I will be the first to admit that when AI and Chat GPT began making waves in tech and non-tech news last year, I was skeptical. Then, Microsoft hired our team at work to produce three courses on AI tools for education which gave me a chance to work closely with Microsoft Copilot. I started playing with AI tools more outside of work until I had an epiphany: use Microsoft Copilot for language learning!
A couple of weeks ago, someone in the Duolingo Norwegian Learners Facebook group I belong to asked a question about some Norwegian verbs. The comments section quickly filled up with answers. But the information came in bits and pieces scattered over dozens of individual comments.
I decided to Google the question myself, and then it occurred to me I could use Microsoft Copilot instead. I decided to try asking Copilot in Norwegian to see what would happen, and Copilot gave me a nice concise and summarized answer in Norwegian. This was when I got excited.
What is Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat) is an AI chatbot and virtual assistant built on Chat GPT. You can use it to generate information and images by entering a prompt in the chat box. Copilot will generate a unique answer just for you in a conversational manner.
Where can I use Microsoft Copilot?
Copilot is available on the web, iOS, and Android. Following are just a few ways to access Copilot:
- On the web at copilot.microsoft.com
- In the Microsoft Edge sidebar by clicking on the Copilot icon in the upper-right corner
- The Copilot app which is available from both the Apple App Store and Google Play
Is Microsoft Copilot free?
Yes, Microsoft Copilot has a free plan, and it's more than adequate for a casual-to-moderate user. With the free plan, you get:
- Unlimited conversations per day
- GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo during non-peak times
- 15 free image generation boosts per day (after you use up your 15 boosts, image generation slows down)
Is Microsoft Copilot reliable?
Generative AI is trained using data from books, articles, and websites which can contain outdated, inaccurate, or biased information. To counter the spread or use of misinformation, Copilot includes citations to sources it uses to generate answers so you can check for yourself that the information is accurate.
To learn more about Microsoft Copilot, visit the Copilot website.
Now, fire up Copilot on your preferred device/app and let's get started!
How to use Microsoft Copilot for language learning and practice
A quick note before we begin. In the screenshots below, I am chatting with Copilot in Norwegian. I've only been studying Norwegian on Duolingo for a few months (read about my journey here) and am far from fluent. My chats in the screenshots probably contain some beginner errors. Please keep that in mind and remember that this is a guide on using Microsoft Copilot and not the Norwegian language. :)
#1 Chat with Microsoft Copilot in your target language
To get in the habit of using your target language, simply start a chat with Copilot in the target language about anything that strikes your fancy. Copilot will respond in the same language.
To get started, type a question in your target language. If you don't have a particular question in mind, you can start with something as simple as:
Hi, can we have a conversation in [language]?
Copilot might give you ideas for things you can ask it. For example, one time it told me I could ask what its hobbies are. Even if it doen't suggest a topic, start typing and see what happens.
Copilot replied (in Norwegian):
Yes, of course! I can speak Norwegian. How can I help you today? :)
Underneath the response are three suggested follow-up questions I can choose from to start the conversation.
- Can you tell me about the weather in Oslo?
- What are the best tourist attractions in Norway?
- Tell me a little about Norwegian culture.
Click on any of those questions and Copilot will generate a response to that question. If you don't like any of them, you can type your own.
Each conversation can have up to 30 responses, which should be enough for most practice sessions. If you reach the limit, just hit the "New topic" button and start a new conversation.
#2 Ask Copilot grammar or vocabulary questions
In the introduction to this post, I told you about the Facebook group post with dozens of answers in the form of comments—some of which may or may not have been accurate. Copilot save you a lot of time scrolling through Facebook comments or search results by generating a single answer with links to resources.
In the following prompt, I asked Copilot to explain the difference between three Norwegian verbs that all mean "to stop":
Can you please explain the difference between [word], [word], and [word]?
Copilot provided three concise explanations, each with an example. And beneath the response are three suggested follow-ups:
- Can you give me more examples?
- What's the difference between "pause", another verb I hadn't asked about, and "stanse"?
- Thanks, that was useful.
#3 Have a conversation about a topic you want to build vocabulary in
If there's a subject area you're interested in or want to acquire vocabulary in, have a chat with Copilot about it. You just need to let Copilot know what you want to chat about.
You can start with something as simple as:
Can we have a conversation about [topic]?
I chose horses for my topic. In the response, there's a word I haven't encountered before. I have an inkling of what it means, and were I reading this in a book or article, I might have just kept on reading, satisfied with the gist of it.
But with Copilot, I can simply ask what it means and get an answer straight away without leaving the chat window to look it up. Copilot explains the meaning of the word and provides an example in context. The suggested follow-up questions include asking how to use the word in a sentence and what the difference is between that and another potentially related word.
All it takes is as simple prompt:
What does ["word"] mean?
