I Tried AI for Japanese Speaking Practice – Here’s What I Learned

Don't Learn Japanese Using AI: A picture of an anime style young woman on the left and a real live human being on the right with a Japanese flag and pagoda in the background
People keep telling me AI chatbots are the future of Japanese language learning. So I tried a few. Here's why they're wrong.

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There’s some chatter lately about how Generative AI will “revolutionize” language learning – particularly when it comes to learning to speak a language like Japanese.

My first reaction to this was to bristle. But then I decided, rather than form an opinion absent experience, I should give a few GenAI Japanese bots a go.

My conclusion? They’re sort of fun. Maybe even a little useful as a prompt engine of sorts. In the end, however, I remained convinced you shouldn’t rely on a chatbot to do a job that living, breathing native Japanese speakers already do a thousand times better.

I tried a Japanese AI teacher and didn’t enjoy it

When I published my piece on why you should avoid Duolingo for Japanese, I noted one of the reasons was that the company was firing translators and resorting to AI. A few people pushed back on that.

“Doesn’t AI have some great applications for language learning?” they asked. Particularly, some insisted that Generative AI – which is semi-adept at faking human languages – can help people who don’t have Japanese teachers near them.

There are already a few of these services in the wild. I had a go with one of them, Speakpal.ai. (Not an affiliate link, by the way, because I could care less if you use this service.) My “teacher,” Ichiro Tanaka, did indeed give me a few useful corrections, such as telling me to use した後 instead of してから.

Speakpal.ai - Ichiro Tanaka corrects me

To “his” credit, Tanaka-sensei also spoke to me at length about the Kanto Massacre, the mass slaughter of Koreans due to the spread of disinformation after the Kanto Earthquake. And his opinions weren’t awful. I guess Tanaka isn’t built on Grok.

Speakpal.ai - Ichiro Tanaka talks about the Kanto Massacre

However, Ichiro-kun also had the annoying habit of correcting everything I said. I looked for a way to configure this (ease up corrections, delay reporting of corrections until the end of the session, etc.) but didn’t find it.

On the plus side, Tanaka-sensei is always there. If I wanted some Japanese practice, he’s right on hand whenever I need him. I see the convenience in that and in his bland “how was your day?” prompts.

While I didn’t use him long enough to test this, it’s also possible this GenAI chatbot could remember things about me over time. Techniques like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) mean that Tanaka-sensei could (technically) save our chats and cater his future conversations to my interests. In other words, the bot may actually be able to fake a personality.

But in our short back and forth, my interactions with this robot were…robotic. Tanaka-sensei never stopped mid-conversation, for example, to ask if I understood a term or a concept, like a real teacher or conversation partner might. The discussion never went off on interesting tangents, like real conversations do. My man had a script and he was sticking to it.

I never once had the sense I was having a conversation. I was being drilled and corrected, over and over. I can’t say that makes for an enjoyable Japanese speaking experience.

Get a (fake) anime girlfriend

After that, I got to thinking: what if what I’m looking for isn’t a tutor but just straight talk? I’ve been studying Japanese for years now. While my speaking lags slightly behind my reading and listening, I’m not a beginner. So what if I asked a fictional someone to spew speaking prompts at me for the mental practice?

I searched the App Store for AIチャット (AI chat) and found SynClub, which is available in multiple languages. The Japanese version is, as you might expect, extremely anime-fied.

SynClub - AI chatbot

So I decided to be cringe and try out my Japanese with a fake anime girlfriend.

After having a short convo with one character who repeatedly accused me of having an affair (it’s just like real life), the app let me talk for a few minutes to another character. I have to admit it was someone interesting and enjoyable. It definitely made me use my Japanese brain.

But then my freebie time limit ran out. The app prompted me to purchase coins to keep going.

Yikes. Those rates are getting into “just hire a Japanese tutor” territory.

Reviews from Japanese users, while generally positive, note that the AI technology powering the app isn’t quite there yet. Stock characters have stories that progress in chapters, but the characters are prone to forget your name or save progress between chapters (e.g., reverting to -san suffix after addressing you with yobisute, i.e., without an honorary suffix.)

I can’t believe I have to explain this, but here are the benefits of speaking Japanese with an actual Japanese person

Learn Japanese online quickly
Picture: rainmaker / PIXTA(ピクスタ)

All of this left me convinced that GenAI chatbots for language learning are trying to solve an already-solved problem.

If you want to get better at speaking in Japanese, talk with a Japanese speaker.

Look, I’m not anti-AI per se. I’ve worked in the tech industry. I see the value of some GenAI solutions. A customer service chatbot that supplements a Large Language Model (LLM) with a knowledge base of previous customer cases, for example. Or as an internal tool that can summarize large volumes of information.

Automation, including Gen AI, works best when it enhances the work of human beings. It shouldn’t replace their unique skills and experiences. Add in all of the ethical problems of AI – the use of copyrighted data for training data without permission or compensation, the environmental impact – and it’s hard to argue that there’s much value in spending your time and money interacting with a broken bot.

The Internet has long made it easy to find and interact with native speakers of whatever language you’re learning. UJ’s recommended partner, Preply (affiliate link), can connect you with numerous professional Japanese tutors at affordable rates. Other apps, like HelloTalk, can connect you with language exchange partners who want to learn your language for even less.

Talking with an actual Japanese person to improve your Japanese will give you benefits you’ll never get from a chatbot. You will:

  • Talk about more – and about more interesting – topics than a generic bot will ever dream up
  • Learn about Japan, not from a disinterested computer program, but from a real, living human being who’s passionate about where they live and proud of where they come from
  • Get help in your Japanese from a tutor who can suit their teaching and correction experience to your personality and learning style
  • Learn about the real-world experiences and struggles of an actual person who’s spent most of their life navigating modern Japanese society
  • Feel good knowing that you’re helping a professional Japanese teacher or tutor earn a decent livelihood
  • Possibly make a friend!

I don’t believe I have to convince people of the value of talking with other human beings. That’s a sign of the times, I guess.

Language is the foundation of all human relationships. Don’t let a bot take the joy of connection away from you.

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