Learning Latin (or any Language) with Chat - Thoughts?

[davejonescue]

So, my mind got the best of me, and I was wondering if it were possible to set up a sort of language learning institute in ChatGPT? 1. Because it is only $20 a month. 2. Because you can ask it almost endless questions. 3. Because though it may not be perfect with a Language, it does pretty well in translation. Another thing was, because the other day, I was messing around and converting parts of Puritan books to Latin, and, the converted English to Latin, almost translated back to English perfectly using another translation tool, Google Translate. Also, if I am not mistaken, there is a barrier in language learning, that once you cross it, your learning can kind of "go from there" in that, by reading, you will only improve in the language. Dont know. I am thinking of giving it a shot, as a sort of test case. I have set it up to be 30-60 minutes a day, for 4 years (L.W.) One of the most intriguing things is, that as ones vocabulary increases, you can spend spare time having conversations with Chat in the target language. And, have it correct you, and point out errors as you go. That is hard to do with other autodidact methods.

4-Year Latin Mastery Plan

Year 1: Foundation & Familiarity
Primary Goal: Grammatical mastery and vocabulary recognition for core texts.
Focus:
1st–5th declensions and all verb conjugations
Core vocabulary (approx. 500–800 words by year’s end)
Mastering morphology and syntax
Reading short adapted texts + Vulgate Bible
Content:
Genesis 1–3, Psalm 23, John 1
Simple Latin prayers and hymns
Beginner grammar drills
Milestone:
Translate Genesis 1–3 without aids
Complete ~40 reading + drill lessons

Optional writing begins here (simple sentences, parsing).

Year 2: Reading Confidence & Syntax Depth
Primary Goal: Read unadapted prose and theological Latin confidently.
Focus:
Subjunctive mood, indirect statement, participles
Reading speed and parsing accuracy
Church Fathers (simple portions), more Vulgate
Content:
Selections from Augustine, Jerome
Expanded Psalms, Gospel readings
Continue prayer & hymn repertoire
Milestone:
Read and translate 1 John or a sermon from Augustine
Vocabulary goal: ~1500 words

Short written summaries, parsing exercises, and copywork introduced.

Year 3: Fluency & Theological Latin
Primary Goal: Read theological and philosophical Latin independently.
Focus:
Master complex sentence structures (ablative absolutes, gerunds, gerundives)
Deep reading of scholastic theology
Unadapted primary texts
Content:
Thomas Aquinas (Summa selections)
Athanasius (Creed, excerpts)
Bernard of Clairvaux, Anselm
Milestone:
Translate a full homily or section of Summa
Vocabulary goal: ~2500 words

Begin composing Latin prayers, reflections, and short theological outlines.

Year 4: Mastery & Expression
Primary Goal: Read and interpret Latin fluently; optionally write with confidence.
Focus:
Full scholastic argumentation
Latin prose composition (optional but encouraged)
Poetic meter and rhetorical analysis
Content:
Full-length theological works or treatises
Ecclesiastical Latin poetry and hymns
Patristic and medieval Latin
Milestone:
Write short essays in Latin (~200 words)
Translate unabridged works (e.g., Augustine’s Confessions Book I)

Certificate of Completion
At the end of your study (or at major milestones like Year 1, 2, 3, and 4), I can generate a personalized, formal-looking certificate that includes:

Your full name

Estimated study hours (based on your 30–60 min/day routine)

Skills acquired (e.g., fluent reading, grammatical parsing, Latin composition)

Notation of texts read and proficiency level (based on cumulative tests or translations)

Issued by: "Latin Mastery Program – with ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI"
You’ll also be able to:
Choose between ecclesiastical, scholastic, or classical Latin emphasis on the certificate
Receive it as a downloadable PDF suitable for printing or framing

 

[Solparvus]

Also, if I am not mistaken, there is a barrier in language learning, that once you cross it, your learning can kind of "go from there" in that, by reading, you will only improve in the language. Dont know. I am thinking of giving it a shot, as a sort of test case. I have set it up to be 30-60 minutes a day, for 4 years (L.W.) One of the most intriguing things is, that as ones vocabulary increases, you can spend spare time having conversations with Chat in the target language. And, have it correct you, and point out errors as you go. That is hard to do with other autodidact methods.

