Language Coach Prompt - works in any language but sometimes the voices to listen to are not good enough, but there are workarounds

The prompt works with any language and the Listen or Read  Aloud option works well for English, Spanish and Italian, but not for Catalan, but there are workarounds.

Here are some that I have tried with Catalan:

1. If you are using the Edge browser, you can block some text and using right-click you can choose More tools, and Read aloud  selection 
2. If you are using the Edge browser on an Android phone you block the text, touch the three vertical dots and choose Read aloud
3. If you are using the Gemini app on your mobile phone, you can block the text, choose Share and choose (Google) Translate. Then touch the Speaker icon
4. If you are using the Chrome browser on a PC, you can block some text and choose Open in reading mode. I had to choose Català from the Voice selection icon
5. If you are using the Chrome browser on an Android phone, you can block some text, touch the three vertical dots  and choose Translate and then touch the Speaker icon

Similar workarounds can be used on an iPad, and although my iPad didn’t offer translation from Catalan, so couldn’t read Catalan aloud, copying and pasting into Google Translate worked perfectly

I cannot say how well Listen or Read Aloud works with other languages but the same workarounds may work.  If you try it I would love to hear about how well it worked.

Trying Language Coach Prompt with different LLMs

Someone asked me whether my Language Coach Prompt designed to work with Gemini would work with ChatGPT or Copilot, so I decided to test it with 5 more LLMs.

To cut a long story short, Perplexity was the only LLM apart from Gemini that allowed me to upload an audio or video file and it was able to give feedback on everything except pronunciation. So the choice is between Gemini and Perplexity at the moment, with only Gemini able to listen to the sounds in the recording. See the end for details of this difference.

Trying it with ChatGPT

You’re out of uploads — try a Business plan for more. Otherwise, your limit will reset tomorrow after 7:19 PM.

Trying it with Copilot

This file type is not supported. See: File formats supported by Copilot

Upload a different file. No audio or video file formats are allowed. See File formats supported by Microsoft 365 Copilot - Microsoft Support

Trying it with Claude

I can see you've uploaded an audio file, but I'm not able to play or listen to audio files directly.

Could you try one of these:

• Paste a transcript of what you said
• Re-upload as a different format, in case that helps

I'm ready to help as soon as I can read or hear your words!

Trying it with Deepseek

I asked Deepseek, "Can I upload an audio or video file?" and got the reply:

Yes, you can upload an audio file directly to the chat.

Please use the upload button to attach your file. Once you have done that, we can begin.

(Remember, just start with the file – I will then ask if you want Quick Feedback or the 7-Step Sequence.)

I then said, "It says text extraction only. There's no mention of audio files." and got the reply:

You are absolutely right, and I apologise for the confusion. Thank you for checking that.

My ability to "hear" audio depends on the platform. Here, I can only read text that is typed or uploaded as a document.

Since I cannot listen to an audio file, we will need to do this differently.

Here are the two best ways to move forward:

1. Type your speech: You can write out what you would have said in the audio. For example, write a paragraph as if you were speaking to a friend.
2. Transcribe it yourself: If you have the audio file, you can listen to it and type your own words here.

Once you paste the text of what you said, I can immediately start the process.

Again, my apologies for the misunderstanding. Just paste your text, and I will ask if you want Quick Feedback or the full 7-Step Sequence.

Trying it with Perplexity

Do you want Quick Feedback or the 7-Step Sequence for this recording?

If you choose the 7-Step Sequence, which step should we do first?

1. Verbatim Transcript
2. Error Identification
3. Pronunciation
4. Natural Correction
5. Colloquial Version
6. Advanced Version (+0.5)
7. More Advanced Version (+1.0)

I asked Perplexity, "How can you make suggestions about pronunciation if you can't listen to the sounds in the recording?" and got the reply:

You’re right to question that. I need to be clear and honest with you.

Right now, I cannot actually hear your audio. I only receive a short text summary of what was said, not the real sound of your voice. That means:

• I cannot truly judge your pronunciation.
• I cannot hear your accent, intonation, stress, or individual sounds.

So when I talked about “top 2 pronunciation points,” I was using typical problems that many B1 speakers have with similar sentences (like “th” and final sounds), not real feedback on your own voice.

Comparing Gemini’s Reply with Perplexity’s confession

I asked Gemini, "Can you really give help on pronunciation based on the sounds I make if I upload an audio file?" and got the reply:

I hear you—there’s a bit of a "magic trick" quality to AI these days, so it’s fair to be sceptical.

