Tag: authentic materials

The Norwegian flag - the flag of Norway

#TikTokNorge – TikTok for Norwegian learners

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We’re slaves to the algorithm…. or are we? The great thing about TikTok is that you can engineer that algorithm with a bit of persistence. A search here, a like there, a comment somewhere else, and you subtly shift your TikTok-verse.

Of late, I’ve been nudging my own towards  serving up content that makes my aimless swiping a bit less aimless and a bit more, well, educational. And there’s a lot going on in #TikTokNorge! Mini lessons, everyday life, sketches and gags… Norwegian is well-covered on the platform – if you can uncover it first to coax onto your For You tab.

Here are some of the accounts helping me maintain and improve my own Norwegian lately – I hope you find a couple of gems in here too.

Norsk med Aria

Aria is a Norwegian teacher with a wealth of micro-lesson content on his feed, which he updates regularly. His videos are slick and well-edited, with a good balance between formal grammar tips and colloquial usage. He uses English as a presentation language, so it’s all accessible, too – a great place to start as a newcomer, as well as great revision and tips for more intermediate learners.

@norsk.med.aria

Ordering a coffee in Norwegian #norwegian #norsk

♬ original sound – Norsk med Aria – Norsk med Aria

Hilde Elise

Hilde Elise is an online Norwegian teacher who posts very regular monologues about life in Norway. She covers a huge range of topics from work and family to politics and current affairs, all at a level around A2-B1. This is delivered in clear, measured Bokmål too, so her videos are perfect for taking your language skills beyond simple sentences.

If you like her, also check out another teacher from her online school, Norsklærer Karense!

@hildeelise

Jeg elsker sola! #lærer #adjektiv #norskopplæring #morgen #norway

♬ original sound – Hilde Elise

Ola Norwegian

Ola, like Aria, uses English as his presentation language, giving his videos a more formal ‘classroom’ feel. But his content is top-notch, covering both grammar and word use. I’ve expanded my vocabulary with quite a few bits and pieces since following him.

@olanorwegian

Hvordan si “anyone”, “anywhere”, “anytime” osv? Jo: Du bruker frasen “som helst”! Men: En litt mer avansert frase er “however”. Vi kan nemlig IKKE si “Hvordan som helst”. Hmm. Har du svaret? Skriv i kommentarene! grammatikk norwegiancourse norskkurs norsk norwegian lærenorsk lærnorsk norskgrammatikk småprat smalltalk howtolearnnorwegian learnnorwegian norwegisch norskspråk norwegianlanguage norwegianculture norweski norway norge lifeinnorway explorenorway newtonorway noruega noruego oslo vocabulary vokabular

♬ original sound – Ola Norwegian – Ola Norwegian

Learn Norwegian with Preben

Preben is a worldly guy whose videos more often than not come from far-flung places well beyond Norway. But he has a focus on everyday Norwegian that is quite refreshing – casual, not overly analytical, and more like a mate telling you how to sound natural. For colloquial, idiomatic norsk, he’s your man!

https://www.tiktok.com/@norwegiancommunity/video/7533273676561550614

ilyantisocial.teaches

Like Preben, Ilya is a fan of the casual, colloquial approach to language. He’ll pick out everyday quirks and trip-ups that you won’t find in textbooks. His methods are a bit more organised, and you’ll get more chalk-and-talk in his videos, which may provide the yin to Preben’s yang!

@ilyantisocial.teaches

How to say hungry in Norwegian? How to say full in Norwegian? #norway #norwegian #languagelearning #language educational, speaking Norwegian, teacher things

♬ original sound – ilyantisocial.teaches

norwegian.with.tor

Tor was one of the first Norwegian content creators I discovered way back in the day on Instagram. Well, probably just a couple of years ago – an age in Internet terms. His content is perfect for the Insta reel format – fun, snappy sketches and gags with a learning slant. And he’s now popped up on TikTok, feeding your #NorwayTok algorithm with more micro-content.

https://www.tiktok.com/@norwegian.with.tor/video/7535920722074537238

So there you have it – six norsk content creators to transform your own algorithms with. Have I missed any of your own favourites? Let me know in the comments!