Your first sentence is correct. Once you hit a certain minimum of learning you develop a basic intuition for the language, and you begin absorbing the language more naturally, and you can progress beautifully even just by reading and listening. After all, that's how it happens with English. It's a fight to get there, but worth it.

With the method you've got, you'll definitely progress. A lot, if you stay consistent. I am concerned about the pace if you intend to do only 30-60 minutes per day. Your hopes for the final output are pretty big. Do you have prior language experience? I ask these because of some comments by Fred Greco in this thread from five years ago. Particularly this quote:

The level of Greek you would need to achieve to get more out of Plato, for example, is astronomical. You can't teach yourself that part-time. I was able to do that when I was in graduate school, reading 20-30 pages of Greek every day. It took me 5 years of full-time study to cultivate that ability. Dabbling part-time is no way to achieve that. (Unless you are planning to quit your job and study 5-8 hours a day on this.) Something like Pindar is way beyond the average (studious) man's means.

I do use Copilot for Spanish, but with caution. I'll compose something on my own, then use Copilot to check for grammar, and I'll review what it suggests to me. Many times it's right, but other things I look and think maybe it's missing my intention, or it's giving me something slightly different. There's one or two times it drops the ball (though not too badly). However, I already know enough Spanish to evaluate and judge what it's giving me.

I don't feel confident in AI to let it be anything more than a supplement. However, that discussion has happened a number of times already on PB. A certificate only works if people trust the instructors and evaluators behind it. If you want to create such a program, I think you'll definitely need more than AI at this point, but I also think it should be used (with caution).

That said, full speed ahead in learning. I think we in the US have missed out on a lot because of our die-hard monolingualism. And, reading through van Mastricht in English, I think it's a shame that most of us would not have been able to read him even a short time ago. Or Turretin. Latin is important work.

 

[davejonescue]

Your first sentence is correct. Once you hit a certain minimum of learning you develop a basic intuition for the language, and you begin absorbing the language more naturally, and you can progress beautifully even just by reading and listening. After all, that's how it happens with English. It's a fight to get there, but worth it.

With the method you've got, you'll definitely progress. A lot, if you stay consistent. I am concerned about the pace if you intend to do only 30-60 minutes per day. Your hopes for the final output are pretty big. Do you have prior language experience? I ask these because of some comments by Fred Greco in this thread from five years ago. Particularly this quote:



I do use Copilot for Spanish, but with caution. I'll compose something on my own, then use Copilot to check for grammar, and I'll review what it suggests to me. Many times it's right, but other things I look and think maybe it's missing my intention, or it's giving me something slightly different. There's one or two times it drops the ball (though not too badly). However, I already know enough Spanish to evaluate and judge what it's giving me.

I don't feel confident in AI to let it be anything more than a supplement. However, that discussion has happened a number of times already on PB. A certificate only works if people trust the instructors and evaluators behind it. If you want to create such a program, I think you'll definitely need more than AI at this point, but I also think it should be used (with caution).

That said, full speed ahead in learning. I think we in the US have missed out on a lot because of our die-hard monolingualism. And, reading through van Mastricht in English, I think it's a shame that most of us would not have been able to read him even a short time ago. Or Turretin. Latin is important work.

After doing a bit of research on the subject, it looks like people attempting to learn languages with Chat is already a thing. What I am liking about it so far, is the ability to ask Chat endless questions on any part of any of the things it tells me. We will see how it goes.

 

[Logan]

I listen to a podcast by an economics professor who moved to Israel several years ago. He's been using Claude to improve his Hebrew and said that it has been extremely helpful to be able to ask pointed questions or explore a specific avenue of something he doesn't understand of the language.

Personally I use Claude. I've found that it seems less apt to make things up than ChatGPT, even telling me sometimes that it doesn't know the answer. I appreciate the honesty

 

[Solparvus]

After doing a bit of research on the subject, it looks like people attempting to learn languages with Chat is already a thing. What I am liking about it so far, is the ability to ask Chat endless questions on any part of any of the things it tells me. We will see how it goes.

