
corrected version, and the rule behind it in one line.
2. List the must-use phrases from my brief and mark each as "used correctly",
"used with errors" or "not used".
3. Suggest one variation of this scene for next time that would push the
weakest item above.
Format as a short table followed by the suggestion. Don't praise or pad.
If the transcript is too short to show a pattern, say that rather than
inventing one.
Fill in: nothing. Just paste it into the same chat once the roleplay is finished.
Voice transcripts aren't verbatim (OpenAI says so itself), so speech recognition can quietly tidy a mistake you made. Type part of the scene if accuracy matters.
Go to labs.google/lll and open Tiny Lesson. Type your Scene line, for example "buying cough medicine at a pharmacy", and it gives you vocabulary, phrases and grammar tips for that situation. Slang Hang generates a conversation between native speakers so you can hear how people really talk. Use it as a warm-up, not a replacement.
| Your situation | Use |
|---|---|
| You're an English speaker learning French, German, Portuguese or Spanish, and you want a daily habit | Google Translate Practice |
| You need a scene the app doesn't offer, or a language it doesn't cover | ChatGPT Voice or Claude voice mode with the Scene Card prompt |
| You want a written record of your mistakes | Claude or ChatGPT, using the debrief prompt |
| You don't yet have the words for the scene | Tiny Lesson first, then roleplay |
If one assistant's free allowance runs out mid-session, switch to the other rather than upgrading straight away.