ElevenLabs Hits the Right Note: A.I. Songwriting for Language Learners

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In case you missed it, A.I. text-to-speech leader ElevenLabs is the latest platform to join the generative music scene – so language learners and teachers have another choice for creating original learning songs.

ElevenLabs’ Creative Platform ElevenMusic takes a much more structured approach to music creation that other platforms I’ve tried. Enter your prompt (or full lyrics), and it will build a song from block components – verse, chorus, bridge – just as you might construct one as a human writer. It makes for a much more natural-sounding track.

ElevenLabs music creation

ElevenLabs music creation

As you’d expect from voice experts ElevenLabs, the service copes with a wide range of languages and the diction is very convincing. A tad more so, I think, than the current iteration of the first big name on the block, Suno AI. No doubt the latter will have some tricks up its sleeve to keep up the pace – but for now, ElevenLabs is the place to go for quick and catchy learning song.

Anyway, here’s one I made earlier – a rather natty French rock and roll song about the Moon landings. Get those blue suede Moon boots on!

It’s definitely worth having a play on the site to see what you can come up with for you or your classes. ElevenLabs has a free tier, of course, so you can try it out straight away. [Note: that’s my wee affiliate link, so if you do sign up and hop on a higher tier later, you’re helping keep Polyglossic going!]

A French flag with earbuds on top.

Feel-Good French Pop

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French was never one of my core language projects. It was always a bit of a distant, side interest – something I dipped into now and again. That was, until all sorts of fun stuff started happening in France (cough, Olympics and Paralympics 2024), and I realised how easy it was to flit there for some cultural immersion.

As a returner learner with a newfound love of France – it was my very first foreign language at school, after all – it was always about reactivation, rather than systematic learning from scratch. And one of the nicest ways back in has been music (and not just Eurovision, although that features quite high on my francophone pop playlists!).

Here are my top ten French tracks – and not a Eurovision track in sight, I promise. Track titles all link to Spotify, so you can add them to your own playlists!

COMA IDYLLIQUE (THERAPIE TAXI)

Therapie Taxi spent just short of a decade spreading their edgy, alternative flavour of francopop. This existential, hypnotic ode to oblivious tipsiness is the best of a very good bunch.

LA FLEMME (NELL WIDMER)

I credit this one with teaching me a great colloquial phrase in French: j’ai la flemme de … (I can’t be bothered to…). It’s gloriously Gallic off-the-cuff, can’t-be-bothered apathy, wrapped in a catchy and infectious refrain I find myself humming for hours afterwards.

ENVOLE-MOI (MATT POKORA & TAL)

A feel-good French playlist couldn’t exist without some Matt Pokora, and you have two in my top ten. This track, a duet with TAL, featured on Génération Goldman, a homage to 80s superstar Jean-Jacques Goldman. Dare I say, the cover knocks the spots off the original.

CETTE ANNÉE-LÀ (MATT POKORA)

Matt Pokora really spoils us in terms of solo tracks to add. I went for this cover of Frankie Valli’s Oh, What a Night!, as it’s just incredibly cheery – I defy you not to foot-tap along to this! It’s been covered by other French artists, but Matt’s takes the prize for happy-clappy production.

LAISSE-TOI TRANQUILLE (MALO)

Malo almost breaks my non-Eurovision rule for this list – he was a contestant in Déstination Eurovision 2018, the show to select France’s entrant that year. He nearly made it, too, finishing in third, but it’s this follow-up song which is the standout for me. Quirky, cute and fun, it’s a always puts me in a good mood.

JE DANSE LE MIA (IAM)

This one is pure club, and effortlessly cool. Released in 1994, it has a familiar hook, thanks to the George Benson Give Me The Night resample, but blends hip-hop and rap to produce one of the biggest French hits of the decade. It still sounds as fresh as it did the year of its release – some feat.