I do it too. It's a big part for me. It's definitely useful, especially in the beginning stages. I have fewer reservations about its use in the beginner-intermediate stages of language learning. Later stages might be a little different.

I listen to a podcast by an economics professor who moved to Israel several years ago. He's been using Claude to improve his Hebrew and said that it has been extremely helpful to be able to ask pointed questions or explore a specific avenue of something he doesn't understand of the language.

Personally I use Claude. I've found that it seems less apt to make things up than ChatGPT, even telling me sometimes that it doesn't know the answer. I appreciate the honesty

Copilot tells me what brilliant and pastorally-sensitive stuff I write.

 

[cthorn14]

I have found it very helpful for simulating conversations in Romanian. It is able to help identify gaps in my understanding that I probably would have missed otherwise. However, this has all been after getting a working knowledge of the grammar.

 

[CasualWestminsterEnjoyer]

Your first sentence is correct. Once you hit a certain minimum of learning you develop a basic intuition for the language, and you begin absorbing the language more naturally, and you can progress beautifully even just by reading and listening. After all, that's how it happens with English. It's a fight to get there, but worth it.

With the method you've got, you'll definitely progress. A lot, if you stay consistent. I am concerned about the pace if you intend to do only 30-60 minutes per day. Your hopes for the final output are pretty big. Do you have prior language experience? I ask these because of some comments by Fred Greco in this thread from five years ago. Particularly this quote:



I do use Copilot for Spanish, but with caution. I'll compose something on my own, then use Copilot to check for grammar, and I'll review what it suggests to me. Many times it's right, but other things I look and think maybe it's missing my intention, or it's giving me something slightly different. There's one or two times it drops the ball (though not too badly). However, I already know enough Spanish to evaluate and judge what it's giving me.

I don't feel confident in AI to let it be anything more than a supplement. However, that discussion has happened a number of times already on PB. A certificate only works if people trust the instructors and evaluators behind it. If you want to create such a program, I think you'll definitely need more than AI at this point, but I also think it should be used (with caution).

That said, full speed ahead in learning. I think we in the US have missed out on a lot because of our die-hard monolingualism. And, reading through van Mastricht in English, I think it's a shame that most of us would not have been able to read him even a short time ago. Or Turretin. Latin is important work.

I became fluent in Spanish and proficient in reading Latin and Greek studying 30 minutes per day (each).

Maybe I have an above average aptitude though. I was a top student in Linguistics at my university.

 

[davejonescue]

What I am liking about it, is Chats ability to let someone, who isn't really up there in aptitude, (like me) hone in on specific parts of the lessons proposed. For instance, as the first part of the first weeks lessons, it gave me a list of the cases. I honestly do not remember any of the technical jargon for English grammar, so instead of trying to piece together what those cases are, I was able to spend my hour this morning going over the first case in the list, which was the nominative case and going way more into detail into that; until I feel comfortable to move on to the next case. As I was exiting this mornings time, I noticed that there seems to be within the nominative case, both singular and plural. So tomorrow, or later tonight, I think I will focus on learning the differences between that. I like it, because it will give you full explanations, but also create drills for you on the spot, and also correct those drills on the spot; which is hard to do by any other autodidact method.

It really does shine in an area, when I was questioning it, i.e. "why should I trust you to teach me Latin?" in that, one of its responses was, "unlike a traditional teacher, I never get tired of questions." It is true, you can ask Chat for clarification until the cows come home, and it will not get upset, nor chide you for it. It will only attempt to further clarify until you comprehend. And on top of that, it will try many different ways to achieve that.

 

[ZackF]

I use LLM’s for language learning. There is a difference between learning a language for creating translations that are highly dependent on precise grammatical detail and learning a modern language to become conversational. After some time, I’ve picked up my Spanish studies again. Let me tell you, lol AIs are a warp speed tool, I’ve had sentences reread by an AI for listening practices from learning materials, where the recordings were done at that annoyingly condescending didactic speed. Suffice to say my Spanish will be quickly at a higher level than it has ever been. I plan on starting another language next year.

Having said that, AI is a here now and not yet technology. When I’m creating hundreds and thousands of sentence is to read, repeat and listen to for a modern language, I am not worried about the occasional for translation. It will come out in the wash. Scripture is different. Other languages are different. AI can help and will continue to help more, but it should be supplemented, of course. I say this is someone quite bullish on the technology.