When you're satisified that you know what the word means, you can just carry on with your conversation. For example, to continue this conversation, I might ask Copilot to tell me about Norwegian horses next.
#4 Ask Copilot to interview you
A great way to practice languages is having someone ask you questions. Because you can't predict what the questions might ask, this is a great way to test your vocabulary recall.
To kick off such an exercise, I might use a prompt like:
Can you ask me some questions about [topic] that I can answer?
I continued with horses as my topic.
Copilot generated 10 questions on various facts about horses.
I chose the first one: "What is the tallest horse recorded in history and how tall was it?" I ventured a guess that the tallest horse was a Shire and that he was probably about 200 centimeters tall.
It turns out the tallest recorded horse was a Belgian, not a Shire, and he was 210 cm tall. So, I learned something new about horses and some new Norwegian words!
#5 Ask Copilot to correct your grammar, spelling, and vocab mistakes
In my experience, things you learn from mistakes end up more firmly planted in the mind than things you just get right. You can use mistakes to your advantage by having Copilot act as a tutor during a conversation.
To do this, I start my conversation with a prompt like:
Can you ask me some questions about [topic]? And can you please tell me when I have [language] grammar mistakes?
In the following example, I used Precise mode because a previous conversation I had in Balanced mode returned false positives.
My chosen topic was pets and Copilot gave me 4 questions. Right off the bat, it started correcting the grammar mistakes in my prompt. (It suggested that I use the word "make" instead of "have" when referring grammar mistakes, which in hindsight is also better in English.)
I chose the second question: What are some of your pets' unique traits?
My answer:
Thanks! I would like to answer the second question. I had a dog who was called Ludwig and he loved to sing. His favorite band was The Wiggles. He liked to watch TV, but only shows of The Wiggles.
Copilot's answer actually surprised me:
It sounds like Ludwig was a very special dog! It is pretty unique that he loved to sing and watch The Wiggles.
The fact that Copilot analyzed my response about my dog (100% true btw!) and concluded that he was "special" because he liked to sing and watch the Wiggles really impressed me.
This means that Copilot was either fed data specifically informing it that dogs don't normally sing or watch The Wiggles (not very likely), or it analyzed all available information on canine behavior, and finding none on dogs singing and watching The Wiggles, concluded that it had encountered an anomaly. It then turned what would have been an objective analysis and chose a subjective word befitting a chat with a human: special.
Anyway, moving on.
In the next paragraph, Copilot proceeded with the grammar corrections. Two of them were careless mistakes I should've caught myself making when typing, but it just goes to show how effective Copilot can be in catching and correcting mistakes. In another chat I had a few days ago, Copilot even schooled me when I was careless with capitalization and punctuation.
The third mistake was for the plural of the word "show" which I haven't yet learned in Duolingo. Copilot concluded the response by giving me the corrected version of my sentences.
#6 Have Copilot create a reading exercise just for you
This is my favorite way to use Microsoft Copilot for language learning and practice. You can ask Copilot to create something—a story, poem, song, speech, etc.—just for you.
To get started, just give Copilot an instruction with a little bit of direction:
Please write me a story about [character(s)].
You can be as specific as you want or let Copilot do the imagining for you. I like to have Copilot write me stories with my pets as the protagonists because they're more more fun and engaging to read.
For creative content like this, use Creative mode to get the best results.
Further reading: Check out my post on creating foreign language short stories with Copilot for a deeper dive on ideas and prompts to take this activity to the next level.
A few parting notes and tips
As you've seen in the few examples above, the possibilities for learning and practicing languages with Copilot are endless. In closing, I'll leave you with a few general tips.
No two Copilot conversations are the same
In your own chats, you may get different types, styles, structures, etc. of responses than I received in the examples from this post.
Regardless of how Copilot responds, you can guide it to give you what you want. For example, if a response is not as thorough as you'd have liked, simply ask Copilot to elaborate or focus on what you want.
Chat modes
Copilot has three modes. Choose the one that best suits the type of answer you need. For example, use:
- Creative mode if you want Copilot to write a story, poem, song, etc.
- Balanced mode to have a casual conversation about a topic
- Precise mode when you want error detection and grammatical corrections
Accuracy
Remember that AI and Copilot are far from perfect. A lot of responses come from websites on the world wide web, and we all know websites don't always have the most current, accurate, and objective information. Whenever you use AI for anything that can have consequences big or small, remember to check the sources.
If at first you don't get the kinds of responses you're hoping for, just try a different tack. Like all things in life, prompt engineering takes practice. Be sure to check out my other posts on advanced techniques and prompts for using Microsoft Copilot for language learning and practice.
Those were my first 6 tips for how to use Microsoft Copilot for language learning. I hope you enjoy them and have fun experimenting with Copilot. I've love to here what other ways you discover for using Microsoft Copilot for language learning. Feel free to share them with me @HelloCappuccino on Twitter/X.
