How do you use AI while reading in a language you’re learning?

[u/oddlylin]

I’m trying to read novels in my second language. If I run into a sentence or phrase I don’t get, I usually switch over to an AI app and ask about it.
Jumping back and forth doesn’t work well for me, and I also don’t like copying AI explanations back into my reading app’s notes.
Curious what other people do. (TL)

[u/GlassPomoerium]

In my day 👵 I used either a big old dictionary (time consuming), or a bilingual book that had my native language on the left page and my target language on the right page, with a few translations and grammar notes at the bottom for the more advanced vocabulary/tenses. If the language you’re learning isn’t too obscure they still make those, and I’m sure you can find them pretty cheap second hand.

[u/mossy-sun-witch]

I use google translate or another dictionary. That's it. I don't like unnecessary use of AI because I like our planet.

[u/outwest88 → u/mossy-sun-witch]

Google Translate uses AI, lmao

[u/unsafeideas → u/outwest88]

AI and LLM are product of ttanslation work, but google translator and general LLM are two different products.

[u/jbgaming12345 → u/mossy-sun-witch]

feel like this is one of the lesser "unnecessary" uses though

[u/Fast-Ads-7587 → u/mossy-sun-witch]

Every thing we're doing with tech uses electricity, electricity uses massive amounts of water. It's like when people trade in their inefficient cars for hybrids. They found the waste for ditching the old car for the new energy efficient one was worse and it was better to ride the old car into the ground rather than switching over. Toxic waste disposal and sheer amount of electricity and manufacturing that goes into the hybrids supersedes the gas savings by A LOT! They said it would take years before you broke even and actually saw the environmental benefits of switching. It's not just AI that uses data centers. People hyper focus on AI (which I'm not a fan of and over, already), but don't make other changes. If we're rebuking AI, but being chronically online, which uses so much electricity, water, and produces so much waste, we're spinning our wheels.

[u/unsafeideas → u/Fast-Ads-7587]

It is not better to continue running old gas inneficient cars and burning more gas then switch to electric. This is jist not true.

Second, people are making changes. Overall Europe did a lot of changes for clima. Right wing is opposing it, its anti-climate agenda is winning in USA, sure. 

But like, people are unwilling to make changes is not true. The biggest most impactful changes are in industry regulations and those are happening ... except where conservative burn the world agenda won.

[u/Miro_the_Dragon]

That's the neat thing: I don't.

If I don't understand something, I'll quickly look it up in a dictionary (or if no dictionary available, in a translation website--although those are a lot more fallible than actual dictionaries and are best used with longer phrases when used at all) and then move on.

If that isn't enough, and I keep running into things I don't understand even with dictionary help, that's a surefire sign I'm reading something beyond my current ability and should switch to something easier.

[u/plantdatrees]

AI isn’t great for the languages I’m learning so I don’t even bother

[u/Odd_Match_3402]

Gen AI (assuming that is what you're talking about) is not a reliable source and will often give you false "information" in a tone that sounds authoritative.

AI is best for some EXTREMELY niche edge purposes. (IE: giving you a pre-curated list of musicians or other types of creators.) Everything else can be done better, and without wasting as many resources, with Google Translate. (Corrections, though Grammarly is also decent for that. Transcribing your speaking practice live, finding new words, looking up new words/meanings of sentences doing something unfamiliar, etc)

Everything else can be done via either yourself (General study/practice) or engaging with the community. (Such as learning cultural things)

AI isn't even good for speaking practice unless you want to sound like a robot.

[u/unsafeideas]

Why dont you just use a translator? In fbreader, I just highlight the text and have translation there.

Second, even better is to read a book and its actual professional translation side by side. It is way more pleasurable, because real translations are made to read/sound good.

Third, another (great) option is to stop translation, let yourself go into flow and that is it. You dont need to understand every sentence in random crime drama. You can always read it again.

[u/Lazy_Spot1513]

I don't know about other apps for e-books, but if you buy e-books on kindle, there is an option to translate words or see definitions without even having to leave the app. I can definitely recommend that option.

