In my last post, I shared how I built a custom GPT for bedtime stories featuring my daughter, Mona, and her imaginary chimp friend, Bobo. Recently, I’ve noticed that Mona shares my fascination with languages. She’s already learned to count to ten in Spanish, mostly from watching TV. Her daycare has introduced her to Spanish words for days of the week, colors, and more. Around my parents, she’s picked up Gujarati numbers, body parts, and common food-related terms.
Immigrant Families & Language Loss
Like many American-born Gujaratis, my ability to speak the language is minimal. At this point, I can only understand the language and lack confidence in speaking it. Writing in Gujarati is a skill I never developed or needed.
Growing up, I never used the language or spent time in India. The only people I ever needed to speak Gujarati with were my grandparents, who lived on the other side of the world and whom I saw only once a decade, if that. This leaves me poorly equipped to pass Gujarati on to the next generation. Not to mention, Mona’s mother isn’t Indian, so we have even fewer opportunities to practice.
This situation is common in immigrant families. Studies show that the third generation—immigrants’ grandchildren, like Mona—often lose the ancestral language. This natural process of cultural assimilation has impacted every immigrant group in the U.S. and will continue to do so.
South Asian languages face particular risks because people from the same country often don’t share a common language. In addition to Gujarati, South Asian immigrants speak Hindi/Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali, and many others—most of which, aside from Hindi and Urdu, are not mutually intelligible. This contrasts with Spanish, which serves as a unifying language across many Latin American countries.
Furthermore, most South Asian immigrants already speak English and tend to live in suburban areas where knowing a foreign language isn’t essential. In my experience, even third-generation children with two American-born Indian parents are almost always monolingual English speakers.
Preserving Language With Tech
When I was a kid, my parents sent me to a Gujarati language school where we were taught to read and write. The problem was that most of the students (all children of immigrants like me) were far from fluent, so focusing on reading and writing made little sense. Eventually, even the school recognized this and split the classes into conversational Gujarati (for about 80% of the students) and reading/writing (for the more dedicated cultural enthusiasts).
While learning to speak was less grueling than memorizing the Gujarati alphabet, the teaching materials were terrible. Most were poorly written textbooks or coloring books created by a single person in the U.S. or Canada with no teaching background. Others were materials imported from India, which were incomprehensible to the average American kid. There were no YouTube videos, apps like Duolingo, or other technologies to make learning engaging and enjoyable.
I played this video for Mona when she was a baby. It wasn’t until my mid-30s that I learned the Gujarati word for “cat.” Despite all those Gujarati classes, I still didn’t know the basics.
I don’t expect Mona to ever be remotely fluent in Gujarati, but it’s nice for her to learn some vocabulary—provided it’s practical. This is where ChatGPT can help!
ChatGPT: The Supreme Polyglot
Many people don’t realize that, in addition to English, ChatGPT supports more than 90 languages! Along with Gujarati, it recognizes at least 25 other South Asian languages, including lesser-known ones (at least for Westerners) like Awadhi, Dogri, Chhattisgarhi, and even extinct ones like Sanskrit.
In my experience, the translation quality is just as good as Google Translate. We’ve created fun stories where Mona and Bobo visit Gummibär (Gummy Bear) in Germany or taste the best pizza in Italy. In these stories, Bobo serves as the translator, and ChatGPT’s “Read Aloud” feature reads the text for you. This makes it easy, so you don’t have to worry about mispronouncing any word.
This is our first story featuring a non-European language.
Mona & Bobo’s Gujarati Adventure
None of my grandparents or parents have lived in Gujarat. I have no relatives there and have never visited, so my understanding of the culture and daily life is limited to what I’ve seen online or read in books. I want the Mona and Bobo stories to teach us not just some Gujarati words but also a bit about the place itself.
I learned that Gir National Park is a fascinating place to visit in Gujarat. It’s the only place in the world outside Africa where lions can be seen in their natural habitat. For animal lovers like Mona and Bobo, this makes an amazing story idea.
A family of Asiatic lions in Gir National Park
My Prompt:
Mona and Bobo visit Gir National Park in Gujarat. Bobo, fluent in Gujarati, translates for Mona as they explore. Their tour guide, Sanjay, introduces them to a talking lion named Raja, who dreams of moving to America to join a circus. Make sure the story contains Gujarati and English translations in the dialogue
The Story:
All Gujarati dialogue is bold.
