How to practise English speaking with ChatGPT
ChatGPT can be a decent speaking partner if you tell it exactly what to do. Below are prompts you can copy, how to get corrections that actually help, and an honest look at where it falls short.
Set it up for speaking, not chatting
Open the ChatGPT app and start voice mode. Typing practises writing; for speaking you want to talk and listen. How much voice time you get depends on your plan, and OpenAI changes the limits from time to time, so check the current terms in the app.
By default ChatGPT behaves like an assistant: long, polite answers and no corrections. The prompt is what turns it into a speaking partner. Paste one of the prompts below at the start of the conversation (you can type it, then switch to voice).
Prompts you can copy
1. Everyday conversation at your level
You are my English speaking partner. My level is intermediate (B1). Talk with me about everyday topics. Keep each reply under 3 sentences and always end with a question. Use simple words. Don't correct me during the conversation. When I say “stop”, list my 3 most important mistakes, each with what I said and a better way to say it.
2. Role-play a real situation
Let's do a role-play. You are a receptionist at a hotel in London and I am a guest checking in. I booked a double room for 3 nights, but you can't find my booking. Stay in character, speak naturally, keep replies short. After 10 exchanges, step out of the role and tell me which phrases I should learn.
Swap in your own situation: ordering at a café, a doctor's appointment, small talk with a new colleague, returning something to a shop.
3. Interview rehearsal
Act as an interviewer for a [job title] role. Ask me one common interview question at a time. Wait for my answer, then give me one short tip to improve it and ask the next question. Ask 8 questions in total.
4. Correction mode
I want to practise speaking accurately. After each thing I say, first repeat my sentence in correct, natural English, then reply to me. If my sentence was already correct, just say “perfect” and reply.
This one is tiring for long talks, but great for 5 minutes on a specific topic.
5. Help in your own language
I am a beginner and my native language is Spanish. Speak mostly English, but when I say “ayuda”, explain the last thing you said in Spanish and give me a short English phrase I can use to answer.
Tips that make a big difference
- Ask for short replies. If ChatGPT talks for a minute, you listen instead of speaking. “Under 3 sentences” is the most useful line in any prompt.
- Collect corrections at the end. Constant interruptions kill fluency. Ask for 3 mistakes when you finish.
- Say the corrected sentence out loud. Reading a correction doesn't fix it. Saying it two or three times does.
- Keep a list. Copy the corrections into a note and reuse those phrases next time.
What ChatGPT doesn't do for you
ChatGPT is a general assistant, and that is both its strength and its limit for language practice:
- You design every lesson. It doesn't know your goal or what you practised yesterday unless you tell it each time, so it is easy to drift into random chat.
- No plan. There is no sequence of lessons that gets harder as you improve.
- Corrections depend on your prompt. Without clear instructions it often lets mistakes pass or corrects too much.
- Getting stuck is awkward. When you don't know what to say, you have to stop and ask for help in the middle of the conversation.
If you enjoy setting things up yourself, ChatGPT with good prompts is a solid free option. If you'd rather open an app and start speaking, a dedicated speaking app takes care of the structure.
Where Ling fits
Ling AI is built for exactly this kind of practice, with the structure already in place. You tell it once why you need English – travel, work, moving abroad – and it builds a plan of 20 conversation lessons at your level. Each lesson is a 3–4 minute voice scene with Sophia, an AI speaking partner. If you are stuck, the Hint button gives you a ready phrase. At the end you get one main mistake, not a list of ten, and you say the better version right away. Sophia also remembers what you talked about, so the next lesson picks up from there.
About 5 minutes of voice every day are free. Ling works on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later; there is no Android version yet.