DERNIÈRE DANSE (INDILA)

There’s a touch of chanson to this one, and its other-worldly, soporific vibe was clearly a recipe for success for singer Indila – in December 2023, ten years after its release, it became the first francophone track to reach a billion streams on YouTube.

VOYAGE, VOYAGE (DESIRELESS)

A French 80s classic, Voyage, voyage was given a huge public airing and second life as part of the Paris 2024 pre-event soundtrack. Absolutely timeless.

MOI… LOLITA (ALIZÉE)

Arguably the French breakout hit of the early noughties, this one stormed the charts across Europe. Alizée’s debut single still holds up as sultry, slick French pop.

COMMENT TE DIRE ADIEU (POMPLAMOOSE)

I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Somerville covering this evergreen. But Pomplamoose, a US alternative outfit with its heart (and now home) this side of the Atlantic, have turned it into something utterly dreamy. A warm, francophile hug of a track.

So there you have it – ten French bangers to bop (and learn) to. What would you put on your list? Feel free to share in the comments – always up for some extra choons!

Vintage TV set for franchise hopping! Image by FreeImages.com

Target Language TV for Titters : Amazon’s Last One Laughing

I’ve long been a fan of highly exportable TV show franchises as ‘authentic target language with stabilisers’ media for learners. The language is rich and colloquial, but the format is familiar enough to be more accessible to L2 speakers than other TV genres.

Well, I’ve recent discovered another one that is available in a wonderfully broad array of languages. It’s Amazon Prime’s Last One Laughing, the show where comedians vie to keep straight faces in an onslaught of silliness, and be the very last to crack up.

It’s a simple concept, and for sure, it’s simple, cheap telly. That’s probably why Amazon found it so easy to roll it out to so many different language settings. All you need is a studio and a bunch of comedians willing to act daft. The result? Last One Laughing has local versions in languages from mainstream French and Spanish to more niche learner langs like Dutch and Norwegian.

Good TV Fit for Learners

In terms of the language, the show is a curiously good fit for L2 learners. The improvised dialogue can be slow and deliberate, as the contestants try to out-pun each other. It can often have a touch of the bizarre and clownish about it, too, which is always good to keep learners on their context toes (did she really just say her brother was a fish?).

(Pop-)Culturally, too, it’s a winner. If you didn’t know much about the comedy scene in your target language countries before, then you certainly will after a few episodes. The guests are fresh, current TV faces that give a good sample of who’s popular right now where your language is spoken.

If you’re looking for some target language listening fun, then Last One Laughing is both great learning material and just good TV. Well worth a punt if you have Prime.

Parcels flying over from Germany - from Momox perhaps?

Meet Momox – German Language Materials on the Cheap

You might already know that I’m a language learning eBay bargain hunter. The site is a goldmine of course book treasures. But if you’re after German realia in particular for your teaching and learning, the Momox store could be even more of an Aladdin’s cave.

Momox is one of the big used media sellers on eBay. If you’ve bought popular items on eBay in the past, you may well already know them. They deal in all the usual mainstream books, CDs and DVDs.

But there’s one key difference: Momox is actually a German storefront. Being headquartered in Berlin, they have an immense catalogue of German-language materials. And better still, all that still qualifies for their standard free delivery charge, making it a really affordable way to buy your authentic materials auf Deutsch.

Momox Merch

One particularly rich seam of goodies available for a bargain on Momox is reality TV merch. In terms of language learning, you’ll know that I rate following a reality franchise as a super fun way to engage with your target language country.

Personally, Germany’s take on Pop Idol, Deutschland sucht den Superstar, has been a favourite of mine since I excitedly discovered it in the early noughties. Back then, I had to wait for a trip abroad to grab the CDs and DVDs. Now, there’s a raft of Deutschland sucht den Superstar memorabilia on Momox, all at super cheap used prices! For fans of the rival Voice of Germany, you can even pick up the console game from the series. Hours of fun.

