Ben: Welcome back to Vocafy Unpacked. I'm Ben, and today we're talking about AI tutors.
Clara: Hi Ben. This is an interesting one because AI chat is probably one of the easiest language-learning tools to understand. You open a conversation and start using the language.
Ben: Which already sounds pretty useful. I don't always have somebody available when I suddenly decide I should practise Spanish at eleven at night.
Clara: Exactly. A conversation partner that is available when you want to practise removes one very practical barrier.
You can try to express an idea, ask for an explanation when you're stuck and continue for as long as the conversation is useful to you.
Ben: But there are AI chatbots everywhere now. I can open a general chatbot and say, "Talk to me in Spanish."
So why put a tutor inside a language-learning system?
Clara: That's the more interesting question.
The difference isn't simply having another AI that can talk.
It's what the conversation can connect to.
If the tutor knows something about the vocabulary you're already learning, can bring some of that vocabulary back into conversation, can include a real review when appropriate and can help you save something useful that appears during the chat, then conversation becomes part of a larger learning process.
Ben: So instead of every chat beginning from a blank page, some of my learning can travel with me.
Clara: That's the idea.
Knowing a word when you see it in a vocabulary list is one thing. Being able to recognise it in a sentence is another. And producing it yourself during a conversation can be harder again.
Conversation gives you another place to work with language you have already encountered.
Ben: Before we get into that connection, what kinds of conversations can I actually have?
Clara: There are several ways to practise.
If you simply want to talk, you can start a free conversation about something that interests you.
If you want more guidance, you can use a lesson session where the tutor can introduce a topic, explain things and ask questions.
There is a vocabulary-focused session for working more directly with words and expressions you're learning.
And there is roleplay for situations you might actually face, such as travelling, ordering food or taking part in a job interview.
Ben: I like roleplay because there's an obvious problem to solve. I'm not sitting there thinking, "What should two humans talk about today?"
Clara: Exactly. The situation gives the conversation a purpose.
Let's imagine you're learning Spanish and you're preparing for a trip.
You choose a shop roleplay. The tutor takes the role of the shop assistant and you practise your side of the interaction.
Ben: And this is where my vocabulary can start coming into it?
Clara: Yes.
Conversation can use selected words and expressions that you're already learning, together with some relevant information Vocafy has about them.
In a normal conversation, that can help useful vocabulary appear again naturally.
In a vocabulary session, the tutor can focus more directly on words you're working on or words that have been difficult for you.
Ben: Give me an example.
Clara: Suppose you've been learning "Estoy buscando", meaning "I'm looking for."
The conversation could create a natural opportunity where that expression is useful.
The tutor might be playing a shop assistant and ask what it can help you find.
Now instead of seeing "Estoy buscando" on a study card again, you have a reason to produce it.
Ben: So I might answer, "Estoy buscando un regalo para mi amigo."
Clara: Exactly.
And that's an important distinction.
You aren't only checking whether you recognise the expression. You're trying to use it to communicate something.
Ben: Does the tutor constantly force my vocabulary into every sentence?
Clara: No, and you wouldn't want that.
The point is not to turn every conversation into a disguised vocabulary test.
In an ordinary chat, selected vocabulary can be brought back when it fits. If you specifically choose vocabulary practice, then the session can focus much more heavily on what you're learning.
Ben: That seems like a useful difference between just chatting and deliberately studying through chat.
Clara: It is. Sometimes you want to forget that you're studying and simply have a conversation.
At other times you might think, "I have these words in my vocabulary, but I never actually use them."
Then a vocabulary-focused conversation makes sense.
Ben: And what happens if I need something more test-like during the conversation?
Clara: Vocafy can bring practice directly into the chat too.
For example, it can show a short multiple-choice question for a quick vocabulary check.
More importantly, it can also bring in an item that is actually due for review.
Ben: When you say actually due for review, you mean from my normal vocabulary review?
Clara: Exactly.
You're not answering a pretend question that exists only inside that conversation.
A vocabulary card that is due for review can appear in the chat. You answer it there, and the result becomes part of your normal review history.
That means it can affect when the item should appear again.
Ben: That's quite different from an AI simply inventing a vocabulary quiz for me.
Clara: Yes. Both can be useful, but they're different things.
One is a question generated as part of the conversation.
The other is connected to vocabulary you're actually learning and to its review history.
Ben: So the conversation can reach into the learning system.
Clara: In supported ways, yes.
And the connection can also work in the other direction.
Ben: Meaning the conversation can give something back?
Clara: Exactly.
Imagine the tutor uses a phrase you've never seen before and you think, "That's useful. I want to remember that."
Conversation doesn't have to be the end of that phrase.
Vocafy can offer to save a useful word or expression together with an example sentence.
Ben: Automatically?
Clara: It can offer it, but you decide whether to add it.
Nothing becomes part of your personal vocabulary until you approve it.
Ben: I like that. Otherwise an enthusiastic AI could probably fill my vocabulary with fifty expressions from one conversation.
