Will AI Assuage Our Language Learning Anxiety?

The trouble is, if you care a lot about making a good impression with native speakers of said second language, putting yourself out there with a good chance of making mistakes can be a source of anxiety. To that end, not enough is said about how one can start to feel like less of an Estonian if you speak to another Estonian with less than perfect vocabulary, grammar, and so on. There’s no doubt this is felt in other heritage settings, too. Perhaps it would be less embarrassing to practice in a low stakes environment before conversing with other people.

The topic of artificial intelligence has already started to become tiresome when so many companies and individuals are seeking solutions and answers through it in recent years. But its application in a language learning context is quite intriguing.

[Smith utilizes] what he calls his “opening moves” or “magic sentences”; phrases that get repeated again and again based on how conversations with a new acquaintance usually take shape.

The idea came up in a video ad from polyglot Arieh Smith (better known as “Xiaomanyc” on YouTube), who’s become famous for his fun videos in which he surprises New Yorkers by speaking to them in a variety of languages. Mandarin Chinese is Smith’s strongest language after English, based on his study of the language in Beijing during a year abroad. He’s also proven himself in Spanish and has dipped into a broad selection among the world’s languages, from Cree and Norwegian to Haitian Creole and Urdu. Mostly utilizing what he calls his “opening moves” or “magic sentences”; phrases that get repeated again and again based on how conversations with a new acquaintance usually take shape.