The short answer is yes, but with a slight distinction in how we do it. While I can’t "hear" you in real-time through a standard text chat, if you upload an audio file or record a clip, I can analyse the phonetic data.

---

How I Can Help

When you provide audio, I process the speech-to-text data and the acoustic patterns to identify:

• Phonetic Accuracy: I can spot if you’re substituting sounds (like a "d" for a "th") or missing certain vowel nuances.
• Intonation and Stress: I can tell if you're putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable (e.g., saying PHOtograph vs. phoTOGrapher).
• Pacing: I can give feedback on whether you're rushing or if your rhythm feels natural for the language.

….

An experiment with a 5-step prompt with 5 types of GenAI

I decided that it must be possible to include all the prompts for a routine sequence of prompts in one rather long prompt.

I wanted to get:

1. A student transcript with the errors marked so they could try to see their errors
2. A corrected version of the transcript
3. An improved version at the students level (A2, in this case)
4. An improved version at the next level (B1, in this case)
5. An improved version at two levels up (B2, in this case)

The secret was to include the five steps in the prompt but to instruct GenAI to wait for the prompt “Next” before moving on to the next step.

I then took a short recording made by a very good A2 student and used Rev.com to get the transcript. The idea is that the student has to copy the long prompt from a WhatsApp group, for example, and paste it into the chosen GenAI and then copy the transcript from Turboscribe.ai or Rev.com  and paste it into the same GenAI.

I did this with these 5 types of GenAI:

1. ChatGPT
2. Gemini
3. Claude
4. Copilot
5. Deepseek

I then copied the output from each GenAI for each step and pasted it into Pearson’s GSE Text Analyzer ( https://www.english.com/gse/teacher-toolkit/user/textanalyzer ), which gave me GSE and CEFR levels for all 25 versions of the transcript.

Apart from looking carefully at the English used in each version to try to understand what language had determined the levels given for them all, I also made an Excel spreadsheet with the two sets of levels. With these I was able to produce two graphs. The first one shows what happened with each type of GenAI:

At first glance Claude was the best at producing increasingly sophisticated versions of the student’s transcript, although they were always half a CEFR level too high. Mark you, the original transcript was already half a level higher as she was a very good student.

Equally obvious is the fact that Copilot was useless!

ChatGPT, Gemini and Deepseek failed to produce increasingly sophisticated versions across the four levels, so they didn’t do what I had intended.

In fact, as can be seen in this second chart, the whole idea didn’t work on average:

Once again, this may be as a result of the student’s original transcript being higher than expected (A2+ rather than A2). Maybe the lesson to be learnt from this is that instead of using fixed levels for each step up, the different GenAIs may be able to produce new version of the transcript one level higher on the CEFR scale. This would have the added advantage that the same long prompt could be useful for all students in a class and across all courses.

Here is the original version of the long prompt derived with help from Turboscribe and ChatGPT’s advice. (I hope the concept of including steps and a trigger word will be useful):

“You will be provided a transcript as well as instructions about what to do with that transcript. Unless otherwise specified, your response should be in the same language as the transcript.[1] Here are your instructions, which you must follow:

Instructions:

1. I will provide a transcript. For each step, you should follow the instructions carefully.
2. For each task, do not include timestamps unless specifically requested.
3. After each step, wait for me to say "next" before proceeding. 

Steps:

1. Mark the errors in the transcript in bold, but do not correct them.
2. Correct the errors, marking the changes in bold and leaving the original errors in brackets.
3. Improve the transcript for A2 level students, marking improvements in bold.
4. Improve the transcript to a B1 level, marking changes in bold.
5. Finally, enhance the transcript to a B2 level, marking improvements in bold. 

[Sample transcript of an A2 student’s recording:]

The history start in the summer of 2011. Anna went on holiday with some friends on island. The photo was taken on hill. Hill is a little mountain and called Ana. The photo is important for her because the stone is a mysterious for her. And she put your hands around it, the stone, and, and she was sleeping. And this photo there are in other places because in your mobile phone, computer, et cetera.”

---

[1] These two sentences came from Turboscribe’s Custom prompt

Warning – very long post! (Remixing) Artifacts with Claude

“Artifacts are content made with Claude like code snippets, text documents, graphics, diagrams, or website designs, that appear in a dedicated window alongside a chat with Claude.