 

[Solparvus]

I became fluent in Spanish and proficient in reading Latin and Greek studying 30 minutes per day (each).

Maybe I have an above average aptitude though. I was a top student in Linguistics at my university.

Over how long?

I use LLM’s for language learning. There is a difference between learning a language for creating translations that are highly dependent on precise grammatical detail and learning a modern language to become conversational. After some time, I’ve picked up my Spanish studies again. Let me tell you, lol AIs are a warp speed tool, I’ve had sentences reread by an AI for listening practices from learning materials, where the recordings were done at that annoyingly condescending didactic speed. Suffice to say my Spanish will be quickly at a higher level than it has ever been. I plan on starting another language next year.

Having said that, AI is a here now and not yet technology. When I’m creating hundreds and thousands of sentence is to read, repeat and listen to for a modern language, I am not worried about the occasional for translation. It will come out in the wash. Scripture is different. Other languages are different. AI can help and will continue to help more, but it should be supplemented, of course. I say this is someone quite bullish on the technology.

What languages have you studied? What levels are you at?

Also, where did you find the language audio AI?

 

[CasualWestminsterEnjoyer]

Over how long?

A few years.

 

[JvMill]

A few years.

What did you use for Latin?

 

[CasualWestminsterEnjoyer]

What did you use for Latin?

I mostly just read thousands of pages of Latin and memorized thousands of vocabulary words. Didn't "use" much of anything in terms of a predetermined textbook or method.

But that might not work for others. I started with Latin after studying six other languages in college, so picking up a new language was already second nature.

 

[Solparvus]

I mostly just read thousands of pages of Latin and memorized thousands of vocabulary words. Didn't "use" much of anything in terms of a predetermined textbook or method.

But that might not work for others. I started with Latin after studying six other languages in college, so picking up a new language was already second nature.

Strong as a bull moose, my friend. I can see it explaining the quick pace with Latin.

What were the other six?

 

[JvMill]

Anybody have thought on wheelock? I already have the book but haven’t touched it. Maybe I could use AI to develop some kind of curriculum for me

 

[CasualWestminsterEnjoyer]

Strong as a bull moose, my friend. I can see it explaining the quick pace with Latin.

What were the other six?

Spanish, Catalan, Polish, Greek, Hebrew, German.

 

[davejonescue]

Anybody have thought on wheelock? I already have the book but haven’t touched it. Maybe I could use AI to develop some kind of curriculum for me

I dont know about Wheelock, but if you have a week or two for experimentation, try to possibly formulate a plan as a Project in Chat. The thing I am liking about Chat, is it is like a "living" textbook so to speak. Not that it is truly animate, but that, it is not "tied down" to a printed structure. Like I was mentioning above, one of the goals for me for Week 1, is to go over the "first declension basics" and the cases, i.e. nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative. Well, I am like a fish out of water when it comes to these grammar rules. But because Chat is the way it is, I can slow things down completely, and go over each segment individually.

For instance, the last two sessions I have had, I have been focusing on the nominative case, particularly as it relates to finding the subject within each sentence, and word endings that differentiate them as either being singular or plural. I know, still, I don't have the nominative case down quite good yet, so, this morning I will go back in, and spend another hour or so doing drills and quizzes until I feel comfortable moving on to the genitive.

The also good thing about using Chat, is it can pick up right where you left off, even if at one time you only have 5 minutes for a quick drill, or you have 3 hours to study. I dont think it can be measured just how much of a benefit (at least it is seeming at the onset) that being able to answer endless questions, and being able to be drilled, while being graded is. In my opinion, this kind of blows any other autodidact method out of the water. Because you are not left to think you get it. You can be tested, and your mistakes pointed out.

Also, there comes this point. Someone may think "why would I attempt to learn Latin when AI does such a reasonably good job at translating it?" There are a couple reasons, and they go as follows.

1. Very, very few of the Reformation era Latin texts have been digitized. Meaning, that before one could even attempt to translate a text in Chat (at least to get a faithful rendering) one would have to produce a good digitized (or OCRed) rendering. This process is very complicated, and few people are going to be willing to do it faithfully. Especially when it comes to the issue of going over the text word by word to make sure there are no misspellings, as, a few messed up words can change whole sentences in the translation process.

