LLearn Japanese

ChatGPT can be a good resource for beginner reading material

First off, I want to get it right out of the way, I did see some posts here a couple months ago about how ChatGPT should not be relied on to answer questions about Japanese, because it will tell you things that are absolutely wrong. I don’t dispute that, and will certainly agree that you should not rely on any information that it gives you.

However, while it may not be the best at providing facts, it is a language model, and so it’s really good at generating text passages! I know it can be a struggle to find a lot of content that is written at a beginner level, and ChatGPT can certainly help in that regard, in a number of ways. It can generate short stories at various difficulty levels, in both Japanese and English. It can rewrite articles in easier Japanese. It can generate vocabulary lists for you.

Here are a number of prompts that I have had success with:

Can you write a short story in Japanese that can be understood by a beginner student of the language?

Can you give me a vocabulary list of the most difficult words from that story?

Can you give me another story?

Can you write that story in even simpler Japanese?

Can you write a short story using only the 1000 most common Japanese words?

Can you write a Japanese story that is at N5 level?

Can you write it without kanji?

Can you write a short story in basic Japanese that features characters from Dragonball?

Can you rewrite this article using basic Japanese? <Link to Japanese article>

Can you write a Japanese essay at N5 level about the prevalence of hikikomori in Japan?

Can you write it in the style of a Japanese schoolgirl?

Can you write it in the style of a Yakuza?

Again, if you don’t rely too much on the content being accurate, or even on it being completely natural, it can be a fun way to generate content to keep yourself busy reading!

3 comments

  1. Chat GTP is just like any other tool, know how to use it and know it’s limitations. You can basically throw any sentence at it, ask it to break it down, get information on it and then use that information in google. This is useful to beginners as it can be a quick way to point them in the right direction.

    EDIT: Perfect example of why it shouldn’t be 100% trusted.

    &#x200B;

    >Are you familiar with the genki series of books?

    Yes, I am familiar with the Genki series of books[]solid foundation in the Japanese language.

    &#x200B;

    >Who are the main characters in the story?

    The Genki textbook series is a Japanese language learning textbook, and as such, it doesn’t have a specific story with main characters. []

    &#x200B;

    >What are the characters names?

    **In the Genki textbook series, the main characters do not have names. They are simply referred to as “the boy” and “the girl.”**

    EDIT: It quickly corrected itself to Takeshi and Mary but further probing about what possible dataset it confused the names with resulted in:

    >I apologize for the mistake. I believe I may have confused the Genki textbook story with another learning resource. In the Genki textbook, the main characters do not have specific names but are instead referred to as “the boy” and “the girl”. I am sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

  3. You realize that beginner reading material is cheap and plentiful?

    Ok so your alternatives are: Use a dumb robot to give you bad info

    Use inexpensive books and learn actual Japanese

    or at least the free graded readers if you can’t read books yet

Leave a Reply
— Previous article

Japanese speakers, what would be the most accurate translation of the words “How Am I Driving?” in the context of both “how is my driving skill?” and “how am I supposed to drive with what car?” With romanization would be helpful.
Next article —

An extra day: Sapporo vs. Sendai

You May Also Like