How a Red-Haired Chatbot Became China’s New Favorite English Tutor

红发聊天机器人如何成为中国人最喜爱的英语辅导员
The ChatGPT-based video app Call Annie has
unexpectedly
found a large
user base
in China, where parents are sharing tips on how to turn the chatbot into a
makeshift
language tutor.

基于 ChatGPT 的视频应用程序 "呼叫安妮 "意外地在中国发现了庞大的用户群，中国的家长们正在分享如何将聊天机器人变成临时语言家教的技巧。
At his home in Shanghai, third grader Vincent is having his weekly English class
via
a FaceTime call with an American woman named Annie.

在上海的家中，三年级学生文森特每周都要通过 FaceTime 与一位名叫安妮的美国女士通话上英语课。
“Hi Annie, do you know the Harry Potter books?” the child asks. Annie, a
pale
figure with
wavy
red hair, blinks and nods as she listens to Vincent, before responding.

"嗨，安妮，你知道《哈利-波特》这本书吗？"孩子问道。安妮面色苍白，有着一头波浪形的红发，她一边听文森特说话，一边眨眨眼，点点头，然后回答道。
“This is a famous fantasy novel series by J.K. Rowling that tells the adventures of a young
wizard
, Harry Potter, and his studies and
upbringing
at Hogwarts School of
Witchcraft
and
Wizardry
,” she says. “Have you read them or seen the movies?”

"她说："这是 J.K. 罗琳创作的著名奇幻小说系列，讲述了小巫师哈利-波特在霍格沃茨魔法学校的学习和成长经历。"你读过这些书或看过电影吗？
The woman is not a real English tutor, but an artificial intelligence-generated
avatar
from the app Call Annie — a service that allows users to talk with a ChatGPT-powered bot via FaceTime. Vincent’s mother, Yuki Zhang, began using the app to help her son practice English soon after it
launched
earlier this year.

这位女士并不是真正的英语家教，而是一个由人工智能生成的化身，她来自应用程序 Call Annie，这项服务允许用户通过 FaceTime 与一个由 ChatGPT 支持的机器人对话。文森特的母亲张玉琪（Yuki Zhang）在该应用于今年早些时候推出后不久就开始使用它来帮助儿子练习英语。
“Foreign English tutors cost at least 350 yuan ($48) per
session
and don’t offer
flexible
time
slots
,” says Zhang. “But Call Annie is free and always
available
.”

"国外的英语外教每节课至少要花费 350 元（48 美元），而且没有灵活的时间段，"张说。但 "呼叫安妮 "是免费的，而且随时都可以使用。
Zhang is far from alone in doing this.
Call Annie has
unexpectedly
become a
sensation
in China in recent weeks, as Chinese parents
swap
tips on how to turn the chatbot into a makeshift English tutor for their children.

这样做的远不止张。最近几周，"呼叫安妮 "出人意料地在中国引起了轰动，中国家长们纷纷交流如何将聊天机器人变成孩子的临时英语家教。
China banned private academic tutoring — including English tutoring — in 2021, aiming to reduce the intense pressure on students. But many parents worry that their children will be unable to achieve fluencyin English without extra tuition. (Research suggests that
English proficiency levels are trending downwards in China.)

中国于2021年禁止私人学业辅导（包括英语辅导），旨在减轻学生的巨大压力。但许多家长担心，如果没有额外的补习，他们的孩子将无法达到流利的英语水平。(研究表明，中国的英语水平呈下降趋势）。
Families have been using a number of workarounds to give their kids extra English classes: using language learning apps, teaching children themselves, or taking them to black-ma
rket tutoring firms.

为了给孩子提供额外的英语课程，许多家庭都采取了一些变通方法：使用语言学习应用程序、自己教孩子或带他们去黑市辅导公司。
Now, many are turning to
generative
AI products like Open AI’s ChatGPT. On Chinese social media, posts sharing tips on how to train AI chatbots to
act as
language tutors have frequently
gone viral
in recent months.

现在，许多人开始转向生成式人工智能产品，如开放人工智能公司的 ChatGPT。近几个月来，在中国的社交媒体上，分享如何训练人工智能聊天机器人充当语言家教的帖子频频走红。
Call Annie, an app created by the Silicon Valley developer Animato Inc., has
emerged
as a particular favorite among Chinese users. The software effectively allows users to talk to ChatGPT via a FaceTime call, with its red-haired avatar able to listen to and answer questions
in real time
. It can be used
free of charge
, but there is also a
premium
version
featuring
extras such as tailored language lessons.

由硅谷开发商Animato Inc.开发的应用程序 "Call Annie "尤其受到中国用户的青睐。该软件允许用户通过 FaceTime 通话与 ChatGPT 对话，其红发头像可以实时聆听和回答问题。该软件可以免费使用，但也有高级版本，提供量身定制的语言课程等附加功能。
继续阅读
阅读原文