I used AI to learn Latin

"Have I told you I'm learning Latin?" I asked my partner.

She stared at me, "Yes you did, about eight years ago."

Oooff. What a zinger!

She didn't mean it as a mic drop joke, but it landed that way. You see, I bought Wheeler's Handbook for Latin about eight years ago, and in all that time, I've probably had it open for a total of 30 minutes.

But this time it's different...because of AI.

For learning language, ​ChatGPT's "voice mode"​ is really quite amazing. I started a session and said, "I'm learning Latin as a totally beginner, let's go." GPT was supportive and asked where to begin. I said, how about "I love you," how do you say that? It replied "Te Amo."

But instead of just seeing the words, I heard them.

I heard "TEY AH-MO." I repeated "Te Amo," back. Great job it said. Then I tested it and said, "So it's 'TEE YA-MO?' And GPT caught the difference and corrected me. Amazing. That's exactly what I was hoping for: instant, fast feedback.

From there, I was off to the races.

I learned that girl is "puella," and boy is "puer," which sounds kind of like "POO-AIR." I learned about cats and dogs, women and men, and even a few famous quotes like Julius Caesar's "Veni Vedi Vici," which means "I came, I saw, I conquered."

I was starting to know just enough to be dangerous. Here's the sentence I imagined and said out loud after less than an hour of learning: The man conquered the dog, but the man did not conquer the cat.

Vir canem vici, sed vir felem non vicit.

Think about what just happened.

I learned more Latin in 60 minutes than in the previous eight years of "wanting to."

Think about the amount of learning modalities packed into this one example of using AI to learn languages:

I imagined some simple words to learn. I heard them, I spoke them, and got immediate feedback (which transforms my usual weak area of auditory learning into a strength). Then I exited out of voice mode to view the transcript to see the spelling, which works a completely different part of the brain and spurs new connections to the English language that i didn't have before.

Is it as soulfully nourishing as traveling to Italy to immerse yourself in Italian? Of course not! But it's instantaneous feedback at any time. And with Latin being a dead language, good luck finding a place in which you can immerse yourself.

I share this story because AI is pretty amazing if you can fully open up your imagination.

The first and most important rule of engagement when working with AI is to imagine.

Do I love how people regurgitate and spam post on social media platforms? Of course not. But that's just a tiny sliver of what's possible.

What is a fuzzy, faded idea you have had over the years that never went anywhere?

Maybe you can now actually do it. For me, one idea was that I wanted to learn Latin. And after eight years of it just being an idea, I now have a fun and effective way to actually do it.

What else is possible? What can you imagine?

Watch this space for more on the 3 Rules of Engagement when working with AI.