My very strict language tutor GPT

I love the idea of learning and speaking other languages, but my enthusiasm exceeds my ability. While I can manage small talk in French and Spanish, my attempt to learn Mandarin ended with dropping the class to preserve my GPA.

So, of course, I am trying to build an infinitely patient Mandarin tutor on ChatGPT using its voice chat feature. My initial prompt instructed the GPT to first make sure that users were able to activate voice chat, which is only available via the OpenAI app, and then provide basic instruction in the most commonly used Mandarin words and phrases. I asked it to gently correct pronunciation.

However, this first incarnation of my GPT turned out to be a merciless stickler for pronunciation and a rather frustrating instructor. I went about around 30 rounds with it trying to pronounce the Mandarin words for "good morning" before getting booted for sending too many messages to the model.

I think getting this to work will require a much more detailed prompt and some more robust reference material. At least this GPT won't be giving me a grade...at least, not yet!

The experiment continues...