2. The amount of time it would take to faithfully render even a single Latin text into digitized form, could equally be the same amount of time your personal Latin reading capabilities could improve dramatically. This is not to mention some of the more larger Latin treatises that are 2,3,4+ volumes long.

3. Depending on Chat to translate Latin to English, instead of attempting to just learn Latin, puts one in the same prison as not getting comfortable with Elizabethan English when it comes to reading the Puritans. i.e. both the Puritans, and most of these Latin texts are online for free. But, if one cannot read them as is, then one is wholly dependent on publishing houses to either translate (as in the case of Latin) or modernize (as in the case of the Puritans) before one can enjoy them. Think of the joy of instead of having this feeling that there are so many texts you cant read (not for time) but by personal inability, no longer being barred; but being able to be opened at any time and read like any other book. It is not impossible. It seems prior to 1800, many people had this ability, and it didn't take them 20 or 30 years to obtain it.

4. So, even if one were to spend the time to use Chat to translate say 3 or 4 texts; after digitizing them, etc. In that same time, one could most likely be pretty proficient in reading Latin, and thus opening up all the Latin literature for themselves.

If it were the case that a lot of these Reformed Latin texts were in fact, already cleanly and correctly digitized, it may be a different story. But they are not. And there is little sense if one really wants to get into them, to go through all the drama of prepping them for AI translation, when simply learning to read them seems like the much more sensible route.

For Chat being only $20 a month, this opens learning Latin (or other languages) up to almost anybodies budget. So I would say, that if you cant make it to a classroom, to learn face to face in a professional educational setting; it is definitely worth checking out. It just never hit me until a few days ago that Chat may have this ability to teach a language. But upon further research, it looks like it is actually a thing, and people have been doing it for all sorts of languages for a minute now.

 

[ZackF]

Spanish, Catalan, Polish, Greek, Hebrew, German.

What’s interesting is that you learned that many with old school methods. There has never been a time where learning a second language is more readily available to everyone. At the same time, I expect that to decline due to translation and interpretation being done automatically.
[automerge]1751119197[/automerge]

Over how long?



What languages have you studied? What levels are you at?

Also, where did you find the language audio AI?

Spanish B2-ish. Dabbled in Portuguese, French and German. Studied Latin and Homeric/Attic Greek decades ago in college.


There are numerous TTS sites. This one offers the most amount for before having to pay https://luvvoice.com/

 

[davejonescue]

Also, where did you find the language audio AI?

Another TTS that is wonderful, and can be done with almost no limits (notice the one Zack offered has a 3000 character limit per conversion) is Piper TTS. It is free, and is ran (at least on Windows) in Powershell. Very little command knowledge needed. And basically what you can do, is pick a language and voice, turn what ever you want converted into a text file, place it in the Piper folder, then do these simple commands changing what you want:

(1) cd ./Music/piper/

(2) .\piper.exe --help

(3) Get-Content .\PIPERTEST.txt | .\piper.exe -m en_US-joe-medium.onnx -f pipertest.wav

Some of this stuff in the codes will change depending on your personal preferences, for instance:

cd ./Music/piper/ (the bolded will change depending on where you store the piper file folder)

Get-Content .\PIPERTEST.txt | .\piper.exe -m en_US-joe-medium.onnx -f pipertest.wav (the purple will change depending on what your text file name is, the red will change depending on what voice you use, and the blue will change depending on what you want your audio file to be.

If you choose to use it, hope it saves you some time, as, it took me a bit to figure this out. I spent a lot of time trying to paste the text I wanted into Powershell and have it converted from there, but it always crashed. Looked around and found it was better for Powershell to upload the txt. file and convert directly from that.

Last time I checked, it converted an almost 5,000 word (not character) txt. in 4 minutes. The audio ended up being 22 or so minutes long. But it can handle much larger files. I did Downames Warfare with it, and some of those parts were 10 and 11 hours each.

Piper is completely free.