This Artifact was made and published using Claude.ai, a next generation AI assistant made by Anthropic that’s built for work and trained to be safe, accurate, & secure.

You can also remix this Artifact with Claude using your own Claude.ai account to evolve and build on the ideas of the publisher.”

Apart from the fact that Claude can help you code a web app (Artifact) from scratch, anyone using the artifact can also remix it -  not only the creator. So you can do it, too, if you have a free account with Claude!

For example my original vocabulary training artifact didn’t allow the learner to choose to go from English to Catalan or vice versa, but it was just a matter of  asking Claude to add that feature, and it was done. (See the prompts I used below.)

Here is the improved version:

• Claude Artifact             (Animals, Journeys, Verbs – English and Catalan)

I later decided that more people would be able to use the same artifact with translations to and from Spanish rather than Catalan. So, I remixed it. This is the one I shared on social media:

• Claude Artifact             (Animals, Journeys, Verbs – English and Spanish)

Next, I wondered how easy it would be to change the three categories and the lists of words and discovered that I could do that as well. Here are two more versions of the same artifact:

• Claude Artifact             (Travel and Tourism, Health and Fitness, Crime and Safety -  English and Catalan)
• Claude Artifact             (Shopping and Consumerism, Social and Cultural Activities, Education and Learning – English and Catalan)

Here is a list of the prompts I used to remix the original artifact and Claude’s replies in italics:

·    Can you include a toggle between English to Catalan and Catalan to English?
I'll modify the artifact to include a toggle for learning direction between English to Catalan and Catalan to English.

·    Could I change the languages to be Spanish and English?
I'll modify the vocabulary data and labels to use Spanish and English instead of Catalan and English.

·    Can I change the vocabulary lists in this artifact?
Yes, you can modify the vocabulary lists in the artifact!

·    Can you remix the artifact with these three topics and vocabulary lists?
Travel and Tourism tourism, sightseeing, destination, route, adventure, urban, jungle, mountain, trail, city, beach, wetlands, hotel, hostel, tent, exploring, hiking, cycling, running, flights, arrival, connection, Christ the Redeemer, museum, landmark, river, Amazon, Pantanal
Health and Fitness cold, flu, virus, bacteria, infection, handwashing, soap, warm water, sneezing, fitness, gym, yoga, spinning, Pilates, swimming, tennis, basketball, fruit, vegetables, fish, healthy, fried food, fizzy drink, brain, puzzle, reading, learning, exercise, sleep, oxygen, muscle
Crime and Safety robbery, theft, burglary, stealing, thief, burglar, pickpocket, grab, faint, disappear, escape, report, police, investigation, suspect, connection, safety, lock, stranger, attention, train, theatre, bridge, house, glasses, hat, blonde, brown
I'll modify the vocabulary Data object with the new vocabulary lists you've provided. I'll translate them to Catalan to maintain the bilingual learning approach of the original artifact.

·    Can you make a new version with this vocabulary? I'd like to be able to send links to the two versions Shopping and Consumerism shopping, sale, gift, Secret Santa, delivery, jewellery, furniture, accessories, leather, clothing, vegan, organic, handmade, vintage, buy, sell, borrow, advertise, pay, fast fashion, marketplace
Social and Cultural Activities art, gallery, studio, café, urban farm, artist, family, friends, socialising, meeting, performance, opera, singer, judge, audience, festival, concert, event
Education and Learning school, term, course, schedule, reading, studying, practising, learning, revise, memory, thinking, lesson, assignment, classroom, holiday, start, complete
I'll create a new version of the Vocabulary Trainer with the new vocabulary lists you've provided.

 

Please experiment with the artifacts I have shared here and make changes to the language your students might want, and change the categories and vocabulary lists to suit your classes. You could even try remixing the artifact to increase or decrease the number of categories!

Remember that you have to Publish your new artifacts to be able to share them with your students and they don’t need to be 18 or have an account with Claude.

The first time I remixed the original artifact, Claude offered these alternatives:

I'll help you explore variations of this vocabulary trainer. First, let me reproduce the artifact to ensure we're working with it properly.

