Does anyone use Chickytutor.com to fix their 'open vs closed' e/o pronunciation?

u/GalicianPhono_PronunciationCoach / Jun 2, 2026 / 42 upvotes

AI tools like Chickytutor struggle because they are often trained on Castilian Spanish phonology, which lacks that 7-vowel system. Galician’s open/closed e/o distinction is phonemic—think 'porto' (port) vs 'porto' (I carry). Instead of an AI, try the 'minimal pair' drill: record yourself saying 'neta' (granddaughter) vs 'meta' (goal). Focus on the height of your tongue. If the AI is giving you false positives, it’s likely catching the wrong frequency. Use the 'Audacity' spectrogram view instead; you’ll see the F1/F2 formants clearly. If the e is open, the F1 will be significantly higher than a closed e.

u/LinguistInLugo_AdvancedLearner / Jun 2, 2026 / 28 upvotes

I've wasted hours on these apps, but they don't account for the 'zarrado' (closed) vs 'aberto' (open) variations across the RAG region (Reintegrationist vs Official norms). Many apps map Galician vowels to Portuguese standards, which can actually mess you up if you're trying to learn standard Galician (ILG). Honestly, stick to 'A Galega' podcasts or Radio Galega. Listen for how they drop the final 'n' in some regions—that often influences the preceding vowel quality. Mimicking a native speaker's prosody is more effective than obsessing over a single phoneme through a buggy algorithm.

u/ManualMode_AppSkepticalLearner / Jun 2, 2026 / 19 upvotes

Skip the AI. I spent a month trying to train an app to hear my vowels, and all I got was a headache and bad habits. The best way to fix this is the 'shadowing' method. Take a clip from a show like 'Matalobos' on TVG. Pick a 10-second segment, transcribe it, and record yourself reading it back. Listen to the original, then your version, then the original again. If you can’t hear the difference between your 'o' in 'novo' (open) and 'ovo' (closed), no AI is going to fix that for you. Your ears need to lead, not the software.