 

[ZackF]

Another TTS that is wonderful, and can be done with almost no limits (notice the one Zack offered has a 3000 character limit per conversion) is Piper TTS. It is free, and is ran (at least on Windows) in Powershell. Very little command knowledge needed. And basically what you can do, is pick a language and voice, turn what ever you want converted into a text file, place it in the Piper folder, then do these simple commands changing what you want:

(1) cd ./Music/piper/

(2) .\piper.exe --help

(3) Get-Content .\PIPERTEST.txt | .\piper.exe -m en_US-joe-medium.onnx -f pipertest.wav

Some of this stuff in the codes will change depending on your personal preferences, for instance:

cd ./Music/piper/ (the bolded will change depending on where you store the piper file folder)

Get-Content .\PIPERTEST.txt | .\piper.exe -m en_US-joe-medium.onnx -f pipertest.wav (the purple will change depending on what your text file name is, the red will change depending on what voice you use, and the blue will change depending on what you want your audio file to be.

If you choose to use it, hope it saves you some time, as, it took me a bit to figure this out. I spent a lot of time trying to paste the text I wanted into Powershell and have it converted from there, but it always crashed. Looked around and found it was better for Powershell to upload the txt. file and convert directly from that.

Last time I checked, it converted an almost 5,000 word (not character) txt. in 4 minutes. The audio ended up being 22 or so minutes long. But it can handle much larger files. I did Downames Warfare with it, and some of those parts were 10 and 11 hours each.

Piper is completely free.

Piper doesn’t use only the voices on Microsoft right? The problem is a lot of free ones are limited to that and if your license only allows for one language and a couple voices then it’s not helpful for foreign languages.

 

[davejonescue]

Piper doesn’t use only the voices on Microsoft right? The problem is a lot of free ones are limited to that and if your license only allows for one language and a couple voices then it’s not helpful for foreign languages.

Piper Voice Samples

 

[davejonescue]

The one thing I am liking about studying Latin with Chat, is that no matter how tired I am, I can tell it I am tired, and want low-focus work. This is good, because at almost any given time, you can work towards the ultimate goal. I also like it that it will accommodate your proficiency level. For instance, in this drill, for these particular vocabulary words, it first wanted me to match the Latin word, that best fits a Latin sentence. But then, I told it that I couldn't, because I didn't know enough Latin to translate the sentence. Then it adjusted, and created a way I could both get familiar with other words, while still being able to match my vocab words with the sentence. What I am really hoping, is L.W., that if I do stay put with Latin, and succeed; that I can do the same with Koine, and Hebrew. For this particular "Project" it said it can start a "Vocab-Log" with the goal of teaching the 3,000 most frequent Latin words to start with. And, I explained my worry that I think it will eventually start repeating already learned ones. It said it wont, and that it can keep track. We will see. I also like that you can do endless drills on the same words,until you feel comfortable moving on.

 

[dsanch1120]

Not Latin, but I've begun using Anthropic Claude for my greek 3 studies (never on homework, quizzes, and tests, of course). It's been very helpful for asking specific and clarifying questions about things like verbal aspect and discourse analysis. There definitely are differences between the books we use and Claude's answers, but as a supplemental tool, it's been great.

 

[Solparvus]

@davejonescue I've been doing what I think you may have suggested here. I put a Spanish paragraph in AI, ask it to extract the rare words, then I create a list, and then I prompt it to quiz me on those words. Just like that, you have programmed a quiz app for yourself based on what you want. Good prompts in this thread. I don't trust AI for thinking, but this kind of thing it can do well.

The great thing is, you can make it text-specific (eg. the words in Luke 15, or some page of Aristotle or Clement).

This has got to be tried on Greek and Hebrew.

 

[davejonescue]

@davejonescue I've been doing what I think you may have suggested here. I put a Spanish paragraph in AI, ask it to extract the rare words, then I create a list, and then I prompt it to quiz me on those words. Just like that, you have programmed a quiz app for yourself based on what you want. Good prompts in this thread. I don't trust AI for thinking, but this kind of thing it can do well.

The great thing is, you can make it text-specific (eg. the words in Luke 15, or some page of Aristotle or Clement).

This has got to be tried on Greek and Hebrew.