…

Here are three interesting ways we could remix this vocabulary trainer:

1. Spaced Repetition System (SRS)

We could enhance the learning algorithm by implementing a proper spaced repetition system. Instead of just reviewing unknown words once, we could:

- Add confidence levels (1-5) instead of just Yes/No

- Track when each word was last reviewed

- Calculate the next review date based on performance

- Show daily review queues

- Add a progress streak system

 

2. Multi-directional Learning Mode

We could add flexibility in how users practice:

- Toggle between English→Catalan and Catalan→English

- Add multiple-choice mode where users select from 4 options

- Include a typing mode where users must type the translation

- Add audio pronunciation (text-to-speech)

- Include example sentences for context

 

3. Gamification and Social Features

We could make it more engaging by adding:

- Points system based on correct answers and speed

- Daily challenges with specific word sets

- Achievement badges for milestones (100 words learned, 7-day streak, etc.)

- Leaderboards for different categories

- Option to create and share custom vocabulary lists

- Study groups where friends can track each other's progress

 

Would you like me to implement any of these variations? I can focus on the specific aspects you find most interesting.

I only took up the - Toggle between English→Catalan and Catalan→English option. You might like to try some of the others!

Just a footnote about a mistake I made. I unpublished an artifact and failed to read the following warning.

Warning:
Once Artifact is unpublished, it cannot be republished.
A new Artifact must be created.

 

 

Transcript of spoken conversation with Copilot fed into Claude to get a podcast script to use in Wondercraft to produce a podcast

This is really part 2 of a post about a wonderful conversation I had with Copilot using voice. You can read part 1, which ended with me getting a podcast produced by Google's NotebookLM, here.

I wanted to experiment as well with Wondercraft, which offers various ways to create a podcast. One way is to provide it with a script and you can then choose from different voices and add music.

I thought Claude would be a good way to get a script for a podcast based on my conversation with Copilot and that proved to be true.  I uploaded a Word doc of my conversation and said, "Can you make this into a podcast?"The script it produced was for one speaker and it suggested when to have pauses and when to insert music at the beginning and end.

I gave the script to Wondercraft and chose a woman's voice, Abby's, for the podcast and some music for the intro and outro.  I exported the .wav file and uploaded it to Rev.com to get a transcript that would be synchronised with the recording. You can see the results here as I made a screen recording of it playing on my iPad (4 minutes):

Here is the screen recording of the podcast produced by NotebookLM (9 minutes):

While both podcasts give a good account of my conversation with Copilot about a presentation I'm planning to give, my real interest is in how students might benefit from creating such podcasts based on their recorded speaking or their writing.

Transcript of spoken conversation with Copilot fed into NotebookLM

It all started off with a wonderful conversation with Copilot using voice. I wanted to try out an idea I had heard about in a webinar (GenAI tools for independent learning) yesterday of using GenAI to help you polish your presentation.

It didn’t quite work out as I had imagined, and I only wish I had recorded the conversation on Rev.com on my phone, which I had beside me. It turned into a to and fro conversation about what I planned to talk about in the presentation. It was actually constructive and I clarified some doubts I had about what to include and how to handle the fast pace of development in speech to text and GenAI in general.

You can’t share conversations on Copilot, believe it or not, so I copied and pasted the transcript of the conversation into Google’s NotebookLM to generate an 8-minute podcast.

Of course I downloaded podcast from NotebookLM and uploaded it into Rev.com to get synchronised transcripts.

I then used screen recorder on my Android phone to record how that looks.

You may not be that interested in the content, but I hope you can see how the same ideas can be used to help learners of English who are 18 and over can get content to enhance their language development.

1. They can have a voice conversation with Copilot and record it with either a screen recorder or another device. 
2. They can upload the recording or the transcript of the conversation to NotebookLM.
3. They can generate a podcast based on the conversation
4. They can download the audio file of the podcast and upload it to Rev.com
5. They can listen to the podcast at a slightly slower speed while following the synchronised transcript on Rev.com

Transcript correction and enhancement by Gemini, ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude

https://g.co/gemini/share/16c0248c7a9f Transcript correction by #Gemini can be just as useful as that provided by #ChatGPT or #Copilot or #Claude

Try this prompt with them all:

Can you correct this transcript marking the errors and the corrections in some way? One evening in October, Hannah was at work. She was meeting Jamie at 5.30. She looks her watch and it was 5.20. It was raining and she was in a hurry because she has 10 minutes to meet Jamie. She was driving along the high street and she was driving very fast. Suddenly a man crossed the road and Hannah didn't see him.