Mona and Bobo explore Gir National Park. However, ChatGPT isn’t perfect—the Taj Mahal (shown in the picture) is actually 773 miles to the east.
Mona adjusted her sunhat, gripping Bobo’s hand as they stepped out of the safari jeep. Gir National Park buzzed with life—peacocks strutted proudly, langurs chattered in the trees, and somewhere in the distance, the deep roar of a lion echoed.
“Bobo, do you think we’ll see a lion today?” Mona asked, her voice full of wonder.
Bobo adjusted his binoculars dramatically. “Not just any lion, Mona. We’re going to meet Raja, the king of lions. And guess what? I heard he speaks!”
Their guide, Sanjay, chuckled. “You two are in for a treat. Come, let’s find him!”
Sanjay led them to a sprawling banyan tree, where a massive lion lounged regally. His mane shimmered like gold under the sunlight. Mona gasped, and even Bobo dropped his usual bravado, staring with wide eyes.
“Namaste,” said the lion in a deep, rumbling voice.
Mona’s jaw dropped. “Did he just talk?!”
“Of course,” Bobo replied, puffing out his chest. “And he’s fluent in Gujarati. Watch this!” He turned to Raja. “Kem chho, Raja?”
Raja nodded graciously. “Majama chho. Ane tame?” (I’m well. And you?)
Mona tugged Bobo’s arm. “What did he say?”
“He said he’s good. And asked how we are. I’ll be your translator today,” Bobo replied smugly.
Sanjay laughed, shaking his head. “Mona, this lion is one of a kind. He’s been here for years, entertaining visitors.”
As they chatted, Raja revealed a surprising dream. “I want to move to America and join a circus,” he declared in Gujarati. “Hu mane circus ma join karva chhu.”
Mona’s eyes widened. “He wants to go to America?”
Bobo nodded. “Yup, he wants to join a circus. Can you imagine Raja in New York? Central Park would never be the same!”
Raja sighed. “It’s not just about performing. It’s about adventure. I’ve been here my whole life. I want to see the world.”
Mona, ever curious, asked, “But won’t you miss the forest and your friends?”
Raja smiled. “Satyu chhe, chhoki.” (That’s true, little one.) “But sometimes, even kings need a change.”
As the sun began to set, it was time to leave. Sanjay led Mona and Bobo back to the jeep. But Bobo had one last trick up his sleeve. He grabbed a mango from Sanjay’s bag and tossed it toward Raja. “Here’s a taste of America—a mango for the road!”
Raja caught it effortlessly. “Aavjo!” (Goodbye!) he roared, his voice echoing through the forest.
Sanjay groaned. “Bobo, that was my snack!”
Mona giggled. “He deserved it, Sanjay!”
As they drove back, Bobo leaned over to Mona. “You know, Mona, if Raja ever does go to America, he’ll need to be potty trained for all those circus acts.”
Mona frowned thoughtfully. “Why?”
Bobo shrugged. “Imagine juggling and needing a break! Plus, no one likes accidents under the spotlight.”
Mona burst into laughter. “Good point, Bobo!”
The forest faded into the horizon, and Mona couldn’t wait to tell her family about their royal encounter.
Learning The Gujarati Alphabet
For older kids who can read, ChatGPT can write Gujarati dialogue in the Gujarati script. To make it even easier, I prefer adding the Latin script alongside it. All you need to do is specify this in your prompt:
The translation missed the “I want to move to America…” part, but next time, I’ll make sure to specify that everything should be translated completely.
In college, learning languages came naturally—except for non-Latin scripts, which I just couldn’t grasp. I studied Thai, Farsi, and Mandarin but struggled with reading and writing in all three. If ChatGPT had been available, it would have transformed my experience. I needed a transliterated version in the Latin alphabet alongside the original script to match letters with sounds, but this wasn’t possible with the technology back then. Now I can do it in multiple languages at one time:
Reminder: The more details you provide ChatGPT about how you want the answer, the more control you have over the output. Since I wanted to share the result in one screenshot, I specified that it should be in a bulleted list.
Here’s how to say “I want to join the circus” in more languages than you ever thought to ask for:
Your Personal Language Assistant
ChatGPT is more than just a translator—it adds context to your query, making it more useful and helping you learn more than you expected.
For example, I looked up a random highway sign in China. Not only did I figure out what the signs meant, but I also learned where the photo was probably taken and learned about the existence of Beijing’s ring road system.