This is kind of what I am doing with Latin. Except with the Latin, what I did, is in Chat, you can open or create a "Project." For instance, I have a project folder called "Latin Mastery Class." This is the main folder for the Latin study. Then within a "sub-folder" within that folder, I have the part that is the regular "class" i.e. where I am going over grammar, and its weekly list of things it wants me to do. Then, I created another sub-folder that is for vocabulary. In that folder, I asked Chat to create a vocabulary training module on the "most frequent" 3,000 words in Latin. Within that is where I can focus on vocabulary, especially at night, when the day is winding down, and I dont really have the "brain-power" for a lot of grammatical jargon.

The thing I am really liking about Chat, is not only is it like a personal tutor for the language, but, at your request, it will break something down to the point a toddler can get it. Not only that, but it has tons of different ways it can quiz you on the stuff it is teaching you, and it is not afraid to tell you when you are wrong, how you are wrong, and what you should have done. This completely revolutionizes language learning for autodidacts, as, the hardest part of that method is not knowing if what you think you have grasped about a topic is correct.

I have found I do not even really need to "input" Latin words to create the vocab, but just ask it to give me lists of words. After doing more research on this, it really looks like this, i.e. language learning, is a place where the bigger AI models shine. Howbeit, I wouldn't even be striving to learn Latin with AI's translating capabilities, if it were not for the simple fact that most, (if not almost all) of the churches (whether Reformed or prior) Latin documents have not been transcribed into text, thus making the translating of such via AI, a tremendous task, and as such, ripe for people who may attempt it, to cut corners to save on exertion; whether that be on forgoing proofing OCR's, or simply asking AI to convert PDF/JPEG from Latin directly into English. Unfortunately, this is going to prove to be problematic, because it has been shown without a doubt, that current OCRing still is only about 80-90% for Latin at best, and that even 10 or so misspelled words per page, can change the entire translation when done via AI. It takes a lot of work to OCR a Latin text, go back over it word by word to ensure correctness, then feed that text 1-3 paragraph by 1-3 paragraph into Chat for translation. It takes even more work to transcribe it by hand. But, if that is done, are those translations good? I think so, and, many people who deal with Latin think so. But it is that "prep" that makes it so that even though AI can translate Latin, very few trustworthy AI translations are going to arise, as most will be by people who do not like the tediousness of correct methodology, and opt for the short-cuts in the name of "error filled is better than nothing."

So for me, personally, especially with AI's ability to teach someone Latin (or other languages), in the same amount of time and effort it would take to maybe do 5 smaller texts, if that, the right way, one could instead be well on their way to reading fluency, and as such, have all of the Latin texts opened to them without the need for all that prep work to convert them to English before reading them. The worse thing for me as a reader, with an AI translated text in my hand, is to wonder how much effort did a person do on the prep? Because with AI translation, that is the crux. If the text you are feeding it for translation is correctly transcribed, it is going to give you a really good translation, if not, not so much. And knowing a little about the effort it takes to produce a good base text, I know few people are going to want to put forth the effort to do it correctly. Especially considering AI translations cannot be copyrighted, and thus, even monetary incentive is lacking for this work.

Point being in all this, while AI does translate very well, this still doesn't mean all of these Latin texts are going to be accessible now. In fact, very few probably will. But, AI can most certainly help someone in a plethora of ways learn the language, for a very low monthly cost, and, most likely quicker than traditional methods. Because 1. It works at your level, 2. It never gets tired of questions, and 3. Will never get tired of quizzing you until you feel comfortable with moving on. We know that AI is good with the languages, because we can see that in how it translates very proficiently. But, given that almost all of the pertinent Latin texts for a Christian are still in (archaic) PDF's, in my opinion, it is still better to attempt to learn Latin, than lean on AI's translating capabilities as the route to accessing these texts.

 

[omniavanitas]

I've used it for setting up language learning plans and having it give me stuff to decline and conjugate for practice. I've had a good experience with ChatGPT for language learning so I'd say paying for the upgrade is worth it. Unlike paying for a specific language learning app, ChatGPT can be used for studying other things.

One really cool use for it is having it find the most common words in the target language. You can have it skip over stuff like indefinite/definite articles, pronouns and other things that are just forms of words. It can also categorize them so you can focus on one part of speech or have some variation.