Clara: Precisely.
The tutor can help you notice something worth learning, but you're still making the decision.
Once you approve it, that expression becomes part of your personal vocabulary. You can manage it in My Knowledge and use it in other parts of Vocafy that work with your saved vocabulary.
Ben: So there are really two directions here.
Something I'm already learning can enter the conversation, and something useful from the conversation can enter my vocabulary.
Clara: That's a very good way to think about it.
And that's what makes the connection more interesting than simply putting a chatbot next to a flashcard system.
The conversation and the vocabulary don't have to remain completely separate.
Ben: Earlier you mentioned that I can choose how the tutor behaves too.
Clara: Yes, because not everyone wants the same kind of teacher.
Some learners want every mistake corrected immediately. Others find that exhausting and would rather finish what they're saying before getting feedback.
Some want short responses. Others want detailed explanations.
Some want a relaxed conversational partner. Others prefer something closer to a traditional teacher.
Ben: And Vocafy lets you change that?
Clara: Yes. You can adjust things such as formality, how detailed the responses should be, how correction works, how encouraging the tutor should be and how much humour it uses.
You can also give the tutor a stronger focus on particular areas of language learning.
And you can decide how much of a language you already know should be used for explanations.
Ben: So as a beginner I might want difficult explanations in my own language.
Clara: Exactly.
Later, you might prefer to keep almost everything in the language you're learning.
And if you don't want to configure all of that yourself, you can start with a ready-made tutor that already has a particular teaching style.
Ben: I want to go back to corrections for a moment.
One problem I have with language conversations is that if I'm corrected after every sentence, I stop talking naturally.
Clara: And that's precisely why correction style matters.
There isn't one setting that is right for everybody or for every session.
If you're doing focused grammar practice, frequent correction might be exactly what you want.
If you're practising keeping a conversation going, too many interruptions might defeat the purpose.
The useful question is what you're trying to practise at that moment.
Ben: That's quite different from the idea of one perfect AI teacher personality.
Clara: Yes. A good learning interaction depends partly on the task and partly on the learner.
Sometimes you want a teacher.
Sometimes you want a conversation partner.
Sometimes you want somebody to challenge you with vocabulary.
And sometimes you want to rehearse a specific situation before it happens in real life.
Ben: What about the conversations themselves? Do they disappear when I finish?
Clara: No. You can return to earlier conversations and continue practising later.
You can also search and organise them, mark useful conversations as favourites and archive ones you no longer want in your main list.
Ben: That seems simple, but I can imagine it being useful if I had one conversation preparing for an interview and another practising a trip.
Clara: Exactly.
A useful conversation doesn't have to become disposable just because the session ended.
Ben: Let me see if I've understood the bigger picture.
I can start with a free conversation, a more guided lesson, vocabulary practice or a roleplay.
The tutor can work with some vocabulary I'm already learning.
A due vocabulary review can appear inside the conversation and count as a real review.
And if a useful new expression comes up, I can choose to add it to my vocabulary.
Clara: That's it.
And notice what we're not saying.
The AI doesn't need to secretly design your entire learning plan or decide everything you should learn next.
The useful part is much more concrete.
It can connect conversation with parts of the learning process that would otherwise sit in separate places.
Ben: Which fits something we've talked about before on this podcast.
Learning a word isn't just seeing it enough times. Eventually you want to understand it when it appears and be able to use it when you need it.
Clara: Exactly.
Retrieval practice can help vocabulary learning, but language isn't only a memory test. You also need opportunities to use what you know for a purpose.
Conversation gives you one of those opportunities.
Ben: So if somebody opens the tutor for the first time, what would you suggest?
Clara: Start with a real purpose.
Don't just type "teach me Spanish."
Choose something you actually want to talk about or a situation you might genuinely encounter.
If you have vocabulary you're already learning, try a vocabulary session and give yourself opportunities to use those expressions rather than only recognise them.
And when the conversation produces a phrase that you genuinely want to remember, save it.
Ben: Anything else?
Clara: Pay attention to corrections instead of treating them as interruptions.
If the tutor shows you a better way to express something, try using that form yourself later in the conversation.
The goal isn't to have a flawless chat.
The mistakes are often where the useful practice is.
Ben: That sounds much less like talking to an all-knowing AI teacher and much more like using conversation as another learning environment.
Clara: Exactly.
AI can make conversation much easier to access.
But the interesting part in Vocafy is what happens when that conversation is not isolated.
Words you're learning can come into the chat. Real review can happen there. Useful language from the conversation can go back into your vocabulary.
The conversation becomes another place where your learning can continue.
Ben: And maybe that's the real difference.
The chat isn't the destination. It's part of the system.
Clara: That's a good way to put it.
Ben: Clara, thanks for walking us through it.
Clara: My pleasure.
Ben: And to everyone listening, try one simple experiment. Pick a situation you actually want to handle in your new language, start a roleplay, and see how much of what you're learning you can actually use.
Clara: And if you discover one expression worth keeping, you know what to do.