And there are books, of course – loads of them. For easy target language reading, all the big kids’ series are all there, like Harry Potter – just search “Harry Potter und” for all the German ones. They’re a lot cheaper than buying them from a UK-based store.

It’s all the kind of thing that would have made me giddy in my early language learning years (and kept the postman busy). If you’re a German learner, then Momox might be just what you need to stay plugged into German pop culture – without breaking the bank.

Greek text on a packet of crisps

Language Lessons from Packaging (And A Little Help from ChatGPT)

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If you love scouring the multilingual packaging of household products from discounter stores (a niche hobby, I must admit, even for us linguists), then  there’s a fun way to automate it with LLMs like ChatGPT.

Take the back of this packet of crisps. To many, a useless piece of rubbish. To me (and some of you, I hope!), a treasure of language in use.

Greek text on a packet of crisps - food and household item packaging can be a great source of language in use.

Greek text on a packet of crisps

Normally, I’d idly read through these, looking up any unfamiliar words in a dictionary. But, using an LLM app with an image facility like ChatGPT, you can automate that process. What’s more, you can request all sorts of additional info like dictionary forms, related words, and so on.

From Packaging to Vocab List

Take a snap of your packaging, and try this prompt for starters:

Create a vocabulary list from the key content words on the packaging label. For each word, list:
– its dictionary form
– a new, original sentence illustrating the word in use
– common related words

The results should be an instantly useful vocab list with added content for learning:

Vocabulary list from food packaging by ChatGPT

Vocabulary list compiled by ChatGPT from a food packaging label

I added a note-taking stage to round it off. It always helps me to write down what I’m learning, adding a kinaesthetic element to the visual (and aural, if you’ve had ChatGPT speak its notes out loud). Excuse the scrawl… (As long as your notes are readable by you, they’re just fine!)

Handwritten vocabulary notes derives from crisp packet packaging

Notes on a crisp packet…

It’s a fun workflow that really underscores the fact that there are free language lessons all around us.

Especially in the humblest, and often least glamorous, of places.

A panda catching letters and words from a magical social media stream (bookmarks are handy!)

Bookmarks SOS – Save Our (Language Learning) Stories!

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There’s been a truly creative explosion of language learning accounts on social media in the past couple of years. Every week I notice more and more content creators popping up, eager to share tips and tricks for learners of their language.

I’ve spotted some gems on Instagram lately, for instance. In Greek alone, I’m getting a lot from the regular postings of greeklearninghub, glossonauts, onlinegreek and greekwithdimitris (amongst many others).

But how best to engage with these feeds systematically as learning resources?

The problem is that they’re embedded in feeds that are meant to be fleeting. Watch, scroll, never see again. But when you spot a good one you’d like to spend more time with, there’s a feature that I only noticed recently – a little life-saver under my nose all along, that grabs them from the stream before they float away.

Story bookmarks!

Bookmarks SOS – Save Our Stories

In fact, it’s not just the bookmarks feature of social media apps that helps rescue these learning nuggets. Many platforms also have bookmark folders (TikTok calls them Collections), which means they can be organised by language, topic, or whatever else you like. 

Bookmarks organised into folders on Instagram

Bookmarks organised into folders on Instagram

Once saved, you can set a time to go back over them – ideally scheduling it as a weekly tactic. Write down useful phrases, add them to Anki, or whatever else you find useful in your own learning.

It’s a tiny little hack, and one so obvious – it was under my nose the whole time – that it took me an age to start using it. But it’s a great way to catch those potted lessons before the social media deluge carries them away!

Malmö Arena, venue for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. Werner Nystrand/imagebank.sweden.se

Eurovision of Languages – 2024 Edition!

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It feels like we only just said goodbye to the last one, and another Eurovision Song Content has rolled around again. Once a veritable garden of languages, all competing broadcasters were re-granted a free choice of song language in 1999. Sadly (for linguaphiles) that’s meant English lyrics for the most part.