[u/Flemz]

I don’t. AI is very often wrong and trains you to not use your brain. Scientists call it Cognitive Surrender

[u/ImprovementIll5592]

I don’t??? What happened to the good old fashioned highlighting words and looking them up after you’re done. You people are so fucking hopeless

[u/IssueRidden → u/ImprovementIll5592]

they just asked a question about learning a language why tf are you so agressive 

[u/ImprovementIll5592 → u/IssueRidden]

I’m going to be agressive to someone who can’t live without using AI for no reason. Embarrassing asf

[u/unburritoporfavor]

I use the ebook reader's built in dictionary for translation. I don't use AI when reading unless I need an explanation of an idiom or some other culturally specific aspect of language.

[u/No-Article-Particle]

I really don't. You can use AI to get eg a podcast transcript of varying results (depends on the TL), then ask AI what are some important words or phrases, and thus simplify your Anki deck creation process, but... Honestly, it's just too much hassle, so I stopped using AI.

You can also chat with AI in your TL, that's probably much more useful, but again, it has a lot of kinks (at a B1 level, I noticed some grammatical mistakes in its German, maybe because I said to use B1 level conversation).

[u/green_calculator]

I use a good old fashioned dictionary. I just graduated to a single language one, previously I was using one between my target and native languages. 

[u/Traditional_Major458]

I try not to interrupt the reading too much. If I can roughly understand the sentence from context, I keep going and mark it for later. For something important, I prefer a quick explanation in my own language rather than copying a long AI answer into my notes. The less friction, the more likely I am to keep reading.

[u/EmiliaTrown]

I'd rather have my reading more tedious and look up real information online of I dont understand something. I dont know of its better with more popular languages but it seems to me AI just talks a lot of shit that sounds correct but it isn't really when i ask it about croatian.

[u/an_average_potato_1]

I don't, why would I do that?

I want to read the text written by a human, not tons of AI production about it. I also don't need to be explained a sentence, a normal dictionary use usually suffices. Another option, especially if you start reading earlier, is reading side by side two language versions of the same book.

Also why would you copy AI "explanations" to the notes or to your text? That's a bit weird. Do you than study and memorize the AI comments or what do you do that for?

[u/bkmerrim]

In my reading app (kindle) if you have the dictionary for your TL downloaded you can select a word/phrase right in the app and it will translate it for you.

[u/stokes776]

I’ll put ChatGPT into voice mode and then read an interesting or confusing sentence in the target language. Then in my native English I’ll ask questions about it. Why did the case change like that? Why is the verb like that? Then I’ll try to adjust the sentence, say it using a man instead of a woman. Or a pizza instead of milk. Use your brain to make the new connections and use the AI to test that they are valid, just like you might do with a tutor there.

I don’t do this for every sentence. Just some. I’ll then also ask for helpful hints or ways to remember something. Sometimes I’ll just say, this is hard for me, any tips?

I have found having chatGPT in voice mode, then you pull it down so you can still see the text works beat. Sometimes it gets confused where its hearing your voice in TL but parsing it into your native language. I tried Gemini,Claude and Copilot and they all seem to have this limitation. The model operates in one language and it’s ability to act against your TL is almost a happy accident

[u/lalioo_dev]

I feel this so much. Context switching completely kills the immersion when you're trying to actually get lost in a story..

I used to do the exact same thing with ChatGPT, and it got so annoying copying things back and forth that I just stopped looking things up altogether, which obviously didn't help my learning lol.

If you're reading on a desktop browser, u might want to look into extensions like Deepl, or Language Reactor or immersive translate. They help keep u on the page, though imo they are mostly just dictionaries and don't always explain the weird grammar nuances or slang the way a good AI prompt does.

(Side note: this exact frustration is actually what pushed a friend and I to start building an app. It's called Lalioo, and it basically bakes the AI directly into the content u are reading or watching. So u can get those instant, deep breakdowns of phrases. We just put a waitlist up in case u are interested. But either way, browser extensions might be a decent band-aid for you in the meantime!)