I’m A Language Enthusiast. Here is Why You Will Keep Learning Foreign Languages Even After AI Translation Leaves Your Abilities in the Dust
AI powered translation has firmly surpassed most language learners abilities in various languages.
But you and I keep studying foreign languages anyways. Why? At its core, language use is about connection, not content. While the two are deeply intertwined, AI powered translation does much better with content than connection.
Here are 2 pictures to grab ahold of the magic of connection that makes learning languages worthwhile even when AI can do it better:
- The difference between understanding a joke and having it explained
- Whispering sweet nothings…through a translation app?
Each of these ultimately have to do with one reality: connection.
The difference between understanding a joke and having it explained
Jokes are peculiar. They are only funny when they don’t have to be explained.
Explanation conveys the content but kills the magic moment of connection.
AI translation is like explaining the joke. You still get the point, but the magic is lost.
Whispering sweet nothings…through a translation app?
Imagine two lovers laying in bed chatting tenderly back and forth. Now imagine the same two waiting for an AI translation to catch up.
The spark dies.
No doubt, AI translations are faster, and often better than those produced by people. Case and point, the directions that ship with your new furniture kit that contain some semblance of a language something like English. Furniture assemblers of the world, rejoice that AI translations should help you out.
But, barring something like Douglas Adams’ babble fish, AI translation can’t replicate the spark. That life-giving, life-sustaining, joy-kindling spark of human connection.
What else is language for?