But linguistic diversity has found a way, too, and not just thanks to those hardy regulars like France, Italy, Portugal and Spain that almost never disappoint with home-language lyrics. The 2023 edition saw the welcome return of tongues long-missed on the Eurovision stage, like Finnish and Russian.

So how does 2024 measure up against that pretty high bar?

The Eurovision Language Contest 2024

Big Firsts

Notably, we have two language debuts at this year’s contest. Azerbaijan, entering since 2008 without a word of Azeri, finally treats us to a few words of this beautiful Turkic language in the entry Özünlə apar (take me with you). And from Australia, a competing member of the family since 2015, we have the uplifting song One Milkali (One Blood) featuring lyrics in Yankunytjatjara, a Pama-Nyungan language from Western Australia. Azeri and Yankunytjatjara may not feature as their full entry texts, but it is a beautiful thing to celebrate new languages on the Eurovision stage!

As an aside, as one commenting fan dubbed it, it’s that moment when Yankunytjatjara makes it to Eurovision before Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. We UK fans live in hope…

There’s a first for Armenian, too. While we’ve heard the language in previous entries, 2024 is the first time it will be the sole language of an Armenian entry. Jako has a world music fusion vibe, and a simple message of be yourself, which is a noble sentiment in any language.

Many Happy Returns

The it’s been TOO long! prize must go to Norway this year. Norway has sent a song with Swahili lyrics (2010) more recently than it has one på norsk (2006). The latter, Christine Guldbrandsen’s Alvedansen, didn’t even do particularly badly, so heaven knows what put them off.

This year, though, Norwegian folk metallists Gåte were the surprise vanquishers of fan favourites Keiino, pipping them to the Norwegian ticket with the song Ulveham and breaking the Norwegian drought. Its beautifully haunting arrangement builds on traditional Kulning calls from the mountain herds of Norway, featuring lyrics drawn from Telemark dialect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UipzszlJwRQ

While the return of Finnish was last year’s joy, its loss this year is tempered by the return of its close cousin, Estonian. The collaboration between 5miinust and Puuluup will present (Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi (the crazily-titled We (sure) know nothing about (these) drugs), the first time Estonia has presented its national language since back-to-back eesti keel in 2012 and 2013. Incidentally, it wasn’t all English for Estonia in the interim – they achieved a solid top ten in 2018 with a song in Italian, of all tongues.

Going Dutch, Again

Dutch had fared similarly poorly in the anglophone takeover too – until recently. After one of many mid-noughties semifinal failures, the Netherlands ditched its national language following the 2010 contest. It took until 2022 for Dutch to pop up again, with considerable success – De diepte ended up of the left side of the scoreboard in the Torino contest. Two years later, Dutch is back again, this time with Joost Klein and Europapa.

Lithuania has also shied away from using its home tongue on the Eurovision stage. It took 21 years for the language to be heard again after a mediocre result in English and Lithuanian in 2001. But that return made the 2022 final, with Monika Liu scoring a solid result just outside the top ten. This year, Silvester Belt is aiming to do even better with the catchy Luktelk (Wait).

Greece will be looking to mirror that national language return to success, too. Greece’s last two attempts with full or partial Greek lyrics ended in very rare semifinal failure for the country, in 2016 and 2018. Marina Satti aims to be the first Greek-singing finalist since 2013, with a self-ironising, catchy, ethnopop banger.

Doubling Up

French and Spanish fans have an extra bite at the language cherry this year, and from perhaps surprising sources. Thanks to the return of Luxembourg to the contest – after an incredible 31 years away – we have a song with mixed French and English lyrics in the tally. As for Spanish, we can thank the Sammarinese win of Spanish rockers Megara for the fact that this year’s entry from the microstate will be in Spanish, not Italian or English.

Mixed Bag from the Balkans

We can always count on the Balkans for some non-anglophone fun at Eurovision. This year, we have, interestingly, two proper-name songs in Serbian Ramonda and Slovene Veronika. Only Albanian and Croatian lose out to English entries (although Croatia is doing very well for that as a pre-contest bookies’ favourite!).