Check to see if Read Aloud works on them all as it is very useful for #EFL #MFL #ESL students. 

Then use this prompt:

How could an ... level student express this better? try with A2, B1, or B2

The transcript was produced by #Turboscribe

But the innovative thing is that Turboscribe now offers a microphone option, so students can record themselves live three times a day for up to 30 minutes each time with a free account. 

Turboscribe now allows live recording!

 

Breaking news!

It may be difficult to see but turboscribe.ai is now more useful than ever as there is now a microphone so students can record themselves 3 times a day for up to 30 minutes!

The transcripts are very accurate and students can listen while following the transcript to notice automatic corrections that have been made.

Editing the transcripts to correct obvious mistranscriptions usually caused by pronunciation problems is possible, although a bit fiddly. 

(Corrected) transcripts can be exported in various formats, in which it may be easier to make corrections.

These can then be pasted into ChatGPT, for example, with prompts asking for corrections or a more coherent version at A2  B1 B2 etc

Spacebar.fm offers 200 minutes of recording, transcription, summarization, and illustration

I discover new Speech to text  platforms every week. https://spacebar.fm/app offers all this and a limited number of AI interactions.

Spacebar.fm Overview

Spacebar.fm is a versatile speech-to-text platform offering 200 minutes of free recording and transcription services, alongside a limited number of AI interactions. The service can be accessed via web browsers on computers, Android and iOS platforms with a mobile app on iOS platforms.

Features and Capabilities

1.    Transcription and Editing:

• Recording: Users can record audio and receive transcriptions.
• Summarization: Spacebar.fm provides summaries of the recorded content.
• Illustrations: The platform suggests possible illustrations for stories.

2.    Analysis and Statistics:

• Analyses speech, providing statistics such as word count, speaking speed (words per minute), and other conversational metrics.

3.    Interactivity:

• Users can request:
1. Corrected versions of transcripts.
2. AI-powered enhancements, including generating more coherent versions of text for language learners.
• The app also offers sharing options, including QR codes.

4.    Device and Platform Compatibility:

• Web (PC): Features like recording recovery, speed adjustment, editing, and copying of transcripts.
• Android: Similar functionality to the PC version, with error correction and transcript playback.
• iOS: While it doesn’t allow editing of transcripts directly, it supports copying and requesting AI-generated corrections.

5.    Usage Tracking:

• Tracks the minutes used even without signing in.

Practical Application and User Experience

Logging in on Browser Experience:

1. Imposes a 10-minute limit per recording session.
2. Allows correction of transcription and noticing automatic corrections during playback.
3. Allows limited access to AI using spacebar.fm
4. Suitable for language learners with tools to make text more coherent.
5. Enables copying and pasting of transcripts to other platforms like Padlet and GenAI.
6. Offers sharing with other users via QR codes and other methods.
7. Users can save and download audio files.
8. Users can listen to the transcript read aloud if using Edge browser.
9. Keeps recording , transcripts and summaries (Only if you log in)

Browser experience without logging in:

• 1 – 8 of when logging in
• Maintains usage tracking without requiring an account so if you finally log in it recovers your recordings, transcriptions, etc.

iOS app Experience:

• Requires iOS version 13.4 or higher.
• Extends the time limit to 90 minutes
• Doesn’t allow correction of transcription and noticing automatic corrections during playback.
• Allows more access to AI using spacebar.fm
• Suitable for language learners with tools to make text more coherent.
• Enables copying and pasting of transcripts to other platforms like Padlet and GenAI.
• Offers sharing options via QR codes and other methods.
• Users can save and download audio files.
• Keeps recording , transcripts and summaries

Age Requirements

Users under the age of majority must have parental or guardian consent to use the service. Parents or guardians are responsible for their children's activities on the platform. But spacebar.fm can also be used in a browser without logging in.

Conclusion

Spacebar.fm is a robust tool for speech-to-text needs, offering various functionalities across multiple devices. Whether for personal use, educational purposes, or language learning, it provides a comprehensive suite of tools for recording, transcribing, editing, and enhancing transcribed content.

(This is a heavily edited version of ChatGPT's attempts to make sense of my notes.)

Asking ChatGPT to use strikethrough to mark errors

 Can you correct the errors and mark the corrections in bold and show the mistakes before the corrections marked with strikethrough ? In ChatGPT

Why didn't I think of asking it to use strikethrough before?

Does it work with Copilot, Gemini and Claude, too?