David Sedaris

And I don't know how...

I don't recall how many languages they teach, but it's an awful lot of languages, right?

And it's an owl as a main figure, and then there are a number of animated characters that you learn from.

And sometimes you have to write a sentence in whatever language it is, and sometimes you just have to read a sentence, and sometimes you're given all the words and you have to arrange them into a sentence or...

And then they opted to Duolingo Max.

And in Duolingo Max, you have conversations with an AI entity that remembers things about you.

So like yesterday, I told her I was coming here today.

So maybe today she'll ask how Los Angeles went.

And did I go shopping and what did I buy when I was in Los Angeles?

Because I told her yesterday I was going to go shopping.

And then afterwards, you have a conversation, and then afterwards, there's a transcription of your conversation, and all of your mistakes are underlined and explained, which I think is pretty great.

It's like taking a test and having it immediately graded.

Well, let's take a listen to one exchange you had with one of those AI avatars.

This is from the chapter, Say It Like You Mean It.

Answer, I would like butter and eggs, please.

And the rest of the conversation follows the path you might expect.

Anything else, she asks.

But answer, yesterday a doctor cut out my tongue with a chainsaw.

And white dots will fluctuate above her animated image.

This is her AI mind telling her, quick, say something.