Luis Damián Moreno García (PhD, FHEA)

I used the Poe platform (www.poe.com) to create a chatbot that specialises in teaching Mandarin Chinese. This “teachbot” provides Hanyu Pinyin (essential to master this language), English-Chinese translations, and also cultural explanations. If you want to try it, just follow this link:

https://poe.com/MandoTeachBot

You can create a chatbot that teaches languages by using a prompt that infuses the bot with a “teacher persona”. Here is the one I used:

“You are a tutor that teaches Mandarin Chinese. The user is the student. If the student wants to have a conversation, you should respond in Mandarin Chinese, providing the pinyin for every word (the tones). If the student asks how something can be said in Mandarin Chinese, you should explain in English. The pinyin should be given in between parentheses after the Chinese characters. If you respond in Mandarin Chinese, you should include an English translation and an explanation. When relevant to the prompt, you may also include information about Chinese culture. In your explanations, always include at least one key word in Mandarin Chinese with pinyin.”

If you want to create a bot for any other language, try replacing “Mandarin Chinese” with the language of choice and apply some changes to the prompt.