The Hardy Annuals

And of course, we have our stalwarts, our indefatigable linguistic champions – France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. They’ve kept the national language flags flying almost without fail throughout the modern free-language era, and we should celebrate each of them for that. Italy in particular is a veritable feast of lyrics, with the hugely talented Angelina Mango firing them out in a fast-paced three minutes. Little wonder that she is also one of this year’s hot favourites for the top.

We might almost add Ukraine to this list, having not only sent, but won in Ukrainian in recent years. Ukraine opts for a cool mix this year with the duo Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil.

And for the Germanists…

No consolation for the Germanists, this year – again. 2012 was the last time German – or at least a dialect of it – formed part of a Eurovision song lyric. That honour goes to Austria’s Woki mit dem Popo (pretty much shake your bumbum in Upper Austrian dialect), which failed to make the final that year.

Can you believe it’s been that long? Me neither. But there’s small consolation in the fact that Germany had a stonker of a song in their national final this year. Galant’s Katze (cat) may have fallen at the final hurdle, but it has all the makings of a cult classic.

Which are your favourite non-English entries this year? And which language do you yearn to hear again on the Eurovision stage? Let us know in the comments!

 

 

Nigheanan Mòra by Catrìona Lexy Chaimbeul (2014). Reading target language texts is an excellent way to improve foreign language skills.

Working with Target Language Texts

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Eager to push my Gaelic out of the language course box and into the wild, I’ve been working with a number of short texts for intermediate learners lately. Luckily, quite a few readers have appeared in the recent years, including a bunch of fun titles that go beyond the usual ‘Celtic myths retold’ route (not taking anything away from the great series of beginners’ books from Jason Bond).

A recent favourite of mine, Nigheanan Mòra (Big Girls, 2014), was penned by one of the creatives behind recent BBC Alba drama hit An Clò Mòr, Catrìona Lexy Chaimbeul. On the surface, it’s in firm rom com territory, at turns silly, funny and melodramatic. But it’s grown-up enough to feel like you’re reading a real book, and not just an oversimplified, fleshless yarn that trades plot for easy reading. It’s also chock full of colloquial, conversational Gaelic dialogue, which makes for a great living language learning model.

That said, getting the most from a reader takes a bit more organisation than simply starting at page one and ploughing through. Better to have a strategy to maximise both your enjoyment and your learning.

Working With Texts : One Approach

Of course, there’s no single ‘correct’ way to work through target language texts. Through trial and error, I’ve found a way that works for me, which I’ll outline here. It works best with short-ish texts, since it involves two passes in quick-ish succession, but you could also use it with short sections of longer texts.

That’s because manageable chunk size is the key to this method. Often, you won’t need to worry about that with texts specifically for learners. Many books that support learners, like Nigheanan Mòra, already have nice short chapters of 5-10 pages. I find that’s the ideal length to read and digest texts without tiring (because, let’s face it, reading in a foreign language is more taxing). If chapters are much longer, just flick ahead a little way to see if there’s a natural stop somewhere, and make that your goal.

Pass One : the Chill read

After that, it’s time to start reading. The first pass is the no-chill literary gambol. Read for gist and plot, and don’t fret a jot about the odd unknown word. The focus here is on simply understanding and enjoying the story, first and foremost. I like to go full non-study mode at this stage. I’ll pick a cosy reading spot, grab a drink and just try to immerse myself in the story. No dictionaries, no pencils, no interruptions.

After that first reading – maybe 20 minutes or so – I’ll stop, take a breath, and reflect on the twists and turns of the plot. It’s important to take a passive break to cogitate calmly like this, given that our brains work more efficiently with pacing (a trait the Pomodoro technique plays into).

Pass Two : The Close Read

After this brief pause, I’ll then flick back casually through the pages I’ve just read. In particular, I’ll revisit those passages I felt were tough, or noticed myself slow down in during the first pass. For each one, I’ll re-read carefully, this time trying to translate in my head, paying more attention to the grammatical structures. I’ll also spend some time on words I didn’t get the first time round, looking for contextual clues to help guess the meaning (and not reaching straight for the dictionary).