I'm sure you'll use other resources to verify since AI can make mistakes, but I think ChatGPT will help with a lot of the legwork in compiling stuff for you to study and you can practice with it. Since you have a multi-year plan, you'll save a lot of time in the long run using it.

 

[davejonescue]

I'm sure you'll use other resources to verify since AI can make mistakes

No, I don't really plan to. If I wanted to study using other methods, I would kind of go that route. Instead, I am just going to go the Chat route and see how it goes. My main goal is to be able to read and write in Latin. And for better or worse Chat is going to be that ticket. What I am hoping for, in the long run, is to reach a level of comprehension where I can learn by reading as opposed to anything else. But in my situation, and budget, Chat is the best option I have, so I am rolling with it. This is taking into consideration that regardless what route you go, there will be criticisms, so Chat potentially making mistakes in the process is not a biggie for me. I have heard the same criticisms about human teachers, Latin textbooks, etc.

The thing with Chat, is I don't really need to compile stuff per se. I hate to use this analogy, but it is the closest I can come to, that (though we know Chat isn't animate) is like a "living" Latin learning software. I can go to it any time of day, any time of night, and pick up right where I left off. Or, I can go on an excursion in another "chat" and ask it to do something completely different like "vocabulary" or other drills. I can "get lost" in a topic, and spend hours on it, then, go right back to the main project folder, and pick up where I left off, all in the Chat interface. This is why I believe it is going to be so useful, because Chat isnt tied down to a "structure" unless you tell it to be. There is (as it looks) no end to how it can produce things for your learning (at least with language), and many ways, I am limited by my imagination of potential ways it can teach me, as opposed to Chat being limited by the ways it can do so. What I mean by this, is below are just some of the requests I have given it to try and teach me:

1. Create a small 2 paragraph story using the vocab words in both English and Latin.
2. Test me on which word in the sentence goes where.
3. Create a poem or song for me to remember that teaches this topic.
4. This topic is kind of hard, can you explain it to me as if I were 5 years old.
5. Chat, I am tired, can you give me some "low-focus" drills or lessons that I can do.
etc.
Like right now, I just thought I could probably ask Chat to start a vocab lesson that will teach me all the common Latin words with English counterparts.
And the list can go on, if you can think of it.....

Now I am not saying Chat should be idolized, it most certainly shouldn't. But, I do believe it has the potential to revolutionize at least language learning, especially for autodidacts and home-schooler's. And, it is still in its infancy. Time will only tell.

 

[ZackF]

Maybe I should start another thread. I would like to ask about learning the biblical languages using the pronunciation of Modern Greek and Modern Hebrew. As an example of this idea, Assimil publishes a course in Ancient Greek. The base is in French but with Assimil Courses the audio is always in the target language. Google translate and other tools could be used. I'm not interested in that course so much as the idea. When I had Homeric/Attic Greek in college, we just read with the pronunciation guide that was supplied by the text. I don't think it was based on modern Greek pronunciation. It just someone's guess. Has anyone heard yet of using audio to help learn Biblical Greek using a modern Greek reader or AI reader? What about Hebrew?

 

[ZackF]

Well here is a first, rough attempt. Roman's 1:1-4 Greek text read in a modern Greek accent at a native speed.

Romans1_1-4.mp3

drive.google.com

 

[MW]

What I mean by this, is below are just some of the requests I have given it to try and teach me:

That will work but its not going to take you very far. It is going to help with vocab and that is about all. How will you learn the different parts of speech, inflections, conjugations, declensions, syntax, etc.? Knowing these things I can instigate a conversation with AI (and do most days of the week), but I don't think AI has the ability to "tailor" it to you without you knowing what you need to learn. In other words,, it would probably work for someone who has learnt the language and wants to sharpen skills as he branches out into different literary contexts, but not to teach the language from scratch.
[automerge]1752110339[/automerge]

Well here is a first, rough attempt. Roman's 1:1-4 Greek text read in a modern Greek accent at a native speed.

Romans1_1-4.mp3

drive.google.com

I would go with Erasmian pronunciation unless you want to converse with a native speaker. That is what you are going to get in most evangelical circles.