This is the stage where I really prefer old-school paper books to Kindle ones. I’ll have a pencil by me, underlining any turns of phrase that sound really idiomatic or conversationally useful. With a pop-story like Nigheanan Mòra, there’ll be loads of those, thanks to all the snappy dialogue.  They’re the snippets where I’ve realised aha! So that’s how you say X in Gaelic.

Finally, after all that, I’ll spend some time cross-referencing those new structures in grammars and online materials like the LearnGaelic.scot dictionary and Wiktionary. Once I’m sure I’ve understood them, I’ll add the phrases to my Anki deck. Adding phrases is so much more effective that lifting just individual words from texts. We speak in phrases, not lone words, so by the end of this stage I have some truly useful material to drill. This phrase-lifting approach thoroughly mines a text for connectives and sentence frames – the bread and butter of fluency.

Find What Works For You

So there you have it – one way to work with authentic texts. It’s not rocket science or particularly groundbreaking, but it works for me. And it helps, in terms of discipline, to know that I have these regular steps to follow, to give my target language reading some kind of structure.

What I also find invaluable about it, in terms of motivation, is building in a reading for pleasure stage, which includes choosing material I find fun, as well as the time to enjoy it without pressure. Even if that is silly old rom coms.

After all, learning and practising languages shouldn’t just be work, work, work.

There are myriad ways to approach target language texts. What works for you? Let us know in the comments!

ChatGPT writing a short story in German.

Short Stories… in ChatGPT

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It’s no secret – reading fiction is a favourite strategy of polyglot learners. That’s more than simply reading Harry Potter novels in translation. There’s a whole market sector that revolves around non-native short stories, and I’m not alone in enjoying the excellent Short Stories In… or Penguin Parallel Texts series to practise my languages.

But what if we could source those stories on demand… and for free?

Unless you’ve been hiding for the past three months, you’ll know where I’m going with this. ChatGPT, the natural language processor, has already made ripples in the fan fiction arena. And, it turns out, it has a knack for performing the same feat multilingually, and tailored to your exact needs.

The power of it becomes apparent when you ask it to write you a story. Because you can tailor that story precisely to your own interests. Personal interest, of course, is a holy grail with language learning motivation. And ChatGPT is like your own private author, ready to fit original content to exactly what you like.

I started where I started – literally, with languages – and requested a German short story about Eurovision. What else? The results were pretty impressive.

ChatGPT writing a short story in German.

ChatGPT writing a short story in German.

The only thing is, it’s a bit wordy for my (hypothetical) class of German students. So I ask ChatGPT to tailor it to a specific level:

ChatGPT writing a short story in German.

Tailoring the story to a specific level.

Brilliant – we’re getting something we can turn into a learning resource now. But I’d love my students to focus on more descriptive adjectives to improve their writing. Can we turn this into a better model?

ChatGPT writing a short story in German.

Tweaking the output with specific criteria.

Again, ChatGPT turns up the goods! The German is sound, and the story is a fun little read. But what about making this a polyglot resource, parallel resource, so anyone learning more than one language can keep their learning in sync? No problem:

ChatGPT writing a short story in French.

Translation into French.

Impressive. It has no issue with any of what you’d call the mainstream languages. I tried it in all of the languages I have some proficiency in, and it even churns out decent Greek and Polish. I’m not yet fluent enough in Scottish Gaelic to check this properly, but it seemed the only one that was a bit iffy, despite giving it a good go:

ChatGPT writing a short story in German.

A translation into Scottish Gaelic.

Finally, let’s throw in a short summary version we can use as revision materials, or an item description:

ChatGPT writing a short story in French.

A short summary of the story in French.

Obviously, this all comes with the caveat that it needs careful checking before use as an accurate resource. But the initial performance is pretty spectacular, to be honest. As the model is tweaked and improved, it’s not hard to imagine this becoming a cornerstone of personal resource creation for learners of languages, as well as everything else.